Emotional Freedom and Transformation of Life - Essay Example

? Final Essay Examination In psychology, aggression entails a range of behaviors that can cause psychological and physical harmto a person, others, or even objects in the surroundings. Aggression can be expressed in a number of ways, which include physical, verbal, emotional and mental. Aggression serves such purposes as threatening or intimidating, expressing hostility or anger, and affirming dominance (Lorenz, 2002). Aggressive behavior may occur as a result of provocation; in this case, the aggressive person retaliates against the person who provokes him or her. Aggression may also occur without any provocation, whereby a person expresses aggression towards other people. There are various types of aggression, which include physical aggression, verbal aggression, instrumental aggression, relational aggression, hostile aggression, non-verbal intimidation, and passive aggression (Williams, 2011). Physical aggression entails actions of physical violence intended to harm others. It may include acts intended to kill through the use of weapons. Physical aggression can be caused by frustration or intoxication with drugs such as alcohol. In addition, actions directed towards oneself, such as self-mutilation can be termed as forms of physical aggression. Verbal aggression entails behaviors such as yelling, bullying, or threats. In addition, behavior that may make the recipient feel intimidated by others can also be classified as verbal aggression. For example, if a person is called names that make him feel detested by other persons (Lorenz, 2002). Instrumental aggression is common in children, and it entails actions aimed at obtaining privileges or objects without an intention to cause any harm to the recipient. Relational aggression entails a form of aggressive behavior that damages the relationship between two persons. For example, social exclusion or spreading rumors can be regarded as a form of relational aggression. On the other hand, hostile aggression refers to a form of aggressive behavior whose intention is to cause harm to another person. It includes actions such as threatening to fight someone, or even hitting another person. Nonverbal intimidation entails threatening to be violent towards a person. Forms of intimidation may include stalking and sexual harassment such as offering someone unwanted gifts (Williams, 2011). Passive aggression can be termed as a way of expressing discontent or anger indirectly. It emanates from resentment from someone who cannot be able to portray their hatred directly. Forms of passive aggressive behavior may include the deliberate performance of tasks poorly, or failing to perform a task even after agreeing to do so. Delay can also be regarded as a form of behavior that is passively aggressive (Williams, 2011). Biological, cognitive, and social influences have an impact on aggressive behavior. To biological theorists, aggressive behavior can have a genetic, hormonal or chemical component. For example, hormones that trigger aggressive behavior may be inherited by children from parents. Social factors can also have an influence on aggressive behavior. For example, children can learn to be aggressive through imitating adults or by watching violence in the mass media. Viewing aggressive behavior, as Bandura concluded, may increase the likelihood of a person becoming violent. When adults demonstrate aggressive behavior, children learn that aggression can be an acceptable way of attaining needs, solving problems and elevating a person to a heroic status. Cognitive influences may also affect aggressive behavior; the mental processes that go through a person’s mind have an impact on the way such a person thinks. For example, if a person relates violence in movies to heroism, he or she will most likely become aggressive (Lorenz, 2002). #2 Emotions and stress have an impact on the health of an individual; therefore, emotions, stress, and health are linked. People with good emotions can be considered as people who have learnt healthy ways of coping with stress and other health problems, which they encounter in their daily life. Daily events can trigger stress since they tend to disrupt a person’s emotional health; this leads to feelings of anxiety, sadness, and depression. Emotions affect health in the sense that a person’s body responds to the way he or she feels, thinks, or acts. This is known as the mind/body connection (Lewis, Jeannette & Lisa, 2010). When an individual undergoes stress, anxiety, or becomes upset, the body tells him or her that something has gone wrong. For example, high blood pressure or stomach ulcers may develop as a result of stressful situations. According to Aldwin & Werner (2009), when a person undergoes stress, certain changes may be experienced in the body. These changes relate to the way a person’s body reacts towards stress. The changes can be classified into physical, cognitive, and emotional. Physical changes include nausea and dizziness, loss of drive for sex, pains and aches, frequent colds, rapid heartbeat and chest pains as well as constipation and diarrhea. Cognitive changes include poor judgment, anxiety, problems with memory, and problems in concentration. Emotional changes may include feeling overwhelmed, moodiness, depression, short temper and irritability. The changes that occur in the body during stress can act as probable causes of some diseases. For example, mental illnesses may result from anxiety and changes in mood. Physical pain can also trigger physical problems, which can lead to serious diseases. Changes such as rapid heartbeats can be risk factors for heart diseases and heart attacks. Therefore, the changes that take place in the body during times of stress can cause diseases. There are various ways through which an individual can combat stress (Lewis, Jeannette & Lisa, 2010). They include proper diet, having enough time to rest, engaging in physical exercise, and seeking social support. A balanced diet can help reduce stress considerably as it improves the body’s coping mechanisms and strategies to deal with stress (Aldwin Werner, 2009). People should have enough rest so as to relax the mind and avoid stress that may result from work overload and lack of adequate rest. Therefore, having time for leisure can remarkably help a person cope with stress. Physical exercise plays an essential role in coping