PERSONAL

DEVELOPMENT
THE SELF
Imagine yourself looking into a mirror. What do you see? Do you see your ideal self or your actual
self? Your ideal self is the self that you aspire to be. It is the one that you hope will possess
characteristics similar to that of a mentor or some other worldly figure. Your actual self, however,
is the one that you actually see. It is the self that has characteristics that you were nurtured or, in
some cases, born to have. The actual self and the ideal self are two broad categories of self-concept.
Self-concept refers to your awareness of yourself. It is the construct that negotiates these two
selves. In other words, it connotes first the identification of the ideal self as separate from others,
and second, it encompasses all the behaviors evaluated in the actual self that you engage in to reach
the ideal self.
The actual self is built on self-knowledge. Self-knowledge is derived from social interactions that
provide insight into how others react to you. The actual self is who we actually are. It is how we
think, how we feel, look, and act. The actual self can be seen by others, but because we have no
way of truly knowing how others view us, the actual self is our self-image.
The ideal self, on the other hand, is how we want to be. It is an idealized image that we have
developed over time, based on what we have learned and experienced. The ideal self could include
components of what our parents have taught us, what we admire in others, what our society
promotes, and what we think is in our best interest.
There is negotiation that exists between the two selves which is complex because there are
numerous exchanges between the ideal and actual self. These exchanges are exemplified in social
roles that are adjusted and re-adjusted, and are derived from outcomes of social interactions from
infant to adult development. Alignment is important. If the way that I am (the actual self) is aligned
with the way that I want to be (the ideal self), then I will feel a sense of mental well-being or peace
of mind. If the way that I am is not aligned with how I want to be, the incongruence, or lack of
alignment, will result in mental distress or anxiety. The greater the level of incongruence between
the ideal self and real self, the greater the level of resulting distress. Personal development modules
ultimate aim is greater self-knowledge that will lead to higher alignment between these two
personality domains.
PERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS
Personal effectiveness means making use of all the personal resources – talents, skills, energy and
time, to enable you to achieve life goals. Your knowledge of yourself and how you manage
yourself impacts directly on your personal effectiveness. Being self-aware, making the most of
your strengths, learning new skills and techniques and behavioral flexibility are all keys to
improving your personal performance. Our personal effectiveness depends on our innate
characteristics – talent and experience accumulated in the process of personal development.
Talents first are needed to be identified and then developed to be used in a particular subject area
(science, literature, sports, politics, etc.). Experience includes knowledge and skills that we acquire
in the process of cognitive and practical activities.
Knowledge is required for setting goals, defining an action plan to achieve them and risk
assessment. Skills also determine whether real actions are performed in accordance with the plan.
If the same ability is used many times in the same situation, then it becomes a habit that runs
automatically, subconsciously. Here are some skills that will greatly increase the efficiency of any
person who owns them:
1. Determination. It allows you to focus only on achieving a specific goal without being distracted
by less important things or spontaneous desires. It may be developed with the help of self-
discipline exercise.
2. Self-confidence. It appears in the process of personal development, as a result of getting aware
of yourself, your actions and their consequences. Self-confidence is manifested in speech,
appearance, dressing, gait, and physical condition. To develop it, you need to learn yourself and
your capabilities, gain positive attitude and believe that by performing right actions and achieving
right goals you will certainly reach success.
3. Persistence. It makes you keep moving forward regardless of emerging obstacles – problems,
laziness, bad emotional state, etc. It reduces the costs of overcoming obstacles. It can also be
developed with the help of self-discipline exercise.
4. Managing stress. It helps combat stress that arises in daily life from the environment and other
people. Stress arises from the uncertainty in an unknown situation when a lack of information
creates the risk of negative 0ppconsequences of your actions. It increases efficiency in the actively
changing environment.
5. Problem-solving skills. They help cope with the problems encountered with a lack of
experience. It increases efficiency by adopting new ways of achieving goals when obtaining a new
experience.
6. Creativity. It allows you to find extraordinary ways to carry out a specific action that no one
has tried to use. It can lead to a decrease or an increase of costs, but usually the speed of action is
greatly increased when using creative tools.
7. Generating ideas. It helps you achieve goals using new, original, unconventional ideas. Idea is
a mental image of an object formed by the human mind, which can be changed before being
implemented in the real world. For generating ideas you can use a method of mental maps, which
allows you to materialize, visualize and scrutinize all your ideas, which in turn contributes to the
emergence of new ideas. These are just some, but the most important personal effectiveness skills
which make the achievement of any goal easier and less costly

