Human Behavior And Social Environment PDF

HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT The knowledge content relating to this curriculum area is designed to help the student understand “the individual, group, organizational, institutional, and cultural contexts within which human behavior is expressed and by which it...

HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT The knowledge content relating to this curriculum area is designed to help the student understand “the individual, group, organizational, institutional, and cultural contexts within which human behavior is expressed and by which it is significantly influenced” (Pineda & Lansang, 1968). This knowledge area focuses on knowledge about the individual as a bio-psycho-social being, the interaction between him/her and the physical, social, cultural, political and economic forces in the environment which affect or influence behavior. This area of the curriculum aims to: (a) enhance/further the students’ understanding of individual and collective behavior, and (b) develop the students’ capacity to critically assess the state of theory and knowledge about man and his social environment, as it related to social work practice, and to begin to see their role in contributing to its development (Lee-Mendoza, 2008). The phrase “the individual is a biopsychosocial being” means that there is inseparable, interacting forces – biological, psychological and social that influence human behavior and personality. The biological components would include the individual’s state of health and nutrition, genetics and natural physical endowments at birth, normal biological growth and development, as well as any deviation from normal functioning including illness and physical disabilities. These may be obvious and can be described using medical information that is obtained when necessary. The social worker is expected to know the psycho-social effects of both normal as well as abnormal biological growth and development. The psychological component is concerned with the individual’s personality, comprising what is commonly termed “inner states”, which has three aspects: 1. Cognitive (perceptual or intellectual); 2. Emotional (feelings); and 3. Conative (striving, tendency to do actively or purposefully). The social component includes the following elements: 1. Societal: aggregate data and social patterns which help create the social climate in which we live, regardless of whether or not people are aware or accept them, such as poverty and unemployment; 2. Institutional: organizational arrangements in society, such as family, government, education, and social services; 3. Status: characteristics of persons and their position in society as seen in the way persons are described, e.g., by age, sex, race and religion; 4. Normative: the forms in which social; behavior is expressed, and the social rules that shape these forms. These forms and rules that reflect the values of society which are, in turn, influenced by the existing culture; and 5. Interactive: the type of interaction and perception of interactions made of self and others that are a basis of behavior. 1|P age  It still is certainly true that the individual is a “biopsychosocial being” and we continue to recognize that “a dysfunction in any one of these elements disturbs equilibrium and creates or aggravates tensions in both individuals and those close to them.” Thelma Lee-Mendoza in her book, Social Welfare and Social Work, has pointed out, however, that the term “biopsychosocial” omits other important determinants of personality and behavior, namely, culture and the physical environment, unless culture is viewed as a “given” in the social component, and the physical world, a “given” influence on the biological component. Just the same, there is a need to emphasize these two important influences. Culture refers to the knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, etc. that constitute the way of life of a people or society. The physical environment has two aspects: (1) the natural environment which makes demands, sets constraints and provides resources (e.g., climate, topography, amount of rainfall and ozone levels); and (2) constructed environments such as homes, offices and hospitals which can have psychological effects (e.g., very limited space, no windows, poor ventilation and seating arrangements that prevent interaction). The scope of this area includes the following: main theories and phases of personality development; historical perspectives and different factors influencing the Filipino family; social processes relevant to the group and the community; community forces influencing group behavior; and the dynamics of psychosocial problems. 2|P age PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT Definition of Personality The origin or the etymological derivative of personality comes from the word “person”, theatrical masks worn by the Romans in Greek and Latin Drama. Personality also comes from the two Latin words “per” and “sonare”, which literally means “to sound through”. This concept extends to Jung’s component of “persona”, meaning “public image”, which refers to the role expected by social or cultural convention. In 1937, Gordon Allport defined personality as “what a man really is”. This statement indicates that personality is the typical and peculiar characteristics of a person. In 1961, after 24 years. Allport modified his definition as a dynamic organization within an individual of the psychophysical system that determines his or her characteristic behaviors and thoughts. …. dynamic organization – personality is constantly evolving and changing. A newborn infant lacks personality because his or her behavior keeps on changing. An infant’s personality is influenced by heredity and by the surrounding condition. Personality development begins at birth and unfolds gradually until death. …. psychophysical – personality is neither exclusively mental nor exclusively neural. The organization entails the operation of both body and mind. People’s functions include vegetative, sentient and rational functions. …. determine – personality is what lies behind specific acts. It is within the individual. A person is not simply a passive reactor to the environment but does something about it. …. characteristic behavior and thoughts – the replacement of the phrase “unique adjustments to the environment” in Allport’s original definition of personality. The earlier definition seemed to emphasize too much in biological needs. His revised definition covers all behaviors and thoughts, whether or not they are related to adaptation to the environment. On the other hand, Lawrence Pervin in 1975 has defined personality in terms of the following: a. Personality includes both structure and dynamics. Personality is viewed in terms of both the parts and the relationship among the parts of a system; b. Personality is ultimately defined in terms of behavior; and c. Personality manifests consistencies in individuals and in group of individuals. Nature of Man Man is a rational animal. This nature is manifested in his various characteristics: a. He is alive – seen in his ability to perform various acts; b. He is a body – he is composed of material parts; c. He has feelings – able to sense his surroundings and his reactions are expressed in his emotions and bodily movements; and d. He is a thinking and willing being – he is endowed with intellect and will. Decision on choice making is the culmination of his thought processes. 3|P age  His innate dignity is rooted in this rationality, i.e., a person endowed with reason and volition. It is this characteristic that enables man to muster his environment and this he does as an individual and in collaboration with the larger society. These characteristics mentioned are manifested in his different activities: a. He nourishes himself – the result is physical growth and development. This physical maturation enables to reproduce; b. He becomes aware of his material environment through his senses – thus, his emotions are perceived as pleasant or unpleasant. He then moves towards or sway this environment that serves as stimuli to him; and c. With his intellect, he thinks – he abstracts, form ideas, judges and reasons. Based upon his evaluations, he decides and determines how to live his life. Determinants of Behavior a. Heredity – people are born with particular genes inherited from both parents. The genetic composition determines certain traits dominance or recessive character manifested in the personality of the individual. The genetic heritage interacts with the environmental influences and guides the maturation and development of the individual – the body structures such as the brain, muscles, glands and behavior develop in orderly sequence; b. Environment – in the environment, factors such as physical and social and economic condition affect human behavior. Heredity and environment jointly determine behavior of the individual, though some kinds of behavior are determined more by heredity and others more by environment; and c. Training – training is a key process in human behavior. It pervades everything we do and think. It influences the language we speak, our customs, attitudes and beliefs. Our goals, personality traits, both adaptive and maladaptive; and even our perceptions. Learning may be defined as any change in behavior which occurs as a result of experience or practice. This learning process involves important factors like association ideas, sensations; stimulus – response and motivation. Developmental Tasks from Infancy through Later Life 1. Infancy and Early Childhood (Birth to 6 years) Learning to walk Learning to take solid feeds Learning to control the elimination of body wastes Learning sex differences and sexual modesty Achieving physiological stability Forming simple concepts of social and physical reality Learning to relate oneself emotionally to parents, siblings and other people Learning to distinguish right and wrong and developing a conscience 2. Middle Childhood (6-12 years) Learning physical skills necessary for ordinary games Building wholesome attitudes toward oneself as a growing organism Learning to get along with age-mates Learning an appropriate masculine or feminine social role Developing fundamental skills in reading, writing and calculating 4|P age  Developing concepts necessary for everyday living Developing conscience, morality and a scale of values Achieving attitudes toward social group and institutions 3. Pre-Adolescence and Adolescence (12-18 years) Achieving new and more mature relations with age-mates of both sexes Achieving a masculine or feminine social role Accepting one’s physique and using the body effectively Achieving emotional independence of parents and other adults Achieving assurance of economic