Motivation Action Plan

Table of contents

Motivation action plan

Managing three employees for Riordan Manufacturing and recently administering a series of assessments for them gave a better understanding of their different traits. Adding the three employees to an Employee Portfolio to document this information will help coordinate assessments. This information provides a way to complete a well thought out plan to motivate each employee according to the way he or she will work best. Determining the motivational strategies that will be appropriate for each of the three employees based on their individual characteristics will show some similarities and some different variables to some similar theories.

Motivation

The best way to influence employee evaluations is to motivate each of the three employees by finding strategies that connect each personality. Holly indicates through the self-assessments do very well for the most part in most of the aspects or the working environment her biggest need indicates a need for connection. Execution of setting strategic goals to reward as reinforcement will keep each employee more focused on the task at hand. Many of the determined new evaluated goals will help to reengage each employee at a higher level of performance. Tyler may be more of the one who is uninterested as the manager one may need to find strategies that help Tyler to personally identify with the goals or processes that need to be addressed.

This will happen in a way of stimulating his interests which may be the best way to increase motivation for him. Tyler may need to have the ability to add his thoughts and ideas which will bring him into the project more so this may motive his interest in the project. As one employee struggles with fear of failure or this type of negativity the best possible rescue the manager can help Sally with showing her she is succeeding in all the work she is doing so she doesn’t fear she is doing something wrong. Positive motivation is better than always indicating a negative behavior or pointing out mistakes. Making sure each employee is shown appreciation when they accomplish goals or even do a good job may especially help Tyler.

Rewards will help to motivate each team member, including Tyler, Sally, and Holly this will be something that each person will be guaranteed for each project that is complete from raises, promotions, prizes and various things to show accomplishments. Conclusion

For each individual case their needs to be realistic goals dedicated for that particular person and the characteristics that person identifies with. The team will work best by breaking down a large project into smaller goals with shorter deadlines and work together more on a more often basis. This will help each team member to accomplish a goal as each task is complete and the reward system to be proven to motivate each team member. Each of the team employers will benefit from the emotional intelligence theory.

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Personality And Professional Developmental Planning Education Essay

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Personal and professional development planning is a consequence of successful structured and supported procedure undertaken by any single or group of single. It is their acquisition, experience, public presentation and their action program for the attainment of their personal, educational, societal development. Now it ‘s a common pattern by the authorities and organisations to develop and implement the personal development program for their employee and interest holders. Which in bend would be good for the organisation or authorities?

The purpose behind the doctrine of personal development program is to construct upon the capacity of single or group how they are larning, reexamine it, program it and do rectification if required. The motivation behind the personality development program is to happen out the concealed unleash potency of any single or group. To promote the single towards the positive acquisition thought the life.

Recognize and value yesteryear and present accomplishments.

Identify movable accomplishments and personal competency

Measure the failings and strength in scope of competencies

Form clear development aims

Set up a development action program

Roll up together grounds and information for a personal profile

Collect grounds for a portfolio of accomplishment

Clarify personal and professional ends

There is a celebrated stating from George Elliot ” It ‘s ne’er excessively late to be what you might hold been. ”

George Elliot. There is no terminal to stop procedure for personality development as per my position, although it ‘s a uninterrupted acquisition result which helps an single to execute better in his or her current work and duties. Develop accomplishments and competences ; recognize 1s possible and calling pick and personal development. The types of calling are available today for more complex and variable from the traditional calling watercourses. Possibly person needs to compose their ain calling enchiridion because regardless of the calling picks one should necessitate to take the calling for oneself by sing his/her strength and failing and their entire personality appraisal.

I remember my female parent suggestion towards taking a occupation for me. Harmonizing to her the occupation I should take should be interesting to me it is of critical of import. I think most of the clip about this whenever I plan for my hereafter. Actually I had a desire to go a character like my male parent who has been a function theoretical account for me. He has run his ain successfully for a long clip. The ground behind this idea was really easy because my male parent is a successful man of affairs so he gave me everything whatever I demand, merely because of this I want to be become like him. However as I am turning up my idea is altering for certain still I want the occupation related to concern but now I made my vision narrow down and specifically that I will make concern related to manner industry. I have decided about my calling by giving a idea on my female parent words and uniting my involvements, gustatory sensation, strength and failing. To go a man of affairs is my desire nevertheless I like manner and I want to be an built-in portion of my life. A station of manner trade name selling manager is good suited for me and it fulfills all my desire, I set it as my calling end for now and future. In the committedness towards making my end I need to strategically analyze myself have a clearly consciousness, subject and scheme. To do everything ordered and to be achieved an single personality program is really necessary.

Personality Development Opportunities:

To do any program executable the first pillar is self consciousness. It is really critical for the attainment of the coveted calling. I can specify my developmental schemes and subject merely after cognizing my strength and developmental country. However in instance of mine I am reasonably guaranting about my strength and developmental countries. My strengths are dutifulness, cautiousness and artistic involvement, but I need some betterment on the country of cooperation, activity degree and imaginativeness. By cognizing my developmental country and focussing on those and capitalising on my strength I think I can better myself comprehensively. Some of the basic manner which found common in leaders and higher degree directors are:

  • Integrity
  • Cognition
  • Communication
  • Honest
  • Decisive
  • Role mold
  • Duty
  • Listening
  • Experience

Appraisal of Personality:

Several Self- appraisal trials have perform to measure the personality. The web page www.queendom.com and www.prenhall.com has been used. Following are the result of the assorted activities performed for appraisal.

Facts about the basic personality

The personality of any persons is categorized fundamentally in five general classs. These five features are written below against each class my mark is mentioned. These characteristic make up human nature and behaviours:

  • Extraversion – 12
  • Agreeableness – 13
  • Openness to see – 7
  • Emotional Stability – 13
  • Conscientiousness – 12

A mark between 12 to 15 suggest high grade of the characteristic, 7 to 11 is scored by mediocre individual while below 6 is comparatively low into that class.

As per writer if person scores high Markss in the conscientiousness factor than it means the occupation public presentation of the person would be significantly impressive. The high mark on extraversion factor suggest that I do n’t waver in sharing my position with other couples. A moderate mark on emotional stableness is good plenty. The low mark on openness to see suggest my involuntariness to the new things and experiments it may foretell that developing attempt on me could non be productive ( Formy-Duval et Al, 1995 and John, 1990 ) .

My Jungian 16-type personality Assessment

With the aid of these tools a personality can be assessed based on four wide classs. This test tells about the single whether one is S denote feeling or N denote intuitive, T denote believing or F denote feeling, E denote extroverted or I denote introverted, P denote comprehending or J denote judging. There are in entire 16 type of personality can be identified.

My personality has been assessed as FESJ. It means I am extravert individual with holding good interpersonal accomplishments while judging the state of affairs and doing any reasonable move ( Marcic & A ; Nutt, 1989 ) .