BUILD ON YOUR STRENGTHS AND WORK ON YOUR WEAKNESSES

Most failures emanate from weaknesses that are not recognized or probably recognized but not
given appropriate attention or remedy. This could be a weakness in communications, personality
or ability. Instead of giving up or indulging in self-pity, take action. Go for speech lessons, get
skills upgrading, attend personality development sessions or whatever appropriate remedies to
your perceived weakness.
Instead of simply focusing on your weaknesses, recognize your own talents and abilities, build on
them, utilize them to your greatest advantage. This is where you can build your name and
popularity. Handicapped people like Jose Feliciano and other blind singers did not brood over their
physical handicap. They recognized that they have a golden voice so they search for ways to enrich
that talent and now they have won international fame in the field of music.
ASPECT OF SELF
The self-concept is represented by several aspects of the self. It is conceived as collection of
multiple, context-dependent selves. This construct believes that context activates particular regions
of self-knowledge and self-relevant feedback affects self-evaluations and affect. A deeper look on
the different aspects of self can identify specific areas for self-regulation, stability and
improvement.
In a nutshell, an individual is composed of three basic but very different aspects of the self. They
are the physical or tangible aspects as they relate to the body, the intellectual and conscious aspects
as they relate to the mind, and the emotional and intuitive aspects as they relate to the spirit. All
three aspects of the self work together in perfect harmony when attention is paid to all three
simultaneously.
Many individuals put a strong emphasis on the physical aspect of the self. The body is tangible,
obvious, and we respond to it easily. More time and money is spent on enhancing the physical
component than either of the other two aspects. This does not mean, however, that the body is
healthy or strong. The body provides a place to house the spirit (often experienced as feelings) and
the mind (often experienced as thought).
It may be important to some that their mind be prominent and well educated. The mind is
important, as it is the part of the self that directs the other two aspects. The mind learns what to do
and communicates the information to the body and the feelings. What the mind believes, the body
manifests or acts on, and the emotions feel, or respond with. People store both healthy and
destructive thoughts and beliefs and responds to life's circumstances in the most prominent
manner. The mind provides access creativity and serenity which are necessary for such processes
as prayer, forgiveness, acceptance, and passion.

The human emotions are the most feared aspect of the self, as individuals are reluctant and
unprepared to manage them. Managing feelings is like trying to hold water in the palm of your
hand. They are illusive and deceptive. A decision made under emotional stress and strain usually
impacts emotions negatively. Negative emotions that are not managed are stored and repressed.
Repression is destructive to a content self since all feelings, not only negative ones are stored away.
Accessing feelings when they are needed now becomes difficult, leaving the individual numb and
hopeless.
For instance, a girl realizes that she is giving much attention on the physical aspects and less
attention on her intellectual self. In this way, she can discover how much money and time spent
maintaining her physique and its consequences in her grades. By this honest evaluation of herself,
she can plan effective actions to improve her study habits. She can start seeking for help and for
related books to read or browse articles to help her improve her study habits.
THE STORY OF THE TWO WOLVES
The following is an old Cherokee Indian story that is enlightening and helpful.
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said,
"My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all." "It is a terrible fight and it is between
two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt,
resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good -
he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth,
compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will
win?" The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed".
Knowing which wolf to feed is the first step towards recognizing you have control over your own
self. Have you ever had thoughts, feelings or acted in ways that were unacceptable to yourself but
felt powerless to control? The purpose of this story is to help you find ways to manage your mind
so that you can live your life more in accordance with what your own judgment says is best for
you.
As we grow up, we gradually become aware of the many things in the external world which are
largely beyond our ability to control. These include other people in general and most events in our
lives. Initially this is difficult to accept, but a more shocking realization is that there are many
things about ourselves that we seem powerless to control.
Some of these are our own thoughts, feelings, and actions which unfortunately can be the source
of much distress. It may be thoughts such as “I cannot stop hating my teacher for not giving me
high grades.” It may involve an emotion e.g. “My girlfriend left me and I cannot stop feeling sad,
lonely and unloved.”
It can also be in the form of a behavior such as the inability to control one's craving for food such
as cakes and chocolates.”
But are we indeed really powerless to control our own maladaptive thoughts, feelings and actions?
The grandfather’s answer "The one you feed" is deceivingly simple. The results of psychological
research indicate that there are at least four important concepts or ideas implied by the answer:
1. The mind is not the unitary entity it seems to us but consists of different parts. For example in
the story there are the two wolves and the “you” that chooses between them.
2. These parts of the mind/brain can interact and be in conflict with each other i.e. the two wolves
fight for dominance over our mind and behavior.
3. The “you” has the ability to decide which wolf it will feed.
4. Having made a choice, “you” can decide specifically how to “feed” or nurture the selected wolf.
“Maturity is achieved when a person postpones immediate pleasures for long-term values.”
Joshua L. Liebman
DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES
Human Development focuses on human growth and changes across the lifespan, including
physical, cognitive, social, intellectual, perceptual, personality and emotional growth.
The study of human developmental stages is essential to understanding how humans learn, mature
and adapt. Throughout their lives, humans go through various stages of development.
The human being is either in a state of growth or decline, but either condition imparts change.
Some aspects of our life change very little over time, are consistent. Other aspects change
dramatically. By understanding these changes, we can better respond and plan ahead effectively.

Developmental Stage Characteristics

1. Pre-natal (Conception to birth) Age when hereditary endowments and sex are
fixed and all body features, both external and
internal are developed.
2. Infancy (Birth to 2 years) Foundation age when basic behavior are
organized and many ontogenetic maturation
skills are developed.
3.Early Childhood (2 to 6 years) Pre-gang age, exploratory, and questioning.
Language and Elementary reasoning are
acquired and initial socialization is
experienced.
4. Late Childhood (6 to 12 years) Gang and creativity age when self-help skills,
social skills, school skills, and play are
developed.
5. Adolescence (puberty to 18 years) Transition age from childhood to adulthood
when sex maturation and rapid physical
development occur resulting to changes in
ways of feeling, thinking and acting.
 6. Early Adulthood (18 to 40 years) Age of adjustment to new patterns of life and
roles such as spouse, parent and bread winner.
7. Middle Age (40 years to retirement) Transition age when adjustments to initial
physical and mental decline are experienced.
8. Old Age (Retirement to death) Retirement age when increasingly rapid
physical and mental decline are experienced.