independence Selecting and preparing for an occupation Preparing for experience and family life Developing intellectual skills and concepts necessary for civic acceptance Desiring and achieving socially responsible behavior Acquiring a set of values and an ethical system as a guide to behavior 4. Early Adulthood (18-35 years) Selecting a mate Learning to live with a marriage partner Starting a family Rearing children Managing a home Getting started in an occupation Taking on a civic responsibility Binding a congenial social group 5. Middle Age (35 to 60 years) Achieving adult, civic and social responsibility Establishing and maintaining an economic standard of living Assisting teenage children to become responsible and happy adults Developing oneself to one’s spouse as a person Learning to accept and adjust to the physiological changes of middle age Adjusting to aging parents 6. Later Life (60 years to death) Adjusting to decreasing physical strength Adjustment to retirement and reduced income Adjusting to death of spouse Establishing an explicit affiliation with one’s age group Meeting social and civic obligation Establishing satisfactory living arrangements Theories of Personality PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORIES Classical Freud’s View of Human Nature Psychoanalysis Human beings are biological organisms whose master motives are the satisfaction (Sigmund Freud) of bodily needs. Human beings are hedonistic creatures driven by the same impulses as lower animals. Religion and civilization developed either because of the fear of the unknown or for protection against inborn aggressive tendencies. Repressed thoughts manifest themselves in the course of everyday living. All 5|P age human behavior has a cause; nothing happens simply by chance – not even an accident. Minor mistakes, like slips of the tongue, are manifestations of unconscious motives. Through humor, a person can express aggressiveness or sexual desires without fear of retaliation by either the ego or the superego. The mind is made up of the id, ego, and superego. The goal of the psyche is to maintain or regain an acceptable level of dynamic equilibrium that maximizes pleasure and minimizes tension. The energy that is used originates in the id, which has a primitive and instinctive nature. The ego, arising from the id, exists to deal realistically with the basic drives of the id. It also mediates between the forces that operate on the id. The superego, arising from the ego, acts as a moral brake or counterforce to the practical concerns of the ego. It sets out a series of guidelines that define and limit the flexibility of the ego. The superego is the moral arm of the personality. It develops from the internalized patterns of reward and punishment that a young child experience. The superego is said to be fully developed when self-control replaces environmental or parental control. The superego functions as the conscience, for self-observation and for the formation of ideals. As conscience, the superego acts to restrict, prohibit or judge conscious activity; it acts unconsciously. The unconscious restrictions are indirect, appearing as compulsions or inhibitions. It develops, elaborates and maintains the moral code of an individual. Aside from having to know the constraints in a situation, the child also has to learn to incorporate the moral views of his or her parents before being able to act to obtain pleasure or reduce pain. Its two subdivisions include the conscience (the internalized experiences for which a child is punished) and ego- ideal (the internalized experiences for which a child has been rewarded). The superego constantly strives for perfection and its therefore unrealistic, just like the id. The job of the ego is to satisfy both id and superego. In this way, the ego acts as the executive arms of the personality. The practical goal of psychoanalysis is to strengthen the ego, to make it independent of the overly strict concerns of the superego and to increase its capacity to deal with formerly repressed behavior hidden in the id. Anxiety For Freud, the most extreme form of anxiety human beings experience is when they are separated from their mother at birth. He calls this the birth trauma. It signifies a change from an environment of complete security and satisfaction to one in which the satisfaction of needs is less predictable. The function of anxiety is to warn us that, if we continue thinking or behaving in a certain way, we will be in danger. Since anxiety is not pleasant, we try to reduce it. There are three kinds of anxiety: a. Reality anxiety – caused by real, objective sources of danger in the environment. This is the easiest to reduce; b. Neurotic anxiety – fear that the impulses of the id will overwhelm the ego and making the person do something for which he or she will be punished; and c. Moral anxiety – fear of doing something contrary to the superego and thus experience guilt. There are two general ways to decrease anxiety. The first is to deal with the situation directly. We resolve problems, overcome obstacle, either confront or run from threats, or come to terms with the problems to minimize their impact. In these ways we are working to illuminate difficulties, lower the chances of their future recurrence and decrease the prospects of additional anxiety in the future. The alternative approach defends against anxiety by distorting or denying the situation itself. The ego protects the whole personality against the threat by falsifying the nature of the threat. The ways in which the distortions are accomplished are called defense mechanisms. The defense mechanisms are: 6|P age  a. Repression – when the ego prevents anxiety-provoking thoughts from being entertained in the conscious level. The thoughts may either be those innately part of the id – primal repression, memories of painful experiences from one’s lifetime – or in repression proper. Repression forces a potentially anxiety-provoking event, idea or perception away from consciousness; thus, precluding any possible resolution. Although it is unconscious, the repressed element remains part of the psyche and remains active; b. Displacement – the substitution of one cathexis for another; the person’s true desire. When displacement results in something beneficial, it is called sublimation. Impulses toward self-destruction or destruction of other fewer threatening objects is called displaced aggression; c. Identification – the tendency to increase personal feelings of worth by taking on the characteristics of someone viewed as successful; d. Reaction formation – objectionable thoughts are repressed by the expression of their opposite goals. It masks parts of the personality and restricts a person’s capacity to respond to events; e. Projection – something true about a person but causes anxiety if it were recognized is repressed and seen in someone else instead. A person can therefore deal with actual feelings, but without admitting or being aware that the feared idea or behavior is his or her own; f. Rationalization – justifying behavior or thoughts that are anxiety- provoking. The person presents an explanation which is logically consistent with or ethically acceptable for an attitude, action, idea or feeling that arises from other motivating sources. Rationalization disguises motives, rendering actions morally acceptable; and g. Regression – returning to an earlier stage of development when on experience stress. It is a way of alleviating anxiety by withdrawing from realistic thinking into behaviors that have reduced anxiety in earlier years. Tapping the Unconscious Mind Freud employed the following methods to determine the contents of the unconscious mind: a. Free association – in conscious expressions, there are hints regarding the contents of the unconscious mind that a trained observer could detect. What is not spoken is as important as what is spoken. Topics which patients offer strong resistance to provide the analyst with useful hints to problem areas in the unconscious mind; b. Dream analysis – dreams are camouflaged or disguised thoughts. The manifest content of a dream is what it appears to be, while the latent content is the underlying repressed thoughts that caused the dream. The following are the forms of dream distortion: condensation (when a part of something symbolizes the whole thing), synthesis (when an idea contained in the manifest content is actually a combination of many ideas in the latent content), and dislocation (displacement of unacceptable ideas to something that is symbolically equivalent and acceptable). The nature of dreams and the process of repression explain why the memory of dreams is so short-lived. c. Everyday life – Freud believed that all human behavior has a cause; nothing happens simply by chance. Little mistakes such as lapses of memory, provide information about the unconscious mind. Slips of the tongue reveal unconscious motives. The main point of Freud is, “just because a thought is repressed does not mean that it goes away; it is always there striving for expression, and these manifestations in everyday life are ways of getting a glimpse into the unconscious.”; and 7|P age  d. Humor – humor allows expression of repressed thoughts in a socially approved manner. For a joke to be funny, it must contain anxiety provoking materials. We laugh only at the things that bother us. Most often, sex, elimination and death are favorite topics. If you want to know what has been repressed in a person’s mind, examine what he or she find humorous. Dynamics of Personality Human behavior is primarily instinctive and motivated mainly by unconscious mechanisms. Instincts are the driving forces behind personality. Its four components are: a. The source, where the need arises, may be a part of the whole body; a deficiency of some kind; b. The aim is to reduce the need until no more action is necessary; it is to give the organism the satisfaction it now desires, thereby reestablishing internal balance; c. The impetus is the amount of energy, force, or pressure that is used to satisfy or gratify the impulse, usually determined by the strength of urgency of the underlying need; and d. The object represents experiences or objects that reduce or remove body deficiency. It refers to a thing, action or expression that allows satisfaction of the original aim. Freud assumed that normal and healthy mental and behavioral patterns are achieved by reducing tension to previously acceptable levels. A person with a need will continue seeking activities that can reduce an original tension. The complete cycle of behavior from relaxation to tension to activity and back to relaxation is called tension reduction model. Tensions are resolved by returning the body to the level of equilibrium that existed before the tension