In this paper, I would like to examine the development of my personality, concentrating on my relationship with my father. I grew up with two older brothers and my father treated me pretty much equal with them. I remember when I was around the age of 4 or 5 receiving a new basketball for Christmas. My father believed that girls should not be treated any differently than boys. I learned how to play from watching him and my brothers battle it out in the backyard every night. This is an example of observational learning, an aspect in Bandura's Cognitive Social-Learning Theory. I willingly paid attention to my environment, thought about what was happening, and decided I would like to learn how to play. This, however, is not the most important thing I observed from my father. I also acquired my love of competition and desire to achieve from him.
             When we were growing up, everything in our home was a competition between my brothers and I. Who could get the best grades? Who was the best athlete? Who could get done with chores fastest? Consequently, we all had good grades,
             were good athletes, and always completed our chores. However, we didn't always enjoy what were doing mostly because our motivation to avoid failure was usually much higher than our motivation to succeed. We were not succeeding because we wanted the success. We were succeeding to avoid getting in trouble.
             In me, my father saw my talent for basketball as a way for me to escape my situation. My family lives in a small town in Ohio where everyone graduates and the majority of people work in factories or other similar working class jobs. Therefore, what was once a pleasure for me to participate in soon became a chore. He used to make me shoot one hundred free throws a day and practice many other aspects of the game that to a 12-year-old seem not the least bit fun. I continued to do these everyday, though, because I was afraid of getting in t...