Forcing confrontation of self.
I touched on this in an earlier blog but this is what is currently going on in my head right now with more empHAASSSis on the learning. I believe that all forms of learning and change start with some form of dissatisfaction or frustration generated by data that disconfirm our expectations or hopes. Whether we are talking about adaptation to some new environmental circumstances that mess with the satisfaction of some need, or whether we are talking about genuinely creative learning, some disequilibrium based on disconfirming/conflicting information is a prerequisite. Disconfirmation, whatever its source, (whether a person or an experience) functions as a primary driving force in the somewhat stationary equilibrium. Disconfirming information is not enough, however, because we can ignore the information, dismiss it as irrelevant, blame the undesired outcome on others or fate, or, as is most common, simply deny its validity. In order to become motivated to change, we must accept the information and connect it to something we care about. The disconfirmation must arouse what we can call “survival anxiety” or the feeling that if we do not change we will fail to meet our needs or fail to achieve some goals or ideals that we have set for ourselves (”survival guilt”). In order to feel survival anxiety or guilt, we must accept the disconfirming data as valid and relevant. What typically prevents us from doing so, what causes us to react defensively, is a second kind of anxiety which we can call “learning anxiety,” or the feeling that if we allow ourselves to enter a learning or change process, if we admit to ourselves and others that something is wrong or imperfect, we will lose our effectiveness, our self-esteem and maybe even our identity. I think most of us need to assume that they are doing their best at all times, and it may be a real loss of face to accept and even “embrace” errors. The new information that makes learning possible comes into us by one of two ways: learning through positive or defensive identification with some available positive or negative role model, or learning through a trial and error process based on scanning the environment for new concepts. Learning occurs when the person has become unfrozen, motivated to change, and has, therefore opened themselves up to new information. So how does the new information come to the learner? The most basic mechanism of acquiring new information that leads to cognitive restructuring (changing your “way of thinking”) is to discover in a conversational process that the interpretation that someone else puts on a concept is different from one’s own. If one is motivated to change, one may be able to “hear” or “see” something from a new perspective.
The goal is to become more inquiring and more sensitive to others, an essential step in becoming a successful change agent or manager in life. In this, I can realize that this process of learning has NOT led me to lose my effectiveness, confidence, and identity.
October 28, 2009 at 12:08 pm
I like this, very good read. You touched on the fact that a lot (if not most) people tend to set forth blame or make excuses when an unsatisfactory event or outcome is placed before them. Choosing to learn, adapt and overcome is something few can/want to do.
November 7, 2009 at 2:33 pm
GReat stuff, mind if I print it out and share it with my law school buddies? This is exactly how we feel about those big a** books that besides being boring take up way too much time
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