arose. Many thoughts and behavior, however, do not reduce tension; in fact, they create and maintain tension, stress or anxiety. When this happens, it indicates that the direct expression of an impulse has been redirected or blocked. Freud noted two basic impulses which are the life instinct or Eros and the death instinct or Thanatos. Each of these generalized impulses has a separate source of energy. The libido is the psychic energy associated with the life instinct. Freud believed that the libidinal energy is expended to prolong life. The death instinct stimulates a person to return to the inorganic state the preceded life. The struggle to satisfy the biological needs ceases. For Freud, the aim of all life is death. A derivative of the death instinct is aggression, which is the need for self-destruction, manifested outwardly through cruelty, suicide or murder. Psychosexual Stages of Development Freud believed that every child goes through a sequence of developmental stages, and the experiences during these stages will determine his or her adult personality characteristics. The adult personality is formed by the end of the 5 th year of life. Each stage has a corresponding erogenous zone, which is the greatest source of stimulation and pleasure during the stage. In order to make a smooth transition from one psychosexual stage to the next, the child must neither be overgratified nor undergratified because it can lead to fixation or regression. Freud uses the term fixation to describe what occurs when a person does not progress normally from stage to stage and remains overly involved with a particular stage. That person will prefer to gratify his or her needs in simpler or more child like ways, rather than in an adult mode that would result in normal development. A. Pregenital Stage 1. Oral stage (1st year of life) – the erogenous zone is the mouth, particularly the lips, tongue and later the teeth. Physical expressions are sucking, biting and licking or smacking one’s lips, it is normal to retain some interest in oral pleasures. It can be looked upon as 8|P age  pathological if it is a dominant mode of gratification, that is, if the child is excessively dependent on oral habits to relieve anxiety or tension. 2. Anal stage (2nd year of life) – the erogenous zone is the anus or buttocks region. In the first part of this stage, pleasure is derived from feces expulsion and fixation results in the lack of sphincter control or enuresis. Symbolical acts are over generosity or wanting to give away everything he or she owns. This is termed anal-explosive character. In the later anal stage, pleasure comes from feces possession and affection is manifested through constipation. Symbolic acts are stinginess, orderliness and perfectionism. This is termed anal- retentive character. 3. Phallic stage (3rd to the 5th year of life) – the erogenous zone is the genital area. This is considered the most controversial stage. Both female and male children develop strong positive feelings toward the mother because she satisfied their needs, while the father is resented because he is seen as a rival for the mother’s attention and affection. This feeling will persist in male but will change in female children. The male child will fear the father as he views him as his dominant rival. The fear becomes a constriction anxiety, where the boy develops the fear that he will lose his sex organ since it is assumed to be responsible for the conflict between him and his father. The anxiety causes a repression of sexual desire for the mother and hostility towards the father. When he grows up, he will seek characteristics of women like his mother’s. The female child discovers that she does not possess a penis, holds the mother responsible and comes to hate her for it. This is known as the electra complex. Her positive feelings for her father are mixed with envy since he has something she does not have. Freud term this penis envy. The only hope for a female child is to have a baby boy. The three stages – oral, anal and phallic – are considered by Freud as the basic ingredients of the adult personality. B. Latency stage – lower sexual energy and no live object, a time of relative calm. For Freud, one’s personality is generally completed by this stage. C. Genital stage – the final stage following puberty. This is the time when the person emerges from the pre-genital stages as the adult he or she is destined to become. Hopefully, the child has now been transformed from a selfish, pleasure-seeking child to a realistic social adult with heterosexual interests leading to marriage and child rearing. If the experiences during the pre-genital stages caused fixations, it will be manifested throughout one’s adult life. Only psychoanalysis could bring out these repressed experiences and make the individual face them so that their effects on one’s life may be reduced. Contemporary Erikson’s View of Human Nature Psychoanalytic or Erikson contends the study of the developing child beyond puberty, emphasizing Ego Psychology that the ego continues to acquire new characteristics as it meets new situations in (Erik Erikson) life. He selected the ego as the tool by which a person organizes outside information, tests perception, selects memories, governs action adaptively and integrates the capabilities of orientation and planning. This positive ego produces a sense of self in a state of heightened wellbeing. This state of wellbeing is when what one thinks and does is close to what one wishes and feels he or she ought to be and do. The wishing and the “oughtness” form polarities in Erikson’s scheme. Excessive and barbaric wishes pull at one end of the horizontal axis and the internalized restrictions of parents and society pull at the other end. Erikson’s super ego is as barbaric as the id. The traditional technique of releasing the contents of the unconscious mind could do more harm than good. The main focus should be in the ego. Strong ego is characterized by eight virtues resulting from 9|P age the positive solution of each crisis in the eight stages of development. The resolution of a crisis is reversible. For example, a person leaving the first stage of development without developing basic trust may gain it a later stage, and a person having it may lose it later. Epigenetic Model of Human Development Epigenetic development begins with a single fertilized cell that initiates a proves of division and differentiation. The sequence of development from a single cell to a complex organism follows a clear pattern and sequence. Each organ system of the body has its own time of special growth and development. It follows a pre- determined sequence. The strength and capacities developed at each stage are related to the entire personality and can be affected at any point of one’s life. These psychological capacities are affected most strongly during the stage in which they are developing. Erikson stresses that each stage is systematically related to all the others and must develop in a given sequence. Each stage has a crisis in which the strength and skills that form the essential elements of that stage was developed and tested. By crisis, Erikson means a turning point. Crises are special times in an individual’s life- moments of decision between progress and regression, integration and retardation. Each stage is a crisis in learning and developing new skills and attitudes. The crisis may not seem dramatic or critical, an observer will see only later that it was a major turning point that was reached and passed. Ego Psychology Erikson gave the ego properties and needs of its own. The ego may have started out in the service of the id but, in the process of serving it, developed its own functions. For example, it is the ego’s job to organize one’s life and to assure continuous harmony with one’s physical and social environment. This concept emphasizes the influence of the ego in healthy growth and adjustment and as the source of self-awareness and identity. Because Erikson stressed the autonomy of the ego, his theory was called Ego Psychology. Psycho-Social Development of Personality 1 ORAL SENSORY MODE (Infancy) Basic Trust versus Basic Mistrust (Birth – 1 year old) “If the crisis is successfully resolved, hope emerges. If the crisis is unsuccessfully resolved, fear/withdrawal emerges.” Significant Relations: Mothering One Infants develop a relative sense of trust and mistrust of the world around them. Crucial to this development is experience with the mother. If the mother is sensitive and responsive to her child, the infant’s sense of security increases, and frustration due to hunger and discomfort is more tolerated. According to Erikson, development of a strong sense of basic trust implies not only that one has learned to rely on the sameness and continuity of outer providers, but also that one may trust oneself and the capacities of one’s own organs to cope with urges. A sense of trust develops not so much from absolute quantities of food or demonstrations of love from the quality of maternal care. Mothers who trust their ability to care for their babies and trust in the healthy development of their children are able to communicate to the infant the sense of trust in the self and the world. 2 MUSCULAR ANAL MODE (Early Childhood) Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt (2-3 years old) “If the crisis is successfully resolved, self-control and will power emerges. If the crisis is unsuccessfully resolved, self-doubt/compulsion emerges.” Significant Relations: Parents 10 | P a g e  This stage is concerned with muscular maturation and the accompanying ability to hold on or to let go. The child interacts with the world by grasping and dropping objects and in toilet training. The child begins to exert control over him/herself and parts of the outside world. Holding on or letting go have both positive and negative aspects. Letting go can be a release of destructive forces or it can be a relaxed allowing, a “letting be”. A sense of autonomy develops with the sense of free choice, a feeling of being able to choose what to keep and what to reject. The infant’s basic faith in existence is tested in sudden and stubborn wishes to choose. Example, to grab demandingly or to eliminate inappropriately. Shame stems from a sense of self-exposure, a feeling that one’s deficiencies are exposed to others. It is associated with the first experience of standing upright – small wobbly and powerless in an adult world. Doubt is closely related to the consciousness of having a front and a back. Our front is the acceptable face that we turn towards the world. The back part of the body cannot be seen by the child. It is an unknown and unexplored territory and yet, at the stage of toilet training, one’s backside can be dominated by the will of others. Unless the split between front and back is reduced, the feelings of autonomy will become tinged with doubt. 