

PremiumQualityEssays logo

Toll free:

The Subject of Psychology Essay

Psychology Free Essay Example

This paper focuses on the subject of psychology in life. It gives a personal approach to psychology and deals with major factors of psychology of people. The paper is an account of an interview of a person on factors such as; memory, learning, and intelligence; cognition and problem solving; motivation and the effects of gender and culture on emotions; and personality; it also gives the interviewee’s position on role of a person’s race, gender, or ethnicity play in relation to the person’s personality and attitudes; and whether he is extrinsically or intrinsically motivated. The interview gives the interviewee a chance to answer short open ended question on his character and personality that determines who he is. John Paul is the interviewee; he is in his early 30’s and is 5’’9 tall and 69 kilograms in weight. John is an environmental researcher and is currently undertaking his masters and plans on environmental activism and awareness. The interview was conducted on a bench at the park where John was relaxed and free from his normal routine.

Memory, learning and intelligence

In the first part of the interview John was to answer questions of memory, learning and intelligence. Asking about his grades they were good and above average and that made him start his masters program. Asked about the grasping of information and remembering it later john said that he usually requires to study and confirm what he has learnt in class later. John also said he preferred studying in the library where there is silence and free from family distractions. Asked about his favorite subject john quotes geography and emphasis that it his passion that’s why he studies environmental sciences. The recalling of general information watched on Television he says that it is instant and remembers what he hears from people they chat with.

He recalls important information regarding his schedule and works strictly on what he has written on his diary. John is more of an observational learner, this is because he has the capacity to use the four processes which are; attention, retention, motor reproduction and reinforcement. His memory is a long-term working memory, and has an episodic memory that recalls most life occurrences. He also has a high percentage of intelligence, this is because his psychological make up that determines mental, emotional, behavioral, moral, and linguistics have affected his lifestyle positively (Tieger, & Barron-Tieger, 1999).

This can be got from the social structure and friends that John lives in and the association that he has. John gave account of meeting friends and workmates for meetings which are consultative and can recall the information discussed. John also explains that his career is self driven and was not influenced by other people such as parents who coarse their children to take subjects that are difficult and not enjoyable to the students leading to difficulties in the careers of choice. John believe that learning is a process that starts from childhood and continues till one dies.

Cognition and problem solving

John was also interviewed on the concepts of cognition and problem solving and his views and reasons for them. Cognition makes use of linguistics to analyze the answers and give a positive response and meaning. This has made scientists build a dictionary of language with morphology, words senses, synonyms, hyponymy, meaning contexts, and phrases (Pearman, & Albritton, 1996). This makes the person have a precision and recall for the language generally used. Asked on how he pursues his job he quickly responds that his job is a passion that he must have a taste of it everyday, he enjoys, adores, and values his jobs greatly.

Posing the questions of stating three problems in his career he states “that’s a very good questions” and continues to state his challenges in his career as firstly having to balance his social life and career life, secondly, he states that the field of environment is neglected by many key government institutions especially finance who tend to allocate less funds since environment is seen as a lesser department, and finally the ignorance and arrogance of those who do not know about their environment and must be educated to protect and conserve it. Asked on the steps he takes to end such challenges he says that “charity begins at home” he continues to say that he has started a vigorous campaign of the environment that aims to educate his friends and counterparts on the importance of the environment and the benefits of protecting ad conserving it.

Motivation and the effects of gender and culture on emotions

John’s response on motivation and the effects of gender and culture on emotions was enjoyable and emphatic to say the least. John can be said to be a lover of his work and most of all is proud of who he is. He describes his job and passionately explains his goals and objectives in life and the reasons he is pursuing his masters. John is intrinsically motivated he focuses on the inner self of ideas and impressions in his life; he loves whatever he does and does it with a passion and to perfection. He holds what he has and goes beyond borders to share it with others and ensures what he does passes all regulations.

His views on gender are that people decide what they want to be and neither gender, nor culture, or race can deter their goals. He says that female haves been exploited by men just because they cannot control their emotions, but he is quick to note that there is no one who can’t be able to control their emotion. John is a go getter and would stop at nothing to achieve his ambitions and culture cannot stop him.

He thinks that a person’s race, gender, or ethnicity only comes to play when forming that person’s personality and attitudes only when the person allows them. Breaking the barriers is his answer and john assumes that people can be who they want to be through positive thinking. John is a Christian and quotes the Bible on numerous occasions to ascertain his religion and beliefs. Only two words that describe John he is dynamic and revolutionary (Pearman, R. et al., 2005). He believes that a person’s personality and attitudes are never determined by their race, gender, or ethnicity but rather on what he wants to be in life, his principles, his confidence, and most of all his determination. He explains that the background only shapes the childhood but once people become adults then their personality is prone to change by the persons mind and adaptation.


John Paul’s personality can be described as one who is open, conscious, being extraversion, and agreeable (Pearman, R. et al., 2005). He appreciates himself and shows a high level of self discipline and duty consciousness and is an achiever. His has energy and is outgoing and is very cooperative with others. Asking him whether he has ever had a Myers Briggs Test he says that he has never had one and his response is that he believes in himself and doesn’t have to prove his worth he knows who he is and his abilities.


John’s personality character is quite different from mine, though in have never taken the Myers Briggs Test he is more of ambitious and intrinsically motivated while I am extrinsic and is motivated by factors that are in my environment. In the case of a person’s race, gender, or ethnicity coming to play when forming that person’s personality and attitudes I really think that they greatly influence since they form who one is and that determines the personality. They are also part of people’s background and they have a huge impact on the way people react to different situations. Although John is my age mate the ideas that he gives on the other subjects’ maybe closely similar, but, those that vary e.g. race, ethnicity, and gender having impact on personality may be because each person has a unique personality and that’s the beauty of life.