Week Three Checkpoint: Interactionism
Rebecca J. Castle
PSY/ 230
10/14/2011
Julie Ball, MS Ed

Week Three Checkpoint: Interactionism
A person’s culture is going to have a lot to do with how their personality is shaped. Someone that has grown up in a home with constant fighting and hostility is going to have a guarded personality and may be either hostile or very anxious. On the other hand, someone that has been raised in a home of cooperation and love will have a higher chance of being and extroverted person and more easy going. Growing and observing another’s behaviors has a huge impact on how our personality will turn out. We learn by not only trial and error but also by observing others, which will carry over into how we do and handle things. Personalities begin to develop at a young age and then carry into adulthood.
Once someone is labeled with a specific personality trait, it is hard to lose that label. How that label affects their lives depends on the type of label. For instance, a young man that has been labeled as being disagreeable may find it hard to make friends because they have already decided that he will be hard to get along with. On the other end of the spectrum, a young man labeled as conscientious and agreeable may acquire many friendships as well as better opportunities. Labels can be both helpful and harmful.
A person is not born knowing how to handle a social experience; therefore I feel that social experiences are what shape a person’s reactions. A good example would be a young lady is asked to attend a party. She is very timid and has not had a lot of social interaction. Once she arrives at the party she realizes that she is not dressed as everyone else and that she has nothing in common with these people. She is embarrassed and finds the whole event very uncomfortable. As her life goes on she is always nervous at large