Peers

Continuing on from the subject of my previous school, Northmead Creative and Performing Arts High School. My morals, values and faith my parents have taught me reflected on how significant they meant to me. In saying that it was extremely hard for me to keep on track with my beliefs and not be influenced by everyone else's. Peers are possibly the closest micro level of friendship you can have and their judgements have a huge impact on your life. I also experienced some peer pressure, not necessarily physically doing something I didn’t want to do but subconsciously mentally getting brainwashed and manipulated by my surroundings. 

Role & Responsibilty

In 2006, my status in the family changed forever. My younger sister Rebecca was born, this changed my role in the family. From being the youngest to being the middle child, instantly changed me to mature. I then was given the responsibility to look after my sister and to show a good example. We are all social beings whose behaviour is shaped to some extent by the roles we play. It is strange to think how fast I developed and fitted into the expectations of the socially constructed world of being a good example to younger sibling. It was also a different atmosphere as for once in my life i felt like i had the power and authority over my sister. Through the experience of having a new born baby sister at the age of 7, reflect the socialisation process reminded me the moral, beliefs and values I was once taught and understood the importance of teaching at young ages. It was also different to witness my sister growing up in Australia, whereas I grew up on the other side of the world. It reflected the importance of location and cultural differentiation and how it can affect the child's socialisation.

Nature VS Nurture

First of all, what is Nature vs Nurture? The website "Cliffnotes 2014" has described it as being  (http://www.cliffsnotes.com/cliffsnotes/sciences/what-does-nature-versus-nurture-mean) It a psychology term related to whether heredity or the environment most impacts human psychological development i.e behaviour, habits, intelligence, personality, etc.

The physical characteristics, if not determined, appear to be at least strongly influenced by the genetic make-up of our biological parents. Height, weight, life expectancy and vulnerability to specific illnesses (e.g. breast cancer in women) are positively correlated between genetically related individuals.
Nature vs Nurture is one of the oldest arguments in the history of psychology and each sides have been debated with sufficient points.

 In an interview I had with my grandmother, she said "you have long legs, skinniness, sometimes that awkward shyness like your father but have your mother's humour and quick wit" Because we share both our parents' DNA, our characteristics are split and shared around.

http://www.diffen.com/difference/Nature_vs_Nurture

Personality

The most influential topic on my self concept is my personality. It is also the most important as it impacts the way in which people perceive and socialise with you. My friends would describe me as 'outgoing', 'crazy', 'easy to get along with' and 'fun'.  In one of the interviews I had with my mother she said "you've been shy your whole life... around certain people you interact with and your confidence level change. But I feel like your confidence level has gone up after moving into high school" My mother paused after she said "you've been shy your whole life" this reflects the thought process she had before continuing on with the sentence. I admit this statement made from my mother has a valid point as I myself have noticed it too and i would describe myself as a both introvert and extrovert person.

I believe that i am the one and only person that knows myself inside and out. Which concludes me into accepting that i am very self aware person. I know all about my  needs, desires, failures, flaws, etc. However sometimes it gets hard to admit these things, that puts you in the process of 'denial'. I am not going to lie, i have gone through plenty of denials just because i didn't wanna accept the truth. Essentially, the more you pay attention to the way your emotions work, the exceeding understanding you will have of yourself. The knowledge i have of myself has been gained over years of breaking down the way my emotions work and how people respond to me.

In the website "What is Personality 2015" http://psychology.about.com/od/overviewofpersonality/a/persondef.htm it defines personality as, "the word personality itself stems from the latin word persona, which referred to a theatrical mask work by performers in order to either project different roles or disguise their identities. A brief definition would be that personality is made up of the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviours that make a person unique." My personality is what makes me unique and different to other people, it plays a massive role in where i stand in my social circle, my status, reputation, etc. 

ICT and Media

In today's generation, ICT and media have influenced the development of the personal and social identity of adolescents today both negatively and positively. It has definitely impacted mine. ICT can be seen almost everywhere you go, it has advanced into a communication device, camera, mp3, etc. My iPhone 5s is a device I keep very close to with me wherever I go, to an extent in which I get anxiety if its not in vision sight. Media/celebrities affect my self confidence, positive note they motivate me to be successful and work harder but it defiantly negatively impacted my self esteem levels. A growing body of research suggests there are a number of positive benefits associated with the rise in online social networks, for example it gives greater opportunities for learning, self-expression via creating blogs, video productions, etc. However through self critic and comparison our confidence level drop drastically.

I personally want to talk about my big role model in life, Beyonce. Beyonce is a world wide famous singer who sing great words into  life with her talented vocals. She also donates and helps out with many charity works for the less fortunate, giving back on what she has learnt. This makes me want to become a very selfless person and help out the less fortunate as a way of giving back and also reflecting my religion Catholicism. Through celebrities it forms the characteristics of one's social and personal identity.

Ethnicity and Culture

Another contributing factor towards my social and personal identity is my ethnicity and culture. Being born in a South Korean background, I have developed a sense of understanding towards different cultures. Having parents and extended family whom all follow traditions and ideas of the Korean culture, makes me biologically connected with the country. For example; on New Years Day we will eat a traditional soup, to start off the year by saying goodbye to our old self and saying hello to the new. Due to my Asian background, it creates a characteristic to my identity and a description in which people can view me by. Like describing me 'the Asian'. It also creates a stereotypical expectation I feel the need to reach. For example it is stereotyped that Asians are smart, play some sort of instrument (piano) or eat rice on a daily. Which is not necessarily true but because of the stereotype that has already been made, people just assume and believe it. It can be considered racist or discrimination and my whole life at least one person has made some sort of joke about my ethnicity and culture. It can be debatable whether it is really a 'joke' or is a pure insult. It also extends my macrosome level by belonging to a certain ethnicity and expanding beyond the local community. 

Social Self & Socialisation

According to the website 'The Social Self - Charles Cooley 2010' http://www.cf.ac.uk/socsi/undergraduate/introsoc/social3.html  it reads "self is simply any idea, or system of ideas, drawn from the communicative life, that the mind cherishes as its own. Self-feeling has its chief scope within the general life, not outside of it; the special endeavor or tendency of which it is the emotional aspect finds its principal field of exercise in a world of personal forces, reflected in the mind by a world of personal impressions" 

Socialisation is something many people mistaken as a form a genetics. This is because it is a process that begins at birth till adulthood, taught by your parents that has been lead down from your grandparents and has continued on from relatives. Socialisation correlates to almost every social and personal identity, for example the moral, cultural, belief, ethics are all a process of socialisation. My socialisation have been influenced by my parents, my school, peers, media and every encounters I've ever had with anyone in my life.