Download Recognizing the Healthy Personality

Health and Ethics
Ms. Mai
Mental Health Homework
Answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper. You do not have to write the question.
Recognizing the Healthy Personality
1. Describe two influences that affect personality development.
2. How do instincts differ from learned behavior?
3. Explain how personality is affected by heredity and how it is affected by environment.
4. Describe one incident in your life that helped you to learn socially acceptable behavior through
conditioning, and one incident that helped you to learn through modeling.
5. In what ways has your personality been influenced by your cultural background?
6. What are some of the attributes of mentally healthy people?
7. What are the four major approaches that explain personality?
8. Who developed the Psychoanalytic Approach to studying human behavior?
9. What are two factors that determine personality?
10. What are the characteristics of the id, ego, and superego?
11. What are two examples of traits that a person might inherit?
12. How does socialization affect personality?
13. Why do some people think that females are more passive than males?
14. One boy in a certain family always seemed to take a leadership role among his siblings. His sisters
tended to follow his lead. What factors might account for this situation?
15. How would exposure to many different life-styles affect learning through modeling?
Personality Development
1. What is the foundation of Piaget’s theory of development?
2. What is meant by the term values?
3. What is a peer group? Explain how belonging to a peer group can influence the development of your
own set of values.
4. Erikson’s first stage of social development identified the importance of providing an infant with a sense
of trust. How might this development of trust help the child as he or she gets older?
5. A person who has achieved Maslow’s self-actualization stage has already satisfied the first six levels of
human needs. How do you think this person might be like in terms of his or her behavior?
6. How can you use the information you learned about psychological development to help you set goals
for adulthood?
7. What effect does a safe and secure infancy have on a person’s later development?
8. What is a peer group?
9. What are some qualities of a mature person?
10. How do you feel when you see an adult acting in a childish way? What reasons might there be for the
adult’s behavior?
11. Why do you think it is important that teenagers think about the key questions Who am I?, What do I
believe in?, and Where am I going?
Achieving Mental Wellness
1. How would you go about doing a self-examination?
2. What is meant by self-concept? Why is a realistic self-concept important to good mental health?
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3. Think of someone you know who has a negative attitude toward life. Identify two incidents that reveal
that attitude. Suggest two strategies he or she could use to change.
4. According to Freud’s theory, one part of the subconscious mind, the id, constantly seeks pleasure. In
the lift of Freud’s theory, why are enjoyable habits hard to break?
5. When you have acted on suggestions made by others about ways of changing your behavior, did you
feel good about the change? Give one example of a positive result. Have you ever felt that you were
acting a role rather than acting like yourself?
6. What are some strategies a person can use to change his or her attitude toward something?
7. What influence do attitudes have on the way a person views her of his surroundings?
8. After self-examination, a person might decide to try to change some part of his or her behavior but
accept other parts. What do you think might be some factors that would influence whether a person
would decide to try to change?
Understanding Your Emotions
1. What are two ways of dealing with anger constructively?
2. Describe some physical changes that might occur when you experience fear.
3. Recognizing how you feel about something or someone doesn’t always feel good. Yet it is very
healthy. Why is this better for you than if you were to ignore your feelings?
4. Why was Kubler-Ross’s research of the emotions of dying patients important for understanding grief?
5. Imagine that you become angry because your brother has been unjustly accused of doing something
wrong. Explain how your anger can be turned to a positive action.
6. Why is it important to be able to express your emotions?
7. How might friendship be a form of love?
8. What are two helpful ways to deal with anger?
9. Describe some physical effects of anxiety.
10. Why is jealousy considered to be a form of fear?
11. What is one positive aspect of grief?
12. How might guilt be a positive emotion?
13. Jane confided in a friend that her grandmother who lives with her makes here angry by turning up the
TV volume and setting the heater really high. Why might Jane’s anger be considered irrational? As
Jane’s friend, what advice would you give her?
