Chapter 9 Event: The event that I chose is parenting. It is abundantly clear that knowing how to raise kids properly is super important. However, there are also just simply not enough research studies conducted on this subject matter. As I was writing my disorders paper earlier in the semester on antisocial personality disorders, I noticed that most research studies focus on studying the imprisoned population, which is undoubtedly unhelpful, to say the least, in developing an effective preventative procedure. Although some of the psychological disorders do show some intricate links to genetic inheritance origins, I do, however, believe that the vast majority of them surround improper nurture.

Application of Concept: The term that seems to fit this event most clearly is Longitudinal Study research methods. The textbook states that a longitudinal study is an observational research approach researchers utilize to investigate the long-term impact of a person’s personality and behaviors according to their individual environmental and personal experiences (Chapter 9, Page 331). This term fits into this event because parenting itself is a form of a longitudinal study. The parents are basically the researchers themselves. The only difference is that the parents have a controlled variable at their disposal. That is, of course, suppose the parents enshrine wisdom and proper moral values into their kids at an early age. This study could also potentially become a successful human conditioning experimental trial. If we find a successful approach and adopt it as a clinically viable preventative measure, it might also help decrease a kid’s chance of developing psychological disorders. In turn, it might also help reduce the imprisoned population in our society for future generations.

Chapter 10 Event: The event that I chose is student debts. I remembered a story that one of my professors told me when he taught here at Mount SAC in the late 1990s to early 2000s. He stated that back in those days, there were literally credit card company representatives roaming around the campus trying to convince unsuspecting students to apply for a credit card. Their approach or sales tactics was that credit card is not a form of a loan but free money that you get to use to buy whatever your hearts desire. It essentially pushes students to take on unnecessary debts that they will eventually regret once they find out how much this ruins their credit score and their financial profile.

Application of Concept: The term that seems to best fit this event most clearly is Psychosocial Development. The textbook defines Psychosocial Development as a period in a person’s young adulthood, typically between the years of eighteen to twenty-five, where they slowly transition into a more independent and self-sufficient role (Chapter 10, Page 388). This term fits into this event because psychosocial development is really something that is immensely absent in our current curricular materials. The reason why the representatives were able to prey on the vast majority of college students is that although they are physically an adult, psychologically, or in this case, socially, they are not. And because they are still immature psychosocially, they are the prime prey for those predators, in this case, those sales representatives. It is good to see that sales representatives are banned from the campus nowadays, but this does not, at all, solve the underlying problem. That is, to enshrine and educate our kids at an early age of what credit really is and how to properly manage their assets and money. And most importantly, how to become a financially responsible person.

Chapter 11 Event: The event that I chose is, once again, parenting. As a person born to a very traditional Asian family, my parents were not really open, if at all, to discuss sexuality with my sister and me. So although I do understand that cultural factors did play an enormous role in my case, I do believe that it is essential to break that barrier and discuss these with your kids at an early age while also keeping an open dialog throughout their puberty years.

Application of Concept: The term that seems to best fit this event most clearly is Gender Identity. The textbook defines gender identity as a psychological awareness of the differences between that of the male and female gender (Chapter 11, Page 444). So, to circle back to the importance of sex education. The best way to achieve this, in my opinion, is first to be open about talking about it. This may seem like common sense, but in reality, to break that barrier with your kids and discuss this topic with them is a ridiculously complicated task. Especially if they are curious enough to ask the parents where they came from. People are not known to be exceptionally comfortable being told to do something or learn something in an authoritative and lecturer type of tone of voice, let alone kids. The best way to do this is to befriend them so that way they are open to speaking to you about these issues when things arise at school or other events. It is also crucial to educate them on the differences between the two genders while also infusing them with the correct definitions of rights and wrongs. Nevertheless, the most important thing is establishing and conveying the importance of protecting themselves by using protections. After all, telling someone not to do something will be extremely hard to achieve in practice. Therefore, you have to let them know the consequences and repercussions of enacting certain dangerous behaviors. It ultimately goes back to setting the correct moral values with your kids at an early age.

Chapter 12 Event: The event that I chose is managing stress. Over my past seven years of work experience, my stress tolerances have definitely improved significantly. Most people believe that stress ties back to the amount of workload you have. And therefore, we should keep our workload to a bare minimum. However, in my opinion, it is actually quite the contrary. It is actually good to have some level of stress in an effort to build up those stress tolerances, although not overwhelming. Stress is something that definitely can be managed. And when managed well, it will help push yourself to become a better person, thereby perfecting yourself.

Application of Concept: The term that seems to best fit this event most clearly is Self-Efficacy. The textbook defines it as an ideological belief of self-confidence. The more aligned you are with this ideology, the better you are to withstand stress because it will help build tolerances (Chapter 12, Page 461). However, I do not particularly agree with the textbook’s definition of Self-Efficacy. I believe that it is more aligned with the ideology that says practice makes perfect. Therefore, if someone endures a high level of stress, they are likely to achieve an even higher tolerance the next time around. Although Self-confidence is nice to have, it will most certainly not increase your overall stress tolerance.

Chapter 13 Event: The event that I chose is beauty camera filters. With the rise of beauty camera filters and the broader mass adoption of photoshop, people seem to become overly obsessed with their looks. I have seen it all in the Chinese culture, and time and time again, people’s obsession extends to a clinically sickening way. For example, in China, the broader beauty standards for female social media influencers should have an “A-4” body. What is an A-4 you might ask? It is essentially a beauty standard in which a female must have a waist size of no bigger than a standard A-4 copy paper, that is, in the size of 21 by 29.7 centimeters. What is even more absurd, though, is that the paper must be vertically aligned with the contour of the body. This means that the waist size is further limited to only 21 centimeters in size.

