Please read Chapter 6.
What I would like you to do is to find a topic from one of this chapter that interests you and search the internet for material on that topic. You might, for example, find people who are doing research on the topic, you might find web pages that discuss the topic, you might find youtube clips that demonstrate something related to the topic, etc. What you find and use is pretty much up to you at this point.
Once you have completed your search and explorations (which may include a fair amount of browsing time, and reading websites, links, news pieces, or articles), I would like you to say what your topic is, how exactly it fits into one of those chapters, why you are interested in it, and what you learned about that topic from 3 of the sources you viewed/read on the internet (please at the end of your comment include the 3 URLs).
What things have to happen for a day to be a good one? This is a question that psychologists have been increasingly interested in over the years. They now have narrowed down the psychological needs that must be fulfilled throughout the day for a day to be considered a good one. In Understanding Motivation and Emotion these concepts are discussed in chapter six on page 167. As I was reading this chapter I became increasingly interested in the different psychological needs that must be satisfied in order for a day to be considered a good one.
In the article “What Makes for a Good Day? Competence and Autonomy in the Day and in the Person (Sheldon, Ryan, & Reis, 1996),” the researchers discussed the two psychological needs competence and autonomy. In this study college students were asked to come to sessions in which they would fill out questionnaires. The students who filled out at least two questionnaires were asked if they wanted to participate in a two week diary study. Those did not complete the two week diary study were dropped from the study (Sheldon, et. al., 1996).
Competence is described in this article as “feeling that one can effectively and bring about goals.” Autonomy is described as “feeling that one’s activities and goals are self-chosen and are concordant with intrinsic interests and values (Sheldon, et. al., 1996).” This research found that their hypothesis of when autonomy and competence were fulfilled a better day was the result was supported.
A Youtube video that I found added a third psychological factor that goes into well-being. In this video, relatedness is the perception that you are connected to and cared for by other people. This video’s main purpose is to give hints as to how coaches in support groups can make change happen by giving the people there a sense of autonomy, relatedness, and competence.
I found many other psychological articles and books dealing with autonomy, competence, and relatedness as the three basic principals behind having a good day. One that I found interesting was the book What Current Research says to the Middle Level Practitioner by Judith L. Irvin that I found on Google books. It discusses how autonomy, competence, and relatedness must all be present in the classroom setting of middle school children in order for learning to occur. The classrooms that were high in all three psychological factors had children who performed better.
Overall, it is interesting how autonomy, competence, and relatedness together not only determine if individuals have a good day or not but also if children succeed in a classroom and if support groups are successful. This is a broad area of research that has many opportunities for studies available in it.
http://web.missouri.edu/~sheldonk/pdfarticles/PSPBNeeds.pdf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTXq5lR8OCw
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=QVCfsMbfORIC&oi=fnd&pg=PA41&dq=autonomy,+competence,+and+relatedness&ots=YMdxUJePMW&sig=nEezjgg65v7ycbbilCcGzUdCHAI#v=onepage&q=autonomy%2C%20competence%2C%20and%20relatedness&f=false
Positive feedback is something that I grew up all my life hearing. I have been associated with sports ever since I was about five years old, so positive feedback was something I fed off of. The book states four sources that positive feedback comes from. They are (Reeve,2009) :
1.The task itself
2.Comparisons of one’s current performance with one’s own past performances
3.Comparisons of one’s current performance with the performance of others
4.Evaluation of others
Positive feedback is associated with Chapter Six because it satisfies an individual’s “psychological need for competence” (Reeve, 2009). Even today, after retiring from all of my elementary, middle school, and high school sports, I’m still very dependent on positive feedback, and it’s what keeps me, and probably a lot of others, going. Below are three sources that describe positive feedback in further detail.
The first link below lists out seven ways to accurately give positive feedback. These seven ways can be associated with any events in which positive feedback is necessary—sports, business, or school. The seven tips are:
1.No time like now.
2.In public and in private.
3.Practice makes perfect.
4.Does the reward fit?
5.No favorites.
6.Be clear and mean it.
7.Catch people doing things right.
These seven ways are further explained in the website, and they provide good ways in which to initiate positive feedback when giving it to someone. Following these seven steps can be important in making a person feel good about them.
The next website is associated with positive feedback in sports, specifically baseball. This short little article summarizes the importance of positive feedback in sports. One thing that’s very important as to why to give positive feedback is because it boosts the players’ confidence. Also, giving positive feedback to a player on the team sets an example for what the other players should be doing. All of this goes into further detail in an interview they did with baseball coach Rob Gelphman.
The next link is a YouTube video of Michael Grimm, who was the winner of America’s Got Talent. I think this video does a good job of providing examples of positive feedback. For one, the crowd cheering him on is definitely positive feedback, Nick Cannon saying how he has “… a superstar’s voice…” is also positive feedback. More of the obvious examples are, of course, what the judges say to him after his performance.
I really like the topic of positive feedback because it’s something that makes everyone feel good about them. Positive feedback can also boost your confidence and help you to do better in certain tasks. I think everyone needs to take notice of positive feedback and realize how important it is in satisfying our psychological needs.
http://www.mftrou.com/positive-feedback.html
http://www.youthsportspsychology.com/youth_sports_psychology_blog/?p=51
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMvJw_TnyyU
The topic I chose to do from chapter six is autonomy. Autonomy can be best explained as what someone as an individual chooses to act on and do. A person with autonomy has the power to decide for themself what actions they will take. When we have autonomy we tell ourselves where, when, why and how we will do something. A person with autonomy is independent and places their actions and decisions in complete control of themselves. People with autonomy enjoy being independent and absolutely love their freedom to pursue what they wish. These preferences that individuals have are what assist them when they make the decisions they choose. Individuals can also become more motivated when they are given autonomy.
The first article I found that demonstrates autonomy comes from the web site http://www.eurofound.europa.eu. The name of the article is "High Performance workplace practices and job satisfaction." The reason I chose this article as one of my three is because it really focuses on autonomy and its effects on the work place. When I read this article I learned that when there is autonomy in the work place there can be a large increase in job satisfaction and the overall way the individual views themself. Some of these things inculde when an individual is given the opportunity to make a decision for the company. They feel a higher sense of achievement and responsibility when they can decide themselfes which decision would be best for the company instead of just having someone standing over their shoulder and telling them everything they should do. I also learned that when an individual is given autonomy in the workplace they learn how to make decisions and can learn from their mistakes. In the long run when this individual has gotten farther into their career, they become motivated and learn how to make the best decisions, which increases the companies sales and overall work performance.
The next article I found that demonstrates autonomy comes from the web site http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports. The article is titled "Houston Cougars' QB situation dire. The article explains how talented quarterback, Keenum, was injured in the game. After I read this article I really liked it when it explained how quarterback, Keenum was given a large amount of autonomy when calling the plays from the line of scrimmage. I know that there are some quarterbacks who are to follow only the plays that a coach gives them. They may change the play because of the way the defense is ligned up. If they change the play the coach can get very angry and even take them out of the game. In this article, the quarterback for the cougars was given a lot of autonomy and changed the plays when getting to the line of scrimmage. He was very good at it. When quarterbacks change the plays successfully and beat the defense on the play they will also become more motivated and satisfied with the results. This is due to the autonomy they are given. The amount of autonomy can vary from coach to coach.
The third article I found that demonstrates autonomy is from the web site http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/autonomy. This article focused on autonomy in research. What I learned and what stood out to me most is that when individuals are performing research in a certain area, they should be given autonomy when choosing their topic. This means that instead of just having a teacher assign you a research topic, students should be able to decide what area and topic best interests them. When the student is allowed to do research in the area they want to they will become more motivated and perform a higher quality of work. This is because they are doing research on a topic that interests them. I can relate this to writing papers in college. When I wrote my research paper on the different levels of incarceration rates in prisons, I was extremely motivated and curious what the results would be. I remember other times in the past when a teacher has handed out an assignment and told us to write a paper that had to be so long on a topic that was not even of interest to me. The second teacher who told us to write on a topic that was already chosen was an example of being given little autonomy.
This assignment we are doing right now is also an example of autonomy. In this class we, the students, are given option on what topic from the chapter to write on. We can browse different web sites and choose which articles best interest us. This can increase motivation and makes learning more fun and interesting.
web site http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/autonomy
web site http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports
web site http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports
I chose communal and exchange relationships as my topic. I have always found relationships in general to be interesting. I feel that relationships are an important part of life. So, I thought it would be good to enlighten myself with more information on relationships and to learn about the different types that exist. This information will also give me insight into how relationships work.