Appraisal of Core Values

Core values are the set of dwelling ethical values which relates the civilization and orientation of any single or organisation. In the rating of my nucleus values I have narrowed down the 18 listed values. The top nucleus values of me are Integrity and Authenticity.

The above top two nucleus values which I put on top most precedence have been mentioned. These are the values which are inbuilt in my nature and I pattern these into my twenty-four hours to twenty-four hours life. I anticipate that my leading manner would besides be derived from unity and genuineness ( www.ethicalleadership.org, 2009 ) .

Attitudes toward workplace diverseness

The Exam attempts to happen the attitude of the testee towards the workplace kineticss. The trial taker could be classified as either pessimistic or optimistic non in isolation but on the footing of Markss scored by them in the test. The higher the mark the higher the optimistic position of the individual, the lower the mark the individual is more pessimistic. Mark varies from -35 to +35.

I was able to hit good plenty in this test. I scored 22, which suggest that I am an optimistic individual and cognize how to work in diverse workplace ( Hostager & A ; demeuse, 2001 ) .

Position on the Nature of people

Physiologist Mcgregor Douglas has proposed a theory on the behaviour and manner of employee. It is known as bureau theory or Ten and Y Factor theory. This theory says there are two type of people in the universe one lazy and disinterested in work they need a supervisor to reexamine their work ( Type X ) on the other manus there are people those are responsible and go getter they merely need the undertaking ( Type Y ) ( Haire et al, 1966 ) . Type Y people are reasonable and hardworking they merely need the way remainder they will make themselves they do n’t wish to be monitored and supervised.

The hiting form of campaigners in this theory varies from 8 to 40. A higher mark suggest the disposition of the trial taker towards the x type people. A mark less than 16 suggest the individual belong to y class. I scored 18 in this trial which suggest I flexible in my perceptual experiences and good balanced between the bossy and team playing activities.

Emotional intelligence

Emotion intelligence is every bit of import for any single as it has been found most of the leaders lead their follower by their emotional intelligence. They understand the sentiment of the other individual and so answer consequently. It is one of the greatest humanistic disciplines which is inherently born quality though there are treatment that it can be learnt besides. Emotional intelligence ( EI ) can be defined as the mixture of the Competencies and the accomplishments that have shown to act upon the character ability to win over the environmental demand and force per unit area. Peoples those are on higher side of emotional intelligence have the ability to accurately justice, evaluate, express and modulate the emotion and feeling of others every bit good as theirs ( Goleman, 1995 ) .

The test fundamentally tests the five dimensions of the testee which step how much a peculiar individual is self managed socially horned, empathic, self motivated and self cognizant. The tonss vary from 10 to 50. Higher tonss suggest with high EI. Most of the leaders Like Abraham Lincoln, Barak Obama, Aristotle are high on their Emotional intelligence. I score 41 in this test. A higher emotional intelligence predicts that in future I could be successful in managerial and leading places. I am possessing the proficient and interpersonal abilities ( Goleman, 1995 ) .

Developmental Aim:

Short-run Developmental Objective ( 1-6 Month ) :

In Order to accomplish my coveted end of the life ab initio I build upon cognition. I will analyze every bit much as I can. I will make good in my category to construct my foundation strong. I will read as much book as I can so that I will distribute my thought procedure and heighten my believing sphere. I besides need to fall in assorted carbon monoxides curricular activities to better on my concerted accomplishments. Last but non the least I will seek to understand the planetary cultural so that I will be able to pull off and understand planetary civilization while working.

Average Term Developmental Objective ( 6-12 Month ) :

As shortly I finish the short term development aim I need to work on my preparation degree. Now I need to larn how I can better my personality non merely by reading books but besides from the society. I need to pay attending every small thing in society occurrence. I need to believe about other s I need to complete my prep and other things every bit shortly as possible. I besides need to collaborate with nine to heighten my cooperation degree and increase my activity degree. Finding a occupation in the campus could be a good move. In summer holiday my program is to fall in wood coal picture and dance categories so that I can construct more solid foundation for a calling in manner designing.

Long Term Developmental Path Goal ( 1 – 3 Old ages ) :

This is period where greatest stress must be given towards an single betterment. Till now I have gathered the cognition from the books. Now it is clip to analyze how the selling and fiscal portion plays into the concern. How the theories learned from book applies into the existent concern scenario. How can I turn the cognition into the action with accomplishments and easiness would be the chief intent for my betterment in these three old ages of my developmental planning. Although I need to absorb the other classmate sentiment about me what are alterations they observed within me. I need to larn from the experience of my instructors.

Decision:

In decision, in order to accomplish every end in my life, making an single personal development program is really of import. It non merely can assist me to cognize my existent place specifically but besides can allow me believe and make every action logically and orderly. Bing a selling manager in an international manner corporation is non that easy. However, I ‘m certain I can accomplish my end by following my plan measure by measure. Because of my involvements, difficult work and continuity, I believe there is one twenty-four hours I will hold a large calling in the manner country.

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Personality Theories

Introduction The purpose of this essay is to review theories that have been linked and discussed in regards to personality. It aims to define personality, summarize the main ideas across different articles, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses that are in the articles. It also links my personal experience of personality traits to the theory of personality. The essay begins by defining personality from different articles and books, then analyzing critically the key definitions.

Furthermore the essay discusses the relationship between personality and job performance and the relationship between personality and motivation. The essay contains a reflective writing section, based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a theory of motivation and personality, in which my personal experience is discussed. Definitions The word personality has many definitions across many fields, in different articles. Hogan and Holland (2003), defines personality as the unique pattern of psychological and behavioral characteristics by which each person can be distinguished from other people.

This means each person’s characteristics are different from the other, and people are unique beings. Unlike Griffin (2007), who suggests that personality is understood by some people to mean self concept, by others, the consensus of other people’s opinions about one’s character, and by others, one’s true character. This definition is vague and over simplistic. It places individuals in single categories, ignoring the fact that every personality represents a unique combination of qualities. Walter (1986) goes on further to look at personality from two angles, the actors view and the observers view.

Personality from the actors view is a person’s identity, which is defined in terms of the strategies a person uses to pursue acceptance and status, identity controls and actors social behavior. Personality from the observers view is a person’s reputation, and it is defined in terms of trait evaluations-conforming, helpful, talkative, competitive, calm, curious and so forth. However, the common trait on the definitions is restored on the following definitions. Griffin (2007) defines personality as the relatively stable set psychological attributes that distinguish one person from the other.

This is often referred to as the long standing debate often expressed as nature versus nurture, that people’s personality is shaped by both inheritance and environment. The next definition implores a new trait that of interaction with others. It is suggested that personality is the term used to describe the overall combination of characteristics or traits that reflect the nature of a person and the way they react to and interact with others (De Janasz, Wood, Gottschalk & Schneider, 2006). Here the authors suggest that personality determinants appear to be shaped by inheritance, environmental and situational factors.

