Event 1: Living Abroad and Loneliness
Discuss about the Social Cognitive Theory Of Moral Thought & Action.
Most individuals are found to be unaware of the fact that they are conducting their lives based on a child’s frame of reference, instead of an adult mode. Adult development generally encompasses a plethora of changes that frequently occur in psychological and biological domains of the human life, from end of adolescence till the death of a person. These biological changes that occur at cellular level play an important role in influencing the interpersonal or psychological and social developmental changes that are frequently described by several stage theories of human development (Colarusso & Nemiroff, 2013). These stage theories classically focus on certain age-appropriate developmental responsibilities that are required to be achieved at different stages of life. This reflective essay will critically discuss two such recent events in my adult life and will explain them on the basis of two developmental theories.
Living in a new country is altogether a phenomenal experience. When I shifted to Australia for pursuing higher studies, this experience of moving abroad presented numerous opportunities that I considered essential for my personal growth. I realised that in addition to helping me with my educational attainment, this venture into the new land would also provide me the chance of expanding my cultural knowledge, social circle, and spirituality. When I first arrived in Sydney, I was completely in awe of its beauty and culture. I loved everything of the city and was too excited to be a part of it. It made me seek options to reinvent myself in the new land. However, just about two weeks from my arrival, I fell into a major groove. Life started becoming less exciting and unbearable without my family. I have been raised in a close-knit family and shared a deep bond of affection with my mother. I had never stayed away from her and she had always been my support system. I soon realised that I failed to make virtually any friends since I started feeling deprived and lonely while staying in the city. It took me for a while to realise that I began missing my mother and my home terribly. Finally when I had a talk with her over phone, I admitted to myself that I required self-motivation and help to deal with this psychological state in my adult life.
The aforementioned incident can be explained on the basis of John Bowlby’s adult attachment theory. John Bowlby was an eminent psychoanalyst and believed that behavioural problems and mental health are attributed to events in early childhood. The attachment theory proposed by him suggests that children take birth in the world and are often biologically pre-programmed for developing attachments with others that facilitates their survival. One key aspect of the theory states that these attachment behaviour are generally instinctive in nature and are activated by specific conditions, which threaten proximity achievement such as, insecurity, fear and separation (Bowlby & Ainsworth, 2013). Drawing on concepts from the ethological theory, this attachment theory states that all forms of attachment behaviours such as, searching and crying are forms of adaptive responses that occur due to separation from some primary attachment figures. These figures mostly have the role of offering protection, support, and care to the receiver. Another major facet of the theory can be attributed to the element that over the course of evolution, infants who are successful in maintain a close proximity with the attachment figure with the help of attachment behaviour are more likely to live till reproductive age (Van Rosmalen, Van Der Horst & Van der Veer, 2016). Thus, the attachment behavioural system, a motivational system was designed in a way by natural selection for regulating proximity to some attachment character.
John Bowlby’s Adult Attachment Theory
The fact that I became lonely and started missing my mother can be explained on the basis of this theory. The attachment system is essentially based on the essential question whether the attachment figure is present nearby, attentive and accessible (Goldberg, Muir & Kerr, 2013). Perceiving a positive response to this question makes the affected individual feel secure, loved and confident, which in turn makes the person explore the surrounding environment, interact with others and become sociable (Fowler, Allen, Oldham & Frueh, 2013). However, the incident made me perceive the answer as “no”. This can be thought of as an explanation of my experiences of anxiety that made me likely exhibit my attachment behaviour such as, visual searching for my mother. This feeling of deprivation continued until I was able to form a desirable level of closeness with her over phone and the internet.
Another incident occurred a month later when several students who used to come late to class on a regular basis were suspended for a week. I found that late arrival of the students used to interrupt the flow of the discussion and lecture sessions. I had also observed that these students used to distract others on arriving late and impeded the learning process, thereby generally eroding the morale of the entire class. Moreover, when left unchecked, this lateness became chronic and made us arrive late once or twice as well. This made our professor temporarily suspend those students. Following this incident, I took all efforts to avoid being late to my class and put the practice of observational learning effectively into use.