with stress. While exercising, a person manages to forget the events that may be stressful in their life. Moreover, physical activity helps to reduce stress hormones such as cortisol while at the same time releasing chemicals known as endorphins, which make the body feel good (Aldwin & Werner, 2009). Another way of coping with stress can be through social support mechanisms. Seeking help from other people by sharing a stressful event can go a long way in reducing stress. Support networks may include relatives, friends, or colleagues at work. Other ways of dealing with stress can be through avoidance of activities or behaviors that may lead to stress. For example, avoiding excessive drug use can help in reducing stress. #3 According to Ledwig (2006), negative emotions entail feelings that seem to be negative in character as the individual expresses intentions to exclude the emotions. Negative emotions may emanate from fear of the unknown, or the need to control actions of others that may induce fear. In a nutshell, negative emotions include keeping a person’s position strong and keeping away what may be perceived as threatening. The primary causes of negative emotions include justification, lack of consideration, blaming, and identification. Justification enhances the prolonging of negative emotions by making a person assure themselves that they have the right to encounter negativity. Through justification, it becomes extremely hard to get rid of negative feelings and emotions. For example, a person who believes that a particular negative emotion will continue to exist may not be able to denounce the negative feelings and emotions. Lack of consideration may stem from a person feeling that they are not getting the recognition, which they deserve. People should recognize others if they also want to be recognized. However, persons with negative emotions do not recognize others; they also fail to be responsible of their failures and mistakes. Identification occurs when a person takes something personally. Identification may be common in people who easily get angered. For example, a person who has hot tempers may be regarded as having negative emotions (Ledwig, 2006). Blaming can also be a primary cause of negative emotions. When a person blames others, they give their powers away to the person they blame. Therefore, this reduces someone’s power since a person blames the situation or another person to make themselves right. Orloff (2010) contends that, despite the occurrence of negative emotions, a person can harness these emotions and turn them to positive ones. A number of strategies can be employed to convert negative emotions to positive ones. Negative emotions act as signals that a person needs to make some change in their life. One of the ways through which a person can deal with negative emotions entails acknowledging that the negative emotions exist. For example, when a person loses a job, or they undergo some stress, the acceptance of such occurrences can help in reducing and dealing with negative feelings. Ledwig (2006) asserts that negative emotions are a sign that something needs to be changed. This acknowledgement helps a person to denounce negative feelings and change them to positive ones. Other ways of dealing with negative emotions include figuring out the change that one needs to make. A person should consider what emotions tell him, or her to do. For example, if one is stressed in their job, he or she should consider finding another job. It is essential to assess the current situation and identify factors that contribute to negative emotions. As a result, the person will be able to counter the negative feelings. Another way of converting negative emotions to positive ones includes continued adjustment. An individual should keep on changing from the negative emotions and feelings by striving to embrace positive thoughts and feelings (Orloff, 2010). # 4 Motivation refers to the desire to do things; it is an essential element in goal setting and attainment. There are three main components of motivation, which include persistence, direction, and effort. The three components of motivation have a close correlation with positive emotions. They can play an essential role in the reinforcement of positive emotions. Persistence entails the act of holding on to something even when it seems as if it is difficult to achieve it (Ross, 2011). Many people tend to struggle with this component of motivation. Persistence becomes particularly essential when someone wants to embrace positive emotions. For example, through persistence, a person can be able to work towards the achievement of positive emotions. Persistence encourages a person to keep on trying despite the challenges that may be encountered. Direction refers to the motivation to work towards achieving some set goals. Through direction, a person can be able to dedicate resources for the attainment of the set goals. With direction, a person having negative emotions can manage to overcome them and embrace positive emotions. This component helps a person to acknowledge that they must work extra harder to achieve the goals they have set (Lopez & Snyder, 2011). A person having negative emotions strives to get rid of them by working endlessly to attain positive emotions. Therefore, direction can be considered essential since it guides a person towards achieving positive emotions and denouncing negative feelings. Effort is yet another crucial component of motivation that plays an essential role in the attainment of positive emotions. Effort entails the intensity with which a person pursues a positive emotion or behavior. Through effort, a person realizes that denouncing negative emotions and embracing positive ones will be of profound benefits. With the realization of the benefits, a person can be able to embrace behavior and emotions that are positive (Ross, 2011). Therefore, motivation helps in the development of positive emotions and the denouncing of negative ones. People feel motivated to get rid of negative emotions upon realization of the immense benefits of positive emotions. Positive emotions have some adaptive benefits, which play a central role in contributing to an individual’s wellbeing. Positive emotions provide a ground for exploration, growth, and building of the intellectual, physical, and social capital. As a result, a person with positive emotions will benefit in terms of further