Foucault Perspective: Cognitive Evaluation Theory - Essay Example

Foucault's Perspective The theory is based upon the conclusion that the external events are controlled and informed, the reasons being that this will affect the autonomy and competency. The extent of the control and its influence is based upon 'control behavior or inform of competence' (David, 2003). The theory is based upon three proposition which encourages the identification of the purpose affiliated with the control behavior, and the purpose affiliated with the 'inform of competence' (David, 2003). According to the theory, the relative salience of the two elements supports in the determination of the type of the motivation affected. The theory has explained that the mental control is responsible for the 'override bodily control' (David, 2003), and the mental control is independent of the negative feedback, and is 'sensitive to environmental influences' (David, 2003). The cognitive evaluation theory has categorized motivation in three divisions i.e. a-motivation, extrinsic, and intrinsic. The theory has discussed the benefits of the intrinsic motivation, and has regarded persistence, creativity, high-quality learning and optimal functioning as the positive features affiliated with the intrinsic motivation. The theory has categorized the extrinsic motivation as external regulation, interjected regulation, identified regulation and integrated regulation. The external regulation has been regarded as 'non-self determined motivation' (David, 2003), which is employed for the attainment of reward, which is then responsible for the regulation of the motivation, however it lacks 'internalized willingness, which is then responsible for the poor functioning and poor outcome' (Michael, 2005). Cognitive Evaluation Theory is regarded as the 'theoretical perspective that focuses on the realms of human perception, thought, and memory' (Russell, 2003). The science has evolved a concept of categorization; the learners/seekers have been categorized as active processors of information. The initiative undertaken by the learners for the purpose of enrichment of the information are within the scope of cognitive psychology, and are referred for the determination of the derived level of understanding. The cognitive psychology has been influenced, and significant progress is assured subject to the availability of the power and strong environment, which is primary requisite for the achievement of the cognitive movement oriented goals. The psychologists are of the opinion that the human behavior is under the influence of the consequences experienced on individual or collective level, and cognitive psychology is based upon the discussion of the behavior which is 'determined by its outcome' (Russell, 2003). With reference to the cognitive psychology, the learner is often regarded as the active processor, and is able to 'explore, discover, and construct knowledge' (Russell, 2003); such an aptitude to teach has been termed as the 'constructivist movement' of the relevant field. The deliverance of ideas, and communication of the thoughts from constructivist perspective is responsible for the 'knowledge formation and development of meta-cognitive processes for judging, organizing, and acquiring new information', whereas the transmission of information is subdue matter. Resultantly many researchers have adorned the discussed perspective, and have introduced the concept of schemata, 'which are mental frameworks for comprehension that function as scaffolding for organizing experience' (Russell, 2003). The theory has appreciated with practices of the social interactions for the purpose of knowledge construction. Similarly, the concept of proximal development has been also proposed which encouraged the mutual quest towards the attainment of objectives. The theory has explained the concept of Intrinsic Motivation, which has been regarded as 'internally generated', and its creation is not attributed to the external events, however the 'the external events can facilitate the already existing intrinsic motivation' (Michael, 2005). The cognitive theory is independent of unrealistic standards, factor of monitor behavior is ignored, and the influence of the power of drive is discarded. The theory takes under consideration the context of an individual which is the recognition of the fact that maladaptive is a relative term, and based upon the living circumstances of the individual. It has been explained that the mental illness is the failure of an individual to achieve the level of ideal personality, humanistic and existential orientations of the psychological theories have been based upon the criteria defined for the estimation of the deviation from the ideal approach and perspective. The abnormality psychology has explored additional possibility for which the detailed examination of human body is important, reason being that the abnormality psychology has its stem integrated with the roots of the physical disorder. Theory