HAVIGHURST`S DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS DURING THE LIFE SPAN

Robert J. Havighurst elaborated on the Developmental Tasks Theory in the most systematic and
extensive manner. His main assertion is that development is continuous throughout the entire
lifespan, occurring in stages, where the individual moves from one stage to the next by means of
successful resolution of problems or performance of developmental tasks. These tasks are those
that are typically encountered by most people in the culture where the individual belongs. If the
person successfully accomplishes and masters the developmental task, he feels pride and
satisfaction, and consequently earns his community or society’s approval. This success provides a
sound foundation which allows the individual to accomplish tasks to be encountered at later stages.
Conversely, if the individual is not successful at accomplishing a task, he is unhappy and is not
accorded the desired approval by society, resulting in the subsequent experience of difficulty when
faced with succeeding developmental tasks. This theory presents the individual as an active learner
who continually interacts with a similarly active social environment.
Havighurst proposed a bio psychosocial model of development, wherein the developmental tasks
at each stage are influenced by the individual’s biology (physiological maturation and genetic
makeup), his psychology (personal values and goals) and sociology (specific culture to which the
individual belongs).

THE DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS SUMMARY TABLE

Infancy and Early Middle Childhood (6-12) Adolescence (13-18)
Childhood (0-5)

• Learning to walk • Learning physical skills • Achieving mature relations

necessary for ordinary games with both sexes
• Learning to take solid foods
• Building a wholesome • Achieving a masculine or
• Learning to talk attitude toward oneself feminine social role
• Learning to control the • Learning to get along with • Accepting one’s physique
elimination of body wastes age-mates
• Achieving emotional
independence of adults
 • Learning sex differences and • Learning an appropriate sex • Preparing for marriage and
sexual modesty role family life
• Acquiring concepts and • Developing fundamental • Preparing for an economic
language to describe social skills in reading, writing, and career
and physical reality calculating
• Acquiring values and an
• Readiness for reading • Developing concepts ethical system to guide
necessary for everyday living behavior • Desiring and
• Learning to distinguish right
achieving socially
from wrong and developing a • Developing conscience,
responsibility behavior
conscience morality, and a scale of values
• Achieving personal
independence
• Developing acceptable
attitudes toward society

Early Adulthood (19-30) Middle Adulthood (30-60) Later Maturity (61-)

• Selecting a mate • Helping teenage children to •Adjusting to decreasing

become happy and strength and health
• Learning to live with a responsible adults
partner • Starting a family • Adjusting to retirement and
• Achieving adult social and reduced income
• Rearing children civic responsibility
• Adjusting to death of spouse
• Managing a home • Satisfactory career
achievement • Establishing relations with
• Starting an occupation one’s own age group
• Assuming civic • Developing adult leisure • Meeting social and civic
responsibility conscience time activities
obligations
• Relating to one’s spouse as a
person • Establishing satisfactory
living quarters
• Accepting the physiological
changes of middle age •
Adjusting to aging parent