According to Chapter 6 page 162 of our textbook, "relatedness is the psychological need to establish close emotional bonds and attachments with other people". We involve ourselves in relationships in order to satisfy this need. Communal relationships do satisfy the relatedness need. However, exchange relationships don't.
My first source, a thesis, describes what communal and exchange relationships are and who's involved in them. Members of exchange relationships don't feel obligated to care for the other person's needs or be concerned with their welfare. They're only obligated to repay debts they previously created by accepting benefits. Exchange relationships are ones which are between strangers, acquaintances, and business associates. Members of communal relationships give benefits in response to needs. They may also give benefits simply to please someone. There are no debts or obligations to return benefits. Communal relationships are generally between family members, friends, and romantic partners. Setting standards in both relationships aid in their development and maintenance.
My second source said that the main difference between communal and exchange relationships is based on giving and receiving benefits. For people in exchange relationships, the norm they follow is that benefits are given in exchange for comparable benefits. Violating the norm would make people feel no good in exchange relationships. For people in communal relationships, the norm they follow is that a benefit is given in response to another person's need. People in this relationship feel good when they help another person and don't expect anything in return. Basically, the distinction between these two relationships is explained by the difference in norms that people follow.
My third source, a sourcebook, said that exchange relationships seem to be governed by norms of fairness and reciprocity while communal relationships involve a norm of caring. Exchange relationships seem appropriate for giving and receiving help in order to solve a problem. Communal relationships are appropriate for seeking emotional support. People get more pleasure from helping people they're in a communal relationship with than those they have an exchange relationship with.
These sources showed me what communal and exchange relationships consist of, the differences between them, how important they are in everyday life, and what we get and receive from them.
First source: http://proquest.umi.com.proxy.lib.uni.edu/pqdweb?index=0&sid=3&srchmode=1&vinst=PROD&fmt=14&startpage=-1&clientid=8553&vname=PQD&RQT=309&did=954077601&scaling=FULL&ts=1285017185&vtype=PQD&rqt=309&TS=1285017199&clientId=8553
Second source: http://140.113.119.160/Special%20Topics%20in%20Transportation%20Marketing/Home%20Work%20Display/week%2014/14%20Relationship.pdf
Third source: http://books.google.com/books?id=sVv-wkEEtpkC&pg=PA283&lpg=PA283&dq=communal+and+exchange+relationships&source=bl&ots=e0qxIwy-Kd&sig=0ElIe9YtpDMYQbqpduMuKo8AGbQ&hl=en&ei=0d-XTKacFcL1nAevi9z_Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBoQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=communal%20and%20exchange%20relationships&f=false
In chapter 6, I find the topic of autonomy to be interesting and very important in our lives. Reeve defines autonomy as “the psychological need to experience self-direction and personal endorsement in the initiation an regulation of one’s behavior (Reeve, 2009). We are guided by our decision making processes because our behavior is self-determined. Our interests, preferences, and wants are what makes us do what we do and experience what we experience.
According to Reeves there are three aspects that work together to form autonomy. The first of these aspects is perceived locus of causality (PLOC) which refers to an individual’s understanding of the causal source of his or her motivated actions (Reeve, 2009). A person’s behavior either has an internal PLOC or an external PLOC. An internal PLOC would be going to a museum because you are interested in the exhibits, the external PLOC would be going to the museum because you are required to go for class. The term “origins” comes from people who originate their own behaviors and the term “pawns” comes from people who let others push them around. The second aspect of autonomy is volition. This is an unpreserved willingness to engage in an activity (Reeve, 2009). This means that a person is doing what they’re doing because they want to, not because they were forced or pressured to do it. The last aspect is perceived choice. This refers to the sense of choice we experience when we find ourselves in environments that provide us with decision-making flexibility (Reeve, 2009) such as doing homework for school or to eat lunch.
The first website I found is from YouTube. It is a video blog by Katie Freiling, a social media, blogging, and personal development coach in the home business industry. She talks about autonomy and how we need to own our own autonomy. She says that “everything we are looking to do, create, or manifest in life is entirely up to us.” She stresses that we are entirely responsible for what we do in life and that we don’t need anyone or anything else. This is what autonomy means. This is a great blog and I found Katie to be very inspiring and I encourage everyone to go to this link and listen!
The second website I looked at is from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. This website has more information than I could ever write on this blog, but one thing that stood out to me was that autonomy was an important element in the feminist movement, in that it eliminated social conditions that cause women and others to potentially be a victim.
The third website I found is about intrinsic motivation and autonomy and is written by Joe Bower, a teacher. It starts out by giving an exerpt from a book called Drive that is about autonomy in the workplace. It talks about how many of Google’s amazing features (Google News, Gmail, & Google Talk for example) are the result of Google employees given more autonomy in the workplace. Bower then goes on to talk about how he decided to let his students be more autonomous in what they wanted to learn. It then goes on to talk about how giving students autonomy is a good thing and how to go about doing it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgwTreoErW0
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/autonomy-moral/
http://ecologyofeducation.net/wsite/?p=1968
Optimal Challenge and Flow
Optimal Challenge and Flow are the conditions that determine enjoyment. Mr. Csikszentimihalyi has done an over extended amount of research of what people consider to be fun even if it is just sitting around watching television. What he found was that enjoyment can be traced of what is called Flow Experience. Flow is a sstate of concentration that involves a holstic absoption and deep involvement in an activity. Flow is such a pleasurable expericent hat the person ofthen repeats the activity with the hope of experiecing flow again and again. Challenge and personal skill are involved in the relationship. When concentration, enjoyment, and involvment rise, challenge and skill are matched. Of course since humans are the most complex creatures, some do enjoy being overwhelmingly challenged.
On my first video clip, it shows a teenager teaching her father how to jerk. Jerking is the latest in dancing. The teenager's father in this clip is obviously being overwhelmed with this new dance routine but he is enjoying as well as his daughter who is repeating the demonstration which shows her flow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp2IMllBjvY
On the Website that I have found, it talks about Mr. Csikszentimihalyi stating that we have to learn how to differentiate between useful flow and harmful flow and also that there are eight components of enjoyment which are:
1.)Confronting tasks that we have a chance of completing.
2.)Concentration.
3.)Concentration is possible because the task has clear goals.
4.)Task provides immediate feedback.
5.)A deep, effortless involvement removes from awareness the worries and frustrations of everyday life.
6.)Enjoyable experiences allow one to exercise a sense of control over one’s actions.
7.)Concern for self disappears, yet paradoxically the sense of self emerges stronger after the flow experience is over.
8.)Sense of time is altered - hours pass by in minutes.
Which these step of course tie into optimal challenge and flow.
http://pages.citebite.com/n1k2j1o7l4xef
In my second video clip we see a young man confessing that he does not know how to ride a bike so before his 18th birthday he will learn. He is determined to learn, and when he does get the hang of it, he keeps riding is which showed that his skills where matched to the challege successfully.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brgm_hWVxY4
After reading chapter 6 the topic that stuck out to me was the section relatedness. This is discussed on page 161 of the textbook. This section discusses the desire and need to belong. The book states that everyone wants friends and more specifically we want warm, close, affectionate relationships. We desire acceptance and to be valued. I am interested in finding out why we generally feel this way. According to the text, relatedness is the psychological need to establish close emotional bonds and attachments with other people. Relatedness reflects the desire to be emotionally connected to and be involved in warm relationships.
The first website I found is called “Motivation: Emotional Competency.” Relatedness helps moderate autonomy, encourages symmetry, and helps balance our first person viewpoint according to the article. It states that a key concept of relatedness is knowing where to draw a line between where one person’s right and responsibilities begin and end. Relatedness moderates autonomy according to the article. Autonomy is a free choice and can be described as a decision that comes from the heart. The trouble with relatedness occurs when a fictional self appears.
The second article I found is called Person Level Relatedness and the Incremental Value of Relating. This research was conducted with the hopes of finding out how one’s lifetime experiences of relatedness are related to how much individuals value additional or new experiences of relatedness. Their results found a positive association between person-level relatedness and the incremental value of new relatedness experiences. According to the article the research showed that people who reported having experienced more relatedness in their lives also reported anticipating and extracting more affective value from additional social encounters. The opposite was also found by people who reported less relatedness in life.