3 GENITAL-LOCOMOTOR MODE (Play Age) Initiative versus Guilt (4-5 years old) “If the crisis is successfully resolved, direction and purpose emerge. If the crisis is unsuccessfully resolved, feelings of unworthiness emerge.” Significant Relations: Family At this stage, the child experiences mobility and inquisitiveness, an expanding sense of mastery and responsibility. The child is eager to learn and perform well. Language and imagination develop. The sense of mastery is tempted by feelings of guilt. The new freedom and assertion of power create anxiety. The child develops conscience, a parental model that supports self-punishment. At this stage, the child can do more than before and must learn to set limits. 4 LATENCY MODE (School Age) Industry versus Inferiority (6-11 years old) “If the crisis is successfully resolved, competence emerges. If the crisis is unsuccessfully resolved, inferiority/inertia emerges.” Significant Relations: Neighborhood and School This stage is the beginning of life outside the family. In our culture, school life begins here. This is a stage of systematic instruction, a movement from play to a sense of work. The child needs to do well and develops a sense of work completion and satisfaction in a job well done. Otherwise, the child develops a sense of inferiority and inequality. 5 PUBERTY MODE (Adolescence) Identity versus Identity Confusion (12-20 years old) “If the crisis is successfully resolved, fidelity emerges. If the crisis is unsuccessfully resolved, uncertainty/role repudiation emerges”. Significant Relations: Peer Groups As childhood ends, adolescence begins. Former role models and identifications are questioned and new roles are tried. A new sense of identity develops, which includes integrating past identifications with present impulses and aptitudes while developing skills with opportunities offered by society and culture. This difficult transition from childhood to adulthood can be strongly affected by social limitations and possibilities. The adolescent is likely to suffer from sone confusion roles. Doubts about sexual attractiveness and sexual identity are common at this stage. The 11 | P a g e  inability to develop a sense of identification with an individual or cultural role model that gives direction to one’s life can lead to a period of floundering and insecurity. There is also the possibility of over identification with youth culture heroes or clique leaders leading to a loss of identity. 6 GENITALITY MODE (Young Adulthood) Intimacy versus Isolation (20-24 years old) “If the crisis is successfully resolved, the capacity for love emerges. If the crisis is unsuccessfully resolved, promiscuity/exclusivity emerges”. Significant Relations: Sexual Partner and Friends Only after a relatively firm sense of identity is developed are we capable of committing to a partnership, an affiliation and an intimate relationship with others. A critical commitment that generally occurs at this stage is mutuality with a love partner. This level of intimacy is significantly different from the earlier sexual exploration and intense search for sexual identity. Without a sense of intimacy and commitment, one may become isolated and be unable to sustain an intimate relationship. If one’s sense of identity is weak and threatened by intimacy, the individual may turn away from or attack the possibility of a relationship. 7 PROCREATIVITY MODE (Adulthood) Generativity versus stagnation (25-65 years old) “If the crisis is successfully resolved, care emerges. If the crisis unsuccessfully resolved, selfishness emerges.” Significant Relations: Divided labor and shared household Intimate commitment widens to a more general concern of guiding and supporting the next generation. Generativity includes concern for our children, and for the ideas and products that we have created. We are teaching as well as learning human beings. Creations are important to ensure the health and maintenance of ideals and principles. Otherwise, we fall into a state of boredom and stagnation. 8 GENERALIZATION OF SENSUAL MODES (Old Age) Ego Integrity versus Despair (65 years to death) “If the crisis is successfully resolved, wisdom emerges, If the crisis is unsuccessfully resolved, feelings of despair and meaninglessness emerge”. Significant Relations: All humanity The sense of ego integrity includes the acceptance of a unique life cycle with its triumphs and failures. It brings a sense of order and meaning to the person and the world around him or her, as well as a new and different love of parents. The sense of ego integrity includes an awareness of the value of other lifestyles including those that are very different from one’s own. Those who have a sense of integrity are ready to defend the dignity of their lifestyles against criticisms and threats. Erikson formulated the “golden rule” in the light of modern psychological understanding. He states that worthwhile moral acts strengthen the doer as they strengthen his values and enhance the relationship between the two. The therapist is encouraged to develop as a practitioner and as a person, and to develop the patient as a patient and as a person. BEHAVIORIST THEORIES Cognitive Piaget’s View of Development Development Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that children move (Jean Piaget) through four different stages of intellectual development which reflect the increasing sophistication of children's thought. Each child goes through the stages in the same order, and child development is determined by biological maturation and interaction with the environment. At each stage of development, the child’s 12 | P a g e thinking is qualitatively different from the other stages, that is, each stage involves a different type of intelligence. Although no stage can be missed out, there are individual differences in the rate at which children progress through stages, and some individuals may never attain the later stages. Piaget did not claim that a particular stage was reached at a certain age - although descriptions of the stages often include an indication of the age at which the average child would reach each stage. Schemas Piaget claimed that knowledge cannot simply emerge from sensory experience; some initial structure is necessary to make sense of the world. According to Piaget, children are born with a very basic mental structure (genetically inherited and evolved) on which all subsequent learning and knowledge are based. Schemas are the basic building blocks of such cognitive models, and enable us to form a mental representation of the world. Piaget (1952, p. 7) defined a schema as: "a cohesive, repeatable action sequence possessing component actions that are tightly interconnected and governed by a core meaning." In more simple terms Piaget called the schema the basic building block of intelligent behavior – a way of organizing knowledge. Indeed, it is useful to think of schemas as “units” of knowledge, each relating to one aspect of the world, including objects, actions, and abstract (i.e., theoretical) concepts. Wadsworth (2004) suggests that schemata (the plural of schema) be thought of as 'index cards' filed in the brain, each one telling an individual how to react to incoming stimuli or information. When Piaget talked about the development of a person's mental processes, he was referring to increases in the number and complexity of the schemata that a person had learned. When a child's existing schemas are capable of explaining what it can perceive around it, it is said to be in a state of equilibrium, i.e., a state of cognitive (i.e., mental) balance. Piaget emphasized the importance of schemas in cognitive development and described how they were developed or acquired. A schema can be defined as a set of linked mental representations of the world, which we use both to understand and to respond to situations. The assumption is that we store these mental representations and apply them when needed. Examples of Schemas A person might have a schema about buying a meal in a restaurant. The schema is a stored form of the pattern of behavior which includes looking at a menu, ordering food, eating it and paying the bill. This is an example of a type of schema called a 'script.' Whenever they are in a restaurant, they retrieve this schema from memory and apply it to the situation. The schemas Piaget described tend to be simpler than this - especially those used by infants. He described how - as a child gets older - his or her schemas become more numerous and elaborate. Piaget believed that newborn babies have a small number of innate schemas - even before they have had many opportunities to experience the world. These neonatal schemas are the cognitive structures underlying innate reflexes. These reflexes are genetically programmed into us. For example, babies have a sucking reflex, which is triggered by something touching the baby's lips. A baby will suck a nipple, a comforter (dummy), or a person's finger. Piaget, therefore, assumed that the baby has a 'sucking schema.' Similarly, the grasping reflex which is elicited when something touches the palm of a baby's hand, or the rooting reflex, in which a baby will turn its head towards something which touches its cheek, are innate schemas. Shaking a rattle would be the combination of two schemas, grasping and shaking. The Process of Adaptation Jean Piaget (1952; see also Wadsworth, 2004) viewed intellectual growth as a process of adaptation (adjustment) to the world. This happens through assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration. 