Personal Development WEEK 1, 2, & 3

LEARNING MATERIAL
“Knowing Oneself”
 Defining the “Self”
 Personality
Nature, Nurture, and Personality
 Trait Theories
 Personality Traits

Objectives

 Conduct self-exploration and simple disclosure;

 Explain that knowing oneself can make a person accept his or her strengths and
limitations, deal with others better; and
 Share his or her unique characteristics, habits, and experiences.

DISCUSSION

Before you can start to lead others, you must first know how to lead yourself. This has been the
key to becoming a leader since the days of Socrates and Aristotle. "Know thyself" was the inscription
over the Oracle at Delphi, the Greek mecca of wisdom. It is by this principle that the great leaders of
the past, present, and future gain an effective followership and achieve their goals. Leadership guru,
Warren Bennis, states, "Know thyself means separating who you are and who you want to be from
what the world thinks you are and wants you to be."

Defining the “Self”

Have you ever asked yourself this question: Who am I? if you have, you are not alone. Adolescence is
the time when young people start to ask questions about themselves, about their future and even about their
religious and political beliefs. During the adolescence stage of development, the young person grapples with
his or her identity.
It is believed that the word “Know Thyself”, which were written at the entry of the oracle at Delphi by
seven Greek philosophers, statesmen, and lawgivers, became the cornerstone of Western philosophy.
Socrates, who came decades after these two words were scripted at Delphi, said that it seems ridiculous for
him to investigate other unimportant thigs when he has not known his self yet.

Activity No. 1

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Who Am I?
Write three words describing who you are (example, student, son/daughter, Christian).
1.____________________________________
2.____________________________________
3.____________________________________

For Socrates, the most important thing to pursue was self-knowledge, and admitting one’s ignorance is
the beginning of true knowledge. And for Plato, one of students, the beginning of knowledge is self-
knowledge.
Before we discuss how to know one’s self, we have to define first the concept of the “Self”. In
Philosophical terms, it is the being, which is the source of a person’s consciousness. It is the agent responsible
for an individual’s thoughts and actions. Based in this definition, the “Self” is an intangible entity that direct a
person’s thoughts and actions. It is outside the physical realm of a person.
The “Self” is identified in various contexts, such as in psychology, sociology, or religion. The “Self” is
the essence of a person: his thoughts, feeling and actions, experiences, beliefs, values, principles and
relationships. The “Self” includes a person’s life purpose, meaning and aspirations.
In Psychology, the term personality is referred to as the, set of feelings, thoughts, and motives that
identifies an individual. Personality is the essence of who we are and is the embodiment of one’s physical,
cognitive, affective, and spiritual self. Therefore, when we speak of the “Self”, we will describe it in personality
terms.
Two key components of personality are highlighted in this definition: the uniqueness of an individual’s
thoughts, feelings, and behavior; and their being relatively enduring, or being consistent, over different
situations and over time. For example, a person who is considered as “friendly” would, at any given situation,
be outgoing and easily liked by others or is someone who is not perceived as threatening or aggressive. This
person’s uniqueness is manifested in his own brand of showing friendliness: a sunny disposition, a readiness to
give advice when needed, and generosity to those in need.
Nature, Nurture, and Personality
Personality is influenced by both nature
(heredity or genetic make-up) and nurture
(environment). There is no single gene that creates a
trait. It is always a complex combination of genes,
environmental exposure and experiences, and cultural
backgrounds. Agreeableness and openness to
experiences are some examples of these cross-cultural
traits.
One general point of view explains that
personality deals with traits, and that trait or disposition
is a major factor in personality.
Trait Theories
Psychologist Costa and McRae (1992) developed a
categorized scheme that described personality. Based on their research they discovered the existence of five
universal and widely agreed upon dimensions of personality. They called it the Big Five or Five Factor Model.
These dimensions may be described using its most positive traits.

