Psychology and Success
Chapter 1
“What
lies behind us and what lies before
us are small matters compared to what lies within us.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Philosopher
McGraw-Hill
© 2010 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Learning Objectives
• Define success.
• List several personal qualities that help people
to be happy.
• Define psychology and cite its four major
goals.
• Explain the relationship between thoughts,
feelings, and actions.
• Define self, self-image, and identity.
• Describe the components of identity.
1-2
What is Success?
Success: a lifetime of personal fulfillment.
Success Secrets
• Success is a journey, not a destination.
• Money and fame don’t equal success.
Activity 1: What Success Means to You
1-3
Ingredients of Success
1. Self-Awareness Appreciating your personal
values, qualities, skills and interests.
2. Self-Direction Setting a goal and working
toward it.
3. Self-Esteem Respecting oneself.
4. Positive Thinking Focusing on future
possibilities to propel yourself toward your
goals.
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Ingredients of Success continued…
5. Self-Discipline Daily personal effort
putting your plans into action.
6. Self-Motivation Getting and staying
motivated. Moving forward despite
fears.
7. Positive Relationships Healthy
relationships with friends, family, and
co-workers.
Personal Journal 1.1 Ingredients of Success
1-5
Who is a Success?
• In society, it is not always obvious who are
truly successful people.
• Role Model Person who has qualities you
would like to have.
Success Secrets
• Always make time for relationships.
• Adults need role models, too.
Activity 2: Role Model
1-6
Success and Happiness
• Happiness The natural experience of
winning your self-respect and the respect of
others.
• Outside factors—wealth, youth, physical
attractiveness, etc., have little effect on
happiness.
Success Secret
• Create your own opportunities for happiness.
Activity 3: How Happy Are You?
1-7
Positive Qualities
• Another way to boost your happiness is to develop
personal qualities that will help you enjoy life and
cope with challenges.
• Psychologists have identified the following qualities:
ability to love, vocation, courage, trust, optimism,
future-mindedness, social skills, aesthetic sensibility,
work ethic, honesty, emotional awareness,
persistence, forgiveness, creative thinking, spirituality,
self-esteem and wisdom.
Success Secret
• Try new ways of thinking and doing.
1-8
Understanding Psychology
• Psychology Scientific study of human
behavior.
• Behavior Anything that you think, feel or do.
• Goals of Psychology Describe, predict,
explain, and (in some cases) change human
behavior.
Success Secret
• Studying psychology helps you understand
yourself and others.
1-9
Explaining Human Behavior
Why do people think, feel and act the way they do?
• Nervous system Regulates thoughts, feelings
and actions.
• Conscious Mind The part of the brain that
controls the mental processes of which we are
aware.
• Subconscious Mind The part of the brain that
controls the mental processes of which we are
not actively aware.
1-10
Thoughts, Feelings, and Actions
• Cognition (thought) Mental processing of
information in any form.
• Includes: perceiving, recognizing,
remembering, reasoning, solving problems,
making decisions, forming concepts,
visualizing.
• Emotion (feeling) Subjective feeling
accompanied by physical and behavioral
changes.
Personal Journal 1.2
Your Thoughts, Feelings, and Actions
1-11
Positive and Negative Emotions.
1-12
Understanding Yourself
• Self Your sense of being a unique, conscious
being, the inner core of you.
• Self-Image All the beliefs you have about
yourself.
• Areas in which you have self-images include:
intellectual ability, competence, creativity,
sense of humor, morality, romantic appeal,
physical appearance, parental relationships,
close friendships, and social acceptance.
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Building A Healthy Self-Image
• A healthy self-image is positive but realistic.
• Makes the best of all the things you do well.
• Is based on who you are right now.
• Does not limit who you will be next week.
• A complex self-image means having a variety of
positive ways to see yourself.
Personal Journal 1.3 How Do You See Yourself?
Activity 4: Wheel of Life
1-14
You and Your Social World
• Social Role Norms that define how you are
supposed to behave in a given situation.
• Self-Preservation Altering your behavior to
make a good impression of others.
Activity 5: Sides of Yourself
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Identity
• How you choose to define yourself to the
world.
• Individual Identity The physical and
psychological characteristics that distinguish
you.
• Relational Identity How you identify yourself
in relation to others.
• Collective Identity The sum of the social
roles you play and the social groups to which
you belong.
Activity 6: Identify Profile
1-16
Culture, Gender and Identity
• Culture – the behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and
traditions shared by a large social group,
transmitted from one generation to the next.
Western– individualism, Eastern-collectivism
• Gender Role – norms that define how males
and females are supposed to behave.
• Gender Bias - treating someone differently
or unfairly due to one’s gender.
1-17
Defining Your Role
• Researchers suggest that it is healthiest to
have a combination of stereotypically
masculine and feminine qualities.
• Some typical qualities: logical, assertive,
sensitive, independent, gentle,
compassionate.
Success Secret
• Don’t put limits on what you can become.
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