LIVING MINDFULLY
Living mindfully is like being an artist: you need the right tools to practice your craft, and you
need to constantly refine your technique to achieve your creative potential. In the same way, using
the present moment tools below will help you to hone a consistent mindfulness practice that will
in time lead to a more aware, compassionate and fulfilling way of life.
Tool 1: Breathe Mindfully. Use your breath as an anchor to still your mind and bring your focus
back to the present moment.
Tool 2: Listen Deeply. Listen with intention; let others fully express themselves and focus on
understanding how they think and feel.
Tool 3: Cultivate Insight. See life as it is, allowing each experience to be an opportunity for
learning.
Tool 4: Practice Compassion. Consider the thoughts and feelings of others and let tenderness,
kindness and empathy be your guides.
Tool 5: Limit Reactivity. Observe rather than be controlled by your emotions. Pause, breathe, and
choose a skillful response based on thoughtful speech and nonviolence under every condition.
Tool 6: Express Gratitude. Practice gratitude daily and expand it outward, appreciating everyone
and everything you encounter.
Tool 7: Nurture Mutual Respect. Appreciate our common humanity and value different
perspectives as well as your own.
Tool 8: Build Integrity. Cultivate constructive values and consistently act from respect, honesty
and kindness.
Tool 9: Foster Leadership. Engage fully in life and in community. Share your unique talents and
generosity so that others can also be inspired.
Tool 10: Be Peace. Cultivate your own inner peace, becoming an agent for compassionate action
and social
STRESS MANAGEMENT
Dictionary definitions do not quite capture the meaning of stress as it is seen and experienced in
the world of work. One of the Webster’s definitions describes it as an “…emotional factor that
causes bodily or mental tension.”
A practical way of defining stress is the feeling one gets from prolonged, pent-up emotions. If the
emotions you experience are pleasant and desirable – joy, elation, ecstasy, delight – you usually
feel free to let them show. They are not suppressed. Therefore; positive emotions do not usually
cause stress. Negative emotions, on the other hand, are more often held inside. They are hidden.
You suffer quietly and you experience stress. Do not confuse positive situations with positive
emotions. A wedding, for example, is a positive situation that often brings about the negative
emotions of anxiety and tension. So stress can exist in great situations.
STRESS RESPONSE
Your stress response is the collection of physiological changes that occur when you face a
perceived threat—when you face situations where you feel the demands outweigh your resources
to successfully cope. These situations are known as stressors. When your stress response is
triggered, a series of changes occur within your body. They include:
• Redirection of blood away from extremities and instead to major organs
• The release of cortisol and other hormones, which bring other short- and long-term changes.
• The stress response is intended to give you a burst of energy so you’re able to fight off attackers
or run away from them effectively.
This helped our ancestors, who faced numerous physical threats, to stay safe. However, now our
threats tend to be less physical and more associated with our way of life—a challenge to our status,
a demand for performance, etc. In addition to giving us a set of changes that may not match our
needs as well (it might be more effective for us to have a burst of mental clarity or wisdom than a
burst of physical strength, for example), the stress response can actually cause harm if it leads to a
state of chronic stress—that is, if our stress response is triggered, and then our body doesn’t go
back to its normal state via the relaxation response.
Causes and Effects of Stress
Just as there is great variety in the range of emotions you might experience, there are many possible
manifestations of stress – in your private life and in your working life. Here are some words that
describe the emotions associated (as cause and effect) with stress.
• Anxiety
• Pressure
• Misery
• Strain
• Desperation
• Tension
• Anger
• Panic
• Dejection
Prolonged stress can be devastating; burnout, breakdown, and depression are some of the potential
results of long-term, unmanaged stress. By wearing a mask, you may expect to hide stress caused
by problems in your personal life and not let them influence your performance on the job. This
will probably not work. The more you try to hold your emotions in, the greater the pressure build-
up will be.
Everyday frustrations cause stress build-up
From the time you wake up until you go to sleep, you may be confronted with a succession of
stressful situations. Managing to get yourself (and possibly a spouse and children) out of bed and
ready to face the day can be a challenge to your patience and ingenuity. Driving to school or work
can be harrowing – especially if you’re running late. You may experience frustration in arranging
to get the car repaired. You may face conflicts in school or at work, such as coping with unrealistic
deadlines, equipment failures, or unexpected bad weather. If part of your job is selling, you may
experience feelings of rejection when most of your customers say “no.” A series of stressful and
frustrating experiences throughout the day can cause you to lie awake at night in an emotional
turmoil – unable to get needed rest. You face the next day with less emotional and physical
stamina. After another stressful day and another night without rest, you may have even less
emotional strength and stability. Therefore, stress build-up, if not resolved, continues day after
day.
Problems in our personal life can be devastating
Surviving the normal, everyday stress described above can be difficult. But far more serious and
painful circumstances can create long-term stress. More serious stressful circumstances may
include separation from loved ones, personal illness, or illness of a loved one, death of someone
you care about, or conflict with a spouse or close friend. Other major causes of stress are problems
with drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, care of children and elderly relatives, chronic
mental illness, injury, physical handicaps, even moving to a new home, if you’ve lived in the same
place for more than 10 years. The list goes on and on.
Managing your personal finances can be another stressful experience. This can be a problem no
matter what your income level, but it is especially difficult if you must support a family and do not
earn enough to live comfortably. Unpaid bills, unwise use of credit, and budget limitations can
make life difficult.
A common cause of stress is dealing with life’s transitions
This is especially true when a person must cope with too many transitions all at once. For example,
Ellen has just completed a program in fashion merchandising. She is eager to get started on her
new job. Her mother is ill and requires care. Her father died a few months ago. Ellen’s new job
requires that she relocate to a town 100 miles from home. The move, a new career, and a change
in family relationships may cause excessive stress for her. Too many changes have arrived at the
same time.
KEEP STRESS UNDER CONTROL
There are many effective ways to handle stress. Of course, you can’t avoid stress—in fact, you
wouldn’t want to avoid all stress, because you’d never grow. However, you can manage your life
so that you survive the emotional down times without allowing stress to engulf you. Also, you can
work to eliminate controllable stress factors, such as running late or not getting enough sleep. But
when stress is constant or too great, your wisest option is to find ways to reduce or control it. You
need not, and should not, live your life in emotional stress and discomfort. Stress can be
successfully managed. Here are some suggestions that may help.
Understand the Causes of Stress
Understanding why you are under stress is important. This may seem obvious, but it requires
deliberate, conscious effort to pause and simply ponder your situation. By now, you are familiar
with the stress response, the emotional or physical symptoms of uncontrolled stress. Now you need
to try to discover the stressors, the factors of which create the stress in your life.