growth and development (Lopez & Snyder, 2011). Moreover, positive emotions act as a foundation for positive social interactions in human beings. Because of positive emotions, people become creative and tolerant. Human beings have the capacity to develop new and significant ideas as a result of positive emotions. Positive emotions also broaden the intellectual capacities of human beings. The development of positive emotions in human beings occurs through experiences and encounters in a person’s environment. Human beings learn the benefits of positive emotions after encountering the negative aspects of negative emotions. Continued exposure to negative emotions calls for the development of positive emotions. People see the need to cultivate positive emotions due to the need to improve their health status and get rid of negative health conditions. The realization of the drawbacks associated with negative emotions automatically leads to the development of positive emotions (Lopez & Snyder, 2011). # 5 According to Kaufman & Baer (2006), curiosity, motivation and creativity have a strong interconnection that manifests itself in the relationships between the three. Motivation can lead to creativity in individuals who strive towards achievement. Through intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, an individual gets the motive to perform tasks and achieve. Motivation encourages a person to the extent that they become creative and hardworking. As a result, someone can be able to come up with innovations and discoveries. For example, employees who are motivated at the workplace have the capacity to come up with better ways of doing the job. Upon motivation, they can become explorative and discover ideas that will improve efficiency of operations. Likewise, students who are motivated at school tend to be creative and pass well in exams. The reason behind satisfactory performance at school emanates from the creativity due to both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. Curiosity is also related to motivation; this derives from explorative behavior. Curiosity may either be intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic curiosity happens for its own sake while extrinsic curiosity is caused by external factors. Therefore, intrinsic curiosity tends to be more independent of external reinforcement than extrinsic curiosity. Curiosity often stems from the knowledge that there will be benefits that accrue as a result of some form of behavior (Kaufman & Baer, 2006). People are curious to understand how something operates due to intrinsic rewards. Much of curiosity is not related to extrinsic reinforcement. For example, people explore some fascinating mysteries in life not because they gain motivation from outside, but because they have the inward motivation to do so. There is a strong connection between curiosity and creativity in that curiosity may lead to creativity. People who tend to be curious about something may become creative and come up with new knowledge. Curiosity may entail exploration into how something operates or how something can be made better than the way it appears (Kaufman & Baer, 2006). Through exploration, people tend to be innovative and create things that did not exist before. For example, numerous explorations have led to scientific discoveries. Curious scientists have managed to be creative enough to the extent that they have succeeded in making significant discoveries. Therefore, the strong and notable connection between curiosity and creativity occurs in the ways in which people make discoveries and come up with innovative ideas. Sensation seeking entails the pursuit of excitement and sensory pleasure. There exists a strong relationship between sensation seeking, explorative behavior and creativity. A form of sensation seeking known as experience seeking has a strong correlation to creativity and explorative behavior. This entails seeking sensation through the senses as well as the mind. People who tend to be high sensation seekers may engage in diverse thinking. Such people do not reason or think in conventional ways; rather they tend to think unconventionally (Zuckerman, 1994). This results to creativity, which entails doing things in newer ways that seem better than the existing ways. Through explorative behavior and sensation seeking, people may tend to devise new ways of doing things. #6 Competence refers to the ability to perform tasks properly and with a lot of efficiency, which leads to the attainment of desirable outcomes. In most instances, competence entails interplay of a combination of skills, knowledge, abilities, and commitments that enable a person to do their job effectively (Semrud-Clikeman, 2007). Through competence, a person acts in a wide variety of situations; competent persons have the capacity to serve in various positions and still produce significant results. Social competence has to do with the ways in which people build the foundations upon which future interactions will be based. There are various factors that may contribute to competence. The factors that contribute to competence include parenting style, attachment and temperament. Parents act as the primary sources of emotional as well as social development during infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, and late childhood (Semrud-Clikeman, 2007). The ways in which the parents socialize a child affect the development of competence right from early childhood. Parental warmth, love, and affection create feelings of self-assertion and encourage competence in children. Thus, parenting can be regarded as a key factor in determining a child’s competence. Parents are extremely significant in the development and growth of children; child reinforcement from parents leads to high levels of competence. Attachment may also be a contributing factor to a person’s competence; the attachment that a person gets as a child may be essential for the development of competence. Through attachment, a person has the capacity to develop social skills and behaviors that may trigger competence. As a result of attachment, human beings learn, at a young age, that the world can be predicted (Semrud-Clikeman, 2007). Temperament entails the biological response of a person to the outside environment. Aspects of temperament include sociability, soothability, and rhythmicity. Sociability plays a significant role in the development of