Michelle Nix's Archive

Over the past couple chapters, I noticed the term self-actualization believed by a few psychologists like Jung and Maslow. The term holds the meaning that to be self-actualized is to reach one’s potential. Jung believed more in human beings understanding the underdeveloped aspects of the psyche to become self-actualized. Maslow believed in satisfying the hierarchical needs as becoming self-actualized. Both were in agreement that not many people reach this point and that no one could reach their absolute full potential.

I began thinking about several different times in my life where people mentioned the word “potential.” There were times in my athletic career where coaches would say something about the team having a lot of potential. If we could just reach it, then we would have a huge amount of success. I had a coach tell me that he hates the phrase “you have so much potential.” At first, I didn’t understand why he would say that; however, he explained that having a lot of potential means that you are currently underachieving. This idea really hit me and made a lot of sense. When a teacher tells a student they have a lot of potential, how do they react? Does that make them want to be better or does it make them stop caring altogether? I think it can go either way and there are examples of this happening all the time. Some people have the drive to reach their potential or to become self-actualized, but how can you really measure that? How do you know that you have reached your potential? This concept is something I have really been questioning because I know that I personally will never settle. I always want to try and be a better version of myself and I have the feeling that I am not the only one. Does this mean I will never reach my potential as a human being? I would love to hear anyone’s opinion on this matter. What do you think?

Something that has always fascinated me is the idea that Pavlov studied in classical conditioning. It almost blows my mind to think that we can condition animals and even people to respond to certain stimuli. It made me think of an example with my dog back home. My brothers used to take towels and used pop each other with it. My dog did not like the popping noise the towels made and would start to get agitated. Now, if we are holding a towel or even a blanket, my dog tries to bite at it. He was conditioned not to like towels or anything that resembles one. After realizing this, we are currently trying to help him not be agitated by towels anymore. Overall, this concept really interested me and I began thinking about conditioning in people.

You hear stories about children being abused or coming from violent homes. Even the loud sounds of screaming children on a playground make them flinch. They become afraid any loud noises due to violence they were exposed to. I began to think about conditioned responses how we might be affected in our lives. I started wondering if there were things that I did that had become a conditioned response. I had a difficult time trying to think of things I do that might be conditioned, but I sure there are several. It is interesting to sit down and actually think about why we respond to certain stimuli the way we do. Is it a natural response or could be a conditioned response? I just thought this was interesting to think about.

One of the schools of psychology I really enjoying learning about is the concept of behaviorism. Chapter 20 briefly discusses Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory. Through some of his experiments (one being the Bobo Doll experiment), Bandura discovered that we are observational learners. It is amazing to me, especially with children, what we learn from other people just by observing. A story my grandpa likes to tell people is about the first time I played tee ball. He said I picked up the bat, walked over to the plate, and right before I got in my stance I turned around and spit. He thought it was hysterical. When I think about this story, I cannot help but think about observational learning. I had seen baseball players on TV spit at the plate so I did it too. I was modeling what I had observed through others. It made me think about the things I do today because of what I have observed. I began realizing how our behaviors are greatly affected by stimuli or the environment. We are greatly influenced by what is around us. I think we are affected by our environment more than we realize or like to admit at times. The concept of behaviorism or observational learning is not something I 100% believe in. However, I feel it raises valid arguments. It reminds me to be careful with what and who I surround myself with because I could be developing certain behaviors without even realizing it. I probably should be more consciously aware of what I am allowing to influence my way of thinking, but even more so the way I am behaving. It also reminds me to be grateful to be around people and in a place that can potentially lead me to behave in better ways. It even reminds me to model myself in a positive way because I can never know who might be watching me. I am not saying that I would pick the side of nurture in the “nature vs. nurture” argument. I just find behaviorism and especially the idea of observational learning interesting.