Hellriegel and Slocum (2006) also define personality as the overall profile or combination of stable psychological attributes that capture the unique nature of a person. This definition suggests that personality combines a set of physical and mental characteristics that reflect how a person looks thinks, acts and feels. Hellriegel and Slocum’s definition contains two important ideas, the first being what sets people apart and what they have in common and the second refers to personality as being stable and happening overtime.

The relationship between personality and job performance Since 1990 analytical reviews have shown that personality measures are useful predictors of job performance. Although these results represent a substantial revision in how applied psychology views personality assessment (cf. Guion & Gottier, 1965; Locke & Hulin, 1962), there is still no agreed theoretical account for the findings. A theory of individual differences in work effectiveness that links assessment to performance would enhance the value of personality measures for forecasting occupational outcomes.

The current study organized criterion measures into the broad themes of getting along and getting ahead, and big five personality categories (Hogan & Roberts, 2001). The results suggest that there is some practical utility for the theory driven research. Nevertheless, some researchers have criticized the big five factors as an incomplete taxonomy and have suggested that important relationships are obscured when analysis is limited to the big five rather than a seven factor model. Tellgen & Waller (1987) found seven factors, five of which corresponded to the big five and two additional factors.

This goes on to show that more extensive research is needed and current theories are not enough to draw conclusions from. However, research related to personality has recently clarified the utility of using personality variables for predicting job performance. This research by (Barrick & Mount, 1991; Hough, 1992; Salgado 1997) has demonstrated that personality constructs are indeed associated with work performance. Other traits are correlated with specific occupations. However, very little research has examined the mechanisms through which personality traits influence performance.

Barrick and Mount (1991) found autonomous goal setting, and to a lesser extent goal setting, to mediate relationships between measures of job proficiency and supervisory ratings of job performance and sales volume for sales representatives. Organizational researchers have long been interested in relationships between personality traits and job performance. With the resurgent interest in theories of personality and the discovery of the big five model structure, research in this area has flourished.

Researchers of personality and performance studies frequently make the implicit assumption that performance is a stable construct and thus rely on cross sectional and one time measures of performance to capture something that by its very nature unfolds across time. In depth studies have shown that the relationship between personality and performance measures have been the norm despite longstanding evidence that performance is dynamic (Bass, 1962). *The relationship between personality* and motivation

Personality has had an uneven history in work motivation research. Most researchers would implicitly agree that there are individual differences in motivation, and these differences can be traced to dispositional tendencies. In response to a question about what is known in regards to individual differences in motivation, Austin and Klein (1996) commented, “Despite studies addressing individual differences within each of the perspectives, a considerable amount of research is needed before precise statements can be made about their role”.

Gellatly (1996) noted that”attempts to empirically link personality characteristics with motivational variables have produced inconsistent results”. This is a result of lack of theoretical progress and conceptual clarity in the motivational area itself. However, motivational research has made substantial theoretical progress and with respect to the theory for which the most progress has been made it is not clearly defined. As Locke, Shawn, Saari and Latham (1981) noted in their seminal review, the only consistent thing about studies of individual differences in goal setting is their inconsistency.

A more likely explanation for the lack of progress in personality and motivation literature is as Hogan and Roberts (2007) put it, “there are thousands of personality measures in the published literature”. These authors commented further that past personality research was sprawling in conceptual disarray, with no overarching theoretical paradigm and the subject matter was operationalized in terms of a large number of poorly validated scales with different names. With so many traits related to different aspects of motivation, it is no surprise that reviews of the literature have come away apathetic by the observed findings.

Reflective Writing Maslow’s hierarchy aims to explain human behavior in terms of basic requirements for survival and growth. These requirements are arranged according to their importance for survival and their power to motivate the individual. The most basic physical requirement, such as food, water and oxygen constitute the lowest level of the need hierarchy. These needs must be satisfied before other higher needs become important to individuals (Scmuttle, 2002). While the order of satisfaction is subject to debate, I have worked as a farm manager and the most of my subordinates only cared about the first two needs.

The physiological and safety needs. The basic needs of survival are what seemed to motivate them to work. The farm workers were not driven by ambition, esteem needs or self actualization needs. If by chance the basic requirements were lacking the workers would revolt, but in abundance farm output would double or triple in certain quarters. Although Maslow agrees that other needs do not fit into his hierarchy for example cognitive needs such as curiosity and scientific interest. I feel that in developing countries those needs are not yet valued and hence a forfeited which renders the hierarchy of needs valid.

In conclusion, the literature on personality and job performance, and personality and motivation shows a connection between each of the two. In theory a strong connection exists but often that is not the case. Incorrect assumptions about personality in relation to job performance and motivation could result in erroneous conclusions in firms and organizations, which can be costly. However, this does not render the theories invalid, in my personal experience the connection was evident but only on the first two levels of the hierarchy.

The differences can be attributed to different cultures and values between developing countries and Western countries. References Austina, J. T & Klein, H. J. (1996). Work motivation and goal striving. In K. R. Murphy (Ed), Individual differences and behaviour in organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Barrick, M. R. & Mount, M. K. (1991). The Big Five personality dimensions and job performance: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 44, 1-26. Bass, B. M. (1962). Further evidence of the dynamic nature of criteria. Personnel_ Psychology_, 15, 93-97.

De Janasz, S. Wood, G. Gottschalk, K. D. & Schneider, B. (2006). Interpersonal skills in organisations. McGrawHill: NSW. Gellatly, I. R. (1996). Conscientiousness and task performance: Test of cognitive process model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 474-482. Griffin, M. (2007). Organizational Behavior. Managing People and Organizations. 8th Ed. Houghton Miffling: Boston. Guion, R. M. & Gottier, R. F. (1965). Validity of personality measures in personnel selection. Personnel Psychology, 18, 135-164. Hellriegel, D. & Slocum, J. (2006). Organizational Behaviour.

Thomson South-Western:China Hogan, R. & Roberts, B. W. (2001). Personality and Industrial and organizational Psychology. In B. W. Roberts & Hogan (Eds) _Personality Psychology in the workplace (pp. 3-16). _Washington, DC: American Psychology Association. Hough, L. M. (1992). The Big Five personality variables-construct confusion: Description versus prediction. Human Performance, 5, 139-155. Locke, E. A & Hulin, C. L. (1962). A review and evaluation of the validity studies of activity vector analysis. Personnel Psychology, 15, 25-42. Locke, E. A. , Shaw, K. N. Saari, L. M. , & Latham, G. P. (1981). Goal setting and task performance. Psychological Bulleting, 90, 125-152. Salgado, J. F. (1997). The five factor model of personality and job performance in the European Community. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, 30-43. Schuttle, D. (2002). Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health. 3, 1500-1503. Tellegen, A. & Waller, N G. (1987). Re-examining basic dimensions of natural language trait descriptors. Paper presented at the 95th annual convention of the American Psychological Association, New York.