The third article I found is called Who Needs Self-Esteem Anyway? This article discusses how self-esteem and relatedness are connected. It says that if a person has self-esteem it is because their psychological needs are fulfilled. The article also stated that if a person lacking relatedness will try to conform to the standards of other people. This article made me realize the connection between self-esteem and relatedness. We seek out relationships and people to surround us that accept us for the person we are. I think when people accept us, it boosts our self-esteem. Therefore, we begin to feel better about ourselves.
The textbook stated “Having one’s relatedness need satisfied, as opposed to neglected or thwarted, promotes vitality and well-being, and it lessens loneliness and depression.” It followed by saying that emotions such as sadness, depression, jealousy, and loneliness are signs of a life lived in the absence of intimate, high-quality, relatedness-satisfying relationships and social bonds. This continues to show the relationships and bonds between people are important.
This topic of relatedness was very interesting to research and read information. I realized the importance of our personal feelings of ourselves is important in relatedness and therefore the importance we place on fitting in and people liking us.
http://www.emotionalcompetency.com/motivation.htm
http://psp.sagepub.com.proxy.lib.uni.edu/content/36/6/754.full.pdf+html
http://generallythinking.com/blog/who-needs-self-esteem-anyway/
In chapter six, Reeve discusses the psychological need of competence. It is necessary for a person to be able to interact with his/her environment. With competence, we develop relationships and seek to improve our other skills that help us overcome challenges that we may face every day. On page 155 in the textbook, Reeve describes that a person overcoming obstacles and making progress will feel satisfied and happy. The need for competence can help a person seek to challenge him/herself and reap the rewards of success.
When a person begins to make progress, the need of supporting competence becomes important. The topic of Supporting Competence really caught my attention. In learning about supporting competence, I realize that it is important to give a person feedback based on a person’s effort and progress. According to Reeve, a person receiving positive feedback will feel confident and will enjoy performing the task at hand compared to a person receiving negative or no feedback at all. Therefore, feedback is very important to every individual whether a person is challenged in an individual task or team event. The four sources of feedback that Reeve includes in the textbook on page 160 include: Task itself, Comparisons of one’s current performance with one’s own past performances, Comparisons of one’s current performance with the performance of others, and Evaluation of others. As Reeve describes, the perception of progress of yourself is just as important as the perception of progress you receive from others.
People will feel more competent if they feel that they are overcoming a major challenge, winning an event, or doing better than a classmate on a test or assignment. However, competitiveness may also lead to effects of incompetence. People feeling incompetent may feel as though they have been defeated and are criticized. Therefore, the outcome of an event may have an effect on a person’s psychological need of competence. To satisfy the need of competence, a person may need to hear supportive, positive feedback in order to achieve his/her goals.
In one study called, “The Perceived Competence Scale for Children,” conducted by Susan Harter of the University of Denver, children in third through ninth grades were given self-report scales to determine each child’s sense of competence. The categories of competence that were researched included: cognitive, physical, and social. Response categories were based on self-worth. Although it seemed as though there were possibilities of socially biased responses, the study concluded that self-worth is a very important factor in relation to success and competence in each of the categories listed above.
One article I found in relation to supporting competence was that an educator named Jackie Beere developed a program called “Learning to Learn.” This program was initiated to help students become self- motivated and independent learners in and out of the classroom. Beere stated: “The main thrust of the competency-based curriculum was to put the life skills of emotional intelligence at the heart of what was taught, along with a novel method of delivering subject content.” This program sought a curriculum that focus on letting students present projects based upon their individual competencies instead of assigned topics. This curriculum technique tries to teach students to enjoy learning and learning how and what they want to know. This curriculum also teaches students about their values, skills, and to become an active learner as well.
Another article that caught my attention was about supporting competence and the power of positive feedback. F. John Reh, the author of the article called “How to Give Positive Feedback,” explains the eight most effective points on how to give positive feedback. The list positive feedback points are as follows: Do it now, Make it public, Be specific, Make a big deal about it, Consider the receiver, Do it often, Do it evenly, and Be sincere. Reh describes each of these feedback points and also says that doing these steps take little effort. It is more motivating to achieve a goal if you receive positive feedback about your progression as compared to negative feedback.
In conclusion, the need for supporting competence and positive feedback is important, starting at a very young age and will continue to be a need throughout a lifetime. Overall, I thought this was an interesting chapter.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1129640?seq=1
http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/learning-to-learn-a-competency-based-curriculum-2511
http://management.about.com/cs/peoplemanagement/ht/positivefb.htm
I chose to research internalization and relatedness. It is when we turn something that we were forced to do into a habit that we value. The change takes place voluntary and becomes part of our values and others.
It occurs through relatedness to other people. When we get close to others and feel like they have our best interests in mind, we change some of our beliefs or actions. It does not always happen though. The person has to see meaning, reason, and value in the person they are close with to take on their values.We dont tend to internalize with people we aren't close with or don't like.
The social influence of family and peers can change people. Sometimes people feel pressured to take on others beliefs and eventually end up seeing the value or truth in them. Then they adopt the belief as their own. People believe that their family and friends are right. And their desire to be right drives them to adopt their influence.
Relatedness plays a large role in internalization. Relatedness is seen in Maslow and Alderfer's hierarcy of needs. Human beings need to feel like they belong. They need to have relationships and close ones with other humans. We want to have friends who will understand us and listen to us. We want friends who are honest and care about you and in turn we will do the same. When choosing friends we pick people who demonstrate these qualities and stay away from ones who don't. Relationships relieve our stress, make us feel better about ourselves, and we also function beter. We tend to share the same feelings and thoughts with our friends and we often feel the need to conform and be accepted to accomplish this. We need to feel like we belong with a group and that the goup values us as a person.
Internalization starts when we are kids. We internalize our parents beliefs and values until we find our own. We learn their values by watching them or having them tell us. Later on, we learn to believe what we want to and don't need to observe our parents or be instructed by them.
I think one personal example of internalization is religion. I grew up going to a Baptist church with my parents. They taught me the the same values and beliefs as our church did, and so these are the beliefs I have. I was forced to go to church, but eventually ended up believing the same things and I still hold the same beleifs as I did when I was younger. They just have become a part of me now.
http://webspace.ship.edu/ambart/psy_220/conformoutline.htm
http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/regsys/maslow.html
http://www.gakushuu.org/index.php/developmental-psychology/54-contextualism/75-vygotsky-cognitie-mediation-theory.html
After reading chapter 6, I decided to choose flow as my topic. Flow fits into chapter 6 under the heading of competence. Optimal challenge and flow are talked about on page 155. The book talks about flow as a state of concentration that involves a holistic absorption and deep involvement in an activity (Keller & Bless, 2008). Flow occurs when a person’s personal skills and competencies and their opportunities for challenge are at a middle ground between low and high with their opportunities for challenge. According to the book being out of flow would come about when someone’s opportunities for challenge are very high and their personal skills and competencies are very low. This could cause this person to have anxiety instead of flow. Flow fits in with this chapter because it nurtures a person’s psychological need for competence and the chapter’s focus is on psychological needs. I am interested in flow because sometimes I get so wrapped up in writing a paper or running that I lose track of time and my surrounding. Before reading this chapter I didn’t know what that feeling was or how it came about. Another reason I am interested in this topic because I would like to know how to get into flow more in my day to day activities. For me it is just a fascinating topic to study.
In the first website I found an article for the journal Psychology Today written by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. One thing I learned from this article is that flow can occur in any action or moment. Flow can occur in something as simple as playing with a baby. Flow makes our lives better because flow is of our own making and it leads to increasing growth in consciousness. Another thing that I learned that I can apply to my everyday life is where to find flow. I learned that flow tends to occur when a person faces a clear set of goals that require appropriate responses. Flow normally occurs when a person is doing something that they like or enjoy. Flow can even occur in things we do not practically like, because flow can occur in any activity if the relevant elements are present. Something very interesting I learned is that leisure does not improve the quality of life because it is more difficult to have flow when there are no obstacles for a period of time. The main thing that I learned from this article is that flow can be a part of any moment. You can create flow at work, in your social environment or sometimes during leisure time. Flow can occur in everyday simple moments or moments like rock climbing or skiing. Either way flow makes our lives more enjoyable.