I was really intrigued after last class thinking about the whole idea of perception and reality. The concept of a phantom arm is really interesting because it shows just how amazing the human brain is. I think someone brought up the idea of perceptions and reality. In the case of a phantom arm, people perceive something that is not in fact reality. It got me thinking about this quote I once heard from the principal where I attended high school. He would say “perception is reality.” I really used to agree with that idea and it really seemed to make sense to me. If you perceive something, it feels very real or very much like reality to you. Therefore, you have must take it into consideration and treat it seriously. An example he used was in the instance of working with the parents of his students. He would say that some parents would have the perception that he was unapproachable when in fact he wanted to be approached by parents. Since the parents’ perception was that he was stand-offish, then the reality was that he was doing something to make them think that; therefore in some ways he was being unapproachable.

At first, I used to agree with that statement; however, I feel that the last class discussion really challenged my thinking. Someone may perceive that they have an arm, but that may not be the reality. Sometimes I hear people’s perceptions that are so far-fetched that I cannot even begin to see them as reality. However, part of me can see the other side of the coin as well. When it comes down to it, I really do not know what I believe about this idea of perception and reality. So, I guess the question I am posing is this: is perception really reality? I would love to hear everyone’s opinion.

Inception was a movie that completely blew my bind. It was incredibly deep and something I thought about for days after the ending credits. I mean literally a day or two later I was thinking, “Is the top still spinning?!” The concept of inception was unique to anything I had ever considered before. After reading about Descartes and his belief in innate ideas, I started thinking about the movie Inception again and the correlation in those concepts.

Descartes believed that if he had a “perfect” idea, then it was not his original idea because he was imperfect. He concluded that the ideas of perfection could be considered true. I began thinking about “perfect ideas” and the whole concept Descartes discusses about how they originated from “a nature that was really more perfect” (p. 119). The whole idea of inception is to take an idea that was created by someone else and plant it so deep within the subconscious of another human being that they believe the idea originated from them. This concept made me begin to question the originality of ideas. I feel that Descartes’ theory on innate ideas provided me with similar questions. He too believed in a concept that some ideas are innate or come from something bigger than ourselves. It made me start thinking which ideas and beliefs I could 100% call my own. I went even deeper and began wondering where exactly my thoughts or ideas actually came from. I am sure most people who read this are thinking that I am way over-analyzing this concept in which case I would agree with you. I do believe that we have ideas that come from others, but I also believe that we are all different. Even if we have the same overall beliefs, we will still have a little bit unique idea on such beliefs because we are so different. I also believe that there are innate ideas especially in realm of Christianity. I believe that because we are created in the perfect image of God that there are instinctual concepts that he places inside us like the need to be loved. Anyways, that was just something I had thought about and I hope I have not been too over-analytical with this whole concept.

The Allegory of the Cave is a very interesting idea. I remembering trying to read this in high school and completely missing the point of it. It was when I read it once again in college that I was able to better understand and better appreciate the concept behind finding truth and knowledge. The Cave presents the whole concept of living in a world where you know nothing other than what is presented right in front of you. There is a truth beyond what we can visually see that is not realized unless a person is willing to take a chance to search for it. It reminded me a little of the movie “The Truman Show.” Truman is living in a world that is his reality only to discover later on that he has been the main character of a television show. Everything he knew was not true even down to his friends that were actually actors. I remember thinking at the end when he realizes that he was living in a false sense of reality, “Now what does he do?” Once knowledge and truth are found, where do we go from there?

Then, I started thinking about the aspect of knowledge and truth and how that can relate to our faith. The verse that immediately stuck out in my mind was John 14:6: Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus calls himself “the truth” which is hard for me to completely comprehend. What I get out of this verse is that Jesus is the only way and the ultimate truth that we are trying to seek. Through him we are enlightened in a way that makes us look at life differently. I think the concept of the Cave is similar. If we journey out of the Cave or are bold in our faith, then we see a whole new truth or view our lives as Christians in a whole new way.