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Managerial Strategies for Developing Group Synergy

In the modern business era there has been a significant shift from the selected manner of getting work completed. A paradigm shift has been observed from individuals working on isolated tasks to creation of groups and teams being created for the purpose of getting the job completed quicker and in a more efficient manner. Groups and teams gained popularity as a managerial tool due to the involvement of the diversity of the group members who each help in critically analyzing the situation in their own manner and who provide solutions which take into account a broader perspective.

Groups bring diversity to the organization’s goals commitment and offer managers views which can cover a broader scope than an individual working in an isolated manner could ever have. However, there is still some concern where groups are concerned. And the major concern is the creation of a ‘Group Synergy’. By this we refer to the idea that a combined effort from numerous people would bring about better yields than a numerous individuals working on isolated cases could ever have. Group synergy basically involves the sharing of the vision of all group members towards a single goal. Groups and Human Behavior

Groups provide 3 basic human requirements which each employee desires inherently (Broochers, 1999). These 3 needs are the need for Inclusion (establishing identity with others), the need for Control (exercise one’s ability to control and lead others) and the need for affection (to develop relationships with others). Groups help organizations meet the 3 needs as well as get their goals attained by the creation of groups. The psychological benefits of groups enable employees to have a healthier work-place environment and they have relatively less burden as support is always able due to the existence of group members and team mates.

Groups and Gender Roles The popularity of Groups and ‘Group Synergy’ can be attributed towards the shift the management styles exercised over the years. Groups were relatively not deemed as necessary in the early 1900s as a more isolated manner of work was deemed result providing. Managers were of the opinion that the more interaction between employees, the more distraction would be prevalent and eventually less work would be get done. This kind of philosophy led to the office workplace having an individualized culture with people working on independent isolated tasks rarely relying on outside interference or support.

This approach proved to be accurate to some extent as employees were reduced to becoming drones and working in isolated atmosphere. Cubicles and other physical structures are remnants of the kind of managerial approach to curb interaction. But an important thing to consider here is the type of employees working at the time. Until the late 60s offices were the sole dominion of men and psychologists have noted that men have a deep seated individualistic streak inherent in them. However, after the 60s women became more and more active and began entering the workplace.

This approach of isolated job completion showed negative results on women production as there is a significant difference between the way men and women want work to be done. Women have a tendency of association and prefer a group effort rather than the individualistic culture existing at the time. As recognized by Claese in her journal article, she believes that the advent of women into management circles and who desire social bonding rather than individualism in the workplace has led to the increase in groups as compared to earlier years (Claese, 1999).

The journal article provides substantial arguments as to how groups could be related to a feminine frame of thought as women tend to find solace and encouragement in groups and have a group mentality as compared to masculine opinions of handling their own issues and problems. In the same article there is an interesting observation stated by the author who quotes Drucker as stating that the value is added to information better in teams rather than by individuals. This kind of characteristic is more dominantly found in women rather than men. Groups and Leadership

Leadership also plays an important role in observing the group’s results and its overall performance. Initially much importance was placed on group leaders as being the sole factor in influencing the groups output. Early leadership theories supported the fore-mentioned assumption that leaders were the only governing factor in bringing out the best in a group. Theories such as Trait theories and Behavioral theories try to justify the importance of the role of the leader in the group. Yet contemporary theories have proven better results when the leaders and the members of the group have a healthy relationship.

Theories such as the Hershey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory (which focuses on the followers’ readiness to accept the leader) and the Path-Goal Model support the argument that the leader has to become more than just a symbol but instead work alongside the members of the group and team to actually bring out the true potential. A better understanding of the leadership roles in forwarding group synergy is discussed in the article “Leadership Effectiveness and Personality Characteristics of Group Members” by Olusegun Agboola Sogunro.

In it he basically analyses the group members’ personality characteristics and leadership effectiveness in relation to each other. Through the course of his studies he compared different settings and evaluated the effects of the personality clashes and found that if the personalities of the group members and the leader complemented each other than the productivity of the group increased. There are many research findings in the article which support the author’s belief that the synergy of the group relies centrally on the compatibility of the various personalities of the group members.

Yet the author does not negate the importance of factors such as leader’s characteristics, the goals of the group and the overall context under which the group was brought into existence (Sogunro, 1998). Groups and their Organizational Structure Groups created for the purpose of organizational needs are not structured haphazardly. They have to take into account numerous variables. Leadership has already been discussed leaving 6 other group structure determining factors. Before making any managerial strategy regarding the group, managers must take into account the roles of the group members.

Group members should have the urge to satisfy some role in the group otherwise they do not associate themselves with the said group. Roles need to be fulfilled in the group otherwise group members generate a problem recognized as ‘Role conflict’ under which the group member is confronted by different role expectations. Norms are also critical in establishing the group structure. The norms are the standards or expectations shared by the group’s members. Norms help group members to stay honest with themselves and their organization and affect their decisions.

Conformity is another similar factor which pressures group members to conform and basically align their interests and habits with each other. Whether an organization wants high conformity or low conformity would affect the structure of the group. High conformity groups would emulate the leader or any influential person and would result in similar solutions from various members, while low conformity groups would have diversified opinions amongst the group members. The status systems determine the prestige grading, positions and ranks members would hold within any group.

If the organization is bureaucratic in nature and has strict status system policies then the group would be more hierarchically structured and the managerial strategy would be to have the members of the group follow protocols and follow the chain of command. In groups having less emphasis on status systems then there is an informal linear hierarchy and an obscure chain of command. The group size is a determining factor of the structure of the group. Managerial strategies have to take into account whether the group is large or small in size to help in forecasting its chances of success.

Larger group sizes offer much better diversified opinions and can provide more options to choose from as solutions. However, the drawback of the larger groups is that it is difficult to come to a single decision yet that is a minor hindrance. Group cohesiveness is the degree to which group members are attracted to one another and share the group’s goals. The more cohesiveness between the group’s members the better the outputs from the group will be. Combined these factors determine the structure that the group would be in. Managerial strategies need to accommodate for the group structure to actually be successful.

Creating strategies which do not coincide with the structure of the group would lead to failure as the group would be unable or unwilling to follow through with the strategy. Diversity and Group Synergy In today’s globalizing world, diversity is no longer an alien concept. With movement of people as well as entire organizations, there is relatively no organization untouched by workplace diversity. People of differing genders, nationalities, races or creeds interact with each other in their daily lives and eventually they are grouped together at one time or the other.

