How to Overcome Awkwardness in Communication - Essay Example

Reeve (2009) states that identity plays a part in what people want to present to the world. How one perceived themselves, and how they will cope with a situation is self-efficacy. This becomes a motivating factor in situations where one has to deal with different situations. As an example, in my case, when dealing with difficulties in my life, I was able to overcome them because I could draw on my past experience. My self-esteem helped me "hang in there" when times were tough and this also helped in my developing inner strength.

I understand that how I have lived my life has given me an opportunity for me to understand my inner strength. An individual is motivated to change when they are strong in themselves. Agency, the aspect of the self that provides intrinsic motivation, is built as people go through life experiences. Reeve (2009) states that this intrinsic motivation is what drives the individual. In order for change to occur, an individual must have something that will push them to it. This can be a death, a divorce, or other traumatic situation, or the individual can move forward because there is something that motivates them to do so, such as a need to make more money or to develop different aspects of their lives.

References Reeve. J. (2009). Understanding motivation and emotion (5th ed.). CA: Wiley. Assignment 3 My final project will discuss the education of teens in Liberia with an emphasis on female teens. The project will also discuss some of the history of education and what teens need in terms of education. As I continue my research, I wonder how these children will be motivated to change their lives. When thinking about self-efficacy theory, it is important to understand how social issues deal with this theory.

The new president of Liberia has made the education of female children a priority. In order to understand the reason, one has to look deeper into what has happened to these teens. Many girls have had to fight in their civil war. Other girls have also been victims of rape, abuse, and other criminal activity against them. The challenge for many children in this type of situation is to overcome these situations. Many will go to counseling and this may be something that would need to be factored into part of their education.

When looking at behavior change for these children I think that they must first have an intrinsic need to change. This would come from a deep understanding that they could move out of any negative situation. According to Johnson (2004), behavior change comes when a situation happens that creates a feeling inside an individual that moves them forward. When I look at my own teenagers, I understand that they do not change their behavior until they find a need to change their behavior. As an example, my girls used to fight between them until one of my girls felt they were hurting the other one's feelings.

When this hit home for them, they began to get along better. My children understand that there are other ways to work out their differences. When I think about the teenagers in Liberia, I understand that there needs to be a reason for them to change. The challenge may be that they have not had the experiences to move them to behavior change. However, through education, they may find a reason. The knowledge of self-efficacy theory will help me become more motivated to help teens in whatever country I decide to teach in.

In order to motivate me, I have an intrinsic need for helping people. I am a volunteer on many occasions and I feel that I have a real talent for helping people. I believe that self-efficacy can assist teens in changing when they realize that where they are today is not where they will be forever.

Teens in Liberia may need to find some common ways to open themselves more fully for them to want to make a change in their behavior. Often, education is the one thing that can open an individual's mind and show them that they have many options. Behavior change often comes when people are introduced to education.

Hope is important in anyone's life and it is one way that people are able to make behavior change. They must hold hope in their hearts to understand that there is a reason that change can happen. They also must have hope in order to push past adversity.