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 Openness to experience-curiosity, interest, imagination, and creativity to new ideas

 Conscientiousness- planning, organizing, hardworking, controlling, persevering, and punctuality
 Extraversion- sociable, talkative, active, outgoing, and fun-loving.
 Agreeableness- friendly, warm, trusting, generous, and kind-hearted
 Neuroticism- calm, relaxed, and comfortable

The five factors may be easily remembered using the acronym ‘OCEAN’. They are measured on continua,
whereby an individual may be highly extraverted, low in extraversion (introverted) or somewhere between these
two extremes.
Early research into personality followed trait theory - the idea that a person’s temperament and behavior can
be understood in terms of individual traits (e.g. self-confidence, friendliness or melancholy).
Trait theory takes a lexical approach to personality, which assumes that traits can be described using single
adjectives or descriptive phrases. If enough people regularly exhibit a form of behavior and no term exists in a
given language to describe it, then according to the lexical hypothesis, a term will be created so that the trait
may be considered and discussed with others.
Personality trait is a disposition to behave consistently in a particular way, while personality is a broader
term that comprises of traits, motives, thoughts, self-concept, and feelings. An example of personality trait is
shyness or social awkwardness.

Openness to Experience
The openness to experience dimension of personality is characterized by a willingness to try new
activities. People with higher levels of openness are amenable to unconventional ideas and beliefs, including
those which challenge their existing assumptions.

They enjoy artistic and cultural experiences, visiting art galleries, museums, and theatres, listening to
music and travelling to new destinations. They are more open to unfamiliar cultures and customs.

People with low levels of openness - those who are closed to experience - are wary of uncertainty and
the unknown. They are more suspicious of beliefs and ideas which challenge their status quo.

They feel uncomfortable in unfamiliar situations and prefer familiar environments. Less open individuals
value the safety of predictability, and like to adhere to well-known traditions and routines.

Conscientiousness
People who are conscientious are more aware of their actions and the consequences of their behavior
than people who are unconscientious. They feel a sense of responsibility towards other and are generally careful
to carry out the duties assigned to them.

Conscientious individuals like to keep a tidy environment and are well-organized. They are keen to
maintain good timekeeping.

People with high conscientious levels also exhibit more goal-oriented behavior. They set ambitious
goals and are motivated to achieve them. Undeterred by hard work, they are keen to driven to succeed in every
aspect of their lives, including academic achievements and in furthering their careers.

Extraversion

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Extraversion is characterized by outgoing, socially confident behavior. Extraverts

are sociable, talkative and often forward in social situations. They enjoy being the center of a group and will
often seek the attention of others.

Extraverts enjoy meeting new people and are happy to introduce themselves to strangers, thriving in
company of others.

This personality trait is measured on a introversion-extraversion continuum. Individuals who fit in the
middle of the two traits are described as ambiverts.

Introverts - people with low levels of extraversion, display contrasting behavior. They are quieter and often feel
shy around other people. They may feel intimidated being in large groups such as parties, and will often try to
avoid demanding social gatherings.

Introverts enjoy being a part of smaller social groups, preferably with familiar people.

Agreeableness
Individuals who score highly on agreeableness measures are friendly and co-operative. Often considered
more likeable by their peers and colleagues, agreeable people are trusting of others and are more altruistic,
willing to help others during times of need.

Their ability to work with others means that they often work well as members of a team.

Agreeable people dislike being involved in arguments, conflict with others and other forms of
confrontation. They seek to pacify and appease others, acting as the mediating ‘peace-maker’ of their group.

Individuals who are disagreeable score lower on this dimension of personality. They are less concerned
with pleasing other people and making friends. Disagreeable individuals are more suspicious of other people’s
intentions and are less charitable.

Instead, they are motivated to act in accordance with their self-interest, showing less regard for the needs of
others. As a result, they are perceived by others as being more selfish than agreeable personalities.

Neuroticism
This personality dimension is measured on a continuum ranging from emotional stability to emotional
instability, or neuroticism. People with high neuroticism scores are often persistent worriers. They are more
fearful and often feel anxious, over-thinking their problems and exaggerating their significance. Rather than
seeing the positive in a situation, they may dwell on its negative aspects.

Neuroticism can result in a person coping less successfully with common stressors in their day-to-day
lives. Instead, they will often become frustrated with others and may feel angry if events do not occur as they
wish.