There are two ways to look at the diversity issue. The affects can be mapped along two routes: The effect of organizations on diverse workgroups and the effects of diverse workforce on the organization. Organization managerial strategies can affect workgroups both positively and negatively. If the managerial strategies implemented by the managers are deemed to discourage diverse workgroups or tend to favor some specific minority or majority in the workplace the group synergy is unhealthily affected.

Similarly the workgroups can affect managements strategy formulation as is evident in today’s world as management these days has to take deliberation before forwarding policies which may be deemed biased against any diverse faction of the employees. Baugher discusses in his article the two aspects and discusses perception towards the two situations. According to him and fellow researchers, organizational impact of workgroup diversity is deemed in negative light as the organization had always hindered integration of diversity in workplace and has been resistant to change through time.

However, the author does support the other scenario as per him; there are numerous potential benefits of the workforce affecting organizational level. Diversity can bring in a range of new innovative ideas as well as give cultural value to the organization and expansion in the knowledgebase. Baugher has discussed the effects of diversity based on the genders and cultural differences and how it can affect the workgroup. The article provides statistical evidence that given the option to create own workgroups, employees showed tendencies to group in a manner attracting like-minded people.

According to his research findings, Baugher has proposed that with the attraction towards homogeneity and the desire to associate with similar social groups, the diversity expected would not be as rapid nor would it be as wide spread (Baugher, 2000). Conflict Management within Organizations Groups Conflicts are a fact to be acknowledged within any social group. With the interaction of 2 or more people with each other it is natural that some manner of conflict would arise sometime. Instead of sidelining conflicts, they need to be addressed and brought out to the open instead.

This way a solution can be found and the conflict suppressed. There is a misconception that there is a sure fire way to handle conflicts. But studies have proven that not only are there various ways of addressing conflicts, but different people handle conflicts in different ways. A study conducted to show differences in the ways males and females addressed conflicts gave the result that, managers who assume masculine, feminine or androgynous roles tackled conflicts in different manners.

Even though the study was aimed particularly for accountants it can be generalized to the extent that all managers, be they male or female, have to address conflicts and they have to provide lasting solutions to attain organizational goals (Chan, 2006). In the article by Suppiah, he has introduced some conflict management styles adopted by managers. He discusses the 3 approaches proposed by Follet, which were domination, compromise and integration. Blake and Mouton however provided 5 styles of handling conflicts which included problem-solving, smoothing, forcing, withdrawal and sharing.

However, they mapped these styles in regard to two functions: Concern for production and concern for People. Depending upon the function of conflict management, managers would be able to identify which of the styles to adopt in their situation. The article goes on to discuss numerous other perspectives to conflict management and styles yet one thing remains common which is the correlation between the managers desire for higher production and the managers concern for his employees. (R. R. V. Suppiah, 2006).

While making managerial strategies to handle conflict management in groups, managers must take into account their goals. A strategy of confrontation would not be feasible for a manager who wishes to build good relations with his/her employees as the employees might be offended by being forced into reconciliation. Meanwhile a manager might not want to try withdrawal if he wishes for higher production as the conflict would create in-group resistance and group members would not be giving their full effort.

Managers must take into account all the variables involved to come up with the perfect strategy to handle conflicts and come up with the optimal solution which results in satisfaction to all the group members and management involved. Creating Effective Groups The purpose of groups is to bring optimal results using combined knowledge of the group members and to harness the potential of each group member to bring about the desired outcomes of the organization. Groups can prove to multiple the gains as well as minimize costs and resources as a combined effort reduces individual costs.

To create effective groups and create a healthy group synergy some key elements need to be accounted for (Robbins & Coulter). These elements are recognized as: • Groups should set clear goals so that each individual member recognizes the team’s goals and they know what they are meant to accomplish. This provides them on equal footing with which to gauge their progress. • No group can succeed unless the group members possess the necessary skills with which to accomplish the tasks.

To create group synergy, group members should have the relevant skills for their tasks as each group member can rely on their partner to complete their respective tasks. • Mutual trust should exist between the group members and distrust could dissolve the best of groups. Groups can better obtain their results when the members believe in each other’s abilities, character, and integrity. • Being dedicated to the team’s goals and having a willingness to expend extraordinary amount of energy to achieve them is a characteristic of a unified commitment which is exhibited by the successful teams of today.

• Good healthy communication must prevail to have an effective group synergy. Group members who convey messages to each other verbally and non-verbally are more abreast with information about each other and can better support their group members than those who do not communicate at all. • Groups which can survive any conflict exhibit good negotiating skills. By this the group members should be willing to make adjustments as to who does want. The flexibility amongst members would help them overcome conflicts and reconcile differences.

• The leadership in the group must be sound as the appropriate leadership helps the members of the group by clarifying the goals, demonstrating that change is possible by overcoming inertia, increasing the self-confidence of team members, and helping the members to more fully realize their potential. As discussed in the earlier sections leadership is an important factor and the key thing to recognize is that leaders guide and support the team yet instead don’t control it. • The last condition necessary for an effective team is a supportive internal and external climate.

If the climate in the internal and external setting is supportive then groups would have no restraints and could easily accomplish their goals whereas if the climate is intense and there are conflicts in either in the internal or external setting then the group would have difficulty in accomplishing the goals. Conclusion By the end of this paper we can clearly make some inferences about group synergy and what factors affect the internal operations of the groups as well as the various different complications that may arise within groups and between the groups and the organization.

Managerial strategies for developing group synergy differ from one place of work to the other. When formulating the strategy a major role is played by the structure of the group as it contains numerous minute factors such as size, cohesiveness and conformity which on their own can deeply affect the success of the managerial strategy. Other critical factors to keep in mind for formulation of strategies is the possibility of the strategy to create intra-group conflicts, inter group conflicts or conflicts between organization and the groups.

These conflicts can be handled by managers not based on a single sure-fire approach but instead depending on the context of the conflict, the factors behind it, the groups perspective and also the overall effect of the conflict. Each conflict can be handled in a unique manner and managers must keep in mind this fact.

References

  • Baugher, D. (2000). Gender And Culture Diversity Occurring In Sell-formed Work Groups. Journal of Managerial Issues . Broochers, T. (1999). Why Join a Group. Retrieved January 18, 2009, from Small Group Communication: http://www. abacon. com/commstudies/groups/join.html
  • Chan, C. C. (2006). Conflict Management Styles of Male and Female Junior Accountants. International Journal of Management .
  • Claese, M. -T. (1999). Women, Men and Management Styles. International Labour Review . R. R. V.
  • Suppiah, W. (2006). A competence-based view to conflict management. American Journal of Applied Sciences .
  • Robbins, S. P. , & Coulter, M. Understanding Groups and Teams. In S. P. Robbins, & M. Coulter, Management 8th Edition (pp. 385-386).
  • Sogunro, O. A. (1998). Leadership Effectiveness and Personality Characteristics of Group Members. Journal of Leadership Studies .

