Defense mechanisms -- Emotional equilibrium

-



Emotional equilibrium and self-esteem are vital to all of us, and we employ a number of ways to protect them in ourselves. A term that is frequently used by psychologists for these activities is defence mechanisms. Everyone uses defence mechanisms, every day; they are part of normal life.


(…)Defence mechanisms are essential for softening failures, protecting us from
otherwise overwhelming anxiety, and maintaining our sense of personal
worth . . . every normal person uses all of them – immature or mature –
in greater or lesser degree all the time. Much of the time, we use defence
mechanisms appropriately, but . . . [if] inappropriately used, they do not produce
realistic adaptation, and sometimes they involve others in inappropriate
ways. (…)

What does this mean? It means that all students have ways of “defending” themselves against psychological discomfort. What these are will vary from student to student. One student may withdraw emotional energy; another might deflect attention onto socializing with students whose company enhances his sense of his worth. Yet another might refuse to invest emotional energy in language learning. without intrinsic motivation (i.e. personal interest). Some students may avoid becoming involved with a new culture in order to avoid being disappointed. And so on. There are a number of ways of categorizing all these kinds of behaviours. We suggest four principal categories, although other authors may suggest others. These are:

  1. flight or withdrawal behaviours;
  2. aggressive or “fight” behaviours;
  3. group manipulation behaviours;
  4. compromise behaviours.

You have probably engaged in some of these behaviours at one time or another; nearly everyone does. These are the things that you do to avoid uncomfortable situations. One example of these kinds of defence mechanisms is test preparation. Let us say that you have a test tomorrow, which will cover verbal forms, which you do not understand well. Instead of working at understanding these forms, you might spend more time with the meaning of the verbs and the various parts of the verbs (stems, suffixes, etc.) even though you already understand these things. In some cases, you might decide to put off studying and eat supper first. You might, in this way, add other activities and fritter away much of your study time. Another example is “flight/withdrawal” reaction to a test score. Instead of trying to figure out what you did wrong, you may ignore a bad grade on a test. You might even blame the teacher for the grade if you think he or she does not like you or underrates your skills. Rather than learning why you made the grammar mistakes that you did, you might excuse the grade by saying that it is meaningless to you because the test was on grammar and what is most important to you is developing a large vocabulary. Aggressive/fight behaviours are just the opposite of flight/withdrawal behaviours. They meet the problem head-on, but not in a particularly rational way. You may have experienced some of these kinds of behaviours from your classmates. (Perhaps you have even engaged in them yourself.) Perhaps a classmate laughed at your pronunciation or complained that you hogged the speaking time. This is one example of aggressive/fight behaviours. These behaviours are very typical in elementary and high school programs, in which students try to establish some kind of pecking order. Cliques form, and there are some students who are “in” and others who are “out.” This same kind of behaviour can continue into college although it is usually less overt at this level. Sometimes, though, when some students are not succeeding well at learning a foreign language, they will start to form subgroups within the class. They may pick on a particularly gifted or untalented learner, drawing attention away from their own lack of success.

Compromise behaviours are a mature form of defence mechanisms. Some are anticipating difficulties and preparing for them. If you think you did poorly on the test, be prepared for a low grade and make plans to learn from the experience – and to learn whatever language points you missed. If you make a funny mistake and people instinctively laugh, laugh along with them; they cannot laugh at you if you are laughing along with them. Rather than picking on a slower learner in the class, you and your classmates could tutor the learner. Thinking of  the class as a whole needing to perform well can contribute to your own better performance.

Bibliography:
1.    Brown, H.D. (2000): Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. White Plains, NY: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. Gass,
2.    S.M. I L. Selinker. (2008): Second Language Acquisition. An Introductory Course. New York: Routledge. VanPatten,
3.    Leaver, B.L; Ehrman, M; Shekhtman, B. (2005): Achieving Success in Second Language Acquisition. CUP
4.    B. i J. Williams. (red.) 2007: Theories in Second Language Acquisition. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
§  ©

Komentarze

Prześlij komentarz

Popularne posty z tego bloga

Dark Side: Some Kind of Justice From Behind The Grave

-
Obraz
Some pathologists, usually those not normally concerned with criminal and litigious cases, claim that an autopsy report should be a bare recitation of the physical findings, with no discussion or interpretation of the significance of those findings. This is an abdication of the pathologist's responsibility because, especially in criminal deaths, it is these condusions that are of most interest and use to che investigating officers, lawyers and courts. After the detailed description of the external and internal appearances, a short resume should be offered of the major positive findings and their relationship to the cause of death. In many cases this will be obvious, as in a gunshot wound of the head. Matters such as the probable type of weapon, the range, the direction and the likely rapidity of death, however, should also be discussed. When the findings are less clear cut, or are multiple, then the alternatives should be discussed, giving a differential diagnosis of the cause of d...
Czytaj więcej

Methodology in Language Learning: The Ehrman & Leaver Construct

-
Obraz
The complex pattern study has an elaborate underlying theoretical construct and has undergone extensive field-testing and validation at the Foreign Service Institute. Therefore it represents a serious attempt to reconceptualize cognitive styles in the service of language learning and warrants a closer inspection. The E&L Construct, as Ehrman and Leaver have named their new system, is similar to Riding’s theory in that it reorganizes a number of established style dimensions under a new, comprehensive, and parsimonious construct. However, unlike Riding’s taxonomy, here only one superordinate style dimension is provided, with the two poles labeled ectasis and synopsis. The main difference between the two extremes is that an ectenic learner wants or needs conscious control over the learning process, whereas a synoptic learner leaves more to preconscious or unconscious processing.  The complete system is made up of 10 subdimensions, and many of those are similar to the ones target...
Czytaj więcej

Under the Microscope: The Formation of Adipocere

-
Obraz
  Most of the discussion concerning the definitions of death belongs to the field of legal medicine and even that of ethics, rather than forensic pathology. Notwithstanding this, a quick review of this complex problem is appropriate here, as when we come to describe the various post-mortem phenomena, some appreciation is necessary of the zero point from which such changes are timed. It is conventional to describe two types of death:      somatic death, in which the person irreversibly loses its sentient personality, being unconscious, unable to be aware of (or to communicate with) its environment, and unable to appreciate any sensory stimuli or to initiate any volunrary movement. Reflex nervous activity may, however, persist, and circulatory and respiratory functions continue either spontaneously or with artificial support so that the tissues and cells of the body, other than those already damaged in the central nervous system, are alive and functioning. ...
Czytaj więcej