People with low neuroticism scores are less preoccupied by these negative concerns. They are able to
remain calmer in response to stressful situations, and view problems in proportion to their importance. As a
result, they tend to worry about such problems to a lesser extent.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

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Katherine Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers developed the Myers-Briggs personality model based on four
preferences of individuals. These are:

 E or I (Extraversion or Introversion) is how an individual prefers to channel his her energy when
dealing with people, whether it is inward (introversion) or outward (extraversion)
 S or N (Sensing or Intuition) is how one prefers to process information, whether through the use of
senses such as being able to describe what one sees, or intuitively like dealing with ideas.
 T or F (Thinking or Feeling) is how an individual prefers to make decisions, either thinking or
using logic and analysis, or feeling which uses the cognitive senses based on values or beliefs.
 J or P (Judgement or Perception) is how an individual prefers to manage one’s life, whether
through judging, which means a planned and organized life, versus perception, which has a more
flexible approach to living.

ACTIVITY NO. 2

Activity no. 2
Inside the box, draw a symbol or symbols of what represents your “Self”. And in four (4) to six (6)
sentences in one paragraph explain how this things related to you or what makes it connected to yourself. (30
Points)

Criteria
Relevance…… 15 Points
Creativity……… 10 Points
Neatness……….. 5 Points
Total…………… 30 Points

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ACTIVITY NO. 3

Write your thoughts about the following statements into five (5) to six (6) sentences each. (5 Points
Each)
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In My Teens
Thoughts about relationships:
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Experiences I’ve found most valuable or satisfying:
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What I value now:

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My family plans and goals:
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Important decisions I must make:
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How I spend my time:
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New skills and interests: My goals for the next ten years:
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Criteria

Relevance…………… 25 Points

EVALUATION Creativity……………...15 Points

Neatness………………10 Points

Total…………………….50 Points
Masks
Draw two masks: One depicting what you look like on the outside and the other depicting what
you look like on the inside. The outside mask can include how you think others perceive you and
describe each. (50 POINTS)

INSIDE OUTSIDE

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 Personal Development WEEK 1, 2, & 3

LEARNING MATERIAL
Developing the Whole Person
1) What is Holistic Development?
i. Mind and Body Dualism of Descartes
ii. Holism and Gestalt
2) Various Aspects of Holistic Development of Persons
i. Physiological
ii. Cognitive
iii. Psychological
iv. Spiritual
v. Social
3) Basic Drives and Affect
i. Feelings and Emotions
ii. Attitudes and Behavior
Values and Virtues

Objectives

a) Discuss the relationship among physiological, cognitive, psychological, spiritual, and

social development to understand his/her thoughts, feelings, and behaviors;
b) Evaluate his/her own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; and
c) Show the connections between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in actual life
situations.

In nature

DISCUSSION

What is your understanding of a whole person?

What is Holistic Development?

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The key phrase in this chapter that you have to pay attention to is whole person, emphasizing the
complete aspects of a person or his totality. In order to understand what it means to perceive a person as a
whole organism, we will discuss philosophical theories such as dualism and holism.

Mind and Body Dualism of Descartes

Rene Descartes, one of the modern philosopher of our time, influenced much of
mankind’s thinking with his theory of duality or understanding the nature of things in a
simple, dual mode. In which people perceive thing as dual in character.
More example of these are the distinct male-female gender categorization or the yin
The
and yang of eastern thought, although western culture overemphasizes it’s Ying-– or,
either
black- white characteristics. Yang Symbol

And in dynamism between two forces of nature, each force is present in each other and will never exist
in its purest form. For example good-bad, racial purity, life-death, and other point of view where things are
taken in their absolute or extremes.
Holism and Gestalt
General Jan C. Smuts, a South African statesman, military leader, and a philosophers, wrote about
holism in his book Holism and Evolution. He introduced the academic terminology for holism as “the
tendency in nature to form wholes which are greater than the sum of the parts through creative evolution.”
The concept of gestalt is defined by Meriam-Webster
Dictionary as “something that is made of many parts and yet is
somehow more than or different from the combination of its
parts; broadly, the general quality or character of something.”
Example of this evident in music. A symphony cannot be defined
by one of its notes alone. Another two example is a car and a
bicycle. A bicycle and a car is made up of different parts.
Separately, these parts do not represent the car and the bicycle, but
when put together and made to work with each other, these parts
produce a new entity entirely different from its parts.
The parallelism between a symphony, a car, a bicycle and humans
in terms of being a unified entity follows the principle of holism. In
understanding humans, it is important to see the person in his entirety
and not just his parts.