14. Maria is fifteen years old and an excellent student. Each day Maria works as a hospital volunteer, helps
care for her two siblings, and cooks for her mother. Lately Maria has felt overwhelmed by her
responsibilities and angry with her younger siblings. How can you explain Maria’s feelings? What
changes might restore a sense of balance in Maria’s life?
15. Months after John’s younger brother died in a skateboarding accident, John was confused by his
conflicting emotions. Sometimes he felt angry at his brother, and other times he felt like crying over
the loss. What is happening to John? How might he help himself?
Dealing With Emotions
1. Give two examples of defense mechanisms.
2. How are sublimation and displacement similar?
3. When a person relies too heavily on defense mechanisms, it interferes with personal growth. Explain
why this is so.
4. Identify two strategies that people can use to avoid dependence upon defense mechanisms.
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5. Imagine that you learn that you best friend is going to a long-awaited concert with someone else. You
respond by saying that you really don’t want to go anyway. Explain the defense mechanism you are
using.
6. How can defense mechanisms serve both positive and negative purpose?
7. What purpose does rationalization serve to the person using it?
8. How is projection related to self-image?
9. What is the difference between projection and displacement?
10. Casey’s favorite uncle was a respected composer. After her uncle died, she began putting some extra
effort into her composition course. How might Casey have been coping with the death of her uncle?
Was her method constructive? Why or why not?
Anger and Violence
1. In which age group is homicide the second leading cause of death?
2. Explain how fear can lead to violence.
3. Explain how sublimation can help you redirect your anger.
4. As a parent, two of your children are arguing with a great deal of anger. What would you do to prevent
the situation from becoming violent?
5. How does peer pressure influence violence?
6. How do alcohol and drugs contribute to violence?
7. John and Alex are two of the best free throw shooters on the basketball team. One day after geometry
class, Tracy overhears John telling Alex that he is the better player. Tracy goes over to defend his friend
Alex. Words are exchanged and John and Alex begin shouting at each other angrily. What can Alex do
to defuse the situation?
Stress and Stressors
1. What is stress?
2. What is the difference between eustress and distress?
3. Explain what happens in each of the three stages of stress.
4. Explain why daily hassles may be more stressful than a major life event.
5. You may have experienced stress before the start of a competitive athletic event, or before you began
to speak in front of your class. Keep in mind how the stress affected you and explain the statement
“Moderate stress and accomplishment go hand in hand.”
6. Hardly personalities are able to withstand stress and stay healthy. Describe one way in which changing a
behavior might make you more resistant to the negative effects of stress.
7. What are two stressors with which you often deal?
8. List three physical responses to stress.
9. What determines whether stress is positive or negative?
10. What happens in your body during the alarm stage of stress?
11. At what stage of stress is a person most likely to become sick?
12. What are the stressors that occur regularly in your life? Are you often late? Do you sometimes miss a
deadline? What steps can you take to eliminate these stressors from your life?
13. What physical or psychological symptoms of stress have you observed in yourself? What are some ways
that you can work to lessen these symptoms?
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Stress And Its Effects On You
1. What is meant by depression?
2. List three examples of psychosomatic illnesses.
3. Describe the characteristics of Type A and Type B personalities.
4. Why is it helpful to talk with trusted peers and adults about feelings of depression that you might have?
5. Suicide rates often increase during very stressful times. Why do you think this happens?
6. Describe an incident from your own life when you personalized something someone said to you. How
did you regain a realistic viewpoint of the incident?
7. List three characteristics of a personality that is a balance between Type A and Type B.
8. Name two psychosomatic illnesses that can be linked to stress.
9. Why do you think that hostile Type A personalities are more prone to heart disease than others who
are not Type A?