Application of Concept: The term that seems to best fit this event most clearly is Carl Roger’s humanistic perspective. The textbook mentions that Carl Roger stresses the importance of self-reflect and self-respect (Chapter 13, Page 517). If we circle back to the earlier event, this beauty standard was massively popularized due to the rise of social media platforms, particularly TikTok. The repercussion of that is the irrational pursuit of being the best looking on the block to compete with others while further raising that beauty standard. This is exceptionally unsustainable because it will eventually lead to a constant unending cycle of misery. These beauty standards will further fuel the urge to pursue a lavish lifestyle at an early age, which is definitely not one of the best ways to manage your wealth. In the end, these people will become victims of those predatory lenders, as we have mentioned in a previous event. Speaking of self-respect, it reminds me of the award-winning movie Hidden Figures. The movie portrays three black women working for NASA during the height of the civil rights movement during the 1960s. They were discriminated against very harshly, but ultimately, in the end, those women were able to prove that they were worthy of their time because they had proven their skills. After all, the best way to gain respect is to either prove them wrong or prove that you are more intelligent than them. So that way, you will be able to explore your values and learn to appreciate yourself, thereby gaining confidence through this process of self-respect.

Chapter 14 Event: I chose one of the job skills that I developed when I was working full time as the event. When I was working, I always preferred to be told just precisely what was expected of me. So I remembered a time that I had to generate a sales report for one of our executives on very short notice. So what I did was to evaluate my current workload and my capacity to take on more tasks. Then I went ahead and got started on things that I might have otherwise no time due to the time constraints, but are also equivocally as important. While I also pushed the stuff that I was working on at the time a bit further back just to squeeze the sales report into that tight deadline. In the end, because of that, I was able to complete all of my tasks on time.

Application of Concept: The term that seems to best fit this event most clearly is Decision-making processes. The textbook defines it as a process involving a careful evaluation of the current situation and available resources in order to achieve the best possible results. (Chapter 14, Page 541). As stated, that last-minute sales report that I had to do requires a high degree of attention to detail while also requiring me to evaluate the situation and make the best possible judgment based on the limited resources that I had. In that particular event, I had no support from any of my peers, so I had no backup support to rely on. Therefore, the only way for me to manage through these circumstances is to carefully consider the time frame in which my tasks require and allocate just enough time to work on them to meet the deadline without sacrificing the consequences of also delaying other tasks at hand.

Chapter 15 Event: The event that I chose is, once again, parenting. As I have mentioned in numerous previous assignments and in the Chapter 9 event, one of the best ways to prevent the development of psychological disorders is to make sure the parents are in a good psychological state. In addition, the parents must also act as an excellent example for their kids at an early age. Parental examples are critical in shaping a kid’s personality and behaviors. Again as I was doing research for my disorder paper and the audio presentation, what kept coming up was the emphasis on the effect of substance abuse, in particular, drugs and alcohol.

Application of Concept: The term that seems to best fit this event most clearly is Antisocial Personality Disorder. The textbook defines an antisocial personality disorder as a series of irregular patterns of irresponsible behaviors while the patient also exhibits a lack of remorse and a sense of wrongdoing (Chapter 15, Page 593). Now, if we circle this back to my experience researching medical studies, there is a close correlation between substance abuse and this antisocial personality disorder. Because as I was working on the presentation, I could not help but notice the number of repeats and emphasis on the fact that anxiety is one of the main factors that cause substance abuse. And knowing that substance abuse will and may progress into an antisocial personality disorder is just terrifying because there is no treatment for this disorder. As I have mentioned in my presentation, the best way to alleviate, or in this case, to “cure” this disorder is to prevent it from happening from the get-go. Similarly, drug abuse can also originate from a person’s living conditions and/or external influencers, such as their close circle of friends. This is another reason why previously rehabilitated individuals will sometimes resume drug use because their close circle of friends still does it. Everything ultimately ties back to the idea of the importance of proper nurture.

Chapter 16 Event: The event that I chose is one of my personal experiences with a patient with mental illness while working at a medical office some seven to eight years ago. This particular patient would always ask our doctor to prescribe antidepressant medications to her. And when the doctor prescribes her a three-month supply, she finishes them in a matter of a month. However, it was not until I spoke with our doctor and medical assistants that I found out she suffered a severe form of addiction to her antipsychotic drugs. At times, she would crawl on the floor begging for more drugs, and it was unfortunate to have witnessed that scene.

Application of Concept: The term that seems to best fit this event most clearly is Antipsychotics. The textbook defines antipsychotics as a potent medication that psychiatrists prescribe to treat various psychological disorders (Chapter 16, Page 626). That particular patient I have mentioned earlier has likely lost all rational conscientiousness and the ability to act normally. Aside from her radical behaviors, she is also unable to speak coherently. Our doctor had once stated that she was not like that when she first came in and stated that she must have had some sort of influence from other prescription drug abusers. However, her medical record also stated that she had a previous history of illegal drug use. Therefore, although the psychotic drugs are not likely the culprit of her then-radical behaviors, that previous drug history, though, has likely played a massive role in helping her develop into a prescription drug abuser. If we were to add environmental and family influences, come to think of it, it is also very likely not to be a positive one either.