Personal Responsibility: The Decision is Ours
GEN200

Personal Responsibility: The Decision is Ours * Personal responsibility is self reflection of how we see ourselves, our responsibilities and how we want to represent that to everyone that we meet. When we are in public we are saying “this is who we are”. It is what drives us to do what we do and helps to keep us on track with our lives and our goals. It prevents us from taking the wrong fork in the road, so to speak. Personal responsibility is the sum of many parts; our decisions, our ethics, cultural values, and our experiences. It is how we make decisions and choices. However, it is the positive choices we make that are directly responsible for our successes whether it is in our personal lives, work or school. Our decisions are the products of our ethics and moral values that were established early in childhood. They have come by way of our families as well as our cultural upbringing. We have been cultivated to know what is acceptable by society in general. In quoting [ (Ellen A. Sigle and Shirley Aamidor, 2005) ]“ So do we reinforce children for behaviors that we deem appropriate? Of course we do. This is the way all societies teach their children about the mores of their culture and the behaviors required for success within that context” (Strain & Joseph, 2004; Weber, 2002)(p. 250). These influences continue to evolve our decisions throughout our lives and is affected by each of our lives experiences. So what we may consider a good, ethical or moral decision today may not be the case some years later. Our freedom to make choices influences every aspect of our lives. We choose our attitudes and how we will interact with other people. We choose if we will exercise or sit down and watch television. We make choices about our diets or dieting and when we will eat. Everything we do is a matter of choice and those choices shape how we develop as individuals. The direction that our lives take are predicated by choice, good or bad. When we decide to attend college, we have made a positive choice. However, it does not stop there. To continue to be successful in our academic career there are many more decisions and choices to make. Each decision precipitates a new choice that we will need to make and each positive choice reinforces that behavior. As taken from [ (Prof. Kaarina Määttä and Satu Uusiautti, 2011) ] “ Positive psychology concentrates on determining what can be done in order to get the best out of people—students, employees, and etcetera (Snyder & Lopez, 2002). After compulsory education, the young have to make important choices that will have an influence on the rest of their lives. Making decisions should be easier if they are aware of their strengths and weaknesses as well as different possibilities open to them.” Understanding what our abilities are and given the right prompting, success is inevitable. Once we have accepted that we are responsible for our choices and ourselves and because we have free will, we can take a vested interest in our personal growth and development. So when we have entered into an academic commitment for college, continuing to use good judgment about how we will study or if we will complete homework directly determines how successful we will be in college. If we choose to study and do the homework we will graduate with a degree. If we choose not to, we will probably fail and drop out. However, through positive reinforcement of our decisions we can be successful. For example, receiving an “A” on an examination validates our decision to study and thereby creating positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement develops all of the good characteristics associated with success and this in turn helps us to continue to develop self reliant and confident individuals. “ What these attributes share is that they all encourage active involvement with goal pursuits and with the environment” [ (Sonja Lyubomirsky, Laura King, and Ed Diener, 2005) ](804) Self confidence is exuded from positive reinforcement received from making the right choices. According to [ (Joshua D. Sparrow, 2005) ] “Low self-esteem occurs if a child is held to unreasonable expectations that go beyond his developmental stage; he is bound to fail. If he is pushed, he may accumulate more failures than successes, leaving him little to build on. Then, he'll underestimate his potential and criticize himself more than he deserves.” Receiving positive support early on and throughout our adolescence lives puts us on the path to living responsibly and making good choices. [ (Joshua D. Sparrow, 2005) ] Although, a child’s view of him or herself will dictate their ability to succeed or fail, it will also determine whether they can take their failures and turn them into lessons. Early on we are taught how to see ourselves and what our limits are, under a nurturing and positive affect environment our potential can be realized and developed to the fullest. The converse, when we are chastised or ridiculed for making bad decisions or choices, a natural response to this will become avoidance. We will avoid making choices or decisions regardless of how simple they may seem. This is done out of fear of what consequences are looming. Our decisions or indecisions, ultimately may keep us from any level of success and subsequently isolation may ensue. Positive feedback or reinforcement will cause the tendency to approach rather than to avoid and to prepare the individual to seek out and undertake new goals. (Sonja Lyubomirsky, Laura King, and Ed Diener, 2005). * Personal responsibility equates to positive decisions and positive behaviors throughout our lives. Personal responsibility is the act of being responsible for our actions, our decisions or choices. It is a personal commitment to, honesty, integrity, sound judgment, and to ourselves. It is acceptance of ourselves and demonstrating that we can take care of our obligations and commitments. By using positive motivators and focusing on our goals, success can be achieved. We can experience success throughout our personal lives, work and as we move through our educational goals. It is the use good judgment when it comes time to making decisions and weighing the outcome of a bad one. Last, it is setting a pattern of behavior to succeed at our goals regardless of what those goals may be.

* Bibliography
Ellen A. Sigle and Shirley Aamidor. (2005). From Positive Reinforcement to Positive Behaviors:An Everyday Guide for the Practitioner. Early Childhood Education Journal , 32 (4), 249 - 253.
Joshua D. Sparrow, M. (2005, September). Self Esteem and How it Grows. Scholastic Parent and Child .
Prof. Kaarina Määttä and Satu Uusiautti. (2011). The Process of Becoming a Top Worker. International Education Studies , 4 (4), 69 - 79.
Sonja Lyubomirsky, Laura King, and Ed Diener. (2005). The Benefits of Frequent Positive Affect:Does Happiness Lead to Success? Psychological Bulletin , 131 (06), 803 - 855.