In terms of learning process and cognition, Diana remembers more clearly actions and certain thoughts accompanying the actions when she observes the behavior being performed. She reasoned that every time she watches a movie for instance, she is aware that both her sense of sight (eyes) and sense of hearing (ears) are functioning, sending the information to the brain. Since there are two pathways from which the information goes into the brain, her brain processes and thinks faster that would send the information to the body to react in a certain way. Second, she considers both words and actions as contributing to her better understanding of the situation. When she watches a behavior, like in movies, she listens to the words, sentences, and vocabulary used by the characters, and the actions accompanying the words are simply explanations of the conversation, or the other way around. Actions accompanied by words explaining them are better understood and retained in the memory. For her, reading yields a different result. When she reads, while she is able to go back to the parts which she does not understand, she still has to imagine the acts. That would take her a longer period to process, that is, she reads, thinks and imagines those acts which are not familiar to her. Observing is a lot easy for her, as she revealed, actions speak louder than words. She loves reading though but in terms of retaining the information, it is easier for her to remember observed actions considering that it is also easy for her to understand them. She noted that better understanding is a key to better memory retention.
On the other hand, her study habits are quite unique. She prefers to study in the house than in the library. She is better able to concentrate and retain what she has been reading when she does other things in the middle of her readings, like going to the kitchen to eat or to talk to anybody in the house for a minute on matters totally unrelated to what she is reading. All these are diversions for her. She is more focused in her studies when her attention is diverted to something totally unrelated to her readings and then back to reading again. She explained that maybe this is because her brain is telling her to focus because of the time lost when her attention is diverted to something else. Besides, she is more relaxed in the house than in the library. For her, she could very well understand if she is relaxed than pressured in the library.
Diana took the Myers Briggs personality test when she was younger. She enjoyed doing personality tests considering that most results fit the behavior she thinks she has. In the Myers Briggs test, results show that she is very expressed extravert, moderately expressed sensing personality, moderate expressed thinking personality and very expressed judging personality. Her being gregarious and accommodating, participative in her class and community activities, her confidence in communicating with people even with strangers are signs of her being extravert. She does not have any difficult in being in new places or with new facesstrangers, she could easily blend with the personalities and attitudes of strangers. She could easily befriend strangers and works with them a lot easy. She is comfortable attending parties or any social activities in her community. Childhood for her was a lot exciting. She remembers staying out at a friends house for the weekend. On the other hand, she revealed she is not really an emotional person. She would only know the emotional struggle of a person when she asks him or her, otherwise, she would not mind at all. She said she uses her brain more than her emotions. She thinks the test results confirmed of what she thinks she is. For the present test, she thinks the results are accurate because that is how she views her self also. There are however personality tests which she does not trust because of the opposite results. Nevertheless, she tries taking online personality tests for fun and for the hope of knowing something more about her.
Diana shared that she does not really reflect on her attitude. She believes that her personality is not at all harmful to others considering that she has a lot of friends for years now. She never started any trouble with her friends and would easily make amends whenever she feels there is something strange with the relationship. Moreover, her family relationship is not bad. She plays around with her siblings and communicates with her parents more often. Her parents do not have many restrictions on her, the reason she does not feel any limitations at all in her actions, provided she respects others feelings, emotions and thoughts. She maintains a rule of thumb in her interpersonal relationships respect and reverence. She understands that her attitude or personality may not be attractive to others and may even be offensive, but so long as she keeps that respect for others, everything would go smoothly. A harmonious and peaceful interpersonal relationship is better achieved in understanding other people, without having to adjust with their personality types. She is raised by being confident in her attitude, mindful of the values taught to her and she believes she is not doing any harm to others. She shared that to always monitor ones attitude would make her uncomfortable and uneasy in dealing with her friends. She is not comfortable with it in any way. True, she is not an emotional individual but she could easily feel strain in the relationship if there is any. Other than keeping in her mind the value of respect and fair dealing, she does not look at her inner self, her attitude in particular as others do.