The Various Aspects of Holistic Development of Persons

When we consider a human person and what various aspects

make up this complex organism, five aspects come to mind:
 Physiological or the physical attributes including the five physical senses;
 Cognitive or the intellectual functions of the mind: thinking, recognizing, reasoning,
analyzing, projecting, synthesizing, recalling, and assessing;
 Psychological or how thinking, feeling, and behaving interact and happen in a person;
 Social or the manner by which an individual interacts with other individuals or groups of
individuals; and
 Spiritual or the attribute of a person’s consciousness and beliefs, including the values
and virtues that guide and put meaning into a person’s life.
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When you look at a person and try to understand this individual, it is always good to consider these five
aspects and what it is about this person that makes him or her unique from yourself and from others.
Understanding a person holistically means that one aspects cannot be seen in isolation from the whole
person. For example, to judge a person because of a behavior alone is not balanced. One must see how the
interplay of all five aspects occurs within an individual. This holistic approach in viewing a person is
emphasized in education, medicine, spiritual development, relationship, and in one person’s overall
wellness.
How do these five aspects interrelate and affect each other? The following example illustrates this:

Activity No. 1

For the past three nights, Therese has not been getting enough sleep from her usual
eight hours because of her forthcoming final exams. Today is the day of her final exams. She wakes up
feeling drowsy and with a headache. Her body feels like a ton, and she has to literally drag herself out of
bed to get up and prepare for school. She takes a shower, dresses up quickly, bypasses and ignores her
sister Christine, who is looking at her quizzically. And her parents at the breakfast table. Immediately, the
family gets affected by Therese’s behavior. Christine is thinking her sister is having a bad mood; she thinks
Therese woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and therefore ignores her as well. Her mom thinks she is
uptight about the final exams, mentions about it, but was given a stare by Therese who mumbles that she is
okay but just tense about the exams. Her dad simply looks at her, gives some comforting words of support,
and continues with his breakfast.
In school, all the noise and chatted, and the pressure of taking the finals so early in the morning
agitated Therese. She is not smiling today, which is very unlike her usual self. Her temper is short, irritable,
and she is giving nasty looks at people who continue to annoy her. She goes over her notes and book, tries
to memorize some phrases and concepts, but her throbbing headache makes it almost impossible to cram.
She thought of taking some pain reliever earlier, but decided a can of her favorite caffeine-laden
carbonated cola drink would help, but this is providing her very little relief. She slams the book and lays her
head on the table. Therese feels miserable. She feels unsure of herself and unhappy. She is tense and
nervous. Her seatmate stays away from her, although her seatmate tries to strike up a conversation, Therese
just moves her head in response. However, deep inside, she knows what is affecting her and tries to put
things under control. She starts to pray silently, and when the bell rang, she raises her head and faces the
day, and the final exams. Although still feeling drowsy, she clams herself down and mentally prepares for
what is up ahead.

Analyze and Reflect:

1. If you were one of Therese’s classmates, how would you feel and how would
you react to what you are witnessing?
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2. Identify and explain the five aspects of a whole person in relation to the details
of Therese’s story.
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Psychologist often refer to basic human drives as those that are biologically related such as hunger and
thirst. Affect, on the other hand, is the various emotional experiences such as emotions, moods, and affective
traits (Feist and Rosenberg 2012).

Basic Drives and Affect

Feelings and Emotions

Feeling, moods, and emotions do not exactly mean one and the same. Emotion is taken from the Latin
verb, movare, which means to move or be upset or agitated. It is defined by Smith (1973) as a descriptive term
referring to variations in level of arousal, affective state or mood, expressive movements, and attitudes
(Sanchez, Abad, and Jao 2012). In a state of strong emotion, the person’s physical responses include faster
heartbeat, profuse sweating and dilation of eye pupils, higher blood pressure, and muscular tremors, affecting
the nervous system in general.

Reflection: What are the equivalent terms of these emotions in our language? Happy is
masaya or maligaya; ad is malungkot or malumbay; afraid or surprised is natakot,
nasindak, nagulat, or nabigla; and angry or disgusted is galit, suklam, or rindi. Do you
think our interpretations of these four basic emotions capture their real meaning?

Are feelings the same as emotions? Feeling arises from the brain as it interprets an emotion, which I
usually caused by physical sensations experienced by the body as a reaction to a certain external stimulus. An
example of this would be the emotion of being afraid, which produces a feeling of fear.

