Reflection Paper Essay Example

The topics and chapters that I have chose to address in my paragraphs are, Chapter 4: Sex, Gender, and Sexuality, Chapter 10: Stress, Health, and Human Flourishing, and Chapter 12: Personality.

Chapter 4 gives us insight on sex and gender. It also compares men and women. It tells you everything about adolescence and puberty. It tells you that sex matters. We learn a few words such as, gender roles and gender typing which gender roles is the social expectations that guide our behavior as men and women and gender typing means taking on a traditional male or female role for a transgender person, gender identity differs from the behaviors or traits considered typical for that person’s biological sex. Gender roles describes how others expect us to think, feel, and act. Our gender identity is our personal sense of being male, female, or, occasionally a combination of the two. The social learning theory assumes that we acquire our gender identity in child-hood by observing and imitating others gender-linked behaviors and by being rewarded or punished for acting in certain ways. We also get introduced to the sexual response cycle, sexually transmitted infections, sexual orientation, and homosexual, heterosexual, and bisexual. Finally, the important part is that sex is NOT an actual need, but it does matter. Moving on to Chapter 10. This chapter tells us all about stress, what causes it, how to prevent it, and how to cope with it. We use stress to describe threats or challenges. There are three main types which are: catastrophes, significant life changes, and daily hassles. Our age, nutrition, genetics, body temperature, and stress all influence our immune systems activity. Stressors are unavoidable. We learn that there are two types of coping: problem-focused and emotion-focused. Important point to remember: develop self-discipline in one area of your life and your strengthened self-control may spill over into other areas as well, making for a healthier, happier, and more successful life. When we are attempting to cope with stressors, social ties can tag us toward or away our goal. We learn that having close relationships are therapy for stress and if you grieve alone then you are more likely to have health problems. It’s better to be happy. One more thing to remember, stress does NOT create cancer cells, but it can affect our health. The last chapter we are discussing is Chapter 12. This chapter talks about your personality, your mind, and your behavior. Personality is thinking, feeling, and acting. Our unconscious mind Is the hiding place of painful past memories, often from childhood. Personality forms during life’s first years. People nurture our growth and we nurture theirs in three ways: being genuine, being accepting, and being empathic- these three things are the water, sun, and nutrients that enable people to grow like trees. To identify your personality, you must first identify the factors. As we grow older, our personality traits stabilize, and our interests change. Personality traits predict a person’s behavior through different situations, but they do not predict a person’s behavior in any specific situation. Your traits remain hidden, but they will assert themselves. Finally, our self-image is our internal view of our personality.

My understanding of Chapter 4 is basically that we all come from the same place and we are all equal. Every man and every woman has to go through puberty and life changes. We know our body better than anyone else and if we feel like something needs to change, then we will change it. We are all human regardless of change to ourselves and regardless of who we decide to be with. We do not need sex to survive. Chapter 10 tells us something that we all should know, it is not good to stress. Stress causes many problems. It is nice to have someone to talk about your problems rather than bottling them all up inside. Being happy is one of the most important things a person can be. Finally, Chapter 12 basically gives us a better understanding of personality and how to tell your personality. It tells us what and who we should be. Self-image is important because it helps us when we are feeling negative or positive about ourselves.

I chose each topic because I feel like I have a personal connection to them and I better understand them. I also chose them because they are chapters that I can fully reflect on. I also chose these topics because they seem as some of the more important ones and ones that everyone needs to understand to better themselves and their lives. Also, these chapters help me better understand me and other people.

One interesting thing I learned from Chapter 4 was that six weeks after I was conceived, me and someone of the other sex looked the same and then our genes kicked in and my biological sex became more apparent. In Chapter 10, I learned that stress effects immunity, it takes energy to track down invaders, produce swelling, and maintain fevers. Stress hormones drain this energy away from the fighting lymphocytes. I learned two interesting things in Chapter 12. The first was that when boys are between the ages of 3 and 6, they experience a sexual desire for their mother. The second thing was, the reason why people tend to put themselves down are for four reasons: negative thoughts protect us from repeating mistakes, self-put-downs are meant to prompt positive feedback, put-downs can help us prepare for possible failures, and we often put down our old selves not our new selves. All of this information was found on pages 111, 290, 352 and 369.