13 | P a g e Assimilation Piaget defined assimilation as the cognitive process of fitting new information into existing cognitive schemas, perceptions, and understanding. Overall beliefs and understanding of the world do not change as a result of the new information. This means that when you are faced with new information, you make sense of this information by referring to information you already have (information processed and learned previously) and try to fit the new information into the information you already have. For example, a 2-year-old child sees a man who is bald on top of his head and has long frizzy hair on the sides. To his father’s horror, the toddler shouts “Clown, clown” (Siegler et al., 2003). Accommodation Psychologist Jean Piaget defined accommodation as the cognitive process of revising existing cognitive schemas, perceptions, and understanding so that new information can be incorporated. This happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does not work, and needs to be changed to deal with a new object or situation. In order to make sense of some new information, you actual adjust information you already have (schemas you already have, etc.) to make room for this new information. For example, a child may have a schema for birds (feathers, flying, etc.) and then they see a plane, which also flies, but would not fit into their bird schema. In the “clown” incident, the boy’s father explained to his son that the man was not a clown and that even though his hair was like a clown’s, he wasn’t wearing a funny costume and wasn’t doing silly things to make people laugh. With this new knowledge, the boy was able to change his schema of “clown” and make this idea fit better to a standard concept of “clown”. Equilibration Piaget believed that all human thought seeks order and is uncomfortable with contradictions and inconsistencies in knowledge structures. In other words, we seek 'equilibrium' in our cognitive structures. Equilibrium occurs when a child's schemas can deal with most new information through assimilation. However, an unpleasant state of disequilibrium occurs when new information cannot be fitted into existing schemas (assimilation). Piaget believed that cognitive development did not progress at a steady rate, but rather in leaps and bounds. Equilibration is the force which drives the learning process as we do not like to be frustrated and will seek to restore balance by mastering the new challenge (accommodation). Once the new information is acquired the process of assimilation with the new schema will continue until the next time, we need to make an adjustment to it. 1 THE SENSORIMOTOR STAGE (Birth to 2 Years) Ages: Birth to 2 Years Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes: The infant learns about the world through their senses and through their actions (moving around and exploring its environment). 14 | P a g e  During the sensorimotor stage a range of cognitive abilities develop. These include: object permanence; self-recognition; deferred imitation; and representational play. They relate to the emergence of the general symbolic function, which is the capacity to represent the world mentally At about 8 months the infant will understand the permanence of objects and that they will still exist even if they can’t see them and the infant will search for them when they disappear. During this stage the infant lives in the present. It does not yet have a mental picture of the world stored in its memory therefore it does not have a sense of object permanence. If it cannot see something then it does not exist. This is why you can hide a toy from an infant, while it watches, but it will not search for the object once it has gone out of sight. The main achievement during this stage is object permanence - knowing that an object still exists, even if it is hidden. It requires the ability to form a mental representation (i.e., a schema) of the object. Towards the end of this stage the general symbolic function begins to appear where children show in their play that they can use one object to stand for another. Language starts to appear because they realize that words can be used to represent objects and feelings. The child begins to be able to store information that it knows about the world, recall it and label it. 2 THE PREOPERATIONAL STAGE (2 - 7 Years) Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes: Toddlers and young children acquire the ability to internally represent the world through language and mental imagery. During this stage, young children can think about things symbolically. This is the ability to make one thing, such as a word or an object, stand for something other than itself. A child’s thinking is dominated by how the world looks, not how the world is. It is not yet capable of logical (problem solving) type of thought. Infants at this stage also demonstrate animism. This is the tendency for the child to think that non-living objects (such as toys) have life and feelings like a person. By 2 years, children have made some progress towards detaching their thought from physical world. However, have not yet developed logical (or 'operational') thought characteristic of later stages. Thinking is still intuitive (based on subjective judgements about situations) and egocentric (centered on the child's own view of the world). 3 THE CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE (7 - 11 Years) Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes: During this stage, children begin to thinking logically about concrete events. Children begin to understand the concept of conservation; understanding that, although things may change in appearance, certain properties remain the same. During this stage, children can mentally reverse things (e.g., picture a ball of plasticine returning to its original shape). During this stage, children also become less egocentric and begin to think about how other people might think and feel. The stage is called concrete because children can think logically much more successfully if they can manipulate real (concrete) materials or pictures of them. Piaget considered the concrete stage a major turning point in the child's cognitive development because it marks the beginning of logical or operational thought. This means the child can work things out 15 | P a g e  internally in their head (rather than physically try things out in the real world). Children can conserve number (age 6), mass (age 7), and weight (age 9). Conservation is the understanding that something stays the same in quantity even though its appearance changes. But operational thought only effective here if child asked to reason about materials that are physically present. Children at this stage will tend to make mistakes or be overwhelmed when asked to reason about abstract or hypothetical problems. 4 THE FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE (12 and Over) Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes: Concrete operations are carried out on things whereas formal operations are carried out on ideas. Formal operational thought is entirely freed from physical and perceptual constraints. During this stage, adolescents can deal with abstract ideas (e.g. no longer needing to think about slicing up cakes or sharing sweets to understand division and fractions). They can follow the form of an argument without having to think in terms of specific examples. Adolescents can deal with hypothetical problems with many possible solutions. E.g., if asked ‘What would happen if money were abolished in one hour’s time? they could speculate about many possible consequences. From about 12 years children can follow the form of a logical argument without reference to its content. During this time, people develop the ability to think about abstract concepts, and logically test hypotheses. This stage sees emergence of scientific thinking, formulating abstract theories and hypotheses when faced with a problem. Operant View of Human Nature Reinforcement Skinner concentrated on the relationship between environmental events and Theory behavior. Skinner refers to behavior elicited or emitted by a known stimulus as (Burrhus Skinner) respondent behavior, and all conditioned and unconditioned responses are examples. He believes that behavior can be explained and controlled purely by the manipulation of the environment that contains the behaving organism, and that there is no need to take the organism a part or make any inferences about the events that are going on inside the organism. Structure of Personality Skinner has shown the greatest indifference to structural variables. He instead focused on modifiable behavior and de-emphasized the biological or genetic determinants. A key concept in Skinner’s system is the process of operant conditioning, simply stated as, “if the occurrence of the operant is followed by the presentation of reinforcing stimulus, the strength is increased”. In other words, if a response is followed by a reward, the response will be strengthened or if you want to strengthen a certain response of a behavior pattern, reward it. A reinforcer, positive or negative, always increases the operant response rate. A punishment does the reverse. Skinner believes that personality is but a collection of behavior patterns, and that the development of personality is but the development of these behavior patterns. Operant Conditioning In operant conditioning, the best way to teach a complex skill is to divide it into its basic components and gradually shape it one small step at a time. The shaping process has two components: (1) the differential reinforcement, which means that some responses are reinforced and some are not; and (2) the successive approximation, which means that some responses are reinforced successively 16 | P a g e  and some are not. The successive approximations that are reinforced are those that come increasingly closer to the response ultimately desired. Shaping is a process in which reinforcement is used to create new responses out of the old ones. An experimenter can use this method to teach someone to do something which he or she have never done before by immediately rewarding any action that brings one to do the desired response. Operant conditioning occurs when an organism’s spontaneous activities are either reinforced or punished. Any consequence that increases the likelihood of a response is termed as a reinforcement. Extinction of a response occurs when it is no longer rewarded or reinforced. Different schedules or a reinforcement produce different patterns of behavior. When reinforcement depends on a number of responses (ratio schedule), the organism will tend to pause after a reward; if the reinforcement appears irregularly (variable schedule), the organism will keep going at a steady state. Schedules of Reinforcement a. Fixed Ratio Schedule – the organism is reinforced intermittently according to the number of responses it makes. Ratio refers to the ratio of responses to reinforcers. An experimenter may decide to reward a pigeon with a grain pellet for every fifth peck it makes at a disc. The pigeon is then conditioned at a fixed-ratio schedule of 5 to 1, that is, FR 5. b. Variable-Ratio Schedule – the organism is reinforced after every nth response. With the variable-ratio schedule, it is reinforced after the nth response on the average. Again, training must start with continuous reinforcement, proceed to a low response number, and then increase to a higher rate of response. A pigeon rewarded every third response on the average can build to a VR 6 schedule, the VR 10, and so on; but the mean number of responses must be increased gradually to prevent extinction. After a high mean is reached, say VT 500, responses become extremely resistant to extinction. c. Fixed-Interval Schedule - the organism is reinforced for the first response following a designated period of time. For example, FI 5 indicates that the organism is rewarded for its first response after every 5- minute