X & Theory Y The Theory X and Theory Y was proposed by Douglas McGregor in his book titled The Human Side of Enterprise. The set of theory was aimed at the evaluation of the motivation level of the employee, 'both of these theories begin with the premise that management's role is to assemble the factors of production, including people, for the economic benefit of the firm' (Andrew, 2005). The Theory X is based upon the assumption that the average person 'dislikes work and attempts to avoid it, and has no ambition, wants no responsibility, and would rather follow than lead; the employee is considered to be self-centered and therefore does not care about organizational goals, the employee is reluctant to adopt any changes and therefore is resistant towards change, and is gullible and not particularly intelligent' (Andrew, 2005). The major assumption of the Theory X is that the employee performs only for the sake of money and security. According to the theory the management 'approaches can range from a hard approach to a soft approach' (Patrick, 2000). The hard approach is based upon 'coercion, implicit threats, close supervision, and tight controls, essentially an environment of command and control' (Andrew, 2005). However, the soft approach is 'to be permissive and seek harmony with the hope that in return employees will cooperate when asked to do so' (Chris, 1990). It has been observed that neither of the approaches can be regarded as optimal, the hard approach is responsible for 'hostility, purposely low-output, and hard-line union demands' (Website, 2007), whereas the soft approach is responsible for 'ever-increasing requests for more rewards in exchange for ever-decreasing work output' (Leslie, 2001). According to McGregor, certain problems has been identified with Theory X, and has argued that satisfied need is no longer a source of motivation, therefore as per the theory the organization has to rely upon 'money and benefits to satisfy employees' lower needs, and once those needs are satisfied the source of motivation is lost' (Patrick, 2000). The Theory X is therefore a source of hindrance, and dilutes the 'satisfaction of higher-level needs'. As per the explanation of the theory, 'the only way that employees can attempt to satisfy their higher level needs in their work is by seeking more compensation, so it is quite predictable that they will focus on monetary rewards' (Patrick, 2000), whereas in actual practice the money shall never be considered a source of self-fulfillment. Maturity / Immaturity Theory Chris Argyris was a social science researcher who 'advocated a type of participant-observation research based on Hawthorne Effect-like principles, i.e., involving your research subjects in designing the way in which survey questions are worded and how concepts should be operationally defined and measured' (Website, 2007). He proposed a management theory called "Immaturity-Maturity Theory" which is based on 'an organic model of organizations as living, happy beings, and requiring managers to be babysitters at times and reality therapists at other times' (Douglas, 2006). According to the Immaturity / Maturity Theory, 'the bureaucratic / pyramidal values still dominate most organizations, and have produced many of our current organizational problems' (Leslie, 2001). According to the theory, the industrial organizations determine the effect of the management practices developed upon the behavior of the industrial behavior and personal growth in the professional environment. As per the theory, the seven changes are expected to occur in the personality of the individuals for the purpose of the development of the matured people with the passage of years. The changes include, 'individuals move from a passive state as infants to a state of increasing activity as adults, individuals develop from a state of dependency upon others as infants to a state of relative independence as adults, individuals behave in only a few ways as infants, but as adults they are capable of behaving in many ways, individuals have erratic, casual, and shallow interests as infants but develop deeper and stronger interests as adults, the time perspective of children is very short, involving only the present, but as they mature, their time perspective increases to include the past and the future, individuals as infants are subordinate to everyone, but they move to equal or superior positions with others as adults, as children, individuals lack an awareness of a self, but as adults they are not only aware of, but they are able to control self' (Douglas, 2006). The Theory has elaborated the significance of the participative management, therefore the employees are consulted on timely basis with reference to the decision making process, the exercise is aimed at the creative capacity and has provided the employers with an opportunity with restrict and control the professional and work environment. The exercise of the performance appraisals on periodic basis has been