Ch.2 & Ch.3

These two chapters highlighted the benefits of conscientious and of being cautious in social situations.  The third chapter spoke on how the participants in the study who were less social had the tendency to live longer and that this was likely due to the pressure and unhealthy habits that can arise from certain social situations.  Beyond the biological tendencies that the chapters mentioned, the take away from the two is to avoid excess stress and excess risk.  The traits associated with conscientious people (such as detail-oriented, well organized, and persistent) are good skills for managing everyday life and avoiding excess stress.  On the social side, the chapter didn’t mean to say that social interactions are necessarily bad, but that they have a risk factor associated with them dependent on the quality of the relationships.  Social high schoolers are more likely to be involved in situations involving drugs and alcohol compared to less social peers who might live longer as a result.

This makes me think that there is more value in personal time and taking a break from social events than I previously thought.  Along those lines I’m more encouraged to continue making lists in an attempt to manage my time and obligations to work towards being more conscientious, as well as trying to be more aware of everything going on around me.  It makes me wonder, as my generation gets older, how should we be raising children with chapter 3 in mind?  I don’t think discouraging social interactions is at all the answer, but should teachers and parents be pushing shy children so hard to be outgoing if the study found that shy children usually still grow into successful, happy, and somewhat social adults?

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2 Responses to Ch.2 & Ch.3

  1. Brittany Woo says:

    I had the same thought when it comes to Chapter 3. After reading about the quality of social interactions vs. the quantity of social interactions, how should we go about with our group interactions and social interactions? Shyness can eventually result in social anxiety disorder (S.A.D.) Is it necessary to cause anxiety within a child because eventually we will need to work in a group at some point in our life? Or should we try to increase the concientiousness within these children to weigh out the negative effects resulting from not joining groups?

  2. Natalie Szumel says:

    I was wondering those exact questions as well as I was reading these chapters. One of the things my dad always said to me was that he knew he couldn’t pick my friends, but by placing me around good people at a caring school, he could pick the pool that I picked those friends from. This allows the children to have the flexibility in being social to whatever extent they pleased while decreasing the chance that they would be pressured into something they didn’t want to do. This also puts children in a position where caregivers/teachers are less likely to push children to be more outgoing and embrace them for who they are.

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