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Individual and Family Dynamics 120

Strengthening Relationships – Unit #1: The Importance of Self-Awareness

Sem 2 2018

Student Outcomes: At the end of this unit students will be able to:

____gain a better understanding of who they are

____analyze how the qualities of their personality influence their relationships

SELF AWARENESS

What does it mean to be self-aware? Self Awareness is having a clear perception of your personality, including strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and emotions. Self Awareness allows you to understand other people, how they perceive you, your attitude and your responses to them in the moment.

Self awareness is the first step in creating what you want within your own life and within your relationships. It will also enable you to recognize what needs to be changed to improve your life and your relationships.

How can self-awareness help you in your life? Notes

Reflection #1: What do you know about yourself already? Take some time to think about who you are. Write down some things. These questions can guide you. What are your likes and dislikes? How social are you? How motivated are you in school? Are you like one of your parents? What do you value in life? Are you emotional or are you an angry person? Are you goal oriented? Are you positive or negative? Do you like being around people?

How do I know if you are self-aware or if you lack it?

Types of activities to increase self awareness. Notes

HEREDITY

Heredity is the sum of the qualities that were passed from your ancestors through your parents to you. Heredity is a major factor in your personality development.

Notes: Definitions of chromosomes, genes, traits, Dominant and Recessive genes, genotype, phenotype

Video Clip: Where do genes come from?

Activity: Dominant and Recessive Traits

Reflection #2

A. Think about the characteristics that you have inherited from your parents. Make a list. Look at this list and reflect if there are any characteristics that you are glad you inherited. Circle these. Look at this list and reflect if there are any characteristics that you wish you had not inherited. Underline those.

B. Choose a characteristic from each list and discuss how it could help or hinder a relationship in your life. (Work relationship, friend relationship, parent relationship etc.)

Article and Questions: Whose Eyes are These, Whose Nose? Pass In.

ENVIRONMENT

Your environment includes everything in your surroundings such as family, friends, home and school. Your heredity determines your potential for development. Your environment determines if or how that potential is reached.

Examples of environmental influences on our personality are:

Group discussion on Environmental Factors: note sheet

Family and Sibling position. The family is usually the major human influence in a person’s life. Sibling position (being the first, last, middle or only child in the family) can make a difference in our personality development. Read page 35 and 36 to the end of sibling position.

TedTalk: Why Birth Order is a Blessing and a Curse

Your cultural heritage and society. Cultural heritage is learned behavior that is passed from generation to generation, such as family guidelines, celebrating holidays, foods you eat, traditions, etc.

Reflection #3: Think about how culturally diverse FHS is becoming. How does this impact on our peer relationships? How might this be a challenge? How might this be beneficial to our community?

**Research Assignment: Sibling Position

Part 1: Research your sibling position in the family. Write a one page summary on what the research says.

Part 2: Do you agree/disagree with what the research says based on your experience in your family. Explain using personal examples. (1/2-1 page)

Part 3: Share your research and experiences with several peers who share the same sibling position.

Part 4: Share your research and experiences with several peers who are of different sibling position.

RESILIENCY

We can’t control our heredity and many times cannot control our environment. However, as humans we have an amazing ability to respond with resiliency. Resiliency means we are able to adjust to setbacks and makes changes to survive to reach its maximum growth and development.

Ted Talks: Crack Your Shell/ Heather Warman

The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong/Amy Morin

Resilience is linked with three things: 1.

2.

3.

How can we boost our resilience? Notes

Reflection #4: Do you think you are a resilient person? Explain why or why not using an example. Or have you had a “crack your shell” moment? Or what are some unhealthy mental habits you practice? What are some healthy ones?

TEMPERAMENT

Individuals tend to relate to others in a consistent manner. In other words, their individual behavior is predictable. This consistency of behavior is based on your temperament, which is an inborn pattern of responses. Temperament patterns are related to basic behavior in the following four areas:

1. How you express yourself intellectually

2. How physically active you are

3. How you feel and express your emotions

4. How social you are

The Four Temperaments: Notes

Activity: On computer do the Four Temperaments Test

Activity #5 (put in folder): Worksheet: F/2:2: Identifying your Temperament

Submit Workbook for Evaluation

EMOTIONAL PATTERNS

relate to how a person experiences and manages their emotions. Emotional patterns vary widely. Some people are more sensitive to their emotional feelings. They may also be more aware of the feelings of others. Strong emotional feelings can cause some people to anger quickly or lose control and cry. Others tend to hide their emotions, keep everything inside, and cry rarely.

