1. Chapter 2: Personality, Self-Esteem
And Emotions
Grade 7
Health Education
Ms. Fitchwell

2. Personality and Mental Health: Describing Personality
PERSONALITY: the behaviors, attitudes, feelings, and ways of thinking that makes you an individual.
Psychologist: Studies how people think, feel, and behave.
How would you describe your own personality?

3. 5 Traits to Describe Personality
Extrovert: friendly, outgoing
INTROVERT: person whose thoughts and feelings are directed inward
Agreeableness: Agree with others in a friendly way. Usually forgiving and good-natured
Conscientiousness: How responsible and self disciplined you are
Emotional Stability: Relaxed, secure, and calm; focus on the positive
Openness to Experiences: Curious, imaginative, and creative

4. How is Personality Formed?
1.Heredity: born with distinct temperaments
2.Environment: modifies traits
MODELING: copying the behavior of others
Friends, family, school, teachers, and culture
American teens spend more than 50% of their time with other teens
PEER GROUP: people who are about the same age and share similar interests
*By young adulthood your personality traits are fairly well established
Identity: Sense of self. Search begins in teen years
Still able to work to change traits with which you are not satisfied

5. Self-Esteem and Your Health
SELF-ESTEEM: how much you respect and like yourself
More than any other factor, SELF-ESTEEM has a DIRECT effect on all aspects of your health- mental, social, and physical.
HIGH SELF-ESTEEM:
Accepts themselves for who they are
Realistic views of their strengths and weaknesses
Maintain positive attitude
Form close relationships with peers
LOW SELF-ESTEEM:
Negative opinion
Judge self harshly
Worry about what others think of them too much
“Act” in public
Lack self- confidence

6. How is self esteem formed?
Over the years you have received feedback - messages from others that indicate who they think you are or what they think you are like.
Positive and negative feedback from parents, peers, media – both verbal and nonverbal.
A person with mostly positive feedback will have high self esteem
A person with mostly negative feedback will most likely have low self esteem and fragile mental health.

7. Self-Esteem and Your Health
Improving self- esteem:
Learn to focus on strengths
Select friends who will support & encourage you to do your best
Avoid dwelling on defeat
Practice good health habits
Avoid doing things that “go along with the crowd”
Set goals for yourself
Take time each day to do something you enjoy
Avoid negative thinking
Have the ability to LAUGH at yourself
Teens with low self- esteem…
Increased chance of serious health problems
More likely to use drugs
More likely to drop out of school
More likely to suffer from eating disorders

8. Achieving Your Potential
Self-Actualization: Process by which people achieve their full potential.
Before achieving self-actualization, a persons basic needs must be met
Hierarchy of Needs: Physical needs, safety, belonging, and esteem

9. Hierarchy of Needs

10. Expressing Emotions: Common Emotions
EMOTIONS: are signals that tell your body how to react – they are simply the way your body and mind respond to input
Primary Emotions: Emotions that are expressed by people in all cultures
Example: Happiness, sadness, anger, fear
Learned Emotions: Emotions that are not expressed in the same way by all people
Examples: Love, Guilt, Shame

11. Primary Emotions:
Happiness: Normal response to pleasant events in ones life
Fear: An emotion you feel when you recognize a threat to your safety or security
Sadness:
Sorrow or unhappiness
Normal response to disappointing events in one’s life
Feeling usually passes quickly, but prolonged sadness could be a sign of depression
GRIEF: a period of deep sorrow
Overcoming sadness:
Admit emotion
Share feelings

12. Primary Emotions
Anger: When people let their emotions carry them into anger, they face dangers of losing friendships, losing their jobs, or precipitating violence from those whose actions have upset them. Positively directing emotional energy is essential to healthy living.
Anger can be helpful or harmful
How can it be helpful???

13. Learned Emotions: Love:
Many types of love (ex. Between family members, in marriage, and love between friends)
Felt towards places, things, & people
One of the most positive emotions people are capable of
Ability to give and receive love is essential to mental health

14. Learned Emotions
Guilt: Feeling you get when you know you did something wrong
Correct the situation
Talk about feeling
Shame: Focuses on the person rather than the action
Lowers self-esteem
Guilt: “I did a bad thing”
Shame: “I am a bad person”

15. Expressing Emotions: Coping with Your Emotions
COPING STRATEGY: A way of dealing with an uncomfortable or unbearable feeling or situation – used consciously or unconsciously
Also known as:
DEFENSE MECHANISMS: Coping strategies that help you protect yourself from difficult feelings
Sometimes coping strategies can protect you from painful events, but if overused, they can stunt emotional growth. If depended upon too much, one may not learn to express true feelings.

16. Defense Mechanisms Denial Reaction Formation
Behaving in a way opposite to the way you feel
Projection
Putting your own faults onto another person
Regression
Returning to immature behaviors to express emotions
Denial
Refusing to recognize the existence of an emotion
Rationalization
Making excuses for actions or feelings
Compensation
Making up for weakness in one area by excelling in another area

17. Expressing Emotions: Coping with Your Emotions
Other Coping Strategies
Confront situation, turn it into a positive if you can
Release energy by exercising, cleaning, etc.
Take a break by reading, walking, writing in a journal, etc.
Talk through you feelings with someone you trust
Harmful Coping Strategies
Strong emotions could cloud a person’s judgment
A person could turn to coping strategies which make the situation worse for him/ her
Acting out in violent ways
Using alcohol or drugs
Withdrawing from friends and family