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Personality Theory

Learning is defined as Any relatively permanent change in behavior that can be attributed to experience (Coon). It is not, however, a temporary change caused by outside forces. Therefore, things such as motivation, disease and injury cannot be considered to be a form of learning. This is because once the disease, injury, etc. has been removed, behavior will return to it s state before the influence.

There are 2 main keys to every learning process: the reinforcement, which is anything that increases the chances that the desired response will take place, and the response, which is the behavior that takes place as a reaction to the reinforcement. An antecedent is the event which takes place before a response, and is the basis for Classical Conditioning. A consequence is something that follows a response, and is the foundation for what psychologists call Operant Conditioning. Classical Conditioning is based on what takes place before a response. It begins with some action that will inevitably produce a response.

That action is then associated with another that does not induce a response, or a Neutral Stimulus. After enough repetition, the neutral stimulus which did not previously produce a response will now, on its own, produce the response of the action it was coupled with. It is now what is called a Conditioned Stimulus, or a stimulus that produces a response because it has been paired with another. A good example of Classical Conditioning is presented by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian Physiologist. Pavlov noticed that his dogs would drool when he put food in their mouths.

After some time passed, he noticed that the dogs would begin to drool upon seeing the food. Then, the dogs began drooling at the sight of Pavlov. It was then that Pavlov noticed that learning had taken place. The dogs had associated the food with the appearance of Pavlov. The dog s drooling did not have to be learned: it was what is called a reflex, or an automatic response. The reflex is a type of Unconditioned Response, a response that happens on its own. That reflex to drool was finally paired with seeing Pavlov and expecting to be fed. Eventually, the sight of Pavlov was enough to make the dog drool, without ever presenting food.

The dog s drooling had then become a Conditioned Response, or a response that has been conditioned by stimuli. This is a prime example of Classical Conditioning. Operant Conditioning focuses on consequences, or what follows a response. In this type of conditioning, a response is followed by some type of reinforcement. This reinforcement can be something good, something bad, or nothing at all. If an action results in a punishment, the action is less likely to take place. However, if the action is followed by reinforcement, such as praise, food, or other rewards, the action is more likely to be repeated.

An example of Operant Conditioning is found in the works of B. F. Skinner. Although he rejected the ideas of theories of learning, (Skinner), he is well known for one of his creations, dubbed the Skinner Box. A skinner box is a small, barren chamber into which a hungry rat is placed. The box is featureless, except for a lever on one wall. As the rat explores, it accidentally presses this lever, and a pellet of food or a drop of water is released. Eventually, the rat will learn to correspond the lever to receiving a food pellet. He will then move the lever when he is hungry.

This is called the Law of Effect: responses that have desirable effects are repeated, while negative effects will lessen the tendency for the response to take place. What has happened is a good example of Operant Conditioning. The rat is hungry. The rat, then, has had reinforcement (the food pellet) to perform a response (the lever press). In this situation, the food pellet acts as an Operant Reinforcer, or something that encourages the event which it follows. In both of these instances, Acquisition has occurred. Acquisition is the training in which learning occurs. Once it has taken place, Expectancy comes into view.

Expectancy is the anticipation that the learned conditioning will continue to produce the same response. However, if the reinforcement is taken away from conditioning, we can expect that the conditioned response will begin to fade. This is called Extinction. This occurs when a response is weakened by the removal of it s reinforcement. However, occasionally, a response may resurface after it is believed to be extinct. This is known as Spontaneous Recovery. Once a response has been conditioned, the response will continue to take place unless the reinforcement is removed.

In many cases, however, a reinforcement that is similar to the original will still bring about the desired response. This is called Stimulus Generalization. An example of this would be if someone who looked like Pavlov walked into the view of the dogs. They may begin drooling because of their conditioning to do so at the appearance of Pavlov. After some time, though, the dogs will learn to distinguish between Pavlov and the imposter. After that point, the dogs would respond differently to the 2 men. This learning is known as Stimulus Discrimination.

Conditioning has been very useful to psychologists and social workers who want to effect behavior. However, these laws of conditioning can have negative repercussions. For instance, phobias stem from conditioning, usually in early childhood. For instance, a child could have a negative experience with a kitten, or other house pet. This negative experience, previously a Neutral Stimulus, has now been linked with fear, anxiety, and other negative emotional responses. This process is called Conditioned emotional response. This creates a phobia, or an unrealistic fear of a thing or situation. There are different ways to treat and cure phobias.

The first is called Desensitization. This would be used, for example, with a person with a fear of heights. The person would gradually be taken higher off the ground, perhaps over days, weeks, or longer. This would gradually introduce them to the fear and eventually allow them to be free of the phobia. In more extreme cases, a conditioning called Vicarious Classical Conditioning is used. If someone had an extreme phobia of snakes, the person might be exposed to a video tape of someone holding a snake. Through small steps such as these, the person could eventually recover from the phobia.

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Comradeship

Table of contents

This paper surveys and assesses the writings of selected African scholars on what they regard to be pan-African culture and personality traits, and patterns and processes of African cultural adaptation. Suggestions are also made for reinventing the study of African social, cultural and psychological characteristics, and using such knowledge to help solve socio-economic problems in Africa.

Finally, comments are made regarding the impact of sociocultural particularism and Western individualism on the study of culture and cultural evolution. During the late 1950s and 1960s, national character and typical personality studies were broadly condemned, breathed their last gasp, and were ultimately relegated to the dustbin of bad social science. Since that time, various African scholars outside the social sciences have nevertheless been sustaining and redirecting group personality inquiry.

They are not, however, approaching their subject as did Western social scientists in the first half of this century who used questionnaire instruments to determine if Africans were “traditional” or “modern” . This was a particularly popular approach among Western occupational psychologists working in Africa in the 1950s and 1960s who sought to scientifically assign statistical coefficients of modernization to African populations.

They did this, for the most part, to find out which African groups were better suited for white or blue collar work in the colonial and post-independence socioeconomic setup . The majority of prior culture and personality researchers focusing on Africa were interested in creating and testing a “traditional/Western measuring device” (Dawson 1967), “assaying psychological modernization” (Doob 1967), or “measuring individual modernity” (Smith and Inkeles 1966, Kahl 1968, and Gough 1975 and 1976).

African scholars writing on these subjects since the early 1960s have taken a humanistic, liberating or empowering approach. They have been specifically interested in identifying and explaining African psychological processes, personality characteristics, and the processes of African cultural adaptation to indigenous social conditions and exotic influences. For example, the work of University of Nairobi philosophy professor Joseph M. Nyasani (1997), which features prominently in this paper, is a recent attempt to define the “African psyche.

