St.

Francis College
Pascual B. Gutay St., Sabang II
Allen, Northern Samar 6405

MODULE 2 IN SOC. SCI. 1 (PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT)

DEVELOPING THE WHOLE PERSON

SESSION : 1 week
GRADE LEVEL : 11
LEARNING COMPETENCIES:
 evaluate his/her own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

I. CONCEPT

Thoughts, feelings and behavior are three different concepts that are related to one another. What are
thought? Feelings? And behavior? The following discussion focuses on the reasons why there is a need for a
person to have an evaluation of his or her thoughts, feelings and behaviors. This aims to encourage you,
adolescents, to have constant assessments of your respective thoughts, feelings and behaviors.

II. DISCUSSION

Thoughts, Feelings and Behavior

Thoughts may refer to the ideas or arrangements of ideas that result from thinking, the act of producing
thoughts, or the process of producing thoughts” (“Thoughts”, n.d).
 Thoughts are cognitive – they are mentally produced and possessed.
 Thoughts are influential – as the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said, “If you correct
your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place.”

Feeling, on the other hands, denotes “a state of consciousness, such as that resulting from emotions, sentiments
or desires” (“Feelings”, n.d). feelings are usually mild emotional states. Examples of feelings are anger,
sadness, fear, and happiness.

Behavior refers to the “range of actions and mannerism made by individuals, organisms, systems, or artificial
entities in conjunctions, with themselves or their environments, which includes the other systems or organisms
around as well the (inanimate) physical environment” (“Behavior or behavior”, n.d).

Behaviors are usually seen, while thoughts and feelings are not. Some examples of behavior are:
 A baby girl kissing her mom
 A child playing with her dolls
 Mother shouting for joy

The needs to evaluate one’s thought, feelings, and behavior

 One thoughts, feelings and behavior are interconnected and interrelated. In fact, they influence and
affect one another. Hence, to regularly evaluate one’s thoughts, for instance, is in a way assessing also one’s
feeling and behaviors.

Most negative feelings and behaviors are generated by negative thoughts. The thought or belief, for
example, that a certain person (e.g. a classmate or a teacher) does not like you may produce adverse feelings
and hostile behaviors toward that person.

Adolescents would benefit much from the practice of evaluating thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
During adolescence, there are rapid changes and shifts in the person’s feelings, moods, and behaviors – hence
the needs to constantly check them.

Adolescents are normally self-conscious and sensitive individuals. They are easily affected by criticism
and by what other people say about them. They wish to always look good to other people and this makes them
worry about their imperfections, such as obesity and skin disorder. They tend to compare themselves to their
fellow adolescents.

Adolescents behavior is also characterized by self-centeredness, narcissism or self-love, and paranoia.

Adolescents thinks that other people’s attention is constantly centered on their actions and appearance.
Sometimes, due to conflicts with their families, they also think that they are not loved and cared for by their
parents. Moreover, some adolescents have thoughts of being invisible, that nothing bad will happen to them no
matter what they do. Hence, some engage in risky behaviors such as driving under the influence of alcohol
drugs.

The above-mentioned characteristics of adolescents explain the need for them to do self-evaluation.
Making it a habit to assess one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors will give them the opportunity to appraise the
truth or validity of one’s beliefs, the appropriateness of one’s feelings and emotions, and the decency of one’s
actions and behaviors.

Adolescents should also remember that we always have choice on how we will look at things. The
people around us do not necessarily cause our feelings; we are the ones responsible for them. We have a choice;
we have control over our feelings in the same way we have control over other choices in our lives. Negative
thoughts, counterproductive feelings, and self-destructive behaviors should not enslave us. We have the power
to rid ourselves of harmful thoughts, feelings and behaviors.

To have a better understanding on the relationship among thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, it may help
to have a knowledge on some theories in psychology which deal with them.

The Cognitive Triangle

The natural connection among thoughts, feelings, and behaviors is acknowledging in what psychologist
called the cognitive triangle. The term refers to a “psychological model encompassing the interrelationship od
thoughts, actions, and feelings surrounding events.”

This explanatory framework categorically declares that thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are
interconnected and elucidates how they affect each other. It puts forward, for instance, that a change in one of
them produces a changes to the others. This psychological model is actually one of the bases of a psychological
therapy called Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT).
Cognitive Behavior Therapy

This therapy is based on the work of two psychologist Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck. Cognitive Behavior
Therapy is a commonly used form of psychotherapy which aims to assist individuals in understanding the link
between thoughts and feelings and realizing how these two impact behavior. Though individuals have no
control over things around them, through CBT however, people can control the way they interpret things and
the manner they behave in accordance to that interpretation.

Its fundamentals principle is that individuals usually have destructive thoughts and feelings that can
affects their functioning and relationship at home, work, school, and in the community. Through this therapeutic
intervention, an individual can change his thoughts which leads to a change in his feelings and behaviors. The
key, therefore, is in the positive interpretation of things.

For instance, when faced with a negative event, a person can either interpret it negatively or positively.
Then he/she interprets it negatively by thinking of understanding thoughts about it. It may result in a negative
feeling and a negative behavior. On the other hand, when an event is construed as something positive (though it
can as well be taken as negative), it may lead to a positive feeling and eventually to a helpful behavior.

Look at this example:

Situation: Your mother arrived from work and went directly to her room. She did not even greet you nor give
you a glance

Negative thought: Mom is angry at me.

Negative feelings: I feel sad.

Negative behavior: I will not talk to her either.

Now, notice how changing a negative viewpoint to a positive one could alter feeling and behavior.

Positive thought: Maybe she has an urgent task to attend to or she is too tired.

Positive feeling: I am relieved.

Positive behavior: I will just say ‘Hi’ to her after she has rested enough or when she’s done with the task.

(1) ACTIVITY
ESSAY

1. Does your way of thinking affects your feeling? How?

Even the slightest interaction between thoughts and emotions can have a significant impact on one another.
Emotions can be triggered by thoughts, such as when you're overthinking something that may cause you to be
anxious or fearful. Our manner of thinking is inversely related to the way we feel about ourselves. For example, if we
have a negative opinion of something or someone, we will feel nervous. Happiness comes from thinking on positive
thoughts. As the famous saying goes: "What you think, you become." - Buddha

2. How does your way of thinking affects your behavior?

The way we think tends to impact the way we behave in a particular situation. This is because there
is an interrelationship between thoughts, emotions, and behavior. So, our behaviors are a result of
our thoughts and feelings associated with the given situation.
And, if we think positively, then we'll feel optimistic about it, and in turn, act in a positive manner.
For example, if we have positive thoughts about a person, we are likely to feel happy with that
person around and behave nicely with them.
Further, the mind is filled with various thoughts, but it's the thought we focus more on that, in turn,
determines the way we feel about it and behave accordingly. And, our mind serves as a rich source
of spreading positivity, and in turn, influences our emotions and behaviors linked with it.
Moreover, our thoughts have the power to influence our lives, so it's even more important to focus
more on positive thoughts to radiate positivity in our lives to achieve wellness in life.
Thus, the way we think directly impacts we feel and behave in a given context.

IV – EVALUATION
Directions: Based on your experiences cite some situations happened to you showing that thinking positive or
negative does affect your behavior.

Situation:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
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Negative thought:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
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Negative feelings:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________

Negative behavior:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________

Positive thought:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________

Positive feeling:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________

Positive behavior:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________

IV. REFERENCE
De Guzman, J. M., & Nicolas, M. S. (2016). Personal Development A Textbook and Workbook for Senior High School.
Malabon City: MUTYA PUBLISHING HOUSE INC.