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Developing The Whole Person - LECTURE

This document discusses holistic development of the whole person by addressing different aspects that make up a person, including the physiological, cognitive, psychological, social, and spiritual dimensions. It also examines philosophical theories of dualism and holism. Emotions, feelings, attitudes, behavior, values and virtues are explored as key components of understanding human development from a holistic perspective.

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45 views2 pages

Developing The Whole Person - LECTURE

This document discusses holistic development of the whole person by addressing different aspects that make up a person, including the physiological, cognitive, psychological, social, and spiritual dimensions. It also examines philosophical theories of dualism and holism. Emotions, feelings, attitudes, behavior, values and virtues are explored as key components of understanding human development from a holistic perspective.

Uploaded by

buenafeflores
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Lecture: Developing the Whole Person

What Is Holistic Development?


The key phrase in this chapter that you have to pay attention to is "whole person,
emphasizing the complete aspects of a person or his totality. In order to understand
what it means to perceive a person as a whole organism, we will discuss philosophical
theories such as dualism and holism.

Mind and Body Dualism of Descartes


René Descartes, one of the modern philosophers of our time, influenced much of mankind's
thinking with his theory of duality or understanding the nature of things in a simple,
dual mode. Hence, you are familiar with the separation of body and spirit in Western
religion, and of the mind and body in the study of human sciences. People perceive things
as dual in dual character.

Holism and Gestalt


Holism-"the tendency in nature to form wholes which are greater than the sum of the
parts through creative evolution" (Holism, 2018)- Gen. Jan C. Smuts.
Gestalt- This is defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as "something that is made of
many parts and yet is somehow more than or different from the combination of its parts;
broadly, the general quality or character of something."-Ehrefehls, Wertheimer, Koffka,
and Kohler.
This theory continues to influence much of psychology and education today.
An example of holism and gestalt is evident in music. A symphony cannot be defined by
one of its notes alone. Even the clusters or sums of these different notes do not make
up the whole symphony nor characterize the whole symphony.

The Various Aspects of Holistic Development of Persons


When we consider a human person and what various aspects make up this complex
organism, five aspects come to mind:

• physiological or the physical attributes including the five physical senses;


• cognitive or the intellectual functions of the mind: thinking, recognizing,
reasoning,analyzing, projecting, synthesizing, recalling, and assessing;
• psychological or how thinking, feeling, and behaving interact and happen in a
person;
• social or the manner by which an individual interacts with other individuals or
groups of individuals; and
• spiritual or the attribute of a person's consciousness and beliefs, including the
values and virtues that guide and put meaning into a person's life.
When you look at a person and try to understand this individual, it is always good to
consider these five aspects and what it is about this person that makes him or her unique
from yourself and from others.

Basic Drives and Affect


Basic Drives-Biological instincts that humans experiences such as hunger, thirst and the
like.

Affect-is the various emotional experiences such as emotions, moods and affective traits.

Feelings and Emotions


Feelings, moods, and emotions do not exactly mean one and the same. Paul Ekman of the
University of California identified six basic emotions that human beings experience
(Feist & Rosenberg, 2012): happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust.
However, a recent research study (2014), conducted by the Institute of Neuroscience and
Psychology at the University of Glasgow, and published in the journal Current Biology,
has concluded that there are only four basic emotions. These are: happy, sad, afraid or
surprised, and angry or disgusted.
In a state of strong emotion, the person's physical responses include faster heartbeat,
profuse sweating and dilation of eye pupils, higher blood pressure, and muscular tremors,
affecting the nervous system in general.

Are feelings the same as emotions? In an online article of Scientific American entitled "Feeling
our Emotions" (Lenzen, n.d.), the author interviewed noted neurologist, Dr. Antonio R.
Damasio, about the distinction between feelings and emotions. According to Dr. Damasio,
from a neuro-scientific approach, feeling arises from the brain, as it interprets an
emotion, which is usually caused by physical sensations experienced by the body as a
reaction to a certain external stimulus. An example of this would be the emotion of fear
which produces a feeling of being afraid.

Emotions are usually caused by physical sensations experienced by the body as a reaction
to a certain external stimulus.

Feelings are the result from the emotions that were experienced.

Attitudes and Behavior


Attitudes- Attitudes are a person's thoughts, feelings, and emotions about another person,
object, idea, behavior, or situation.
Attitude is a result of a person's evaluation of an experience with another person,
object, idea, behavior, or situation based on his or her values and belief systems.
Beliefs and certain values, therefore, affect the attitude of a person.

Behavior is an outward manifestation or acting out of the attitudes of an individual has.


Take a look at the following situation to illustrate how attitude and behavior are
related:

Riding an overcrowded Metro Rail Transit (MRT) or Light Rail Transit (LRT) train and experiencing all sorts of physical
sensations such as heat, smell, and body contact can create an unfavorable attitude that riding the MRT is an unpleasant
and abhorring experience. As a result, the individual with this attitude will express disgust by either avoiding the MRT or
totally shutting down and becoming oblivious to the unpleasant condition or become aggressive and hostile to other people
while onboard the train.

If this individual continues to ride the MRT with the same attitude and corresponding behavior, other people will get
affected by this individual's behavior, who in turn, will act out a similar aggressive or uncivil behavior onboard the train.
This may affect other commuters and a chain reaction will follow.

Can attitudes be changed? Yes. There are ways to change attitude. Behavior can change attitudes.
If the person riding the train changes the way he or she behaves, like remaining calm,
smiling, and avoiding jostling and giving dagger looks at those that irritate him or her,
then that person's attitude will be different the next time he or she rides the train.
If that person can accept the fact that the train ride is not exactly a joyful and
pleasant ride, but not necessarily a life-threatening situation, then that person can
take an attitudinal change by preparing for what is ahead and creating a more pleasant
picture of the people riding the MRT.

Values
a system of beliefs that adheres to the highest ideals of human existence. These ideals
create meaning and purpose in a person's life that often result in personal happiness
and self-fulfillment.

Virtue
is defined as "a habitual and firm disposition to do good. It allows the person not only
to perform good acts, but also to give the best of himself or herself.
While values define what are important to us, which provides influence and direction in
our decisions, virtues are the dispositions in conducting good deeds. Our values develop
virtues. For example, the value of integrity develops several virtues such as being
honest, trustworthy, and responsible.

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