Since the 1960s, the predominant approach to social and cultural research among social scientists has been to examine a clearly defined society, population, sector, geographically defined area, or topic. Such research tends to steer away from cultural and psychological generalizations at higher levels of social organization such as the ethnic group, society, nation or geographical regions such as sub-Saharan Africa. Culture and personality and broad cultural adaptation studies became and remain the target of the most severe criticism by social scientists and social advocates.

Many, in fact, consider such inquiry to be no more than unscientific stereotyping, usually with malevolent intent and effect. Some argue that group personality studies are an anathema to cultural relativism and the particularistic study of singular populations and topics. Still others go as far as to assert that all culture and personality studies obscure the uniqueness of the individual, and divert attention and resources from more fruitful lines of inquiry such as the dynamics of class struggle and the scientific study of particular social structures and functions.

At its worst, critics and social advocates say, group personality studies and inquiry into broad patterns of cultural adaptation on the part of social scientists exacerbate racism and bigotry. So, for the sake of not giving legitimacy to broad cultural generalizations, which the detractors say will most likely be misused to oppress or persecute a particular group, all efforts in the social sciences to identify and study core cultural traits and make cross cultural comparisons in search of broad patterns of cultural adaptation are condemned and rejected.

I do not mean in any way to disparage particularistic types of academic and problem-oriented research. African social scientists, in general, like their Western particularist counterparts, have also moved toward greater topical and problematic specificity in their social research to more accurately focus their efforts

However, the work of African scholars outside the social sciences, such as that surveyed here, suggests that it is time to reintroduce culture and personality and cultural adaptation studies of contemporary populations into the social science mainstream.

African Perspectives and Methods

From the early sixties to the present, African scholars outside the social sciences have consistently claimed that there have been, are and will continue to be widespread psychological and cultural themes and patterns that there are unique to sub-Saharan Africa . They also argue that these broad themes and patterns are undergoing rapid change in a similar manner and most often for the worse throughout most of the continent.

The strength of their commitment to these concepts is reflected in the fact that the scholars persist in their efforts despite a historical intellectual context that eschews such inquiry. This survey reveals they have done so to clarify and extol the virtues of what it means to be African in the face of increasing global Westernization, and to identify and promote the importance of “Africanness” in African national and regional development.

African scholars also seek to reassert Africa’s importance in the broader philosophical and cultural evolution of humankind. Although some of the works contain significant methodological shortcomings which will be addressed below, most of the scholars’ assertions and arguments are well-reasoned and extremely compelling. Social scientific approaches to African culture and personality are regarded by many African thinkers to be part of a long-standing and concerted Western effort to suppress and dominate Africans .

In contrast, African scholars’ approaches outside the social sciences have been theoretically and methodologically eclectic and intended to protect and liberate Africans, not dominate or control them. For example, Kenyan medical doctor and author Kihumbu Thairu (1975) offers a personally challenging approach that focuses on the need for Africans to rediscover who they are, independent of their assimilated Western values and ways of thinking and behaving.

South African professor and former Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of the Witswatersrand M. W. Makgoba (1997), using a more practical and problem-focused approach to bring matters back to the social scientists, sees a prominent and practical role for African social scientists in the post-colonial reconstruction of Africa. He writes:Africa has faced some of the great social changes in this century in terms of race, ethnicity, politics, violence, labour relations and industrialisation.

Graduates in the social sciences are going to be a critical component to the success of African democracies as they struggle to emerge from the mess in which they have been. Universities are not only essential for the training and nurturing of highly-skilled scholars in this area, but are poised to make a unique contribution to the overall development of post-colonial Africa (1997:180).

African Psychological Characteristics

All the scholars surveyed believe there are categories and processes of thought that are unique to Africa. African scholars also believe that the African way of organizing and cognitively engaging the world derives from a strongly restrictive indigenous sociocultural milieu, and that this approach to social life and the broader world has been negatively effected by Western cultural influences. Regrettably, however, the African scholars surveyed sometimes use what is normally regarded to be social scientific terminology in making reference to what they regard to be widespread African psychological and cultural characteristics, yet do not clearly define or qualify such usage.

With the exception of Geyekye (1988), they also fail to clearly and consistently link their assertions and arguments to historical and ethnographic data. For example, political scientist and historian Ali A. Mazrui, in his most recent attempt to place Kiswahili language as a crucial element in East Africa’s political and economic development and ultimate regional integration, refers to the “East African mind” as follows: “The psychology of living together is also undergoing a change – and Kiswahili is part of the new East African mind in communion with the modern world” (Mazrui and Mazrui 1995:134).

Further, Mazrui’s collaborator and linguist, Alamin M. Mazrui, in a discussion of nationalism and the contributions of African Americans to Africa, states that “African Americans have made important philosophical and political contributions to the formation of movements like Negritude, pan-Africanism, and the African personality” (1995:161, emphasis mine). Nyasani (1997) is no more reticent in his vaguely defined references to the “African mind” and its characteristics.

He believes that “in the same way reference is made to the Greek or Roman civilization, it must be quite appropriate and legitimate to refer to a particular strand of mind that is quite peculiar to Africa and which shapes the prevailing conditions or permits itself to adapt to those conditions. .There is a distinctive feature about the African mind which seems to support the claim that the mind in black Africa may not necessarily operate in the same strict pattern as minds elsewhere in the world. It is the way our mind functions and operates under certain conditions that we are able to arrogate to ourselves a peculiar status, social identification and geographical label” (1997:51-55, emphases mine). According to Nyasani (1997:56-57), African, Asian and European minds are products of unique “cultural edifices” and “cultural streams” that arose from environmental conditioning and long-standing cultural traditions. Within the African cultural stream, Nyasani claims, are psychological and moral characteristics pertaining to African identity, personality and dignity.

Makgoba (1997) goes further and argues that throughout the African Diaspora peoples of African descent: “are linked by shared values that are fundamental features of African identify and culture. These, for example, include hospitality, friendliness, the consensus and common framework-seeking principle, ubuntu, and the emphasis on community rather than on the individual. These features typically underpin the variations of African culture and identity everywhere. The existence of African identity is not in doubt” (1997:197-198).

Regarding personality characteristics he believes to be inherent in the African mind, Nyasani identifies and discusses sociality, patience, tolerance, sympathy and acceptance as: “areas in which the African mind seems to reveal itself in a somewhat dramatic way. It reveals itself through what may rightly be called a congenital trait of sociality or sociability. It further reveals itself as a virtuous natural endowment of patience and tolerance. And lastly it manifests itself as a natural disposition for mutual sympathy and acceptance.

These three areas then appear to serve as important landmarks in the general description of the phenomenology of the African mind” (1997:57, emphases mine). Caught in a social pyramid characterized by a one-way vertical authority structure and a two-way horizontal family and communal support system, the African mind, beset with superstition and destabilized by Western acculturation, is relatively unilinear, uncritical, lacking in initiative and therefore “encapsulated,” says Nyasani.