The second website was just an overview of what flow is. It had a lot of the same information that the book contained. One thing that I did learn from this website was the components of flow. These components include clear goals, concentrating, loss of feeling of self-consciousness, distorted sense of time, direct and immediate feedback, balance between ability level and challenge, a sense of personal control over the situation, the activity is intrinsically rewarding, and a lack of awareness of bodily needs and people become absorbed in their activity. Not all of these components need to be experienced, but at least some of them have to occur for flow to occur. I found this interesting because I experience a lot of these components depending on the activity at hand. The great thing about flow is it can benefit your health and it can occur in all types of settings like music, school, sports, religion and work.
The last one was a youtube clip from News Channel 8 that talked about flow. The program talks about how we can use flow more in our everyday lives. People who get into the state of flow on a regular basis are actually healthier. What question we need to ask our self is what makes our life worth living. The answer to that question tends to be flow activities. This program stated a lot of the same information that the book and the other two websites had. The main thing that I learned about this topic is that flow is a very good thing to have and it makes a person’s life more meaningful and enjoyable. Different conditions need to be present in order for flow to occur, but once flow occurs time seems to stop.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199707/finding-flow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUfsgsFtgFs&feature=related
There was a lot to learn from in chapter 6. Despite all the options we had, however, I chose to learn more about the idea of positive feedback. Positive feedback is when you let someone know that you liked something that they did and would like them to continue doing it as you feel it could be beneficial to them. Positive feedback ties in with motivation and emotion because, getting good comments and knowing what you did well makes a person feel good about themselves. In turn, this positive feeling could motivate someone to keep going with a task or to take their task to a higher level.
Positive feedback strikes me as interesting because, where I work, I have noticed that feedback isn't used as often, or as correctly, as it should be. Workplaces everywhere could learn from reevaluating the way they give any type of feedback to their employees.
The first website I found (management.about.com) gives a few tips on how to give positive feedback. This website goes into details such as making sure you give positive feedback righ away, make it as public as you can, be sincere, and do it often. The website also goes into some other tips. I feel that these tips are useful and people can learn a lot about how to give positive feedback from this website. The two ideas I agree with the most are making the positive feedback specific and telling the person right away. We all need to know when we are doing something wrong as well as when we are doing something correct. That being said, why wouldn't someone want to know what they are doing right and when they do it? Positive feedback means so much more to people when you know what you did well. However, the longer someone waits to give you positive feedback, the more it loses it's meaning.
There is one idea from this website that I didn't feel was necessary for the author to put in, and that is making the positive feedback public. Yes, when you do something incredibly well, it is nice to make other people aware of it and it feels good to be publically recognized. However, it wouldn't be necessary for a boss to gather all the workers around simply to say what a good job John has been doing with the grammar in his reports.
For a second source of information about positive feeback, I found a video on YouTube that does a great job of illustrating how to properly give positive feedback in a job situation. In the video, you see a boss giving praise to a worker that did well on a presentation. He gave her the praise, explained why, and told her she did a great job. While the clip was short, it did a fantastic job in demonstrating how simple giving positive feedback can be and one of the best ways to deliver it.
What many people may not initially realize is that, while there is a right way to give positive feedback, there is also a right way to respond when someone gives you positive feedback. Another YouTube clip brings this to our attention when they offer tips on receiving positive feedback. First, you must welcome the feedback. You must appreciate the feedback, share your feelings, ask about the feedback, and respond to it. If you get the positive feedback and do nothing with it, then the feedback was not worth giving.
In summation, positive feedback is a great tool to use in order to help motivate and spread positive emotions, especially in the work place. There are right and wrong ways to both give and receive feedback, so everyone should be a little cautious when they choose to implement it. When done correctly, however, positive feedback can boost morale and reinforce great behaviors.
1) http://management.about.com/cs/peoplemanagement/ht/positivefb.htm
2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcsDkBTVOLs
3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiJzVV85QG0
I chose to look at internalization a little more. In another psychology class I'm taking, we were talking about how males tend to internalize things while females tend to externalize things. This is not what the book was talking about, but it's still interesting. The book describes internalization as "the process through which an individual transforms a formerly externally prescribed regulation or value into an internally endorsed one" (Reeve, 2009.) In English, that means that internalization is when we take a value or more that we've been taught and make it our own. If anyone has ever said, "This is my phrase to live by," or "My standards in someone I have a relationship with are...." that is an example of internalization. We've all taken something someone in society (parent, peers, teachers, etc.) has taught us and made it something that we personally believe. First, I went onto jrank.org, which is pretty much a dictorary, to see if their definition matched the book. It did, and went into a little more detail about the history. Seems that Freud was the one who orginally discussed internalization. I had to find out more about his personality theory, which is where he discusses it. Silly me, I already know about his personality theory! It's the old id, ego, and superego thing. I just didn't realize it had a name! But he does discuss internalization there. According to Freud, if the superego accepts the moral standard our parents teach it, the superego internalizes it. He called it "introjection" but it definitely became part of our personality and was very important. Finally, I wanted to witness an example of internalization. I went to youtube and saw a video that demostrated Lev Vygotsky's theory of internalization. The acting is really cheesy but it is a good example of internalization. They actually explain the three steps in the theory, too, which is really nice (1. imitation w/out understanding; 2. self-guidance; 3. internalization.) Here are my three sources:
http://social.jrank.org/pages/2225/internalization.html
http://www.eruptingmind.com/freuds-personality-theory/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-NjuD5RDNU
The topic I chose to focus on in chapter 6 was vitality. Vitality includes three key components in order to be fully effective. When a person experiences a good day, they experience autonomy, competence and they feel interpersonally related. Autonomy in other words is having the freedom to determine one’s own actions. Competence on the other hand is the need to interact with the environment in an effective manner in order to seek out and conquer optimal challenges. The final term, relatedness, is the need to establish close emotional bonds and attachments with other people, which leads to emotional connection (Reeve, 2009). All of these feelings and experiences contribute to an overall positive vitality in an individuals’ life, although there are many other ways to go about achieving this.
Ways to improve our vitality and well-being can be done several ways. The first way I found throughout conducting my research was through nature. The article that contained this information was entitled, Nature Boosts Vitality and it was found on WorldHealth.net. Richard M. Ryan, from the University of Rochester (New York), and his colleagues conducted a five study series. These studies included 537 college students in order to assess the effects of being outside and their vitality levels. The results included much more energetic participants throughout all of the study situations after exposing them to a natural setting or having them imagine themselves in such situations. The research concluded that exposure to the outdoors for at least 20 minutes per day was sufficient in boosting ones vitality.
When comparing this study to my life I can fully relate. I love being outdoors, and when I have to go for longer periods being stuck inside due to bad weather, I find my overall mood, energy level and sense of well-being drastically affected. I am less motivated and more irritable. Simply taking time to imagine yourself in nature or actually being outdoors is a great way to increase you energy level and sense of well-being contributing to much higher vitality levels.
Another common way we can improve our vitality is through simple exercises and breathing techniques. The two exercises I found can be seen on YouTube. The first video was done by a young man in the UK. He begins with a tidbit about vitality. Having vitality is like being alive and well again. It is the idea of looking forward to everyday tasks with joy and excitement. His exercise begins with a deep breath and lifting of the arms followed by an exhale, dropping of the harms and shaking or hopping from side to side. With shaking it out, this is intended to relax and release any tension in the arms and body. You want to think of it as releasing all of your negative mental energy into the earth. This breathing exercise is done ten times, ending with a moment of silence.
The other video I found dealt with much of the same concepts. This technique was called “floating arms.” This was a way to relax and regain vitality through shifting of your weight forward to your toes and back onto your heels. While shifting your weight, you gradually life your arms slowly up and down all while breathing easy. You can also shut your eyes throughout the exercise. These two ways of relaxation are great techniques to gain a true sense of vitality and well-being back.
The final way that can improve vitality is through a healthy diet. This would include a diet low in fats and sugars and instead high in fruits and vegetables. You want to focus on foods that will boost your energy level and metabolism. To list a few key ingredients to a healthy vitality include; broccoli, which contains cancer fighting compounds, blueberries, which are rich in antioxidants to protect against heart disease and cancer, spinach, fish, tomatoes, nuts, whole grains, garlic, green tea and the list goes on. Simply taking on a diet that eliminates processed foods or foods high in Trans fats can greatly improve your overall health and as a result increase you vitality levels.
