Books, books and more books

I have so many books that I want to read, so many things I want to understand more.         

One of my biggest interest is psychology….. why, why, why?   Why does that make me happy or sad,  why do people do what they do, why are people the way they are, why am I feeling this way?

I had a conversation with a niece of mine, maybe about a year ago.  She is a Psychology major.   She told me about one of her textbooks she thought I would enjoy.   I bought a copy of it on one of those textbooks reseller sites, an older edition, it was inexpensive.

Because I was a business major, the only people I remember was Skinner and Maslow.  Most people have heard of Freud, but I think of dream analysis when I think of him.   I don’t remember too much about Skinner, and most of us have probably at some point have heard about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and his dog experiments with the bell and dog feeding.  

  

I recently dug out the textbook my niece thought I would enjoy.  It is called ‘The theories of Personalities”  .   Not only does it have Freud, Skinner and Maslow, but it also has the theories of Jung (I have heard of that name before) , Erickson, and lots of others.   I happened to open a random chapter -Rollo Reese May. His theory has the most in common with existential philosophy.

Existentialism -  I don’t ever remember ever hearing that word up until a few years ago when our daughter took a summer class on Existentialism.  And I refuse to share with you how long it took me to even be able to say the word.  I am enjoying reading about his theory.   It makes a lot of sense to me, I can identify with many things.  

A few posts ago I spoke about what I thought needed to be added required classes.  Well, theories of personality should definitely be added to that list. 

I have found in the past that the little bit of psychology I have had (for a business degree) has certainly helped me in dealing with people I work with, but I have a new respect for those people who go into the “Psychological” profession and their work with helping people deal with issues they are struggling with.  

I guess I mean ..I like to be around positive, happy people… it makes me feel good….. I have always been more of an immediate gratification person, or I like to see it now….(I guess that is why I hated credit and collections….what do you mean I have to wait 30 days to see my results of today’s work?) .   

So while others may be happy with their novels, comic books, or whatever,   I will be happy with finding books that are focused around  why people are the way they are and how by understanding, maybe we can “fix” some of our own flaws and make us the individual we want to be.