competence. People who tend to be social have high levels of competence than those who are antisocial. Self-regulation has a strong relationship with competence; the two aspects are closely related. Emotional and behavioral self-regulation tends to be a significant component of competence, especially among children who attend school. Self-regulated behaviors can have remarkable implications for the development of competencies among children. Behavioral and emotional regulation has a strong correlation to the development of skills and knowledge that enhances competencies. Self-regulated behavior can predict the level of competence in a person (Bronson, 2001). For example, people who have the capacity to regulate their behavior may have a higher tendency to be more competent than those who do not regulate their behavior. Moreover, self-regulation means that a person has the capacity to strive and aim at attaining goals that will place them at a competent level. Self-regulation gives a person the drive and the motivation to work towards the attainment of some set goals. Through self-regulation, a person develops skills and ideas that are typical of competent persons. Self-regulation enhances the development of adaptive mechanisms that will enable a person to become exceptionally competent (Bronson, 2001). Positive attitudes and desirable behavior patterns can best be developed through self-regulation. Thus, self-regulation plays an essential role in the development of competence. #7 Bracken (1996) asserts that self-concept refers to the ways in which a person perceives himself or herself in relation to others in society. Additionally, self-concept may entail the awareness about oneself and the ways in which people evaluate themselves or think about themselves. Self-concept can be regarded as an essential term for both humanism and social psychology. Through self-concept, human beings are able to develop unique views about their world. The development of self- concept occurs in relation to two aspects, which include the existential self and the categorized self. The existential self can be regarded as the basic part of the self-concept; it entails the sense of feeling separate and unique from other people. As a child grows up, they realize that they are separate from other people, and they have the capacity to exist. This awareness starts when the child is two or three months (Bracken, 1996). It mainly emanates from the child’s realization of how he or she relates with the outside world. For example, a child may smile at an older person who smiles back or the child may touch something that will make some movements. The categorized self occurs after the realization and awareness in the existential self. After the realization that he exists, the child gains the awareness that he exists as an object. The child gains awareness that he has some properties such as size, age, gender or some form of skill. The first category that the child applies includes gender and age. For example, a child may tend to mention his age or gender such as “I am four” or “I am a boy.” In addition, a child may apply other categories in early childhood such as height, hair color, or favorite things like toys (Bracken, 1996). Possible selves and self-esteem have notable benefits. These benefits include the ability to feel more secure, seeing the good in oneself and others, the ability to overcome setbacks more easily, and acknowledging the needs of other people. Self-esteem also helps in the development of positive philosophy, gaining optimism, and taking responsibility of one’s thoughts, feelings and emotions (Powell, 2005). People who have high self-esteem value themselves and see themselves as worthy and capable of solving diverse problems. As a result of high self-esteem, a person develops a liking for who he or she is and realizes that there are aspects can be embraced to enhance growth and development. In addition, high self-esteem implies that the person will most likely be happy, have the ability to keep friends who are positive, and overcome challenging situations. According to Powell (2005), the drawbacks to high self-esteem relate to factors that are associated with the status, background of a person, and association with the outside world. One of the drawbacks to high self-esteem includes excessive criticism from the significant others. For example, when a child is told that they are of no good, it may result to depression and stress. As a result, the child may lose self-confidence, thereby creating feelings of worthlessness and pessimism. Parental influence can also be a hindrance to high self-esteem. When a parent expresses discontent with a child’s unfulfilled dreams, the child will most likely develop feelings of low self-esteem. Other drawbacks to high self-esteem include the failure to achieve one’s goals, dreams, and objectives. References Aldwin, C.M. & Werner, E. E. (2009). Stress, Coping, and Development: An Integrative Perspective. London: Guilford Press. Bracken, B. A. (2005). Handbook of self-concept: developmental, social, and clinical considerations. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Bronson, B. M. (2001). Self-regulation in early childhood: nature and nurture. New York: The Guilford Press. Kaufman, C. J. & Baer, J. (2006). Creativity and Reason in Cognitive Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lorenz, K. (2002). On aggression. London: Routledge. Lewis, M., Jeannette, M., & Lisa, F. B. (2010). Handbook of Emotions, Third Edition. London: Guilford Press. Ledwig, M. (2006). Emotions: their rationality & consistency. New York: Peter Lang publishing Inc. Lopez, S. J. & Snyder, C. R. (2011). The Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press. Orloff, J. (2010). Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself from Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life. New York, NY: Crown Publishing Group. Powell, J. (2005). Self Esteem. London: Black Rabbit Books. Ross, H. B. (2011). The Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Advances in Research and Theory. UK, London: Academic Press. Semrud-Clikeman, M. (2007). Social Competence in children. Michigan: Springer. Williams, P. (2011). Aggression: From Fantasy to Action. London: Karnac Books. Zuckerman, M. (1994). Behavioral Expressions and Biosocial Bases of Sensation Seeking. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Read More