Emotional Intelligence: is the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others.

Video Clip: Inside Out: Riley No Emotion (14:00)

Activity #6(put in folder): Understanding Emotions (definitions)

Emotional Squares

SOCIAL PATTERNS

relate to how outgoing a person is. A person usually exhibits characteristics of extroversion, introversion or a combination of both. Make a list of characteristics of both introverts and extroverts.

Make a list in your notebook:

Introverts Extroverts

Video: TedTalks: The Power of Introverts/Susan Cain

Activity #7 (put in folder): Introversion scale: reflect on your score. Do you agree or disagree? How has this impacted your relationships?

DEFENSE MECHANISMS

Psychological equilibrium is maintained through the use of

DEFENSE MECHANISMS – this maintains a state of minimal conflict and

minimizes anxiety. There is constant conflict between the personality and the environment that occurs because of inadequately satisfied

needs. The individual who has failed to satisfy a need, or feels that failure is imminent, suddenly finds it necessary to produce some sort of an explanation or defense against that failure.

Feelings, Thoughts, and Actions Related to Defense Mechanisms

| |The Feeling |The Thinking |The Action |

|Projection |Failure | | |

|Rationalization |Weakness, disappointment, failure | | |

|Displacement |Anger, distress | | |

|Conversion |Anger, upset, anxiety | | |

|Regression |Frustration, anger | | |

|Idealization |Idolizing something or someone, | | |

| |valuing them too much | | |

|Fantasy |Loneliness, insecurity | | |

|Direct Attack |Insecurity, | | |

| |Anger | | |

|Compensation |Unhappiness | | |

|Using a substitute method to achieve |Insecure | | |

|a goal |Inferior | | |

|Withdrawal |Low confidence | | |

|Giving up or retreating from a |Inferior | | |

|situation |Overwhelmed | | |

Case study discussion: as a class

CHARACTER

Your character serves as your personal judge for every situation you face. Certain desirable traits are found in persons who have strength of character. For example, self-discipline, dependability, integrity, etc.

Activity #8(put in folder) D/2:1: A Checklist for A Self-Study of Character Traits

ATTITUDE

Discussion: How would you describe your general attitude? Is it positive or negative? How does our attitude affect how our daily life plays out? How does it affect our relationships?

Activity #9 (put in folder) : A/3:1: Positive and Negative Attitudes

STRESS

Everyone experiences stress. You can feel stress in both good and bad situations. It is important to learn to manage your stress. Reducing stress and its negative effects can help you keep positive attitudes. Stress can result in attitudes such as anger, anxiety and depression. These attitudes need to be handled and resolved or they will result in continued negative attitudes that will impact your life and relationships.

Activity #10 (put in folder): Stress Scale

Reflection: List some stressors (at least 3) in your life. What is the result of this stress? Is it anger, anxiety, depression? Discuss this. What could you do to make a positive change?

Your Life Path

Life can be thought of as a path. Your birth marks the beginning of your path in this world. Death marks the end of this path. Your path from birth to death is called your life span. No one knows just how long their life span will be. The average life span today for men is 72 years; for women, it is 79 years.

You are unique. No one else is exactly like you. As a unique person, you have your own daily life experiences. You may also share many experiences with others. Some people have a direct influence on your life path. For example, parents giving you food, clothes and shelter so you feel warm and secure. People’s actions can also influence you indirectly. For example, feeling hurt because you were not invited to a party.

Changes over your life span

As a teen you have major developmental tasks to achieve. A developmental task is a skill that society expects of individuals at various stages of life. Accomplishing these tasks successfully helps you become an adult:

Take notes on developmental tasks in your notebook.

Quiz

Summary

Let’s do a few things to sum up all of our hard work! There are three parts to this assignment.

1) “I like myself because…..” Come up with at least 10 ways!

2) Summary: Reread your first entry. Have you learned anything new about yourself? Explain. How important do you think self-awareness is to your future life? Discuss.

3) Creative Component: Me in a Box

This is all due on ____________________________________

Now we are at end of our self awareness section. In your opinion, has this unit helped you become more self-aware? Explain. How important do you think self-awareness is when it comes to relationships? Why?

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