Analyze your Stress Factors and Write Them Down

Write down your response to stress. For example, you may write down, “I feel tired most of the
time. My lower back seems to ache all through the day and night. I miss deadlines and run behind
schedule.” Analyze stress responses and consequences, and consider each item, and ask why.
“Why am I feeling tired? Why does my back ache? Why do I run behind schedule? Carefully
consider each answer, because the answers will reveal stressors, such as deadlines, anxieties, trying
to do so much, managing time or money poorly, or poor health habits.
Deal with the Stressors
Develop techniques to deal with the causes of stress. The longer you avoid dealing with the stress
factors, the more the stress will build up. If tension comes because you have put off an unfinished
task, restructure your priorities so you can get the task that you have been avoiding out of the way
and off your mind.
Learn to Work under Pressure or Unusual Conditions
When you can’t reduce the stressors, you need to manage your stress response. Almost everyone,
at least at some point, has to meet deadlines, keep several jobs going at once, resolve problems
that come up, and do extra work when necessary. However, when the pressure mounts, you can
relieve it. Relaxation is key—but most people must train themselves to relax when the pressure is
on. Some tips to relax when under pressure are the following:
• Stop for a moment (especially when you feel your muscles tightening up) and take a few deep
breaths.
• Do a relaxing exercise. Swing your hands at your sides and stretch.
• Take a “power nap.” Lie down and totally relax for a few minutes.
• Find time to do the things you enjoy.
• Leave your study area for a while to take a brisk walk.
• Find a quiet place to read a magazine or novel during break or at lunch.
• If possible, look at some peaceful images such as forests, beaches, etc. These images can initiate
a relaxation response.
• Look up.
• Keep something humorous on hand, such as a book of jokes
BRAINPOWER: COMPLEX ORGAN CONTROLS YOUR EVERY THOUGHT AND
MOVE
How did you get here?
No, no, no! It's not a question about your conception or birth.
How did you get here? On this page. Reading this story.
The answer is a lot more complex than, "My teacher told me to read it" or "I clicked on it by
accident."
The answer involves thought, as in "I want to get on the Internet"; movement — pressing the
computer's power button and grasping a mouse; memory—like recalling how to use a browser or
a search engine; and word recognition such as "Brainpower" and an understanding of its meaning.
In short, the answer involves a wrinkled, pinkish-gray, three-pound organ that is primarily
composed of fat and water and goes by the name of brain.
You got to this article because that jelly-like mass topping off your spinal cord fired electrical
signals to your hand telling it how to move. You got to this article because your brain stored
information about using a computer and the definition of words that you learned years ago. You
got to this article because your brain is working.
Keep reading to find out how it functions, if it repairs itself and if the effects of drug use are
permanent.

