The artifacts here treat emotional intelligence as something practical: better judgment, better relationships, better leadership, and a better ability to correct my own path.
Big Five Personality Reflection
The Big Five framework turned early coursework in personality traits into something to examine rather than assume. Conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability showed up clearly in motivation, disagreement, pressure, and professional direction, and the assignment treated personality as a pattern of behavior rather than a fixed label.
Working through how my traits affect judgment, communication, coping, and relationships pushed me to look more closely at my own understanding of emotional intelligence, since the trait results were more than abstract scores. They raised questions about how I challenge ideas, how I function under pressure, and how other people may interpret those patterns.
The limitation section carries the most weight in this journal. Trait theory can freeze people in place and strip out context such as upbringing, culture, trauma, and pressure.
PSY 328 | Journal
Introverts, Extroverts, and Team Dynamics
Instead of treating introverts and extroverts as fixed boxes, I described how a person may speak easily around people they trust but grow quieter when the setting, people, or process is unfamiliar. A classroom or workplace misses good ideas when it only rewards whoever talks first or talks the most. For a leader, emotional intelligence means knowing who needs direction, who needs space, who can handle pressure, and who needs encouragement before speaking.
PSY 328 | Activity
Humanism, Maslow, and Social Change
This journal applies humanistic theory and Maslow's hierarchy to my interest in veteran mental health, and it pushed me to think about self-actualization as an ongoing orientation rather than a stage to complete. Working through where Maslow's hierarchy breaks down for veterans clarified why access to care is not the same as usable care: a veteran can be near services, housing, and treatment and still not disclose what they are carrying, because asking for help can feel like exposure rather than support. That distinction feeds straight into my research on suicide risk underdetection, since the barrier is often not the absence of resources but whether a person is willing to use them. Writing about emotional intelligence within the humanistic approach reinforced something I want to carry into clinical work: responding to a person's dignity instead of only correcting their behavior. The agent of social change section gave me language for connecting Amtgard participation to a possible bridge for veterans who are not ready to walk into formal care.
PSY 328 | Journal
Flexibility, Stress, and Coping
Stress reveals the gap between adapting to a real change and reacting badly because I assume the problem is incompetence. That distinction sits at the center of this journal, since emotional intelligence is more than staying functional under pressure. It also means recognizing when bluntness or anger starts to damage the people around me.
Coping shows up here as something practical rather than abstract. Naming both the useful parts of my stress response and the parts that need control connects to leadership: staying flexible without losing the standard, being direct without becoming destructive, and remembering that people watch how I handle pressure. That is a better measure of emotional intelligence than simply saying I can tolerate stress.
PSY 328 | Journal