Meanwhile, gender, race or ethnicity do not greatly affect ones personality. She opined that a person of values from childhood would grow to become an upright man or woman regardless of gender, race or ethnicity. She stretched that respect and reverence are universal rules observed across all countries. While there may be different practices showing respect, the fact remains that respect is observed. Childhood experiences and environment play an important role in forming ones personality. She said that her behavioral tendencies and personality type have been greatly shaped by her environment the friends she goes along, the family that she grows up with, the school she attends to and most especially, the American culture of which she belongs.
Dianas evaluation on the evolution of her concept of self and personality can be better explained using attribution theory. Under this theory, people give meaning to their actions and behavior by attributing them to certain experiences which lead to do certain acts. In the same way, Diana attributed her personality type to her environment, family upbringing and educational achievement among others (Morris and Maisto, 2005).
In doing her stuffs, Diana is more likely to do things when she is intrinsically motivated. First, she always does what she wants, and gets what she wants, and gets done whatever is needed to be finished. She does not rely on external motivation to do them, although extrinsic motivation would be a bonus for her. For instance, grabbing a part time job for her was not so much of the compensation and on the people around her inviting her to work part time, the reason comes from her, that she wants it and so she does and gets it. Second, she simply loves keeping herself busy. She is more productive when busy. Not only does this gives her more opportunity to learn but also an opportunity for her to meet with different people and to get compensated. Third, she is focused in the things she needs to do. She completes her work assignment because it is a duty she commits herself to do. She takes time to comply her commitment and duties.
Dianas personality is reflective of a person who is responsible at her age. She takes the challenge of completing her education got herself a part time job after school and works joins social activities either in school or in her neighborhood. She is optimistic in her dealings and outlook in life. I share similar thoughts and attitude with Diana. However, in terms of learning and cognition, I am better at reading about a certain behavior. In reading, it is easier for me to read back what I do not understand and once I understand the passage in relation to the behavior, retention does not become a problem. I prefer to imagine the sequence of events as detailed in the story while reading as compared to observing the same. However, we share the same attitude in terms of study habits. We both prefer to study in our houses. I work better when I have little diversions in the middle of my readings or school papers. It may probably for the same reason, the little time left for studying is always the quality time. I am comfortable working under pressure, and more productive at that. In terms of gregariousness, we share the same characteristics. I am friendly and easy to be dealt with. I could easily get friends with others and easy to get along with. I do not have much hesitations in terms of choosing the people I go with. I welcome and often attend parties and night outs. Gregariousness wise, I too, am extrovert. I am confident about myself.
On the other hand, I do monitor my attitude. I am high in self-monitoring. There are instances when I look at what I have done the kind of person I am, and my worth as a person. I look at the impact of my actions on others and try to assess their perception on me. This does not however mean that I rely on others perceptions on how I should behave, but I look at their thoughts and reactions of me, of the words I say and the things I do when I am around with people.
In my personal point of view, my race and nationality affect my personality type. Culture and thus the nature of the environment I am exposed to affect my perception, way of thinking and way of behaving. The way I do certain things may, in one way or another, be inherent in me but they must have been developed by the type of culture I have grown. The way I understand things are shaped by my childhood experiences with highly liberal people around. The Western people are exposed to different ways of life and ways of thinking. I personally believed that being an American is an advantage in itself in terms of work opportunities and school performance, among others. We learn to be independent in the decisions we make and make the best of the time that we have. Having grown in a country where everything is almost allowed (except acts equivalent to crimes) allows me for instance to explore and understand the world a lot better compared to others.
People differ in personality types. However, the discrepancy does not at all create conflict or chaos. Understanding the behavioral tendencies and personality types of different people would reveal that each of us is unique. Even the closest of friends and twins who are exposed to different culture and environment would vary in the choices they make and in the things they do. What is amazing is that knowing the uniqueness of us individually would allow us to appreciate more what we are as a person and the people around us.
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