The power to act

The brain has three major parts -- the cerebrum, the cerebellum and the brain stem. The brain stem
connects the spinal cord and the brain. It controls functions that keep people alive such as
breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and food digestion. Those activities occur without any
thought. You aren't telling yourself, "Inhale. Exhale. Inhale." You're just breathing.
Things are different in the cerebellum. That region controls voluntary movement. When you want
to lift your fork, wave your hand, brush your hair or wink at a cutie, you form the thought and then
an area in the cerebellum translates your will into action. It happens so quickly. Think about how
little time passes between your desire to continue reading this sentence and the time it takes your
eyes to move to this word or this one. It seems automatic, but it isn't.
Neurons, the basic functional units of the nervous system, are three-part units and are key to brain
function. They are comprised of a nerve cell body, axon and dendrite, and they power the rapid-
fire process that turns thought into movement.
The thought moves as an electrical signal from the nerve cell down the axon to a dendrite, which
looks like branches at the end of nerve cells. The signal jumps from the end of the dendrite on one
cell across the space, called a synapse, to the dendrite of another cell with the help of chemicals
called neurotransmitters. That signal continues jumping from cell to cell until it reaches the muscle
you need to wave, wink or walk.
The cerebrum is the largest of the three brain sections, accounts for about 85 percent of the brain's
weight, and has four lobes. The lobes-frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital -- each have different
functions. They get their names from the sections of the skull that are next to them.
The parietal lobe helps people understand what they see and feel, while the frontal lobe determines
personality and emotions. Vision functions are located in the occipital lobe, and hearing and word
recognition abilities are in the temporal lobe.
A critical age
Because the brain's healthy functioning is essential to living and determines quality of life, doctors
emphasize protecting the organ from injury and chemical abuse.
There is a consensus among researchers that brain cells regenerate throughout life, said Doug
Postels, a pediatric neurosurgeon in New Orleans, but that new growth happens very slowly after
a certain age.
"The size of the brain doesn't increase much after 3," Postels explains.
During the first three years of life, the brain experiences most of its growth and develops most of
its potential for learning. That's the time frame in which synaptogenesis, or the creation of
pathways for brain cells to communicate, occurs.
Doctors generally accept that cut-off point for two reasons, Postels said. First, in situations where
doctors removed parts of the brains of patients younger than 3 to correct disorders, the remaining
brain sections developed to assume the role of the portions those doctors removed. But when
physicians performed the same surgery on older patients, that adaptability function did not occur.
Second, "We know from experiments that if you deprive people of intellectual stimulation and put
them in a dark room, that it produces permanent changes in the brain," Postels said. "That occurs
most dramatically before age 3. After that age, it's impossible to ethically do a study."
Previous research produced information about the effects of stimulation deprivation, but modern
ethical guidelines prohibit such research on people because of the potentially harmful outcome.
Drug damage
Because so little recovery occurs to brains damaged after age 3, the effects of drugs and alcohol
on the brain might be lasting.
Doctors know what inhalants, steroids, marijuana, cocaine and alcohol do to the brain when people
use them. "The question scientists can't answer now is if the damage is permanent," said Sue
Rusche, co-author of "False Messengers," a book on how addictive drugs change the brain.
Inhalants, such as glue, paint, gasoline and aerosols, destroy the outer lining of nerve cells and
make them unable to communicate with one another. In 1993, more than 60 young people died
from sniffing inhalants, according to National Families in Action, a drug education center based
in Atlanta.
Studies have found that marijuana use hinders memory, learning, judgment and reaction times,
while steroids cause aggression and violent mood swings.
Ecstasy use is rising among young people, Rusche said, and scientists have found that drug
destroys neurons that make serotonin, a chemical crucial in controlling sleep, violence, mood
swings and sexual urges.
While doctors and scientists know about some effects drugs have on the brain, they don't have a
full picture, Rusche said.
"When people start using a drug, the scientists know nothing about it. These people are
volunteering to be guinea pigs," said Rusche, who is co-founder and executive director of National
Families in Action. "Once enough people take it, scientists apply for grants and start studying it.
People are inventive. They find new drugs or new ways to take old drugs-like crack from cocaine.
"There's a lot we won't know about until later," she said. "The classic example is cigarettes. We
allowed people to smoke for 100 years before we knew about all the horrible things that nicotine
will do.
THE DOMINANT SIDE OF THE BRAIN
Researchers believed that brain dominance determines a person’s preferences, problem-solving
style, personality characteristics, and even career choices. For example, a right-brain individual
will quickly get a feeling for a situation, while a left-brain person will usually ask a lot of questions
first. The following chart reflects additional difference between left and right-brain dominance.
PERSONAL PREFERENCE
LEFT DOMINANCE RIGHT DOMINANCE
Classical music Popular music
Being on time A good times
Careful planning To visualize the outcome
 To consider alternative To go with the first idea
Being thoughtful Being active
Monopoly, scrabble, or chess Athletics, art, or music
There is nothing good or bad about either preference. Both orientations can be equally successful
in accomplishing a single task; however, one may be more appropriate over the other depending
on the situation.
RESEARCH STUDY “THE BRAIN’S LEFT AND RIGHT SIDES SEEM TO WORK
TOGETHER BETTER IN MATHEMATICALLY GIFTED MIDDLE-SCHOOL YOUTH”
WASHINGTON- There really may be something different about the brains of math-heads.
Mathematically gifted teens did better than average-ability teens and college students on tests that
required the two halves of the brain to cooperate, as reported in the April issue of
Neuropsychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).
In the study, a joint effort of psychologists at the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral
and Social Sciences at Fort Benning, Ga. and the University of Melbourne, Australia, researchers
studied 60 right-handed males: 18 mathematically gifted (averaging nearly 14 years in age), 18 of
average math ability (averaging just over 13), and 24 college students (averaging about 20). Math
giftedness seems to favor boys over girls, appearing an estimated six to 13 times more often. It's
not known why but prenatal exposure to testosterone is suspected to be one influence due to its
selective benefit to the right half of the brain.
The gifted boys were recruited from a Challenges for Youth-Talented program at Iowa State
University. Whereas the average Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) math score for college-bound
high-school seniors is 500 (out of 800), the mathematically gifted boys' average SAT math score
in middle school was 620.
The boys viewed letter patterns flashed on the left or right sides of a computer screen, and had to
indicate whether two patterns matched or not - a simple way of learning how the brain responds to
data put before either the left or right visual field, corresponding to processing in the right or left
brain because the input generally crosses over to the other side.
The letter patterns were presented in three conditions - one-sided, to the right hemisphere (left
eye); one-sided, to the left hemisphere (right eye); or bilaterally (both eyes). There were two types
of tasks -- "local," saying two letters matched or mismatched on the small letters that went into
making big letters (for example, a big T whose two strokes were made of smaller T's), and "global,"
saying two big letters matched or mismatched.
For the average teens and college students, the left brain hemisphere was faster for local matches
and the right brain hemisphere was faster for global matches. This fit prior research, which has
indicated that the left hemisphere is adept at processing visual "parts," in this case the letter details,
while the right hemisphere is more adept at analyzing visual "wholes," in this case the global
shapes of the big letters.
However, the mathematically gifted boys showed no such hemispheric differences. Those who
were precocious in math were equally good at processing global and local elements with either
hemisphere, suggesting more interactive, cooperative left and right brains.
In addition, whereas average-ability boys and college students were slower on cooperative trials,
which presented letter patterns on both sides of the screen, the math-gifted showed the opposite
pattern. They were slower on one-sided trials, but when a task "asked" both sides of the brain to
work together, they were considerably faster than the other boys.
The study supports the growing notion that the mathematically gifted are better at relaying and
integrating information between the cerebral hemispheres. Says co-author Michael O'Boyle, PhD,
"It's not that you have a special math module somewhere in your brain, but rather that the brain's
particular functional organization - which allows right-hemisphere contributions to be better
integrated into the overall cognitive/behavioral equation -- predisposes it towards the use of high-
level imagery and spatial skills, which in turn just happen to be very useful when it comes to doing
math reasoning."
The research supports the broader notion that "the functional (though not necessarily structural)
organization of the brain may be an important contributor to individual differences in cognitive
abilities, talents and, at the very least, information processing styles," says O'Boyle.
He adds, "Various expressions of exceptionality, such as giftedness in math, music or art, may be
the by-product of a brain that has functionally organized itself in a qualitatively different way than
the usual left/right hemispheric asymmetry."
At the same time, O'Boyle is not sure whether the findings could apply to math education in
general. "Our work may perhaps have something to say about the optimal timing of when a
particular brain is most 'ready to learn' or acquire a given skill, but I don't think we can 'create' a
math genius without the innate talent already there," he says.
Finally, given the rising use of testosterone by adult men, O'Boyle cautions that, "Testosterone
taken later in life will not help your math, as the window of influence on brain development is
pretty much prenatal. It may enhance muscle mass, but it is unlikely to help you solve calculus
problems."
YOU CAN GROW YOUR INTELLIGENCE
New Research Shows the Brain Can Be Developed Like a Muscle
Many people think of the brain as a mystery. They don’t know much about intelligence and how
it works. When they do think about what intelligence is, many people believe that a person is born
either smart, average, or dumb—and stays that way for life. But new research shows that the brain
is more like a muscle—it changes and gets stronger when you use it. And scientists have been able
to show just how the brain grows and gets stronger when you learn. Everyone knows that when
you lift weights, your muscles get bigger and you get stronger. A person who can’t lift 20 pounds
when they start exercising can get strong enough to lift 100 pounds after working out for a long
time. That’s because the muscles become larger and stronger with exercise. And when you stop
exercising, the muscles shrink and you get weaker. That’s why people say “Use it or lose it!” But
most people don’t know that when they practice and learn new things, parts of their brain change
and get larger a lot like muscles do when they exercise.
Inside the cortex of the brain are billions of tiny nerve cells, called neurons. The nerve cells have
branches connecting them to other cells in a complicated network. Communication between these
brain cells is what allows us to think and solve problems.
When you learn new things, these tiny connections in the brain actually multiply and get stronger.
The more that you challenge your mind to learn, the more your brain cells grow. Then, things that
you once found very hard or even impossible to do—like speaking a foreign language or doing
algebra—seem to become easy. The result is a stronger, smarter brain.

