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I – 1.) Chapter 9 Term/Concept: A term that stood out to me about…
I- 1.) Chapter 9 Term/Concept: A term that stood out to me about Adolescence from chapter nine was invincibility fable. Many adolescents have the notion that death will not occur unless it is destined to be. It is a strong belief that they are invincible in this world unless they are destined to die. (Berger, 2019, p. 329) It is quite an egocentric conviction to believe that a person cannot be harmed or overcome by anything that could defeat a human being. Because of these beliefs they feel that they are free from harm from high-risk activities such as drug abuse, high-speed driving and unprotected sex. Invincibility fables make it difficult for teenagers to control their own behavior by removing any impulse to do so. (Berger, 2019, p. 329)
Biopsychosocial Lens: Adolescents must use their brains in order to create these invincibility fables, which involve many biological processes. Processing and coming up with beliefs about the world involve the workings of the mind, which directly relates to psychology. When adolescents carry out these various dangerous actions with an attitude of invincibility, they commonly do them within social groups and settings such as within their close friend group or at parties. When accidents occur in public, they often affect several different people involved. For example, adolescent drunk driving can kill or harm other passengers within the car or another vehicle involved. In some cases, even a pedestrian or small child. Such choices can lead to tragic unintended consequences for themselves and others within the community.
Chapter 10 Term/Concept: The term Sexual Orientation refers to who a person is romantically and sexually attracted to (turned on by). (Berger, 2019, p. 329) This can be others of the opposite sex, same sex, or both sexes. It refers to the direction of a person’s erotic desires. One’s sexual orientation can vary with degrees of being weak, secret, overt, unconscious or strong. (Berger, 2019, p. 362)
Biopsychosocial lens: For people that are heterosexual there is a biological drive to be sexually intimate with people of the opposite sex. The desire to reproduce and engage in sexual activity is driven by hormones in our bodies, this occurs whether a person wants to have children or not. They still experience a desire and pull towards sexual connection. People of other sexual orientations also feel a drive to have romantic, intimate and sexual connections with people they are attracted to as well but towards varying preferred sexes. Another factor that is biological, psychological and social is the need for humans to feel loved and have companionship. People have the need to be accepted and appreciated by others. Romantic relationships and connections can fulfill these needs in order to help people feel content in their lives.
Berger, K. S. (2019). Invitation to the life span – 4th ed. WORTH Publishers INC, U S.
2.) A real-life example that intrigued me is my own personal experiences and responses to the Social Group Membership Profile within this week’s Module material. It was an interesting exercise to mentally go back in time to puberty and what it was like living in a rapidly changing body. I would say that my “best feature” was my long thin legs. My older sister has always been envious of my legs because she got her feminine curves at a young age and has never had as long or as skinny legs as me. Meanwhile I was jealous that she had had breasts since fourth grade. My “worst feature” that I felt like needed the biggest upgrade was my breast size. I barely had any breasts until I was a junior in high school and I was so relieved when they finally came in. My friends would make fun of me all the time for being flat chested and I was very embarrassed. Then once I got breasts, they would grab at them and make fun of how large and pointed shaped they were. In sixth grade I wanted breasts so badly, I would wear tiny little padded AA bras that were too big for me to make it look like I had them. My friend Payton and I would play dress up and fill our bras with rolled up socks and toilet paper. I was very jealous of the few of my friends that already had breasts. When I was in sixth grade several of my friends were as flat chested as I was, but other friends would brag about fitting into B cup sized bras. This felt extra terrible to hear, especially since I didn’t even fit into the AA cup bras that I wore to school to try and make it look like I had something there. I remember the embarrassment I felt changing in the gym locker room in middle school. I would see other girls that had large breasts in their bras and think why can’t that be me? It made me feel like I was the odd one out. Compared to my classmates and most of my friends I was a late maturing individual. I felt like I was way behind everyone in physical development and I just wanted to fit in. A few of my friends were also slow developers so that helped make me feel better. My late maturing had a big impact on me at the time. I was constantly made fun of by my friends for being short, skinny and flat chested for many years.
Being made fun of for my body shape and size throughout childhood still affects me today. The fact that parts of my body have been deemed as too small and large makes me feel like no matter what size I am throughout my life it’s never quite right or good enough in society. It feels like a never-ending battle of what others think I should look like, and this leads me to being super self-conscious about my size. Today at age 27 I still have my long legs, but I have much more filled out hips and thighs and I still have larger breasts as well. In America there is a societal standard that skinny women are beautiful. This constant pressure to be thin makes it feel like my bigger boned body and curves are wrong. Yet at the same time I think my body features are beautiful and I am happy to have a womanly shape. The competitive side of me feels an odd sense of pride in the fact that my upper and lower body curves outgrew those of the friends that used to make fun of me, which is quite silly.
The words of advice I would have in concern to body image for my future child would be that people come in all shapes and sizes and there is no one and all mold defining what a beautiful body should look like. I would tell them that it is okay to notice the differences of other people’s bodies, but they don’t need to constantly compare themselves to or discuss the size and shape of other people’s bodies. They should be kind to themselves and others regarding such. I would tell them that puberty is a difficult time, but it doesn’t last forever. I would want them to know that they may not like the physical changes they are going through or how they make them look but these awkward in between phases tend to get better with time.
II- Chapter 9- Adolescent Egocentrism is part of cognitive development and is a teenager’s tendency to believe that they are the center of the universe. They often believe that everyone is watching and judging them, and they may feel like no one else could possibly understand what they’re going through. This can lead to feelings of self-consciousness and a desire for attention and validation from others. This is seen especially in early adolescence and is mostly widespread through the ages of 10 and 13. The most changes are happening during this age range and can create more self-awareness about one’s appearance, instigating changes to suit their own ideas on how themselves and others perceive them (Berger, 2019). It would be interesting to see an adolescent results from the “Who Am I” module and compare them to the same individuals answers as a young adult. I know my own thoughts about who I was at sixteen are completely different from who I am today at almost twenty-nine years old. This fits into the psychological lense as it ties into perception of oneself.
Chapter 10- Peer Power is the influence that peers can have on each other, both positive and negative. It’s the idea that adolescents are more likely to listen to and be influenced by their friends than by authority figures like parents or teachers. Peer power can be a powerful force for good, as friends can encourage others to make positive choices and support each other through difficult times. However, it can also be a negative force if friends encourage each other to engage in risky or harmful behavior. Peer pressure can become prevalent during early adolescence and usually has a negative connotation to it but can ultimately be more helpful than harmful. An example of this is social media connecting friends together whereas some parents might view social media as corruptive (Berger, 2019).
I’ll go back to my thoughts on adolescent egocentrism and the “Who Am I” module to talk about my experience with tattoos as a sixteen-year-old. I think I was fifteen when I attempted to get my first tattoo. I was laying on the floor at my friend’s house and wanted her friend to tattoo a tribal horse on my back. After two hours into it, I had passed out twice and couldn’t continue. I came out of that experience with a poorly done tribal cloud looking thing on my back. My next thought was, “Well I have to cover this up with something, it looks terrible!” My boyfriend at the time introduced me to his friend who also did tattoos in his house (making great choices here). I told him I wanted a black playboy bunny to cover up the other tattoo and he did it. I never thought I would regret it but here I am today stopping myself from wearing anything that shows the tattoo. Luckily, I had a consultation recently to get the wretched thing covered up with an artist who has his own shop with a great track record. (Ha HA, I’m starting to make good decisions finally!) Reading this week’s chapters on adolescent egocentrism made me think about all the bad choices I made as a teenager, and I loved reliving them.
Task:
Read these two discussions and tell what was most interesting from I and II.
