I've learned a lot over the course of this semester, but the topic that intrigued me most was chapter 14 - personality. Everyone has a different personality, and reading about how genetics and external environments could affect it caught my attention. It may sound odd, but the structure of personality our book presented (Id, Ego, and Superego) really connected in my brain. I liked the fact that Freud divided up three major agents of personality - basic instincts, moral standards, and decision making. The concept made sense to me how a person's decision process goes through each of the components. The iceberg model the book presented was a perfect display for these levels of structure. Although I believe some people's egos are more visible than others! Our everyday decisions depend on the id, ego and superego interacting, and knowing how this works still amazes me! I'm sure five years from now I won't be talking about it on a regular basis, but I will always remember what people are thinking as they make important moral decisions.
nguy1731: April 2012 Archives
People often say, "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder," which I also find quite true. Here in the United States, people might find men that are tall, dark, and handsome or women with blue eyes and blonde hair and a curvy figure attractive, but that may not be true somewhere else in the world. After doing more research on attractiveness, I have found out that what people generally think is attractive is very different around the world, and has changed through the years. As early as the 15th century, people that were fat and pale were believed to be beautiful because that meant they made enough money to eat and stayed out of the sun. Now, thin models and models with plenty of muscle are attractive and are all over advertisements. Around the world, levels of attractiveness vary even more. Women in Thailand wear brass rings around their necks to show elegance. Maori men and women in New Zealand get sacred tattoos on their faces. Who knows what will be the definition of beauty in the future!