The incident stated above can be elucidated by Bandura’s social learning theory that posits that individuals learn from each other via observation, modelling and imitation, This theory has often be regarded as a bridge between cognitive and behaviourist modes of learning theories owing to the fact that it encompasses memory, attention and motivation. Some of the key concepts of this theory are that people have the capability of learning by observing the attitudes, behaviour of others, and also take into consideration the outcome of such behaviours (Bandura, 2014). Most of the human behaviour is observationally learned through the process of modelling that serves as an action guide. Thus, Bandura’s theory provides an explanation of human behaviour in terms of constant reciprocal interactions between the behavioural, cognitive and environmental influences. Another crucial concept of the theory is related to its consideration of attention, retention, reproduction and motivation that encompass factors increasing or decreasing attention paid and reasons to imitate (Zimmerman, 2013).
Application to the Experience of Loneliness
The fact that I changed my behaviour of being late to class on observing fellow students from being suspended can be explained by the point of reciprocal determinism where the behaviour of a person and the world cause each other. The ability of an individual to entertain language and images in mind made me realise that adoption of the habit of being late would also result in my suspension from the class, thereby impeding my studies. The live model of observational learning, identified by Bandura that involved individual demonstration of acting out of behaviours governed my activity in the class (Hanna, Crittenden & Crittenden, 2013). Intrinsic reinforcement acted as a major form of internal reward that gave me a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment on preventing my habit of arriving late. Thus, my learning was a cognitive process that occurred in the social context of the classroom through direct instruction or observation. Furthermore, the concept of vicarious reinforcement prevented me from being late, owing to the fact that punishment of a wrong behaviour most likely results in its discontinuation (Apps, Lesage & Ramnani, 2015).
To conclude, the two instances cited above provide me the occasion of gaining a deeper understanding of the developmental theories, pertaining to my adult life. I gradually developed the habit of combating my loneliness while living abroad by working on positive thinking, being open and honest with my parents about my life, connecting with my peers at the University and visiting the popular places in and around the city. Moreover, the incident of observational learning made me take efforts for not engaging in such behaviour that would result in me being punished.
References
Apps, M. A., Lesage, E., & Ramnani, N. (2015). Vicarious reinforcement learning signals when instructing others. Journal of Neuroscience, 35(7), 2904-2913. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3669-14.2015
Bandura, A. (2014). Social cognitive theory of moral thought and action. In Handbook of moral behavior and development (pp. 69-128). Psychology Press. Retrieved from- https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781317783114/chapters/10.4324%2F9781315807294-15
Bowlby, J., & Ainsworth, M. (2013). The origins of attachment theory. Attachment Theory: Social, Developmental, and Clinical Perspectives, 45. Retrieved from- https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=x-Oki9MxalQC&oi=fnd&pg=PA45&dq=john+bowlby+attachment+theory&ots=r9yQOK8du-&sig=CfclCFR9cduZr0YwUdAuGY-VldI#v=onepage&q=john%20bowlby%20attachment%20theory&f=false
Colarusso, C. A., & Nemiroff, R. A. (2013). Adult development: A new dimension in psychodynamic theory and practice. Springer Science & Business Media, 59-82. Retrieved from- https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=t7jzBwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR17&dq=adult+development&ots=TzoaVdYrZx&sig=ZXT7QdaYIOE0A1EOP_EEIsesZy8#v=onepage&q=adult%20development&f=false
Fowler, J. C., Allen, J. G., Oldham, J. M., & Frueh, B. C. (2013). Exposure to interpersonal trauma, attachment insecurity, and depression severity. Journal of Affective Disorders, 149(1-3), 313-318. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2013.01.045
Goldberg, S., Muir, R., & Kerr, J. (Eds.). (2013). Attachment theory: Social, developmental, and clinical perspectives. Routledge, 123-152. Retrieved from- https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=x-Oki9MxalQC&oi=fnd&pg=PR2&dq=attachment+theory+bowlby&ots=r9yQOK99tW&sig=lTAJMwwQENcN4NSiE4NNHmtYVbg#v=onepage&q=attachment%20theory%20bowlby&f=false
Hanna, R. C., Crittenden, V. L., & Crittenden, W. F. (2013). Social learning theory: A multicultural study of influences on ethical behavior. Journal of Marketing Education, 35(1), 18-25. https://doi.org/10.1177/0273475312474279
Van Rosmalen, L., Van Der Horst, F. C., & Van der Veer, R. (2016). From secure dependency to attachment: Mary Ainsworth’s integration of Blatz’s security theory into Bowlby’s attachment theory. History of psychology, 19(1), 22. Retrieved from- https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-05673-002
Zimmerman, B. J. (2013). Theories of self-regulated learning and academic achievement: An overview and analysis. In Self-regulated learning and academic achievement (pp. 10-45). Routledge. Retrieved from- https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781135659141/chapters/10.4324%2F9781410601032-5
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