Self-Expression in a Psychological Lens

The moment Personal Project was introduced to me, the first thing that came to my mind as an idea was finding solutions to solve a concerning issue that most teenagers experience nowadays. I emphasise Social Insecurity as the main concept. Social Insecurity itself is the fear of interaction between self and society. I am interested in discussing about this topic because as a teenager myself, I also face various insecurities that sometimes hinders me on developing into a better individual. That being said, the goal is to provide a sustainable understanding behind the issue that is being discussed in the book and also to provide solutions, guidance to overcome teenagers / young adults insecurities towards expressing themselves. To give guidance about psychological characteristics of human beings and communication skills as the self-expression to avoid the feeling of “anxiety” and insecurity behind the complexity of social life. I need to comprehend psychological reasonings behind human behavior patterns, self-expression to master the skills of social interaction as in being able to fit in groups, interacting with unfamiliar individuals, build a better relationship towards family, friends and speaking up for ourselves. Conceptualizing the nature of self, understanding ourselves and others better to build confidence and avoid insecurity through human interactions.

Global Context

According to the IB in relation to the global context of Identities and Relationships “Who we are: an inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health; human relationships including families, friends, communities and cultures; rights and responsibilities” I believe that my project reflects the chosen global context completely as it concerns exploring identities, beliefs and values, personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health, human relationships including families, friends, communities and cultures, what it means to be human, Understanding people, self-expression values and how to build the ideal relationship. As my project will be beneficial for teenagers, there are several challenging sides from my project and final product which are my goal for the time bound to accomplish. It should be really precise so all parts of the working; research, experts answers, more investigations will be submitted on time therefore it will create a good time frame for me to complete the final product and report. Next is my goal. It is challenging because my topic focuses on inner problems that not everyone can relate to, and not everyone that experiences this issue can be brave enough to share it to others. This means that I need to do more research and survey. Lastly is the final product. Creating an interactive guidance book which I'm still learning and not really familiar with.

Product

My final product resulted as a short guidance book consisting of 19 pages discovering and analyzing the question of “why are some teenagers limited to self expression” with the leading concept issue of social and personal insecurities in a psychological understandings. In the book, there were analysis and information that was contextualized by a psychologist that I interviewed also by peers experiences as well.

I also brought up my own experiences and ways that I conducted to try to solve the main issue that is being discussed In the book which is insecurities towards teenagers/young adults. I have produced a mini booklet or a short guidance book with a lot of analysis and information along with its fun designs intentionally made for the readers to enjoy reading it without being bored. There are a lot of appealing designs and colorful images that I included in my book to make it eye catching for the readers to keep on reading.

See my book below!

Reflection

I have reached the end of the personal project process which is the criterion D along with having my final product assessed by peers, adults and myself. Here, I would conclude everything I have accomplished for this past 6 months. This has been the most exciting big project as I create a solution that many of my friends claimed that it was useful and effective. How I reflect my own experience, solutions to a guidance that can be necessary for my target audience that have the same experience. This has been a great journey of opportunities to actually played a helpful role in solving one of many problems that teenager are facing these days. I have learned so much from this experience, finding solutions for my book and also for the situation that we are dealing during personal project this year where we are in a pandemic which we are limited of doing several activities, but it did not limit me from creating such product. I use all 2 atl skills which are communication and social skills and 3 IB learner profile, communicator, thinker and principled to have the best out of my personal project. Thankfully, I have achieved all of my goals along with my chosen global context even in situation like this. My goals are to make a guidance and solutions to readers that experience the same issue as me which is social insecurity or self vs society. My global context is identity and relationship where it emphasis the work of nature self to human behaviours in a society that builds up relationships.

IB Learner Reflection

Throughout this whole process, I was a communicator, thinker and principled. I was a communicator because of all of those contents and concepts that I received from others opinion by interviewing them verbally. I also interviewed experts which needs a professional communication skills. Peoples’ opinion are very important for the context and content of the book as it can be a way for me to elaborate with full analysis and provide a solution towards that. I communicate a lot by presenting all of my ideas through a guidance book form with the effective chosen language that would match my target audiences. I was also a thinker because I analyze, brainstorm and think a lot to create such concepts like this and coming up with these solutions for teenagers.