Activity No. 2

Imagine yourself sitting alone inside the car or a taxi along EDSA during daytime. Traffic is bad
and literally crawling. Suddenly, you notice a man standing at a distance and staring at you. Then he starts to
walk toward your vehicle holding a black bag strapped around his shoulder. Your mind begins to race. You tell
yourself your life or property might be in danger, or this man might hurt you. Your body begins to react by
sweating and feeling cold. Your pulse beats faster as the man with the black bag slowly approaches the
direction of your vehicle. You noticed he is opening the bag and reaching out for something inside. You look
around and not even your driver seems to notice him except you. You check on the door locks making sure they
are secured, you reach out for your cellphone, and your hands are sweaty and shaking. You feel like shouting
for help. You begin to panic and begin to shake the shoulder of your driver to take notice of the man coming
closer and closer.
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Analyze and Reflect:

1. What was the external stimulus that you experienced?
What emotion did you get from this stimulus?
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2. What were you thinking? What feeling were you getting from this emotion?
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3. What was your response to the feeling you experience?
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Attitudes and Behavior

Attitudes are a person’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions about another person, object, idea, behavior, or
situation. Attitude is a result of a person’s evaluation of an experience with another person, object, idea,
behavior, or situation based on his or her values and belief systems.
Behavior is a manifestation or acting out of the attitudes an individuals has. Take a look at the following
situation to illustrate how attitude and behavior are related.
Riding an overcrowded MRT couch and experiencing all sorts of physical sensations such as heat,
smell, and body contact can create an unforgettable attitude that riding the MRT is an unpleasant and
abhorring experience. As a result, the individual with this attitude will express this disgust by either avoiding
the MRT or totally shutting down and becoming oblivious to the distasteful experience, or become aggrieve and
unpleasant to other people while on board the train.
If this individual continues to ride the MRT with the same attitude and corresponding behavior, other
people will get affected by this individual’s behavior, who in turn, will act out a similar aggressive or uncivil
behavior onboard the train. This may affect other commuters and a chain reaction will follow.

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Values and Virtues

Values Virtues

Peace Peaceful, calm

Integrity Reputable, responsible, believable, honest, trustworthy

Love Loving, caring, compassionate, gentle, affectionate

Respect Respectful, civil

Balance Objective, fair, harmonious

Values are usually reflected through these virtues, which in turn become eminent in the attitude and
behavior of a person.

Activity No. 3

Identify ten (6) behaviors (positive or negative, pleasant or unpleasant) that you see every day around
you. Describe the behavior and figure out what could possibly be the attitude behind the behavior. What value/s
do you think is/ are being projected or is/are lacking in the behavior?
1._____________________________________ 4. ____________________________________
2._____________________________________ 5. ____________________________________
3. _____________________________________ 6. ____________________________________

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EVALUATION NO. 1

Open the linked listed below and watch the short video and answer the three (3) following question.
Ted.com: http://www.ted.com/tasks/joshua_prager_in_search_for_the_man_who_broke_my_neck.
1. What did you learn from the video? (10 Points)
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2. Do you agree with that presenter said? Why? (10 Points)
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3. What values were being extolled in the video?(15 Points)
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EVALUATION NO. 2

Read each questions carefully and give what is being asked. Be brief and concise in answering
the question.
1. Identify and define the five aspects of a person.
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2. As an adolescent, which of the five aspects are you having most difficulty with?
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3. How does your physical development affect your moods and behaviors?
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__________________________________________________________________________________________
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4. How do your feelings and emotions affect the way you think and behave? Cite some personal examples.
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5. Describe the difference between emotion and feeling. Cite one specific situation where it shows how the
two would differ to one another.
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LEARNING MATERIAL/ WEEK 3

Development Stages in Middle and Late Adolescence
1) Adolescence- Between Childhood and Adulthood
2) Erickson’s Eight Stages of Personality Development
3) Changes During Adolescence

Objectives

a) Classify various developmental tasks according to developmental stage;

b) Evaluate one’s development in comparison with persons of the same age group; and
c) List ways on how to become a responsible adolescent prepared for adult life.

In nature

DISCUSSION

What do you know about adolescence?