interval. d. Variable-Interval Schedule – the organism is reinforced after the lapse of random or varied period of time. For example, VI 5 means that the organism is reinforced following random-length intervals that average 5 minutes. HUMANISTIC THEORIES Humanistic View of Human Nature Psychology Maslow advocated a holistic analytic approach to study the total person. It should (Abraham emphasize the positive qualities of human beings. His theory is concerned with Maslow) growth motivation, which can be gained through self-actualization. Human nature consists of a number of instinctual (innate but weak) needs that are arranged in hierarchy according to their potency. Self-actualizing individuals are no longer motivated by deficiencies (D Motivation); they are motivated by being values (B Motivation; B values are also called metamotives. D motivation is called D perception or D cognition. Maslow believed that there is basic goodness in human nature and a natural tendency toward self-actualization. Self-actualizing people exhibit the following characteristics: a. They perceive reality accurately and fully; b. They demonstrate a greater acceptance of themselves, others and nature in general; c. They exhibit spontaneity, simplicity and naturalness; d. They tend to be concerned with the problems rather than with themselves; e. They have a quality of detachment and the need for privacy; and 17 | P a g e  f. They are autonomous, and therefore tend to be independent of their environment and culture. Hierarchy of Needs Growth towards self-actualization requires the satisfaction of the hierarchy of needs. In Maslow’s Theory, there are five basic needs. The base of the hierarchy is more basic needs relative to those above them. 1. Physiological Needs – food, clothing, shelter and sleep 2. Safety Needs – security, protection, stability, freedom from fear and anxiety and the need for structure and limits. 3. Love and Belongingness – need for family and friends, relationships and being part of the group. 4. Esteem Needs – refer to the reaction of others towards the individual, how one views him/herself, and the need for a favorable judgement. 5. Need for Self-Actualization – the tendency, in spite of the lower needs being satisfied, to feel restless unless we are doing what we think we are capable of doing. Self-Theory or Structure of Personality Person-Centered The principal conceptual framework of Roger’s theory revolves around: Theory 1. The organism, which is the total organism. It is the focus of experience (Carl Rogers) that includes everything potentially available to awareness. The organism has one basic tendency – it is striving to actualize, maintain and enhance the experiencing organism. It possesses the following properties; a. It reacts as an organized whole to the phenomenal field in order to satisfy its needs; b. It has one basic motive – to strive to actualize, maintain and enhance itself; and c. It can symbolize its experiences so that it becomes conscious; it may deny symbolization so that this remains unconscious, or it may ignore its experiences. 2. The phenomenological field, which is the totality of experience. It is perceptually, is “reality” accepted by the individual’s perceptual system. Hence, the best vantage point for understanding behavior is from the internal frame of reference of the individual him/herself; and 3. The self, which is a differentiated portion of the phenomenological field, consists of a pattern of conscious perceptions and values of the “I” or “me”. Parental influence is essential at this stage of structuring the self. The ultimate goal – to be a fully functioning person Rogers believes that the ultimate goal of each human being is to be a fully functioning person. It is a process in which the individual is constantly pursuing his or her actualizing tendency and at the same time behaving in a manner that is true to the self. Individuals, not limited by conditions of worth, perform behavior that they believe are appropriate on the basis of their experiences. They are willing to accept the pain and anxiety that may accompany their unwillingness to act in a manner inconsistent with the expectations of their significant others. Characteristics of a fully functioning person 1. Open to experiences 2. Existential living 3. Self-trust 4. Sense of freedom 5. Creativity The Actualizing Tendency It is an inherent tendency or the organism to develop all its capacities in ways that serve to maintain or enhance the organism. It involves development toward the differentiation of organs and functions, expansion in terms of growth, effectiveness 18 | P a g e through the use of tools, and expansion and enhancement through reproduction. It is development towards autonomy and away from heteronomy or control by external forces. For Rogers, all human beings as well as other living organisms have an innate need to survive, grow and enhance themselves. All biological drivers are under the actualizing tendency. The organism must be satisfied for it to continue its positive growth. This “forward thrust of life” continues in spite of many obstacles. For Rogers, human beings are basically good and therefore need no controlling. It is the attempt to control human beings that make them “act” bad”. All experiences are evaluated using the actualizing tendency as a frame of reference. Experiences which are in accordance with the actualizing tendency and which are satisfying are therefore used and maintained. Experiences which are contrary to the actualizing tendency and are unsatisfying are avoided and terminated. The organismic valuing process creates a feedback system that allows the organism to coordinate its experiences towards self-actualization. The tendency towards self-actualization is not simply a motive among many others. This basic actualizing tendency is the only motive in the system. The actualizing tendency, the driving force of life, makes the individual become more differentiated (complex), more independent and more socially responsible. The development of the self is the major manifestation of the actualizing tendency that inclines the organism towards greater differentiation or complexity. The actualizing tendency prior to the development of the self that characterize the organism as a whole now characterizes the self as well. In other words, those experiences seen as enhancing one’s self concept are positively valued, while those seen as detrimental to the self-concept are negatively valued. Charting the development of the self starts with examining the characteristics and experiences of infants. During this stage, differentiating parts of experiences begins and labeled as the “I” or “Me”. It is this differentiation of his or her interaction with the environment and that which results in the development of a self-concept. The most important part of the infant’s environment in terms of the development of the self concerns the significant others in his or her life. These significant others are usually the parents who are responsible for satisfying the physiological needs of the infant, and thus enabling the expression of his or her actualizing tendency. As the infant develops and the self begins to emerge, the importance of the parents and other significant individuals increases. During this time, infants develop a need for positive regard. This is the need to be loved and accepted by those who are important to them. As behavior becomes more intentional, the need for self-regard developed. At this stage, aside from the positive regards of others towards the child, he or she also wants to feel positive about him/herself. The needs of positive regard and self-regard are generally easily satisfied for the young child because little is expected of him or her. As the child approaches the toddler stage, the significant others begin to expect more of him. Warmth and affection are sometimes given only upon demonstration of pleasing behavior. In this situation, the child is developing conditional self-regard in which the child’s view of him/herself mirrors the attitudes of the significant others. The child views him/herself positively only in situations where a series of conditions, established by his or her significant others, have been successfully met. In many cases, the child becomes excessively concerned with performing behaviors that are consistent with his or her conditions of worth. This can lead the child to deny experiences which are important to the development of the self but are contrary to his or her conditions of worth. In this case, the child is said to be in a state of incongruence, which in essence means that the child has not been true to his/herself. The only way not to interfere with a child’s actualizing tendencies is to give unconditional positive regard. This will allow children to experience positive regard for whatever they do. 19 | P a g e Theoretically, conditions of worth and subsequent state of incongruence do not have to occur. It is possible that, in place of conditional positive regard, the child will develop a feeling of unconditional positive regard in which the child feels loved and respected regardless of individual behavior. Congruence or consistency between the self and experience is said to exist the best when unconditional positive regard to a child enables the free express of his or her actualizing tendency and becomes a growth motivated person. Properties of the self The concept of the self has become the cornerstone of Rogers’ theory. That is why his theory of personality is often labeled “self-theory”. The properties of self include the following: a. It develops out of the organism’s interaction with the environment; b. It may introject the values of other people and perceive them in a distorted fashion; c. The self strives for consistency; d. The organism behaves in ways that are consistent with the self; e. Experiences that are not consistent with the self-structure are perceived as threats; and f. The self may change as a result of maturation and learning. Incongruency arise when individuals are no longer using their organismic valuing process as a means of determining whether or not these experiences are in accordance with their actualizing tendency. If people do not use their own valuing process for evaluating their experiences, then they must be using someone else’s introjected values or someone else’s conditions of worth. Rogers summarized the development of incongruence between the self and experience as follows: 1. When conditions of worth develop, people respond to their experiences selectively. Experiences that are in accordance with a person’s conditions of worth are perceived and symbolized accurately in awareness. Experiences which are not in accordance with a person’s conditions of worth are distorted and are denied awareness; 