From West Africa to the US: Essay Sample on A Self-Analysis Journey of Life

Introduction

The primary purpose of this paper is to run a self-analysis check of my life from when I was a young West African girl to now when I am in the United States of America with my own family. I imagine myself as a flexible and responsible person, and therefore the paper tends to unearth all my details regarding social life. Various psychologists and sociologists have actively enhanced constant dynamics and explicit expansion of "self" development theories. Diverse societal and social interactions have also boosted the broadening of these life aspects and enabled individuals to have different views on the same. There are two main "self" developmental or psychological theories that explicitly strive to explore and explain various stages of development in human life. These theories are Gilligan's Theory, Kohlberg's theory, and Kurt Lewin's theory, which was created by Erikson (Lumen, 2019). The development of quality human virtues in an individual is highly attributed to these psychological theories.

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The gradual growth of a person from infancy to humans with "selves" entails numerous changes. According to Kohlberg's theory, this slow-paced development process results in an individual's district identity characterized by social interaction and the surrounding factors. In my case, having grown up in West Africa, I believe that my distinct features majorly reflect on my original homeland. Through my past years up to date, I have gone through diverse experiences that have shaped my moral aspects of life. Endurance and continual pressing own ever since I was a young girl from West Africa, born to average parents with four siblings, life was not so pleasant. However, I grow as a normal child to adulthood, now with a family of my own with three kids. I moved to the USA a decade and a half ago in pursuit of greener pastures. I have come to realize that in life, the major driving forces are the responsibilities.

Kurt Lewin's theory opines that ecological orientation molds a "self" situation in an individual and can either result in positive or negative feedback to society. This is mainly applicable when the environmental factors play a crucial role in a person's life that self-discipline does in the same individual (Lumen, 2019). My example that supports this Kurt Lewin's theory of ecological orientation is my situation of trying to look for better opportunities in the states by making up my mind to exit my West African home a decade and a half ago. It indicates that the environment pushes an individual's conscience towards greener opportunities. Having grown up in an average family, I have tried since I entered adulthood to lead a completely different life from my initial one. In that instance, I have made significant strides that enable me to conduct such a self-analysis task. The responsibility, which is a crucial virtue in human life, is widely highlighted by this theory.

Furthermore, Gilligan's theory of moral development and gender has explored and pointed out another surplus behavioral information about myself, which I had never known. Good morals attract better and adorable character, which has been a case all through my life ever seen I interact with other colleagues and friends. The majority of them have been admiring some of my traits, which I never knew. The latter theory is critical in the shaping of ethical, moral aspects of an individual. I grew humbly from the time I was a young girl after emulation. Someone who was well known to my mother was back in my childish years. An example of this aspect where it vividly dawn on me was on a team-building exercise where I realized almost all my colleagues wanted to be on my side. Through this self-analysis report, I can assert that moral values are highly valuable and of significant importance in human life.

All the above described psychological theories resonate around the human behavioral changes caused by different sets of parameters. My personal view regarding the experiences I have gone through in the short life I have had so far. Interacting with various diverse environmental elements helps in building the moral values and causes fading off of the vices, which creates enormity with the surrounding. Some of the excellent examples of these experiences of interaction with various parties have been part and parcel of my life. I have learned a lot from all the aspects interacted with hence enlightening me and enabling me to grasp some of the best ways of leading a peaceful life. Moreover, I have witnessed some of the worst lessons one can learn on earth, mainly due to poor guiding, wrong choice of advice, and ignorance. I have learned from such kinds of friends and improved my social character according to psychological theories (Fordham, 2018).

Conclusion

In conclusion, self-analysis exposed me to some of the social gifts that I had never imagined to be possessing. Gilligan's Theory, Kohlberg's theory, and Kurt Lewin's theory, which was created by Erikson, indicated that a more substantial percentage of my social life characteristics are in line with these psychological theories after the self-analysis exercise conducted.

References

Fordham, M. (2018). Jungian psychotherapy: A study in analytical psychology. Routledge.

Lumen, (2019). Theories of Self-Development | Introduction to Sociology. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/sociology/chapter/theories-of-self-development/