10. What is one strategy that a teenager could use to help her or him deal with overwhelming stress?
11. Explain what is meant by personalizing a problem.
12. When a friend is facing a crisis, why is it important that you take him or her seriously?
13. Why do you think stress is talked about a great deal in the world today?
14. Why are depression and suicide closely linked to each other?
Handling Stress In Your Life
1. What are two ways of relaxing?
2. Why is good nutrition important in dealing with stress?
3. What are endorphins?
4. Explain why a social support network is important to you when you face a stressful situation.
5. Explain how visualization can help to reduce stress.
6. Choose a life-changing event that you think you might encounter in the near future. Describe
strategies that you could use to reduce the effect of the stressor.
7. How can biofeedback help a person who is suffering from the physical symptoms of stress?
8. How can maintaining good physical health reduce stress?
9. How can visualization change feelings of negative stress into positive stress?
10. How can humor play a part in defusing stress?
11. Explain why it is important for you to build a network of trusted family members and friends.
12. Give at least two reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with the following statement: Some stress is
necessary to well being, and a lack of stress can be harmful.
Causes of Mental Disorders
1. Explain the difference between organic disorders and functional disorder.
2. Describe three of the characteristics of a mentally healthy individual.
3. Society establishes the boundaries of acceptable behavior. What is an example of something teenagers
do today that might have been considered unacceptable in the early 1900s?
4. People with mental disorders often are portrayed in movies and books in a frightening way. How might
this hurt the public’s acceptance of the mentally ill?
5. As a volunteer at a mental health halfway house, you have to work very closely with the residents of
the home. Why is it important that you have a basic understanding of their illnesses?
6. Explain how society determines what is acceptable behavior.
7. Describe four characteristics that psychologists consider when evaluating a person’s emotion well being.
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8. Why do many doctors consider past experiences when identifying the causes of a person’s emotional
problems?
9. A 14-year old boy has recently been involved in starting small fires in old buildings, stealing food and
inexpensive objects for “the thrill of it,” and hurting household pets. What might this boy’s behavior
mean? What may happen if he doesn’t receive proper treatment?
Types of Mental Disorders
1. Name one advantage and one disadvantage to categorizing mental disorders.
2. Describe the difference between a hypochondriac and someone who has a psychosomatic disorder.
3. Scientists have divided mental disorders into categories to help them diagnose and treat people with
mental disabilities. Compare and contrast two major categories of mental disorders.
4. Emergency medical workers have very stressful jobs that often require quick thinking. Identify two
other jobs that van be very stressful. Explain why the jobs could lead to emotional problems.
5. A friend of your is complaining about being the constant target of unfair treatment. You tell your
friend that he only feels this way because he has a paranoid personality. Why should you be careful
about diagnosing another person’s mental health?
6. Compare the symptoms of mood disorder with those of personality disorders.
7. What is the difference between dementia and delirium?
8. What are the characteristics of a mood disorder?
9. Identify the symptoms of clinical depression. Given these symptoms, how is it possible for a person to
be both manic and clinically depressed, as in manic-depression?
10. How does compulsion differ from an obsession?
11. What is thought to cause multiple personality disorder? Why does an individual develop different
personalities?
Treating Mental Problems
1. Describe two symptoms of mental distress.
2. What is the difference between a psychiatrist and a psychologist?
3. Compare and contrast psychoanalysis and behavior therapy.
4. Treatment through group therapy has grown considerable over the past 20 years. Why might group
therapy be more successful than individual therapy for many people?
5. Imagine that for the past month, your closest friend has withdrawn from everyone and refuses to leave
the house. What would you say to your friend to convince him or her to seek the help of a
professional?
6. Name three symptoms that indicate someone needs to seek professional help to solve their problem.
7. What is the goal of psychoanalytic psychotherapy?
8. Name and discuss one positive and one negative aspect of drug therapy.
9. At what point would a person with a mental disorder be hospitalized?
10. Name three undesirable habits or behaviors and describe how they might be changed through behavior
modification.
11. Some police trauma teams carry stuffed animals with them to give to a child at the scene of an accident.
Why might it help the child to have a stuffed animal to hug?
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