2. After conditions of worth develop, people must edit out their awareness of experiences that are contrary to those conditions. Thus, the self is denied experiences that may beneficial to it; and 3. Selective perceptions create an incongruence between the self and experience because certain experiences that are conducive to positive growth may be distorted or denied. When incongruence between self and experience exists, people are vulnerable and psychological maladjustment may result. Rogers views incongruence as the cause of all human adjustment problems. When an incongruency exists between self and experience, the person is by definition maladjusted. The person becomes vulnerable to anxiety and threat and is therefore defensive. Anxiety results when people “subconceive” an experience as being incompatible with their self-structure and its introjected conditions of worth. According to Roger, the process of defense consists of editing experiences via the mechanism of denial and distortion to keep them in accordance with the self-structure. Client-Centered Like Freud and Kelly, Rogers’ notions of personality came from his therapeutic practice. Therapy has always been most important to Rogers. His personality theory developed as he tried to become more effective as a therapist and comprehend the principles that were operative during the therapeutic process. Through the years of his practice, Roger’s definition of therapeutic process changed. First, he referred to his approach to therapy as nondirective, which 20 | P a g e emphasized the client’s ability to solve their own problems if they were given the proper atmosphere for doing so. Later, Rogers labeled his technique client- centered therapy, where he regarded therapy as a joint venture deeply involving both client and therapist. Aside from providing an atmosphere in which the client could gradually see more clearly the nature of their problems, the therapist should attempt to understand the client’s phenomenological field or internal frame of reference. Rogers’ current notion of the therapeutic process is labeled person- centered, where therapy extends treatment beyond the therapeutic process. Rogers felt that it is the applicability of the therapy which is more important, the emphasis is on the total person rather than looking at a person as merely a client or student. Although there were changes in Rogers’ definitions, some components of his theories remained constant. These are: (1) the importance of the actualizing tendency; (2) the importance of the organismic valuing process as a frame of reference in life; and (3) the importance of unconditional positive regard in allowing a person to live a rich and full life. The process of therapy brings clients closer to using their own organismic valuing process in living their lives. Rogers describes what he hopes his client will be as the result of therapy: “He will be, in a more unified fashion, what he organismically is, and this seems to be the essence false front door, the masks, or the roles with which he has faced life. He appears to be trying to discover something more basic, something more truly himself”. Therapy is designed to eliminate incongruity between experience and the self. When the person is living in accordance with his or her organismic valuing process rather than conditions of worth, defense of denial and distortion is no longer needed and the individual can be called a fully functioning person. 21 | P a g e THE FILIPINO FAMILY Definition of Family The family plays a very important role in the life of any nation. It is the basic or most fundamental unit in any society. Universal Declaration of Human Rights declared that, “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.” (Article 16, 3). Murdock (1949) gave the following definition of the family: “… a social group characterized by common residence, economic cooperation, and reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship, and one or more children, owned or adopted, of the sexually cohabiting adults.” Article II, Section l2 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution asserted that the "State recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution". Article XV, Section 1 of the Constitution pointed out that "the state recognizes the Filipino family as the foundation of the nation... it shall strengthen its solidarity and actively promote its total development". Further, marriage as an inviolable social institution and the foundation of the family was emphasized in Article XV. Moreover, Article 147 of the Family Code of the Philippines stated that: “The family, being the foundation of the nation, is a basic social institution which public policy cherishes and protects. Consequently, family relations are governed by law and no custom, practice or agreement destructive of the family shall be recognized or given effect. (216a, 218a)” Article 150 of the same law states that family relations include those: (1) Between husband and wife; (2) Between parents and children; (3) Among brothers and sisters, whether of the full or half-blood. (217a). It has been frequently stated that the Filipino family in the past was patriarchal in form and characteristic and the absolute authority of the father is still viewed as a representative feature of the Filipino family. The predominating influence of the man over woman is characteristically Oriental while the growing acceptance today of equality of man and woman is typically Occidental. Characteristics of the Family The family has certain unique characteristics summed up in the following: 1. The family is a social group that is universally recognized and is a significant element in every individual’s life. As Murdock put it, “The family exists because there is no other social unit which can fulfill its vital functions in and for the society; 2. The family is the most basic autonomous unit in any given society and the first social group the individual is exposed to; 3. Family contact and relationships are repetitive and continuous. They extend over a long period of time, often a lifetime. It is said that the individual’s earliest and longest experience in living takes place in a family setting; 4. The family is a very close and intimate group. This is very true to Filipinos and other Asian families, where family ties among members are close; 22 | P a g e  5. It is the setting of the most intense emotional experiences during the lifetime of an individual – birth, childhood, puberty, adolescence, marriage and death. Thus, the family’s influence on personality and character is significant and pervasive; 6. The family affects the individual’s social values, disposition, and outlook in life. The family is the source of the individual’s ideals, aspirations, and basic motivations in life; 7. The family has the unique position of serving as a link between the individual and the larger society. It is through the family’s functions of reproduction, biological and psychological support, and training for social participation and citizenship that society is able to elicit contribution from an individual; and 8. The family is also unique in providing continuity of social life. It is the meeting ground of generations not only in terms of biological traits but also socio-cultural heritage. The family is the major agent of transmitting culture. This means that cultural traditions are handed down from generation to generation through socialization of family members. Contemporary Filipino Family Filipino families by culture are known to be closely knitted and centered on good and deep relationships among its members. The Filipino family is the center of the Philippine social structure and includes the nuclear family, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and honorary relations such as godparents, sponsors, and close family friends (Villareal, 2018). Even though series of colonization and ongoing distraction to Filipino culture and traditions are perennial—as evident to the colonial mentality observed in various sectors and medias specifically, Filipino families remain strong and solid in general. This does not safeguard them from certain familial problems that are both external and internal in nature. Societal and familial distresses may inevitably develop both from within (intrafamilial) and without (extrafamilial) the family system (Masanda, 2019) which may negatively impact its dynamics and equilibrium. Socio-Cultural Factors Influencing the Filipino Family Family Patterns and Changing Roles - Types of Family Structure 1. According to organization, structure and membership a. Nuclear Family – this is also known as the primary or elementary family. It is composed of a husband (father), his wife (mother), and their children in the union recognized by the society. Any individual belongs to two kinds of families: family of orientation and family of procreation. The family of orientation is that into which one is born, and where one is reared and socialized. On the other hand, the family oof procreation is that established by the person through marriage. b. Extended Family – this is composed of two or more nuclear families related to each other economically and socially. Two types of families may be derived from this classification: i. Conjugal Family – this classification stresses on the marriage bond, which is the couple and their children while relatives are comparatively less of unimportant. ii. Consanguineal Family – this classification, on the other hand, puts stress on the nucleus of blood relatives, the blood kin, than the couple. 2. According to place of residence a. Patrilocal Family – it requires that the newly married couple live with the family of the bridegroom or near the residence of the parents of the bridegroom. 23 | P a g e  b. Matrilocal Family – it requires that the newlywed couple live with or near the residence of the bride’s parents. c. Bilocal Family – it provides the newlywed couple the freedom to select where to reside, that is near the groom’s or the bride’s parents. d. Neolocal Family – it permits the newlywed couple to reside independently of their parents. They can decide on their own as far as their residence is concerned. e. Avunculocal Family – it prescribes that the newlywed couple resides with or near the maternal uncle of the groom. In the Philippines, the place of residence is influenced by the close ties prevailing among family members, economic dependence of children on their parents, ownership of property, or parent’s decision. 3. According to descent a. Patrilineal Descent – it affiliates a person with a group of relatives related to him/her through his/her father. The child is also related to his/her mother’s kin, but in terms of closeness, he/she turns to his/her father’s kin. b. Matrilineal Descent – it affiliates a person with a group of kinsmen related to him/her through the mother. c. Bilateral Descent – it affiliates a person with a group of kinsmen related to him/her through both the father and mother. 