Wk6 Assignment Possible Selves
Introduction
Possible selves refer to how people think about their potentials and future. In possible selves, there is a cognitive link between an individual’s past experiences and his or her future desires, hopes, fantasies, and fears (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2016). Reflective judgement model helps in describing the development of reasoning from adolescence to adulthood. In the modern age, some students appear to dismiss the value of education as they transition to adulthood, and this paper will describe how these students might get encouraged to enter into subsequent states of reflective judgement. To achieve this, the possible selves’ model will be integrated with the stages of reflective judgement.
Describe how a student who appears to be dismissing the value of an education might be encouraged to move out of a lower level and into subsequent stages of reflective judgment.
According to (King & Kitchener, 2004), the development of reasoning from adolescence period into adulthood is described well by the Reflective Judgment Model. The epistemic assumptions made by college students affect developments of their critical and reflective thinking skills and constructs. The issue of dismissing the value of education is “pervasive” to college students, and this problem cannot get solved with certainty (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2016). There exists real uncertainty about college students dismissing the value of education.
College faculty, psychologists, and student affairs educators have the mandate to encourage such students adjust from this lower level of reasoning into subsequent phases of reflective judgement (King & Kitchener, 2004). The lower level of Reflective Judgement Model is pre-reflective reasoning (Stages 1-3). In this level, students gain knowledge through the word of authority or through first-hand observation, instead of, for instance, evidence evaluation (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2016). In this phase, students form negative minds about education and believe that they are correct.
In order to encourage such college students to enter the reflective reasoning (Stages 6-7), educators and college faculties should advice, teach, and help them recognize that knowledge claims has uncertainty elements, and that what they know about the value of education could be inaccurate, incorrect, and missing the right information unless evidence is obtained (King & Kitchener, 2004). In this case, educators will encourage students to embrace their value of re-evaluation before they make a personal judgement against education.
Possible Selves and Stages of Reflective Judgement Model
Possible selves and stages of reflective judgement theory are interrelated in that they describe a set of specific dispositions and skills (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2016). In the context of education, students have certain hopes, desires, fears, and fantasies about their future based on their past experiences. This cognitive link represents what students hope to become when the complete college as well as what they hope to avoid becoming in future; these are termed as hoped for and feared selves respectively (King & Kitchener, 2004). As highlighted in the text, there are seven Reflective Judgement Model Stages which describe students’ views of knowledge as they enter into adulthood.
In the Reflective Judgement Stages, knowledge is assumed to concretely exist as an abstraction, to be absolutely certain, temporarily uncertain, a concept of justification, constructed into individual conclusions, and as the outcome of a process of reasonable inquiry (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2016). Students who dismiss the value of education are far from reaching the level where reasonable enquiry is needed to form structured decisions. Still, there are age differences in possible selves, and this is why college students tend to emphasize more on hoped-for selves related to their future occupations. An integration of these two models helps educators to motivate students to realize the hoped-for visions of the self and prevent the realization of the feared ones (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2016).
Ethical and Cultural Strategies for Promoting Resilience Optimum Development and Wellness in Adults
In reference to the CACREP Standard: 2.F.3.1., certain ethical and cultural strategies help promote resilience, optimum development, and wellness in adults. Some of these ethical and cultural strategies include social connectedness, social and emotional competence of adults, concrete support to one another in times of need, maintenance of hopeful outlook, acceptance that change is part of living, and avoidance of crises (Dye, Burke, & Wolf, 2019).
Adult people have more responsibilities in terms of family, job, career growth, and taking care of children. Without resilience, optimum development, and wellness, adults experience a decrease in the quality of life and become more vulnerable to disabling diseases (Dye, Burke, & Wolf, 2019). As per the CACREP Standard 2.F.3.1, adults’ resilience and wellness is vital to family growth. Culture-wise, an individual’s culture impacts a lot on how he or she communicated feelings and deals with adversity. It is prudent for an adult to be socially and emotionally competent when dealing with children, adolescents, and different adversities (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2016). Since wellness and development of resilience is a personal journey, adults should avoid crises and always maintain a hopeful outlook.
Conclusion
College students should not lose hope in education; the long-term benefits of education exceed their unjustified beliefs about its value. College faculties, teachers, and psychologists should motivate and encourage college students’ move into the subsequent stages of reflective judgement where reasonable inquiry to the problem is relied upon to forming valid decisions about their futures. Last, adult people must understand that it is their individual mandate to promote resilience, optimum development, and wellness; this possible selves approach helps them maintain a hopeful outlook.
References
- Dye, L., Burke, M. G., & Wolf, C. (2019). Teaching Mindfulness for the Self-Care and Well-Being of Counselors-in-Training. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 1-14.
- Kail, R. V., & Cavanaugh, J. C. (2016). Human development: A life-span view (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
- King, P. M., & Kitchener, K. S. (2004). Reflective judgment: Theory and research on the development of epistemic assumptions through adulthood. Educational Psychologist, 39(1), 5-18.