How Do We Know the Brain Can Grow Stronger?

Scientists started thinking that the human brain could develop and change when they studied
animals’ brains. They found out that animals who lived in a challenging environment, with other
animals and toys to play with, were different from animals who lived alone in bare cages. While
the animals who lived alone just ate and slept all the time, the ones who lived with different toys
and other animals were always active. They spent a lot of time figuring out how to use the toys
and how to get along with the other animals.
These animals had more connections between the nerve cells in their brains. The connections were
bigger and stronger, too. In fact, their whole brains were about 10% heavier than the brains of the
animals who lived alone without toys. The animals who were exercising their brains by playing
with toys and each other were also “smarter”—they were better at solving problems and learning
new things. Even old animals got smarter and developed more connections in their brains when
they got the chance to play with new toys and other animals. When scientists put very old animals
in the cage with younger animals and new toys to explore, their brains also grew by about 10%!
The Key to Growing the Brain: Practice!
From the first day they are born, babies are hearing people around them talk—all day, every day,
to the baby and to each other. They have to try to make sense of these strange sounds and figure
out what they mean. In a way, babies are exercising their brains by listening hard. Later, when they
need to tell their parents what they want, they start practicing talking themselves. At first, they just
make googoo sounds. Then, words start coming. And by the time they are three years old, most
can say whole sentences almost perfectly. Once children learn a language, they don’t forget it. The
child’s brain has changed—it has actually gotten smarter. This can happen because learning causes
permanent changes in the brain. The babies’ brain cells get larger and grow new connections
between them. These new, stronger connections make the child’s brain stronger and smarter, just
like a weightlifter’s big muscles make them strong.
The Real Truth About “Smart” and “Dumb”.
No one thinks babies are stupid because they can’t talk. They just haven’t learned how to yet. But
some people will call a person dumb if they can’t solve math problems, or spell a word right, or
read fast—even though all these things are learned with practice. At first, no one can read or solve
equations. But with practice, they can learn to do it. And the more a person learns, the easier it gets
to learn new things—because their brain “muscles” have gotten stronger! The students everyone
thinks as the “smartest” may not have been born any different from anyone else. But before they
started school, they may have started to practice reading. They had already started to build up their
“reading muscles.” Then, in the classroom, everyone said, “That’s the smartest student in the
class.” They don’t realize that any of the other students could learn to do as well if they exercised
and practiced reading as much. Remember, all of those other students learned to speak at least one
whole language already—something that grownups find very hard to do. They just need to build
up their “reading muscles” too.
What Can You Do to Get Smarter?
Just like a weightlifter or a basketball player, to be a brain athlete, you have to exercise and
practice. By practicing, you make your brain stronger. You also learn skills that let you use your
brain in a smarter way—just like a basketball player learns new moves. But many people miss out
on the chance to grow a stronger brain because they think they can’t do it, or that it’s too hard. It
does take work, just like becoming stronger physically or becoming a better ball player does.
Sometimes it even hurts! But when you feel yourself get better and stronger, all the work is worth
it!
ASSESSMENT: Develop a personal plan to enhance brain functions.
Mind mapping is a powerful thinking tool. It is a graphical technique that mirrors the way the brain
works, and was invented by Tony Buzan. Mind mapping helps to make thinking visible. Most
people make notes using lined paper and blue or black ink. Making notes more attractive to the
brain by adding color and rhythm can aid the learning process, and can help to make learning fun.
The subject being studied is crystallized in a central image and the main theme radiates out from
the central image on branches. Each branch holds a key image or a key word. Details are then
added to the main branches and radiate further out. Mind maps have a wide variety of uses, for
example, note taking, revision planning, planning for writing and problem solving can all be
successfully carried out using the technique. The colors and the graphics used will help children
to organize their ideas and thoughts. They can be very simple or, quite detailed depending upon
the age of the children and the complexity of the subject. Because creating the mind map involves
the use of the left and right brain, remembering the information becomes easier! Below is an
example of a simple mind map linked to the information above.
How to draw a mind map:
1. Turn the page on its side (landscape). Use plain paper.
2. Draw the central image using different colors. The central image should encapsulate the subject
of the map.
3. Add the branches representing the subject’s main topics or themes using key words or images.
4. Add detail with more key words and images. Use color.
5. Print the words clearly.
6. Use arrows to connect linked ideas.
Make a Mind Map
1. Choose a subject or activity that you do well (for example, math, basketball, playing the guitar,
painting, cooking, or computer games).
2. Make a mind map of the chosen topic, following the procedure described earlier.
3. Explain your mind map and how you worked on it.
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
More Than One Kind of Intelligence
You may have heard people mention "IQ" when talking about intellect and how smart someone is.
(For example, "My brother doesn't need to study as much as I do because he has a really high IQ.")
IQ stands for "intellectual quotient." It can help predict how well someone may do academically.
IQ is just one measure of our abilities, though.
There are many other kinds of intelligence in addition to intellect. For example, spatial intelligence
is the ability to think in 3D. Musical intelligence is the ability to recognize rhythm, cadence, and
tone. Athletic, artistic, and mechanical abilities are other types of intelligence. One important type
of intelligence is emotional intelligence.
What Is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand, use, and manage our emotions.
Emotional intelligence is sometimes called EQ (or EI) for short. Just as a high IQ can predict top
test scores, a high EQ can predict success in social and emotional situations. EQ helps us build
strong relationships, make good decisions, and deal with difficult situations.
One way to think about EQ is that it's part of being people-smart. Understanding and getting along
with people helps us be successful in almost any area of life. In fact, some studies show that EQ is
more important than IQ when it comes to doing well in school or being successful at work.