regarded as significant exercise, where 'the employees set objectives and participate in the process of evaluating how well such objectives are received and applied' (Andrew, 2005). Physiological psychology has been often referred as psychophysiology and cognitive neuroscience, the behavioral science is the derivative of biological psychology which research 'the neural mechanisms of perception and behavior through direct manipulation of the brains of nonhuman animal subjects in controlled experiments' (Russell, 2003). The physiological theory has ignored 'the development of research that has translational value', and has focused upon the 'development of theories that explain the brain-behavior relationship' (Russell, 2003). The theory has referred to the demography of the cells in the brain has advanced with the relative development of the technology, previously the cells are considered to form continuous network, which was in lieu with the reticular theory. According to the theory, soon after the development of the silver impregnation staining techniques, the researchers proposed the neuron doctrine. According to the doctrine, the brain was composed of discrete cells in form of packets, and each packet is separated by synapse. The concept of Law of Dynamic Polarization was evolved which elaborated the flow of information, 'the information flowed from the dendrite to the soma, to the axon, and across the synapse to the postsynaptic cell' (Russell, 2003). The physiological psychology has focused upon the development of the brain, and has concluded that the 'neurons follow chemical messages to predetermined destinations' (Michael, 2005), which is supported by the 'growth cones i.e. specialized structures on the tips of axons which selectively respond to the chemical signals in the surrounding fluids' (Russell, 2003). The physiological theory has explained that behavior of the nerve cells at rest, and has observed their electric behavior during that period; the electrical behavior is generated 'by the differential distribution of the ions sodium, potassium, and chloride across the membrane' (Russell, 2003). The psychologists has agreed over the theory of two-factor of emotion, the theory has discussed the influence of the state of arousal and cognition, the combination of which results in the generation of the emotion. The physiological need express the biological deficiencies, and based upon 'physiological deficits'. According to the theory, 'the unmet can lead to harm/death, dehydration, starvation or malnutrition'. The reasons behind the initiation of the physiological changes in due to the homeostasis, 'which is basal state of balance, equilibrium, where the internal and external changes influence the disrupt balance'. The state is achievable through 'motivational states'. The factors responsible for physiological needs originate from various sources, these sources are responsible for the motivation of the behavior. According to the theory, the 'drive interprets need and directs behavior', therefore the drive has been regarded as the 'intervening variable' (Michael, 2005). The psychological drive has been explained as' the conscious manifestation of an unconscious biological need', thus the behavior is motivated by the psychological experience, whereas the need has no influence on the human motivation. However, during the course of motivation, the negative feedback has been termed as physiological brake, 'much because the negative feedback is responsible for the inhibition of the behavior' (Michael, 2005). According to the content of the theory, the biological changes have been termed as intra-organism, whereas the environmental impact has been regarded as the extra-organism. The physiological changes are said to be generated by the cognitive, environmental, social and cultural factors. References 1. Elliot, Andrew J., Carol S. Dweck. Handbook of Competence and Motivation. Guilford Press. 2005. pp. 187. 2. Patrick J. Montana, Bruce H. Charnov. Management. Barron's Educational Series. 2000. pp. 96. 3. Leslie J. Fyans. Achievement Motivation: Recent Trends in Theory and Research. Springer Publication. 2001. 4. Douglas McGregor. The Human Side of Enterprise. 2006. McGraw-Hill Professional. pp. 187. 5. Chris Argyris. Integrating the Individual and the Organization. 1990. Transaction Publishers. pp. 35. 6. Julia Russell, Matt Jarvis (2003). Angles on Applied Psychology. Nelson Thornes Publication. Washington D.C. 134-165. 7. David R. Olson. Psychological Theory and Educational Reform: How School Remakes Mind and Society. Cambridge University Press. 2003. pp. 198. 8. Michael W. Eysenck, Mark T. Keane. Cognitive Psychology: A Student's Handbook. Psychology Press. 2005. pp. 87-98. 9. Stanley J. Grenz. Beyond Foundationalism: Is a Nonfoundationalist Evangelical Theology Possible' Regent College Publication. 2000. 10. John E. Thiel. Tradition and Authoritative Reasoning: A Nonfoundationalist Perspective. Theological Studies. Volume: 56. 2002. Read More