In conclusion, who doesn’t want to feel energized and healthy? Achieving this on a daily basis may not be so easy but taking steps such as being outdoors, participating in simple exercises or breathing techniques and lastly, making the right food choices can all improve your vitality. I am a health promotion major, which is why I chose this topic.
http://www.worldhealth.net/news/nature-boosts-vitality/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU8ul24i0OE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GujTtrNDLG0
http://www.healthnews.com/blogs/melanie-grimes/nutrition-diet/vitality-food-sources-1842.html
http://life.gaiam.com/gaiam/p/FillNutritionalGapswithThese10Superfoods.html
I decided to read more about failure. Failure is an important part of human growth because it’s how we learn. According to the text book “Failure produces opportunities for learning because it has its constructive aspects when people identify its causes, try new strategies, seek advice and instruction, and so on,” (Reeve, 2009). But often times people become afraid of failure, which can make them not seek any challenge at all. This not only limits their development, but can also cause them to miss out on a lot of great life experiences.
The article and videos I researched focused mainly on how we need to be less afraid of failing. The first article is from Psychology Today. It talks about how our economic system favors success, and it is making us overall less creative. Many of our most valued inventions, from vaccines and antibiotics, to film and electricity were accidents. It also talks about failure in relationships, specifically marriages. All couples fight, but not all realize this when they get married. Then when conflict arises, they feel like they and their relationship are failures, which can very quickly lead to breakups and divorce.
Next I watched a video by a leadership expert about the fear of failure. He makes a joke about how for most of us, failure is not fatal. Sometimes it is, but for the vast majority of us, failure won’t cause our death, but is very important for growth. If we never try new things because we are afraid of failing at them, we will miss out on a lot of great experiences and we will never learn anything.
The second video I watched was a clip from a speech from the CEO of Disney. He talks about how many of their best movie ideas have come from meetings he called ‘Gong Shows’. He would get his employees together in a room with an actual gong, and everyone would start throwing out ideas. When their idea got too ridiculous or crazy, they got gonged, and the next person could start talking. He said this was a really fun way to come up with new ideas, and it worked because it was an environment where failure was encouraged. He said getting gonged became like a badge of honor, because it the more times you were gonged during a meeting, the more ideas you had come up with, and that’s what was important.
Usually we think of failure as a bad thing, but, as it turns out, we could all probably benefit from a little more failure in our lives.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200410/embracing-the-fear-failure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvtOMLocVeg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejXfFI27mBE&feature=related
For this assignment I chose to write about autonomy. The section on autonomy appears in our book on page 145-147. I think autonomy is interesting because it applies to everyone. “Autonomy is the psychological need to experience self-direction and personal endorsement in the initiation and regulation of one’s behavior” (Reeve, 146). Personally, I am usually horrible at things I am forced to do. The reason isn’t that I am incapable of doing most things, honestly, it is because I can’t stand it when people tell me what to do. When I am in charge of my decisions and allowed to work when I want to work, I am much more productive. Who doesn’t like to be their own boss?
There are three basic components which comprise autonomy. Perceived locus of causality refers to a person being able to understand what motivates them to make any particular choice. The cause for any motivation may range from internal causes (such as self-fulfillment) to external causes (such as pressure from a teacher).
Volition also plays a part in the major functioning of autonomy. Volition is, in some regards, the same as free-will. People like the idea that they are choosing to do, and that is why they do it.
The last main component of autonomy is perceived choice. Perceived choice seems very similar to locus of causality. People enjoy the thought that their “behavior flows from a sense of choice.”
According to http://muse.jhu.edu “Autonomy is one of the most contested concepts in philosophy and psychology. Many people, including myself, will argue that people can not truly be self-governing. The argument being made on this site considers a person’s ability to lose autonomy through the loss of certain cortical functioning (I.e., frontal lobe damage). If the autonomy we experience currently is complex, uncontrollable, biological processes of the brain, do we really make any decisions for ourselves?
Another website www.psychologytoday.com discusses the relationship between autonomy and love. It is fairly obvious how one might associate falling in love with the loss autonomy. It seems that when you fall in love with someone else nothing else matters as much as the person you fall in love. It almost seems as if doing anything other than exactly what that person wants you to do is unthinkable, and that’s the way you want it. Is love simply too strong of a chemical bond to be broken by reasoning?
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/philosophy_psychiatry_and_psychology/toc/ppp11.4.html
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/maybe-its-just-me/201005/does-love-threaten-autonomy
http://tap.sagepub.com/content/11/6/785.abstract
Competence according to Reeve is the desire to interact effectively with ones surroundings (Reeve, 154). Competence really stood out to me because it can be applied to almost all if not all settings. I did further research on competence in social work, individual and groups and when they meet with different cultures, and in age differences in learning competence.
The first article I researched was SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION AND STUDENT RESEARCH PROJECTS:A SURVEY OF PROGRAM DIRECTORS. This article talked about the importance of considering competence among social workers in relation to things like hands on teaching methods and faculty support. In the field of social work competence is a vital part of the job because of impact it has on children’s lives. This article stresses the importance of the actual social workers awareness of competence. Students who are in school for social work programs are required to do some type of competence project. Research is ongoing about competence in the field of social work.
The second article that I researched was Acculturation: When Individuals and Groups of Different Cultural Backgrounds Meet. This article talks about social cultural competence. This article is basically saying that when people from other backgrounds meet people from different background, or interact with other cultures, they want to fit in. One type of competence mentioned in this article is “communication competence” this is wanting to speak their language. This article also mentions “social competence”.
The third and final article I researched was Informal workplace learning: An exploration of age differences in learning competence. This article talks about learning competence in the work place. Mainly dealing with informal learning. Learning competence includes things like assessing someone’s learning needs, setting goals, choosing effective strategies and monitoring them. According to this study there are differences in how much people want to learn in the work place with respect to their age difference.
Rubin, D., Robinson, B., & Valutis, S. (2010). Social work education and student research projects: A survey of program directors. Journal of Social Work Education, 46(1), 39-84. doi:10.5175/JSWE.2010.200800040.
Sam, D., & Berry, J. (2010). Acculturation: When individuals and groups of different cultural backgrounds meet. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(4), 472-481. doi:10.1177/1745691610373075.
Schulz, M., & Roßnagel, C. (2010). Informal workplace learning: An exploration of age differences in learning competence. Learning and Instruction, 20(5), 383-399. doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2009.03.003.
What caught my attention in chapter six was the topic of positive feedback. Most people in college are at the age where they can consciously tell when they experience positive feedback. Whether it be in the classroom, in athletics, or by a family member or friend. The section on positive feedback states there are four ways in which a person can receive positive feedback. Those ways include receiving positive feedback from the task itself, comparisons of one’s performance based on one’s past performances, comparisons of one’s performance with the performance of others, and evaluations of others. For my blog I wanted to find information online that explained how positive feedback is used in athletics.
I came across a very informative site that went into detail on how motivation and athletics are linked. It is a long article and does a great job of explaining how motivation affects athletes. Later in the article it describes what types of feedback are advantageous for an athlete and what types of feedback may hinder an athlete’s performance. Overall, it stated that negative feedback, opposite to positive feedback, could actually backfire on a coach and in turn ruin the athlete’s abilities to perform successfully. The article also stated that most coaches tend to ignore progress of an athlete’s performance and focus more on bad performance by an athlete. Coaches’ feedback tends to be negative, and this may lead to low self-esteem in an athlete who is receiving negative feedback all the time. Negative feedback can lead to lower levels of motivation when it comes to performing to the best of their abilities. If there is a need to point out an athlete’s mistake a coach may be more successful in using what is known in this article as the “sandwich method.” This method means a coach begins with positive feedback, use constructional feedback or negative feedback, and end with more positive feedback. This method will tend to be less threatening to an athlete, and will hopefully lead them to correct their mistake.
Coaching does not always have to occur in athletics but can also be found in the workplace. This is an important time to use positive feedback while working with an employee especially when it comes to the boss/employee relationship. I found a site that explains how and when positive feedback is implemented most successfully. It may be obvious, but using positive feedback immediately after a good behavior occurs is important. For example, if an employee did an outstanding job coming to work on time you would not wait a few weeks to tell them because in the mean time they may be showing up late to work many times. The timing of positive feedback is important otherwise there may be confusion. Using positive feedback in order to show dominance over another person can also be problematic. An example in athletics could be a coach saying, “I’m your coach and am the person in charge, and I say you did a good job in the game today.” An athlete that hears this may focus more on the fact that the coach is expressing dominance over them and not on the positive feedback. This site does a good job on explaining how and when to use positive feedback.
Finding videos that showed examples of positive feedback was surprisingly difficult. Instead I found one paragraph in an article that sums up the usage of positive feedback pretty well. This paragraph explains what a coach must do to successfully implement what is known as the positive coaching mental model.
