The Chickering Theory: Blimling's Psychosocial Development

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The Chickering’s theory explains the psychosocial development reflecting upon self growth and development (Blimling, p.137-138). It consists of seven vectors that share different areas of development you find yourself in at various points in your life, and at multiple times (Class #1 Powerpoint). The seven vectors are: developing competence, managing emotion, autonomy to interdependence, developing mature interpersonal relationships, establishing identity, developing integrity, and developing purpose. These vectors are all major “highways” in order to individualize yourself all throughout your life. Thus, no one can “master” a specific vector as they are a guidance towards personal growth and self development (Class #1 Powerpoint). Since new …show more content…

It explains the increasing awareness of feelings and learning how to understand and trust these feelings (Blimling, p.140). There are two processes involved. The first process is moving from controlling one’s own behavior because external influence to a process of controlling behavior through internal processes. The second process is the differentiation and integration, which is the awareness of one’s emotions, acting on emotions, receiving feedback on actions, and exercising internal control of actions and integrating emotions. (Blimling, p.140) Throughout my high school years, I’ve always acted my emotions based on the external social standards. Back then, I believed that acting on emotions was the most “real” thing to do but failed to express those emotions. As a result, I would never receive accurate feedback from my emotions because they were not expressed internally but rather externally. During my past year in college, I’ve experienced through the process of reasoning, feedback, and having to confront the consequences of my action various times. Through these experiences, I received constructive feedback which not only helped me set expectations for how I will control my own emotions but also how to give constructive feedback to others. I learned to better control the internal emotions when encountered with an aggressive situation by correctly utilizing the feedbacks I received. By integrating the …show more content…

This vector is a process that begins in your childhood. The first four vectors: competence, managing emotions, moving through autonomy toward interdependence, and developing mature interpersonal relationships create the framework for one’s self identification. (Blimling, p.142) Throughout the time period of my life that I participated in pageants, I focused on how “perfect” my physical appearance was compared to many others around me. I did not recognize my body’s needs or limits when it came to diet and exercise. The meal plan would only be centered around how many calories it was versus what my body actually needed to properly function. My exercise routines consisted of workouts that counted how many calories I would be able to burn instead of what my body could actually handle. This version of my interpretation of body image soon faded after one semester of my college career. Because of being able to control my internal emotions and being more independent both emotionally and instrumentally, I was able to discover and recognize what my needs and limitations are. Through the process of establishing identity, it also helped me discover the definition of my personality. I had personality traits that allowed me to be a leader enabling others to act (Class #12 Handout). At this point, I am able to differentiate myself

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