Psy 202: Adult Development and Life Assessment - My Life: Before and After

My Life:

Before and After

Richard R. Henderson

PSY 202: Adult Development and Life Assessment

Instructor: Sharon Haddy

April. 22, 2012

My Life:

Before and After

Outline

I. What things do you remember about your childhood?

A. Growing up and finding my personality

B. Friendships and Relationships

C. Sports and Activities

II. What was my family like?

A. My parents ups and downs

B. Siblings (how many and personalities)

C. Military Family constant deployments

D. Sunday Dinners

III. Types of Jobs in my life?

A. Fast Food and Dining

B. ARMY

C. Information Technology

IV. What are your personal, professional and academic goals?

A. Making sure my children are taking care of financially.

B. Becoming a Police Officer

C. Earning my college degree in Criminal Justice

My Life:

Before and After

When I think of my life and my family, I immediately think about the kind of learning processes that I have been through. Some of my learning experiences have been very extensive in life. When I would learn to associate certain things with sounds and expressions, I use relativistic thinking with different events and proceedings. Other times, I have been closely aware of the behavioral theories, such as those used by B.F. Skinner, in which my father used to use on me to make me learn things. For example, I remember that I would get a smack on the back of my behind for going near the stove while an adult was present or not due to extreme temperatures or just being alone by myself around it. When this happened a few times, I would then never touch it since I knew that my father would hit my behind and I did not want to be hit at all. I think all of these things that my father did with me, resulted in the in depth personality and the identity I have today.

My personality and identity can be divided into four areas: the body, the memory, my heart and soul. In my childhood I had to find myself to know what and who I wanted in life. Since I knew I was a very caring person, it was easy for me to be sensitive to my needs and others. I was able to feel almost exactly how a friend or significant felt. My listening and advisory skills became very useful into helping not just myself but others too. Being that my personality was awakened, I noticed that my body memory adapted also. I was into sports such as baseball, basketball and football. I realized that I had to increase my body size and memory focus. I did that by motivation, dedication and confidence.

Friends, family and my role models aided in the progression in sports. Without them it would have been very difficult to do on my own. One sport that I excelled in was basketball. Basketball amazed me by the physical challenged it required. I like very tough challenges, so I decided to proceed in this activity. I accomplished many goals in basketball such as trophies, records and recognition. My role model, Ray Allen, really inspired me to become more aggressive in my skills. Day by day I improved my skills on and off the court. I'm in touch with these realities of my personality and identity.

I know that the body that I have is the same one that I have always possessed to this day. It has changed considerable since I was born but it is still the same body. I remember looking at myself when I was a little child and wondering how long would be till I can be tall enough to look in the mirror without having to stand up on a stool and how I would look when I grow up. Now that I am grown up and I look at myself in the mirror, I wonder exactly how I must have looked to myself when I was a little child. It is all so strange that a person wants to grow up so quickly when one is a child but then wants to stay young forever. Sometimes I end up wishing that I was a child again so that I do not have to do all the things that I have to do. Sometimes I wish that I can just run back into time and become the irresponsible, simple boy that I used to be.

My family growing up shared some similarities and many personalities. My father is a great man and mentor. He provided for the family daily and supported us in everything we did. He encouraged us to get our education and let the work follow. He was a Parole Officer, so his job detailed major focus and courage. My mother is the caring and sincere one of us.