Adolescence-Between Childhood and Adulthood

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Do you remember the feeling you had when you finally celebrated your 13 th birthday, which symbolized
your crossing over the developmental stage of childhood to teen-hood? There was probably some sadness
because you realized you were not a child anymore. You probably felt some excitement because suddenly
you have strong needs and desire to be with people your age, making friends, and having fun without your
family. You also must have felt afraid of the future. You also started to notice certain physical changes
happening to your body-the growth of the hair in the armpits and the pubic area, the increase in height, and
for the males, the deepening of the voice. For females, it is the start of their menstruation period and the
developing of their breast. These physical changes mark the onset of puberty, and the beginning of the
adolescent stage of the human development.
As adolescents develop physically, they also develop cognitively, psychologically, socially, and
spiritually. The ages during adolescence may be bracketed as follows (Corpus et al. 2010):
 Early adolescence- ages around 10 to 13
 Middle adolescence- ages from 14 to 16
 Late adolescence- ages from 17 to 20

Erickson’s Eight Stages of Personality Development

Erik Erikson’s eight stages of personality development define each stage of human development with a
crisis or a conflict. Each crisis or conflict either gets resolved or may be left unresolved, resulting in favorable
or unfavorable outcomes.
In referring to these eight stages of development espoused by Erikson, it is important to know that the
stages are borderless and flowing, not strictly fixed and definite. An adolescent who is experiencing identity
issues may also be experiencing intimacy issues (young adulthood) or may still be struggling with inferiority (of
school age), depending on whether or not they were able to resolve each stage crisis.
The eight stages of personality development is shown in figure 1.

Changes During Adolescence

fueled by the hormonal changes that are occurring and pushing the adolescent among adolescents is usually
marked by the way they are able to comprehend abstract concepts, such as freedom and human rights. Their
about morality, religion, and politics are also starting to evolve. This is the stage when young men and women
begin to ask questions about the status quo, about the way things happen, and usually counter questions or
situations with a challenging question of “why not?”
Experimentation is a common activity among adolescence as they search for their identity. They want
to be treated as adults, and they see adult behavior as something to emulate. Unfortunately, they also mimic
negative behaviors like smoking and drinking, which are perceived as marks of manhood in some cultures like
ours.
Socializing among male and female adolescents also occur in this phase. In this digital era, online
friendship abound, thanks to social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Online games
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are also popular among adolescents, partly due to the social aspect of the game and the need to develop abstract
reasoning that is built in these games. Oftentimes, adolescence are already online friends even before they could
meet face-face.
Sexual experimentation also happens in this stage. However, due to their underdeveloped cognitive and
affective capacities and education of the matter, this experimentation sometimes end up in a disaster, such as
teen pregnancies and sexual diseases.

Adolescence and Social Behavior

Every culture has a representation of how their adolescent population behaved over the decades. For
example, in the USA the term “teenage rebellion” was popularized in the 1950s with the beatnik movement at
its forefront. Popular rebel teen stars such as James Dean and Writer Jack Kerouac became the icons of that era.
Local teenagers copied their American counterparts. It was the era
of the “Lo-Waist Gang” where actors wore tight fitting jeans and
pompadour hairstyle slopped with pomade.
In the 1960s and 1970s, it was the hippie movement and flower that
became the trademark of the generation of adolescence and young
adults. The use of psychedelic drugs and other hypnotic substances and
the experimentation that they were going through. Social issues also
became the popular themes of this era, with the anti-war movement
against the war in Vietnam.
The gathering at Woodstock in upstate New York where the hippies
got together for three days amidst music, drugs, and sex, also became
one of the enduring symbols that immortalized this generation.
Toward the new millennium, the new adolescents who were born from the
1980s to about the early 2000s became known as the “millennials”. This
generation was born in the midst of a great technology boom; hence, they
were also referred to as “digital natives” versus the previous generation who
were referred to as “digital immigrants,” having migrated from non-digital
to digital technology.

use of social networks, mobile phones, and other gadgets.

There is an interesting social phenomenon that has taken over the world
today and it is called the “selfie” phenomenon. People’s penchant to take their
solo pictures or in a setting with interesting backgrounds, and uploading these to
their social networking sites is definitely creating an impact on the way young
people see themselves. The development of the adolescent’s identity today is
being influenced and molded by technology.