“A Positive Coach understands that compliments, praise, and positive recognition fill Emotional Tanks. She understands the importance of giving truthful and specific feedback and resists the temptation to give praise that is not warranted. When correction is necessary, a Positive Coach communicates criticism to players in ways that don't undermine their sense of self-worth. A Positive Coach strives to achieve a 5:1 "Plus/Minus Ratio" of praise to correction.”
Overall, what I have learned about positive feedback is that it can be very helpful in the world of athletic competition, but it must be administered in specific ways in order to motivate athletes to keep working hard. There are methods that coaches can take advantage of in order to use negative feedback alongside positive feedback. Feedback is a controlling factor of motivation, and motivation is key when it comes to athletics and coaching.
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/sport-motivation.htm
http://www.ipeccoach.com/how-to-effectively-deliver-positive-feedback-when-coaching/
http://www.positivecoach.org/subcontent.aspx?secid=111
An interesting part of Chapter 6 is the how various psychologists categorize needs and how they place them in order of importance. A variety of models have included frameworks aimed at categorizing needs into certain subgroups and offered explanations for how those needs need to be met. Of these various models, one particular model down by Abraham Maslow sticks out to me.
Famous for his hierarchical model, Maslow determine that the most basic needs of human begins include those that were physiological and that the most complex needs of human beings were psychological. Maslow believed that in order to reach the most complex need (self-actualization), an individual must sufficiently meet their physiological and social needs. These needs included the categories of esteem, love and belonging, safety, and physiological needs. Important areas highlighted in Maslow’s theory involving physiological and social needs were broken down into specific examples. Examples of the important needs included: breathing and sleeping, friendship and intimacy, health and financial safety, and avoiding psychological imbalances. If these needs were met, a person could live a successful and fulfilling life.
http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/hierarchyneeds.htm
http://www.abraham-maslow.com/m_motivation/Hierarchy_of_Needs.asp
Although Maslow’s theory has experienced a wide range of criticism, it allows a basic understanding of needs and how they may be grouped together into certain categories. Although the categories may not be in appropriate order according to certain psychologists, they are still important aspects of everyday needs. Maslow’s Hierarchy led to the formation of a variety of theories that revolved around the study of needs. One of these emerging theories that sprouted up several decades later is the choice theory.
Choice theory is similar to Maslow’s theory in the way that it contains particular groups of needs and then divides them into subgroups. The initial groups determined in this theory include: power, love and belonging, freedom, and fun. The theory emphasizes social, physiological, and psychological needs. The theory defines important subgroups of power as feeling accomplishment, achievement, competence, and receiving recognition. In the love and belonging part of the theory, it is proposed that family, friends, and groups are important to our needs. This emphasizes that humans are social beings that need continuous interaction. The subgroup of freedom focuses on how choices, expression, and creativity play an important role in shaping the needs of individuals. The final group, fun, is a self-explanatory term that contains laughter, learning, and play. The theory proposes that fun is the physiological pay off of learning and accomplishment. This is an interesting component to the theory in that learning can be taught as a fun aspect and thus be more interesting to students.
http://www.choicetheory.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpxGGBuO7ao
In chapter 6 page 149 of our text, the topic of supporting autonomy caught my attention. Supporting autonomy specifically when it nurtures inner motivational resources is something that I have learned to appreciate, especially in the classroom. Nurturing inner motivational resources means that one encourages initiative and identifies with another person’s interests. In a school setting an autonomy supportive teacher or instructor will organize the day’s lesson plan around their students expressed interests, preferences and sense of challenge. For me personally and for others according to research, students tend to show greater academic competency, enhanced creativity, are more likely to stay involved in school, seek out challenges, are more positive, and have a higher level of academic achievement and motivation to do well when involved in a autonomy-supportive environment. The reason for this is supported by the self-determination theory which states that when we have support by others that emphasize our natural or intrinsic tendencies, this allows us to behave in healthy and effective ways. In the classroom we all know that professor or teacher from the past that held a class that was almost torture to endure. Well this is all due to the fact that they weren’t staying in tune with their students needs. Now, there are times when we can all individually be a little difficult, but imagine if your whole class felt the way you did. Think how different that class would have been if your professor had been a little more understanding of everyone’s needs.
Autonomy supportive teaching is not however widely used for reasons beyond me. More often than not I have found myself stuck in a classroom that gives large amounts of homework, puts too much of an emphasis on punishments and rewards, and uses words and language that sometimes I cannot even understand! Who are these people, and why do they think this is an effective way of teaching? If a professor simply provides choice, inspires self-initiation, offers optimal challenges, provides feedback, and gives meaningful rational for requested behavior, I believe our school systems would be much more effective and many more students would actually enjoy learning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubv-31QtbfQ
http://www.unco.edu/cebs/psychology/kevinpugh/motivation_project/resources/reeve_bolt_chai99.pdf
http://www.psych.rochester.edu/SDT/
In chapter 6 page 149 of our text, the topic of supporting autonomy caught my attention. Supporting autonomy specifically when it nurtures inner motivational resources is something that I have learned to appreciate, especially in the classroom. Nurturing inner motivational resources means that one encourages initiative and identifies with another person’s interests. In a school setting an autonomy supportive teacher or instructor will organize the day’s lesson plan around their students expressed interests, preferences and sense of challenge. For me personally and for others according to research, students tend to show greater academic competency, enhanced creativity, are more likely to stay involved in school, seek out challenges, are more positive, and have a higher level of academic achievement and motivation to do well when involved in a autonomy-supportive environment. The reason for this is supported by the self-determination theory which states that when we have support by others that emphasize our natural or intrinsic tendencies, this allows us to behave in healthy and effective ways. In the classroom we all know that professor or teacher from the past that held a class that was almost torture to endure. Well this is all due to the fact that they weren’t staying in tune with their students needs. Now, there are times when we can all individually be a little difficult, but imagine if your whole class felt the way you did. Think how different that class would have been if your professor had been a little more understanding of everyone’s needs.
Autonomy supportive teaching is not however widely used for reasons beyond me. More often than not I have found myself stuck in a classroom that gives large amounts of homework, puts too much of an emphasis on punishments and rewards, and uses words and language that sometimes I cannot even understand! Who are these people, and why do they think this is an effective way of teaching? If a professor simply provides choice, inspires self-initiation, offers optimal challenges, provides feedback, and gives meaningful rational for requested behavior, I believe our school systems would be much more effective and many more students would actually enjoy learning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubv-31QtbfQ
http://www.unco.edu/cebs/psychology/kevinpugh/motivation_project/resources/reeve_bolt_chai99.pdf
http://www.psych.rochester.edu/SDT/
Obviously as a country we are a very individualistic society, but even so we still celebrate holidays like Valentines Day, like or not the relationships of our favorite TV characters, and celebrate holidays with friends and families. This is why I find it really interesting that even in a day in age that we relay greatly on technology we still want friendships and relationships. Relatedness is a need is everyone has and while everyone has about the same interaction with others what really matters for people is close relationships in order for them to be healthy, satisfied and have fewer psychological difficulties (Reeve 2009).
Even with knowing this, some are worried that technology specifically how social networking could be affecting their social interactions. The online publication The Real Truth, wrote an article about how social networking is stunting children’s social development Dr. Greenfield said while cyber conversations are enjoyable they are lacking the importance of face to face connections and the sensitivity learned by voice and body language exchange. Even worse some are getting addicted to the internet and its applications. Naomi Baron a linguistics professor notes that hard-core texters have a problem being in the moment and thus not enjoying things as much.
Nicholas A. Christakis, MD, PhD, MPH, is an internist and social scientist who conducts research on social factors that affect health and longevity. In a TED clip he explains his thoughts that people form social networks because the benefits out way the costs. He thinks that if people understand social networks people can understand things like health, emotion but also crime and market crashes. He explains that people who are very connected can pass distress to other members of their network. For example he did research and found if someone is obese so are their friends and it is not until the friend of a friend tie that people are not affected. Now the possible explanations for this is maybe they share something in common like being members of health club or the spread of attitudes and ideas about weight and appearance. While there is a 46% gene variation as to how friends someone has and other variables in the environment, understanding social networks is important and can help people understand a multiple array of things. His speech does an excellent job of explain why people need to be connected.
