Psychological and Sociological Needs in Teaching and Learning - Report Example

Running Head: Psychological and Sociological needs in Teaching and Learning Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code and Name: University: Date Assignment is due: Behavior in High School Influenced by needs of Competence, Relatedness, and Autonomy Many people share the opinion that Adolescents or puberty stage characters are being stubborn and troublesome. This age between ten to twenty years is a time of significant changes in an individual. These dramatic biological changes are associated with cognitive capacities, sexual interests, and physical capacities. Increase of hormones, changes in the shape of the body, and changes in the brain architecture are some of the dramatic changes experienced by individuals at puberty stage. Simmons and Dale (1987) observe that this stage is characterized by substantial sociological and psychological changes. Sociological changes are witnessed in the roles adolescents are expected to play, and psychological changes link to the increasing social and cognitive maturity. In a nutshell, several changes that come at different levels characterize this stage. This stage characterized by substantial sociological and psychological changes, brings along with it the heightened potential of both positive and negative outcome. A substantial number of individuals in puberty stage experience a number of difficulties which is evident in their behaviors or interactions. At this stage, adolescents engage in many activities that might influence them throughout their lives, for instance, activities to participate in after school, which subjects to pick, and even the groups to associate. They also make crucial decisions and choices concerning their lives (Gable & Reis, 1998). During my internship in High school teaching, I observed keenly and found out that students behavior or interaction is adversely influenced by the psychological needs of relatedness, competence and autonomy. This essay, therefore, seeks to recount some of these instances (behaviors common among high -school students) and expound further on the influence psychological needs for relatedness, autonomy, and competence played a role in shaping these behaviors. In this case, I set out to look at the self satisfaction events that are within an individual and identify the features that are salient within them. By doing this, I hoped to gain an insight into their behaviors shaped by psychological needs. In my methodology, I randomly selected a group of six students and used it as a case representative for my study. The study was made up of students from an introductory Psychology class who took part in the fulfillment of a class research participation option. The participants were from different backgrounds and, therefore, had different experiences. This group proved to be useful in that from them I got to draw some conclusion about their behaviors and, therefore, able to draw some tangible conclusion on the subject. In my study, I closely looked at how each student wanted to be considered, and more so felt effective in their activities, which I related to competencies. Secondly, I analyzed how these students felt about the activities they choose and executed them on their own, which I categorized as autonomy. Last but not least, I paid a keen eye on the how each of this student felt some sense of closeness with others, which in my study, I categorized as relatedness. In my study, I also borrowed from Abraham Maslow’s Theory of Personality and its five fundamental needs; Security, self esteem, physical health, love and belonging, and self actualization. Just to recap what Maslow advances, people need to feel that their physical requirements and biological needs are satisfied. They also need to feel that a sense of personal worthiness and importance, order and predictability within their lives is maintained. Furthermore, they need to feel a sense of love and affection with the important others, and that they are moving towards a world which is ideal for them. In this research, in which I mostly utilized interview and observation methods, the cases gave the following responses. In the first case, in trying to establish the influence of autonomy, students argued that the choices they made purely rested on their true interests upon their true interests and values. They further asserted that they were free to do things in their own way and that the choices they made are an expression of their true self. On the other hand, others responded by saying that they felt a sense of attachment with the people whom they care for and in return care for them. They felt an existence of a strong connection with the people who are important to them and a strong intimacy for the people they spent time together. This I equated to the aspect of relatedness. In competence, some argued that they were in a position to complete difficult tasks, for example, complex sums given, like assignments. In this case, they sounded capable of solving and mastering hard challenges. Having observed the representative students keenly and completed the interviews on them, I drew some lessons regarding behavior trends and patterns of adolescents in High school. Firstly, I found out that the most changes, which are controversial, during adolescence, are those that link to peer group relationships. In this stage, there is involvement and focus in peer elated extracurricular activities. Most adolescents attach significant value and importance to the activities they carry out with their fellow colleagues. These activities overshadow academics and other association with their family members. It seems they derive a lot of confidence and high -self esteem in their social acceptance and physical appearance, as opposed to academic competence. Friendship and peer groups attach importance on social acceptance during this stage and, therefore, friendship networks organized in cliques that differ in social status within a community and school setting. These peer groupings reflects their need to establish a sense of identity, and belonging to a group is one way of the solution to their problems. Adolescents influence each other on many issues such as clothing style, dressing style, music, among other activities. In addition, they socialize with peers who harbor similar views on a number of issues such as the ones mentioned above. I also noted that these peers in most cases agree with their parents on issues such as education, religion, and politics just to mention but a few. Secondly, I found out that in adolescence stage, there are changes that occur in family relationship. Autonomy in this case, is the drive towards this change in family relations. Physical maturity in this stage always drives the adolescents to seek for more autonomy and start questioning rules and regulations governing the family (Steinberg, 1990). This often leads to conflicts concerning issues to do with dressing, chores, dating, and appearance. Adolescents and parents, in this case, tend to interact on a rear basis than they use to during childhood and middle childhood. However, they concur on fundamental issues such as education and religion. Changes in an adolescent often create a cold relationship with their parents. Nonetheless, these distant relationships are considered by some researches as critical in shaping an adolescent. For instance, adolescents are able to explore new things on their own, build confidence and develop competent skills in their abilities. Most of the subjects I interviewed share this same thought, in that they would want to be left to make decisions and try new things on their own. In my third observation, school transition often contributes to negative functioning in most of the adolescents. This change from one stage of learning to another is associated with a decline in interests, in school, confidence in intellectual abilities, intrinsic motivation, and self perceptions. If individuals are not in the right environment, then their psychological needs may not be satisfied. As students move from one class to another, the right motivation ought to be ensured so as satisfaction of needs is met. Teachers in senior and junior high school, in these cases, experience difficulties in teaching all their students complex or challenging material. They are, therefore, more likely to employ stringent disciplinary measures that can be harmful to problematic students and those who underachieve away from school. In such cases, research has suggested the importance of positive reinforcement in classroom set up and school setting. Motivation plays a central role in bringing about changes in these settings. In this research, I strived to establish the ongoing within an adolescent daily experience of satisfaction of needs and psychological well-being. In short, this study suggests that all the three forms, that is, autonomy, relatedness, and competency are implicated in day to day life of an adolescent. Deprivation of any of these distinct psychological nutriments often results in negative influence on the adolescent. Put in another way, each of these psychological needs, therefore, influence daily well-being of an individual. I noted that the daily activities, which contribute to the achievement of an individual’s goals often enhance the well being of that person. On the other hand, activities that hinder the realization of an adolescent goal lessen the daily well-being of that individual. In conclusion, as a teacher, this research contributed a great deal to my work. I found out that adolescent feelings fulfilled in terms of autonomy, relatedness, and competence will be associated with the emotional well –being and their traits. In an effort to understand adolescent behavior, therefore, one ought to look at the satisfaction of these psychological needs. References Gable, S.L. & Reis, H.T. (1998). Now and then, them and us, this and that: Relationships across time, partner, context, and person. Personal Relationships, 6, 415-432. Simmons, R. & Dale, B. (1987). Moving into Adolescence: The Impact of Pubertal Change and School Context. Hawthorn, NY: Al-dine de Gruyler. Steinberg, L. (1990). "Autonomy, Conflict, and Harmony in the Family Relationship." In Shirley Feldman and Glen Elliott eds., At the Threshold: The Developing Adolescent. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Read More