Watch this video on Ted.com:

http://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_jayne_blakemore_th
Activity No. 1 e_mysterious_workings_of _the adolescent_brain

Watch the video presented in the linked above and make a short reflection paper. (30 Points)

Guide Questions:
1. What did you learn from the video?
2. What do you think about the speaker’s observations about the adolescent Page 18 of 26
brain?
3. How does this apply to the Filipino adolescent?
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 Personal Development WEEK 1, 2, & 3

Erikson’s Eight Stages of Personality Development

Skills and Tasks Appropriate forFigure
Middle1 and Late Adolescence

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 Personal Development WEEK 1, 2, & 3

What do Filipino adolescents need to learn in terms of developmental tasks and skills in order for them
to grow into well-rounded young adults? Let us take a look at what an American culture more or less expects
from their adolescents to learn.
1. Adjust to sexually maturing bodies and feelings
Being aware of the bodily changes happening, managing sexual feelings, and engaging in
healthy sexual behaviors.
2. Develop and apply abstract thinking skills
Effectively understand and coordinate abstract ideas, thinking out possibilities, trying out
theories, planning ahead, reflecting on how and what they are thinking and coming out with their
own personal philosophies.
3. Develop and apply a new perspective in human relationships
Developing the capacity for compassion by learning how to put themselves in “somebody else’s
shoes” in order to understand others people’s feelings and perspectives.
4. Develop and apply new coping skills in areas such as decision- making, problem solving, and
conflict resolution
Adolescence acquire new thinking capabilities that will help them engage in more creative
strategies for problem solving, decision-making, and resolving conflict.
5. Identify meaningful moral standards, values and belief systems
Because of their idealism, adolescents develop more complex understanding of morality, justice,
and compassion that leads to the formation of their own belief system that will guide their
decisions and behaviors.
6. Understand and express more complex emotional experiences
Becoming more in touch with their emotions and see the complex variances among strong
emotions and feelings, understanding the emotions and feelings of other person’s and learning
how to detach themselves from emotional situations whenever the need arises.
7. Form friendship that are mutually close and supportive
Learning how to trust others is an important task for an adolescent to develop.
8. Establish key aspects of identity
Be encouraged to develop their own healthy self-concepts that reflect their uniqueness in relation
to themselves, their families and friends, and with the bigger community.
9. Meet the demands of increasingly mature roles and responsibilities
It is important for the emerging adult to acquire skills and knowledge that will provide him with
meaningful careers and jobs and to live up to the expectations regarding commitment to family,
community, and nation-building.
10. Renegotiate relationships with adults in parenting roles
Filipino adolescents should be able to communicate with their parents their need for a certain
degree of independence as they mature to young adulthood.

Filipino authors Corpuz et al. (2010) in their book, Child and adolescent Development, identified similar
developmental tasks a Filipino adolescent needs to learn. These are:

1. Developing occupational skills

Skills that can help the adolescent develop responsibility as a preparation for gainful employment ahead.
2. Self- reliance
The ability to identify their own skills and knowledge, capabilities, and resources to engage I
meaningful activities and not rely too much on others.
3. Ability to manage their finances

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 Personal Development WEEK 1, 2, & 3

Be able to discern what is the difference between “wants” and “needs”, and be able to learn self-control
when handling their finances.
4. Social responsibility
Adolescents should be able to see beyond themselves, take into consideration the greater community
around them, and see their role in improving and developing these communities, serving as change
agents.
5. Mature work orientation
Develop pride in what they do a raise standards of excellence in the quality of their work.
6. Personal responsibility
To be fully responsible for their own decisions and actions by owning them, become aware of the
repercussions or results of the decisions they make and be mature enough to “own” these results, and
refrain from putting blame on others for the results of their decisions and actions.
7. Positive attitude toward work
Developing a healthy and positive attitude toward work.

Activity No. 2

Reflection: Which of these skills and tasks have you learned and acquired? What other developmental
tasks and skills do you think you need to develop and learn? Feel free to add on to the lists given above.
(30 Points)

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EVALUATION

Read, analyze and answer each question and statement. Be brief and concise in answering the question.
(10 Points Each)
4. Examine your thoughts and behavior and explain how these are affected by the changes happening to
your physical body and to your brain development.
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5. Which developmental task and skill do you want to develop for yourself? How will you develop them?
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6. What other factors, aside from those that were discussed, do you think influence or determine self-
identity or self-concept?
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