Changing Perspective

Changing Perspective Pg. 1

Changing Perspective

Annie McDaniel

PSY/220

November 27, 2011

Tricia Henderson, M. Ed.

Changing Perspective Pg. 2

“We form our perspectives on life filtered and changed by our lenses of experience, prejudice, viewpoint, and our personal outlook on life. Change the lens, you change the perspective, you change the approach. The reality of the situation has not changed. Only our view of it changes. All aspects of life are open to our own interpretations.” (Gibson, 2001) It is crucial to learn that our perspectives can be changed. Our perspective is a tool in our lives. A personal perspective is determined by the way they look at the world around them. Two different people will have entirely different perspectives on the same external situation. Factors that affect our individual perspectives are culture, personal beliefs, religious upbringing, societal norms, and environment. In this scenario, we will evaluate the differing perspectives adopted by two teenage girls placed in the same situation.

The first girl, Peggy, attends a four year university. She obtain her final grades and is dismayed to learn that she received only a C+ in a class for the semester. This may not shock some of her classmates, but she is at the university on a scholarship and cannot afford to pay for her schooling if she loses her scholarship because of a low grade. This grade may not affect another student, but it will cost Peggy her scholarship. This is a deep disappointment to her, since she has applied herself and been dedicated to her schooling. When she arrives back to her dorm, she is inconsolable. She finds herself at fault. Peggy prepares to leave for the summer, deep in thought about her predicament. Her roommate, DeAnna, inquires...