This clip I found on youtube, it is different but I wanted to use it to illustrate that even with as much media interaction people are exposed too and some may start to have problems making connections there is hope because if you go online and Google how to make friends you get tons of hits. So this clip while childish makes a good explanation of what friendship is and gives a good example of what a communal relationship is and plus it’s cute. So hopefully you find it uplifting in case you haven’t had any social interaction with your friends.
http://www.realtruth.org/news/090303-008-society.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/nicholas_christakis_the_hidden_influence_of_social_networks.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZHmsVRshwU
In chapter 6 there are three universal psychological needs that every human being experiences; the need for autonomy of the sense of freedom in choice or psychological freedom in one’s own actions, secondly the need for competence including the perception of effectively managing one’s environment, and lastly the need for relatedness which entails the sense of being cared for and connected with other individuals. My mother always told me that when I was a child I “longed to belong” and when my generosity and positive feelings weren’t reciprocated by my peers I was left confused and hurt. To this day I can still relate to the words my mother spoke; when I’m not included or thought of by my friends and peers I feel disconnected and hurt. This obviously stems from my high psychological need for relatedness.
My personal endeavors are what lead to my initial interests in the concept of relatedness. All of us to a certain extent, introvert or extrovert have a ranging need for acceptance, compassion, understanding, and reciprocity. The construct of social desirability correlates with relatedness and the fact we’d all like to be portrayed in a positive light and seen by our peers as an attractive companion. Everyone would benefit from an advantageous relationship; honesty and the feeling that that individual truly seeks positivity for our well-being. Relatedness spans from our personal relationships, to our professional life, to our social lives.
Our progression as a society has altered the paths that fulfill our need for relatedness. Texting, online chatting, Skype, Twitter, Myspace, and Facebook are overwhelmingly popular venues in which one can feel related and connected to. The underlying component of social interaction is no longer a face-to-face relationship. The question that the first article I read was whether or not these social platforms fulfill a collective need or contribute to our ever-rising narcissistic tendencies. Ludwig Binswanger who is a Swiss psychiatrist identified the only mode of relatedness free of psychopathology is that of the dual mode which involves reciprocity, respect and openness.
Relatedness moderates autonomy, promotes balance, and brings stability to our personal viewpoints. Socialization is the process in which autonomy and relatedness merge to lead us as individuals to choices that reflect our own outlook on responsibility and for the well-being of others. An important notion to remember when combining autonomy and relatedness is to distinguish where one person’s thoughts and responsibilities end and where other persons begin. The autonomous person can differentiate the extent of other person’s rights and liabilities and bases their decisions in accordance with this knowledge. The problem arises when autonomy and relatedness conflict. When care and acceptance are reliant on social acceptance and gratification the persons self image is damaged; a fictional self emerges in place of the authentic self. When recognition is offered conditionally then feelings of self-worth and esteem are based on the approval of others or extrinsic rewards.
The satisfaction we receive from various relationships can differ immensely and the reward from distinct relationships provides us with numerous benefits. Exchange relationships involving associates partaking in business together involve giving and receiving of certain benefits such as money or assistance. No moral obligation exists between the two parties to look after the well-being of one another. In communal relationships people monitor other’s needs not in search of reciprocity or material gain but provide help other’s are in need. Communal relationships are the only type to satisfy the need for relatedness.
When all three universal psychological needs are met individuals: 1) initiate behavior in which they are intrinsically motivated, 2) Internalize and integrate external demands, 3) experience multiple cognitive benefits such as increased creativity, flexibility, and conceptual understanding, 4) experience positive affect involving increased satisfaction and well being, 5) and lastly are able to stick with and maintain behavior change for a longer period of time. Relatedness is very interesting and debatable in all facets. Relatedness may be becoming harder to obtain by today’s standards. It’s getting harder for individuals to separate from the pack and be their own person. Conformity is inevitable for some individuals because it is what appears to be the correct path for them. Personality can play a major factor in the level of relatedness one seeks out; one person may choose to conform and take the safe route while one individual may see an opportunity for advancement with the creativity of a new idea. We’re all narcissistic to a certain extent and would like to be rewarded on the merit of our own authenticity. I personally feel keeping a balance within the construct of relatedness between individualism and collectivism as well as an overall balance between the three cooperative psychological needs is vital for overall well-being. Easier said that done huh?
1)http://www.emotionalcompetency.com/motivation.htm
2)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTXq5lR8OCw
3)http://www.depthpsychologytoday.com/2009/05/12/social-media-unconditional-narcissism-or-human-relatedness/
The topic that I chose this week is “Supporting Relatedness: Perception of a Social Bond” (p. 162-163). I focused specifically on lonely people because I was surprised by Reeve’s statement that “they interact with others as frequently as do nonlonely people” (p. 163). I wondered if these interactions were simply less satisfying or if “those who feel lonely lack close, intimate relationships” (p. 163), or both. Also, I decided to research loneliness further because it is a feeling that we all can relate to at, and yet I realized I don’t know that much about it.
The first article that I read was titled “Brains of Lonely People Work Differently”, by Robert Roy Britt. This article explained that people who identified themselves as lonely had less activity in their ventral striatum, an area of the brain that generally becomes more active in response to rewards. This article points out that “it's not clear if social isolation diminishes the brain-reward response, however, or if people with less activity in that part of the brain tend toward loneliness.” I was glad that Britt explained
this, because the general public may not know that correlation does not mean causation.
This article goes on to say that loneliness is on the rise and detrimental to health. One explanation for why loneliness is more prevalent is because more people are living alone these days. Loneliness is associated with higher risks of heart disease, depression, and many other health problems.
The next website I looked at talked about how to identify loneliness and what to do if you are lonely (it’s a counseling website.) People commonly feel lonely if they: are new to an area, are alone and not by choice, or don’t feel like they have anyone to talk to. That last one ties in with what our textbook was saying about how people have a need for relatedness. While this list that the website provided for identifying loneliness seems like a no-brainer, I think that it is harder for people to think rationally when they are actually lonely.
According to the website, some students deal with loneliness by isolating themselves, while others become overly attached to one person. I think that people who are extremely lonely can come off as needy or desperate to people they are trying to form friendships with, thus making it harder for them to form friendships. “Intimate friendships usually develop gradually as people learn to share their inner feelings. Avoid rushing into intimate friendships by sharing too quickly or expecting that others will. Let the process develop naturally.” This website hits the nail on the head with its advice to people who are lonely.
Finally, I wondered how does the internet factor into relatedness? One article I found said that the internet decreases social interactions, and thus may cause loneliness. There was a paragraph in our textbook on page 162 that described how people who spend a lot of time together are more likely to form relationships. This article said that lonely people use facebook as a substitute to social interactions, but facebook doesn’t satisfy their need for hanging out with friends in person.
This article also said that loneliness can actually be contagious. Basically as someone who is lonely moves further away from friends, they infect their few close friends with the “loneliness bug” and those friends also become lonely. I know this sounds kind of crazy, but it is based on a longitudinal psych study, explained it the article. In order to combat loneliness the person is encouraged to befriend someone else in their situation. What a good idea!
Through my research I have learned more about how biology and loneliness interact, ways people deal with loneliness, and how the internet may play a role. I enjoyed learning more about loneliness. By reading about what causes a lack of relatedness, I have also discovered a lot more about how people can form strong social bonds.
http://www.livescience.com/health/090218-lonely-brain.html
http://www.counselingcenter.illinois.edu/?page_id=188
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34209727/ns/health-behavior/
Last spring semester for my applied psychology class, I participated in a group project about autonomy-supported teaching styles. I will admit, the concept went a bit over my head at the time because the group I was in was large so the research of the topic was delegated to one part of the group and my contribution was limited to developing a few short video segments that should examples of both autonomy-supporting and controlling teaching styles. After reading chapter 6, I finally started to understand the concept of autonomy and decided to research it a bit more for this assignment.
According to the article I found about autonomy-supportive teaching style, "the essential core of an autonomy-supportive motivating style is the teacher's willingness to take the student's perspective during instruction and to deeply value, understand, and appreciate that perspective. When doing so, teachers work hard to identify, nurture, and build students' inner motivational resources."
In the video I made for my applied psychology group project, our "teacher" demonstrated this concept by offering several different assignment options to the "students" rather than limiting them to one assignment (which is also demonstrated in the other video clip I made). By offering several different options, the "teacher" was able to give the "students" a choice in what type of assignment they wished to complete, thus increasing their motivation to actively participate in the class and feel more enjoyment in completing their chosen assignment.
