Reflection on Personal Psychology

Running head: REFLECTION ON PERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Reflection on personal psychology
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
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REFLECTION ON PERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY
1. Reflection on learning journal 1:
Social psychology is a very complex genre of science and the understanding of the social
psychology depends on a broad and in depth knowledge of human behaviours, emotion and
social interactions (Gelso, Nutt Williams & Fretz, 2014). In this exercise we had to focus on
three very important domains of social psychology, Prejudice, Self and Identity, and
Attraction and Close Relationships. All the three mentioned domains have a fundamental
contact with the psychological development and social interactions of an individuals.
Similarly, the impact of the individual psyche and behavioural characteristics is very
prominent on the social psychological behaviour of the different individuals (McDougall,
2015).
The first exercise for us had been preparing a learning journal focussed levels of analysis
framework, which helped tremendously in understanding human behaviour and response to
certain situations with respect to the reasons or contributing factors that facilitate the said
behaviour and response (Keller & Schoenfeld, 2014). This learning journal preparation
activity has helped me tremendously in understanding the human decision making process in
terms of biological, psychosocial and environmental level. This learning activity also
involved me making a few decision s which correspond to each type of decision making
level. This exercise had been a wonderful opportunity for me to understand exactly how the
human decision making and response could relate with developing self-identity, form close
relationships and overcome prejudice and discrimination.
2. Reflection subtopic:
Reflection on self and identity:
The first topic on which I would attempt to reflect on in this organization is the self and
identity, which has a strong impact on the personal psyche development of a human being.
Self and identity is associated with a variety of aspects associated with the sociological

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REFLECTION ON PERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY
theories and ideologies that can be employed to the better understand the relation of self and
identity and development of personal psyche of an individual. It has to be highlighted in this
context that self is the primary unit of society, and without a thorough understanding of the
self and self-identity, it is impossible to develop a clear understanding of the more complex
sociological aspects. Hence, I have chosen self-esteem as the subtopic to discuss the self and
identity due to the fact that self-esteem is crucially associated with the self and identity
formation. In my own opinion, human behaviour is often very crucially linked with self-
esteem or the individual, which is why I have chosen to reflect on it.
As discussed by Tyler, Kramer and John (2014), the sociological understanding of
self and identity is associated with presupposition of the presence of reciprocal relationship
between the self and the society. Researchers of the field of psychology have stated that there
is the presence of a reciprocal interaction between self and society, and this reciprocal
relationship is also the proclamation of the acceptance of not just power of self over the
society, but also the power of the society over the self with respect to identity formation
endeavours. As discussed by Jenkins (2014), self utilizes the social entities and their
interaction to form the interconnection between the self and the identity to develop the
identity formation, whereas the society utilizes the culture to either assist or force the self to
form the identity. As discussed by Neff (2016), self is the biggest or one of the greatest
discoveries in the social sciences, which has not only helped the understanding of the impact
of self on the determination of the place of self in the sociological research but also has aided
in the revelation that self is the primary factor in the identity formation in the society as well.
Similarly, as discussed by Thibaut (2017), the present day industrialized culture is based on
individualism, and the emphasis for such cultures is on personal goals and self-identity based
on the personal attributes and achievements. Similarly, in support Cinoğlu and Arıkan (2012)
have also stated the fact that personal identity is largely defined by the interactions and ties