Improving Your EQ
Emotional intelligence is a combination of several different skills:
Being Aware of Your Emotions
Most people feel many different emotions throughout the day. Some feelings (like surprise) last
just a few seconds. Others may stay longer, creating a mood like happiness or sadness. Being able
to notice and accurately label these everyday feelings is the most basic of all the EQ skills. Being
aware of emotions — simply noticing them as we feel them — helps us manage our own emotions.
It also helps us understand how other people feel. But some people might go through the entire
day without really noticing their emotions. Practice recognizing emotions as you feel them. Label
them in your mind (for example, by saying to yourself "I feel grateful," "I feel frustrated," etc.).
Make it a daily habit to be aware of your emotions.
Understanding How Others Feel and Why
People are naturally designed to try to understand others. Part of EQ is being able to imagine how
other people might feel in certain situations. It is also about understanding why they feel the way
they do. Being able to imagine what emotions a person is likely to be feeling (even when you don't
actually know) is called empathy. Empathy helps us care about others and build good friendships
and relationships. It guides us on what to say and how to behave around someone who is feeling
strong emotions.
Managing Emotional Reactions
We all get angry. We all have disappointments. Often it's important to express how you feel. But
managing your reaction means knowing when, where, and how to express yourself. When you
understand your emotions and know how to manage them, you can use self-control to hold a
reaction if now is not the right time or place to express it. Someone who has good EQ knows it
can damage relationships to react to emotions in a way that's disrespectful, too intense, too
impulsive, or harmful.
Choosing Your Mood
Part of managing emotions is choosing our moods. Moods are emotional states that last a bit. We
have the power to decide what mood is right for a situation, and then to get into that mood.
Choosing the right mood can help someone get motivated, concentrate on a task, or try again
instead of giving up. People with good EQ know that moods aren't just things that happen to us.
We can control them by knowing which mood is best for a particular situation and how to get into
that mood.
EQ: Under Construction
Emotional intelligence is something that develops as we get older. If it didn't, all adults would act
like little kids, expressing their emotions physically through stomping, crying, hitting, yelling, and
losing control!
Some of the skills that make up emotional intelligence develop earlier. They may seem easier: For
example, recognizing emotions seems easy once we know what to pay attention to. But the EQ
skill of managing emotional reactions and choosing a mood might seem harder to master. That's
because the part of the brain that's responsible for self-management continues to mature beyond
our teen years. But practice helps those brain pathways develop.
We can all work to build even stronger emotional intelligence skills just by recognizing what we
feel, understanding how we got there, understanding how others feel and why, and putting our
emotions into heartfelt words when we need to.
TYPES OF RESPONSES
Passive response: Behaving passively means not expressing your own needs and feelings, or
expressing them so weakly that they will not be addressed.
• If Geneva behaves passively, by standing in line and not saying anything, she will probably feel
angry with the girls and herself. If the ticket office runs out of tickets before she gets to the head
of the line, she will be furious and might blow up at the girls after it's too late to change the
situation.
• A passive response is not usually in your best interest, because it allows other people to violate
your rights. Yet there are times when being passive is the most appropriate response. It is important
to assess whether a situation is dangerous and choose the response most likely to keep you safe.
Aggressive response: Behaving aggressively is asking for what you want or saying how you feel
in a threatening, sarcastic or humiliating way that may offend the other person(s).
• If Geneva calls the girls names or threatens them, she may feel strong for a moment, but there is
no guarantee she will get the girls to leave. More importantly, the girls and their friend may also
respond aggressively, through a verbal or physical attack on Geneva.
• An aggressive response is never in your best interest, because it almost always leads to increased
conflict
Assertive response: Behaving assertively means asking for what you want or saying how you feel
in an honest and respectful way that does not infringe on another person's rights or put the
individual down.
• If Geneva tells the girls they need to go to the end of the line because other people have been
waiting, she will not put the girls down, but merely state the facts of the situation. She can feel
proud for standing up for her rights. At the same time, she will probably be supported in her
statement by other people in the line. While there is a good chance the girls will feel embarrassed
and move, there is also the chance that they will ignore Geneva and her needs will not be met.
• An assertive response is almost always in your best interest, since it is your best chance of getting
what you want without offending the other person(s). At times, however, being assertive can be
inappropriate. If tempers are high, if people have been using alcohol or other drugs, if people have
weapons or if you are in an unsafe place, being assertive may not be the safest choice.