The other video clip I made, demonstrating a controlling teaching style, depicted a teacher who forced the students to write a 20 page paper and added the pressure of failing the class if they did not complete the assignment. According to our chapter, this type of teaching style deadens the student's inner motivation, thus limiting the enjoyment the student feels regarding the class.
In addition to teaching, autonomy-supportive motivational styles are also important in parenting. This is because of the beneficial factors that come from satisfying the psychological need of autonomy. According to our chapter, when the need for autonomy is satisfied, it "energizes the person's inherent growth potentials in ways that promote healthy motivation, strong engagement, growth-oriented development, meaningful learning, enhanced performance, and psychological well-being." The article I read pointed out that by being sensitive to their child's temperament-related dispositions, parents are being autonomy-supportive because they are allowing their child to act in ways that they feel comfortable in.
http://www.education.com/reference/article/autonomy-support/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idykcrCLdrk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGFqn_GnMl0
I decided to focus on what makes a good day. When I read this section in the book I thought about how satisfying a good day is and I thought it was interesting to recognize a good day comes from meeting our psychological needs. Then I became curious; what makes a good day for most people?
The first intriguing website I came to is a website called www.answerbag.com, where anyone can post a question and everyone can answer. Someone on this website posted the question, “What makes a good day for you?” There were many responses to this questions but many of the common answers involved waking up alive, being with loved ones, and good food. Upon reading this responses I could easily relate as each of those things would make a day good for me, but after reading the chapter I realized that each of the ways I make a day better is something that satisfies my psychological needs of autonomy (waking up and showering each day), competence (finishing a paper), and relatedness (being with loved ones).
The next piece I found was a song called “Good Day” by The Dresden Dolls. Apparently the song is about what a good day the singer has had after breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend and how terrible his or her day has been. The lyrics are pretty entertaining, but they also follow the idea that a good day comes from satisfying psychological needs. This is especially true in the area of competence. There are two lines of the song saying “I took out the trash today” and “I took up croquet today” that both end with “and I’m on fire,” signaling that they have accomplished something and feel competent, allowing them a good day without their significant other. The song also addresses what I believe to be autonomy, with lines like “I picked up the pieces of my broken ego; I have finally made peace as far as you and me go.” I believe this lyric is a great example of autonomy because it shows that the singer was in a state that was not normal for her and she was getting back to a balanced place in her life. I really liked being able to connect what I learned in class to the lyrics of this song.
Finally, I came to the website known as wikiHow, which I was concerned about at first being a branch of Wikipedia, but I did want to see how people thought they could make their days better and if there were any ways that would satisfy psychological needs. There were actually some really great ideas posted including be kind to radiate positive energy, which would help to fulfill your need for relatedness. Another suggestion was to exercise; this seems like the most obvious way to fulfill a person’s need for competence because exercising releases endorphins which would make you feel good and like you accomplished something. The last suggestion I found interesting was to “be spontaneous.” I liked this suggestion because it is a simple and fun way to deal with autonomy. You cannot be autonomous all the time because you need to have a balance between autonomy and spontaneity in order to fulfill that need. I loved seeing the suggestions people had even though they probably did not know that each of those suggestions would satisfy their psychological needs.
I had a great time researching what makes a good day and I have realized that there are much deeper connections involved in having a good day.
http://www.wikihow.com/Have-a-Good-Day
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/dresdendolls/goodday.html
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/101542
The book briefly considers exchange and communal relationships in the section on relatedness. Though you likely know the difference I think it is often too convenient to put all of our eggs into the exchange-relationship basket. Though we fulfill this component religiously in our capitalist society it does nothing to reciprocate the favor in terms of psychological need maintenance/ growth. Conversely communal relationships satisfy our relatedness need, but how do you know when your commune (or close relationship) has become cult-like?
Communal relationships are only initiated with family, friends, and romantic relationships, each lasting to various but finite lengths. In such specific instances we are taught at a young age to give expecting nothing in return; we are obliged to be each other’s eyes and ears. On the other hand, business relations and transactions occur between mutually unknown individuals myriad times daily. Capitalism-based relationships create intense competition for material goods and increasing depersonalization of society.
Communes have existed at least since the beginning of recorded history. Categorized as anarchistic or service, the prior rejects established institutions and often disintegrates quickly without any order. Service or intentional communes possess a binding philosophy and mission statement.They pool resources and definite social structure exists. Attributed to both types would be a misconstrued notion of communes as free-love, drug-dependent institutions.
Rather, with examples such as The Farm in Tennessee (and around 2000 in the 1970s), repersonalizing society and escaping the constraints of modern world existence are at the core. At the center of this philosophy is self-reliance, personal and spiritual growth, and turning the tide to more sustainable methods of living. The Farm is agriculturally-based, which affords competence growing crops and relatedness engaging alongside others. Also noteworthy, alcohol, cigarettes and hard drugs were not allowed on The Farm.
http://www.thefarm.org/lifestyle/cmnl.html
In this unorthodox, to say the least, web page Joel explains that communal living makes sense as we can avoid the painstaking search for intimacy, and opt instead for a “chosen family” full of people with similar values, personalities, beliefs, etc. In doing so we can create a social network we can regularly spend time with: the larger the network the greater the likelihood of someone being available at any given time. Especially, he suggests, it is a viable alternative for people with no biological family or continuing contact with family. Joel also cites creating better overall lifestyles and diminishing individual environmental impact. He closes with the insight that those who need a lot of privacy are likely not cut out for such an arrangement. He comes off to me as creeperish and his credibility, to me, is more than questionable.
http://www.escapeartist.com/efam/81/Communal_Living.html
This clip is about Nikki Silva and the living arrangement she has had for the last 30 years. She resides with three other families on 10 acres of land overlooking Monterey Bay. Tracing the roots, Nikki recalls a bunch of people buying property together because that was the only way to realistically purchase. In the beginning nine people resided in one small house, but she states they all learned in a hurry that they did not want to live this way for an extended period. When it became feasible, three houses were built with specified land allotments and maximum square feet requirements. Aesthetic conformity of the exteriors gives rise to the individually distinct interiors. Reused recyclables and salvageable old materials permeate throughout the buildings. The big house, or commune mecca, provides a gathering place for a shared meal every night. Nikki adds that no meetings are held, they would rather fight over good food. In addition the big house is home to the sole bathing facility, other shared living spaces (including a t.v. room with a flat screen), and an industrial kitchen.
The last point Nikki makes is that such a flexible living arrangement has allowed her and the others to work out fantasies, the visions of which had been brewing for quite some time. An art studio, architectural design area, flower garden and vegetable garden, outdoor cooking space and pizza oven, in addition to a fireplace can be found on the property.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyeaTLi3EsI
This youtube clip appears to be the efforts of a poorly budgeted and cast college course. Though communal living is included in the title no such mention was made in the video. I can only assume the creators assume the concept to be synonymous with cults. The entire video focuses on techniques for manipulating people, conditioning them into docile followers. Mind control in the form of lies, distortions, and unrealistic promises is key. Acting friendly and interested, especially, listening actively is cited as increasing autonomy support. Providing structure, shaping behavior with love and attention beginning unconditionally; controlling behavior (negative reinforcement)- rigid schedules, sleep deprivation, low-protein food; induction of mental break downs; claim authority; share false science and withhold special knowledge; when all else fails inspire guilt.
This video inspired fear in me. It is the youtube guide for dummies on establishing a cult of your own. It was beyond cheesy and it appears to have only a minor following of its own at just over 600 hits. Viewing this makes me question not only the motivations of cult leaders, but also the people who made this film. It was seriously hard to watch the whole thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6A-pCJlFkM
In theory such a lifestyle approach could meet the psychological needs competence and relatedness with near-utopian results. Why then, have such large-scale attempts failed miserably in recent Western history? (obviously rhetorical question for added effect) In the 1970's the hypocrisy of continued Vietnam involvement sparked newly found interests in communal living. Will a similar surge occur as the Middle East War drags onward? If the economy deceives us with a downward spike before we start to recover will people pool their resources in response? If Wal-Mart invades your rural area and agribusiness drives you or someone you know out of farming, will that provide the requisite external stressors to give it a whirl?
I am not suggesting or promoting you internalize commune living to any extent, but there are valuable lessons (positive and negative) to learn from such a threat to “normal” life in postmodern America. I understand that our own cultural values and pursuits conflict with the lack of material recognition, tangible rewards, and individualism associated with communal arrangements. We are not willing to engage at any substantial level in such a backward looking means because the ends we strive for appear largely unrelated.