4. According to authority a. Patriarchal Family – one in which authority is vested in the oldest male member, often the father or grandfather, or in the absence of parents, on the oldest male member. This is characterized by family solidarity and ancestor worship. The double standard of morality exists. b. Matriarchal Family – one in which authority is vested in the elder of the mother’s kin. This is rarely found in societies. However, many societies have the mother dominating the household. c. Equalitarian Family – one where the husband and wife exercise a more or less equal amount of authority. d. Matricentric Family – one where the absence of the father who may be working gives the mother a dominant position in the family. This type of family is prevalent in the suburbs. However, the father shares with the mother in terms of decision-making. 5. According to terms of marriage a. Monogamy – it allows a man to have only one wife at a time b. Polygamy – it is plural marriage. It has many forms: polygyny (one man marrying two or more women at a time), polyandry (one woman marrying two or more men at the same time), and group marriage (marriage of several men and several women at a time). 6. Variations in the Family structures a. Two-parent married couple families b. One-parent family (solo parents) c. Step families d. Cohabiting couple e. Gay and Lesbian couples f. Single persons 24 | P a g e Family Patterns and Changing Roles – Functions of the Family 1. Sexual Regulation – the family regulates the sexual behavior of people in any given society. Through marriage, sexual intercourse is sanctioned by society. 2. Biological Regulation – all societies need to reproduce their members. For any society to survive from one generation to the next, it must have arrangement for replacing its members. This function is done by the family and cannot be undertaken by any other social institution. 3. Organizing, Production and Consumption – in pre-industrial and agricultural societies, the family is the basic and the main economic system. It defines production and consumption with its surplus extended into trade of some kind. The family produces its own food and ensures its own survival over a prolonged period of time. For this reason, even as an economy evolves, a society’s economic system and family structures tend to be closely correlated. 4. Socializing Children – the family is responsible not only for producing children but also for ensuring that their children are encouraged to accept the lifestyle it favors, to master the skills it values, and to perform the work it requires. The society provides predictable social contexts within which their children are to be socialized. The family provides such a context almost universally, at least during the period when the infant is dependent on the constant attention of others. 5. Providing Emotional Intimacy and Support – in most societies, the family serves as the primary group for its members, giving individuals a sense of security, belonging, and personal worth. 6. Providing Care and Attention – every human being needs food and shelter. He/she needs people who will care for him/her emotionally to help him/her with the problems that arise in daily life, and back him/her up whenever he/she comes into conflict with others. 7. Providing Social Status – since every individual is born into a family, each individual inherits both material goods and a socially recognized position defined by ascribed statuses. These statuses include social class or caste membership or ethnic identity. One’s inherited, social position or family background is probably the important social factors affecting the predictable course of our lives. 8. Providing Mechanism for Social Control – the family continually exerts pressure on its members to make them conform to what it considers as desirable behavior. To maintain the good name of the family, the family has to keep its members within bounds in the various aspects of living – relationships with their fellowmen, morality, control of sex drives, human relations, and other aspects. 9. Serves as the Individual’s First and Foremost School Where Every Child Learns the Basic Lessons in Life – as such, the parents serve as the real and foremost teachers performing a very vital role in the child’s development and formation. It is in the family where basic values are learned from the parents. 10. Providing Maintenance of Order – the family provides every member with a maintenance order. It provides means of communication, establishes types of intensity of interaction, patterns of attention and affection, and sexual expression. It administers sanctions ensuring conformity to group norms. 11. Providing Placement of Members in the Larger Society – it prepares the community, the church, the school, and other organizations. It protects members from any undesirable outside influence. 25 | P a g e  12. Maintaining Motivation and Morale – it rewards members for achievements; satisfies individual needs for acceptance, encouragement, and affection; meets personal and family crises; refines a philosophy of life; and gives a sense of family loyalty through rituals and festivities. Cultural Variables 1. Folkways – those types of behavior that are organized and repetitive. The group way of doing things in a common manner are called customs. The folkways of a group are the behavior patterns of everyday life. Changes and additions gradually are made for folkways adapt themselves to the conditions of life of each generation. 2. Mores – special folkways which involve moral or ethical values since they involve respect for authority, marriage and sex behavior patterns, religious rituals and other basic codes of human behavior. 3. Folklore – traditional customs, beliefs, dances, songs, tales or saying preserved orally and unreflectively among a group or people. 4. Customs – distinctive styles and prevailing fashions, characteristic of any period, country, class, occupation or occasion. 5. Language – the special manner or characteristic mode of expression significant for human intercourse. 6. Values – according to R.J. Williams, refers to any aspect of a situation, event or object that is invested with preferential interest as being good, desirable and the like. It may be classified as personal (individual) or social (group). Functions of values include: a. Being a criterion of choice, which allows economy of human energy b. Giving direction to interest and attention c. Serving as referent of social function and sanction The following are the Filipino Family Values based on a research paper by Fr. Jaime Bulatao: a. Emotional closeness and security in a family - the family is seen as having a double function. First, it provides an outlet for the need of a person to get out of himself and come into contact with another person in a free and unguarded emotional exchange. Second, it provides understanding, acceptance, a place where, no matter how far or how wrongly one has wandered, he can always return. The family is seen as a defense against a potentially hostile world, as insurance against hunger and old age, as a place where one can be oneself without having to worry too much about maintaining "smooth interpersonal relations," or SIR (Lynch 1970), with outsiders. b. The authority value - this may be defined as: "Approval by the authority figure and by society, authority's surrogate." It is a concern for what the important person is thinking about oneself and a tendency to shape one's behavior accordingly. There is a fear of stirring up conflict with "people who count," this fear giving rise to a need for smooth interpersonal relations. One does not reveal one's real thoughts completely to strangers, foreigners, or powerful individuals, but only those aspects of one's thoughts which will be acceptable to them. Fundamentally, the fear is that of exposing one's ego to danger. Underlying this value is the anxiety of a "self-esteem based on group estimation." Attack upon this value, as when an authority figure fails to recognize a person's merit or treats a person casually, is a wound to the amor propio and may result in violent retaliation. 26 | P a g e  c. Economic and social betterment - it appears most often as a desire to raise the standard of living of one's family, or of one's hometown, often as repayment for one's debt of gratitude to parents and relatives. Usually, it is merely sufficiency or else economic security that one is after. More rarely, the value is expressed as a desire for individual success, to make good in one's career. Sometimes one wants to do well in order to repay the parents' sacrifices; at other times there is no mention of the family. d. Patience, suffering, endurance - it is this value which has become fused with the religious value, since it seems that God is called upon when other means fail. It is associated with women more than with men. Sometimes this value appears with a certain magical quality about it as if one were to render oneself worthy of divine blessing simply by being patient and long-suffering. Physical Factors Influencing the Filipino Family Environmental Changes The environmental changes that affect the Filipino Family. These include: (1) environmental pollution; (2) space relationships; (3) denudation of forest areas resulting in the destruction of trees and humus in the forest; (4) transformation of rural areas into urban centers leading to population congestion resulting in health, social, educational, problems, etc.; and (5) automation and structural employment Despite having a low level of public awareness on climate change, most Filipinos were concerned of the effects of climate change on their health, among other potential impacts. This was according to a research published by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) on 20 October 2020. HHI’s study showed that nationwide, 71% of Filipinos believed that they would be at least “somewhat affected” by climate change. Among them, 46% reported that they would likely get harmed, injured, or ill due to climate change. Among the 17 regions of the Philippines, those living in the National Capital Region (70%) were the people most concerned with contracting an illness or getting harmed as an effect of climate change. Aside from health issues, other potential impacts reported by the respondents were loss of income (22%); damage to crops (20%); damage to house and property (19%); and infeasibility of farming and change of livelihoods (18%). Those living in Davao (57%) were particularly concerned about the impact of climate change on their household income. Those living