This, Nyasani (1997) insists, has been extremely negative for Africa, especially in terms of the African individual’s creativity and ability to innovate:What we experience in the practical life of an African is the apparent stagnation or stalemate in his social as well as economic evolution. It is quite evident that the social consequences of this unfortunate social impasse (encapsulation) can be very grave especially here the process of acculturation and indeterminate enculturation is taking place at an uncontrollable pace. … By and large, it can safely be affirmed that social encapsulation in Africa works both positively and negatively. It is positive in as far as it guarantees a modicum of social cohesion, social harmony and social mutual concern. However, in as far as it does not promote fully the exercise of personal initiative and incentive, it can be regarded as negative (Nyasani 1997:130-131, emphases mine).

African Society and the Individual

The African scholars surveyed, with the possible exception of Ghanian philosopher Kwame Gyekye (1988), regard African concepts of the individual and self to be almost totally dependent on and subordinate to social entities and cultural processes. Kenyan theology professor John S. Mbiti (1969 and 1992), for example, believes that the individual has little latitude for self determination outside the context of the traditional African family and community.

He writes: “Whatever happens to the individual happens to the whole group, and whatever happens to the whole group happens to the individual. The individual can only say: ‘I am, because we are; and since we are, therefore I am. ‘ This is a cardinal point in the understanding of the African view of man” (1969:109). For Ghanaian philosopher Kwame Gyekye (1988), the individual, although originating from and inextricably bound to his family and community, nevertheless possesses a clear concept of himself as a distinct person of volition.

It is from this combined sense of personhood and communal membership that the family and community expect individuals to take personally enhancing and socially responsible decisions and actions. Although he accepts that the dominant entity of African social order is the community, Gyekye believes “it would be more correct to describe that order as amphibious, for it manifests features of both communality and individuality. African social thought seeks to avoid the excesses of the two exaggerated systems, while allowing for a meaningful, albeit uneasy, interaction between the individual and the society” (1988:31-32). Agreeing with Gyekye, Senegalese philosopher Leopold Senghor (1966) regards traditional African society to be “based both on the community and on the person and in which, because it was founded on dialogue and reciprocity, the group had priority over the individual without crushing him, but allowing him to blossom as a person” (1966:5).

South African philosophy professor Augustine Shutte (1993), citing the Xhosa proverb umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu (a person is a person through persons), writes: This (proverb) is the Xhosa expression of a notion that is common to all African languages and traditional cultures. It is concerned both with the peculiar interdependence of persons on others for the exercise, development and fulfilment of their powers that is recognised in African traditional thought, and also with the understanding of what it is to be a person that underlies this.

In European philosophy of whatever kind, the self is always envisaged as something “inside” a person, or at least as a kind of container of mental properties and powers. In African thought it is seen as “outside,” subsisting in relationship to what is other, the natural and social environment. In fact the sharp distinction between self and world, a self that controls and changes the world and is in some sense “above” it, this distinction so characteristic of European philosophy, disappears.

Self and world are united and intermingle in a web of reciprocal relations (1993:46-47). In contrast to Gyekye’s mutually enhancing understanding and Shutte’s idea that the community empowers and inculcates “personness,” Nyasani (1997) possesses a far less egalitarian view of the individual in African society. According to Nyasani, the African individual hardly knows how to act outside the context of his community’s prescriptions and proscriptions.

For Nyasani, the existence of the individual in African society is a “quasi-dissolution into the reality of others for the sake of the individual’s existence” (1997:60). For him, “everything boils down to the ‘me’ in the ‘we’ or rather to the survival of the self through the enhancement and consolidation of the ‘we’ as a generic whole…. Thus, in Africa, the individual will go to all lengths to ascertain the condition of the corporate ‘we’ and to play his part, if necessary, to restore the balance of wholesomeness” (1997:81-82).

There are many particularistic studies of the attitudes and values of Africans by African and non-African scholars that support the assertions made by Nyasani and others regarding African concepts of self and the place of the individual in African societies .

The African Family and Community

Nyasani (1997) identifies the traditional African family as a setting wherein the vertical power structure of the society is introduced and sustained as predominant over the freedom of individuals. For Nyasani there is a “fundamental difference between the traditional African child and a child in the Western culture.

The child in Africa was muzzled right from the outset and was thereby drilled into submission to authority from above” (1997:129). Within the communal context, Nyasani (1997) argues that Africans exhibit an”endemic and congenital trait of what could be described as a natural benign docility generally brought about by years of blind social submission and unquestioning compliance to the mystique of higher authority that reigns surreptitiously yet effectively in all black African societies in varying degrees.

This benign natural docility is generally regarded as positive, legitimate and virtuous strictly within the context of a traditional social regime” (1997:113, emphases mine). Community norms, he says”are merely received but never subjected to the scrutiny of reason to establish their viability and practicability in the society. Maybe, it is because of this lack of personal involvement and personal scrutiny that has tended to work to the disadvantage of the Africans especially where they are faced with a critical situation of reckoning about their own destiny and even dignity” (Nyasani 1997:63-69).

Steven Shalita (1998), Kampala bureau chief for The East African, the sub-region’s premier English weekly newspaper, blames the colonial past, in part, for African passivity and complacency. He argues that a “passive attitude to life is common in many parts of Africa, where most people are satisfied with the minimum. Many Africans prefer to engage in subsistence farming rather than farming for profit and even then, they wait for some bureaucrat to tell them about food security to save them from starvation when drought strikes. This complacency by ordinary people can partly be blamed on the colonial legacy which put such emphasis on government. It caused them to believe that government owed them a living and if things went wrong, why then government was to blame and must find a solution” (1998:10).

The African World View

Senghor (1966), in comparing Africans and Europeans, argues that there is a unique African worldview focused on what he describes as “being” and “life forces. ” He writes(T)he African has always and everywhere presented a concept of the world which is diametrically opposed to the traditional philosophy of Europe.

The latter is essentially static, objective, dichotomous; it is, in fact, dualistic, in that it makes an absolute distinction between body and soul, matter and spirit. It is founded on separation and opposition, on analysis and conflict. The African, on the other hand, conceives the world, beyond the diversity of its forms, as a fundamentally mobile yet unique reality that seeks synthesis. This reality is being, in the ontological sense of the word, and it is life force.

For the African, matter in the sense the Europeans understand it, is only a system of signs which translates the single reality of the universe: being, which is spirit, which is life force. Thus, the whole universe appears as an infinitely small, and at the same time infinitely large, network of life forces…” (1966:4). Shutte (1993), like Senghor, argues that the force or energy of life (seriti) is at the center of, sustains and permeates the traditional African world view. As such it”is the most fundamental (feature) in traditional African world-views.

It is moreover a dynamic system in that the force of everything, at least all living things, is continuously being either strengthened or weakened. Human beings continuously influence each other, either directly or indirectly by way of sub-human forces or through the ancestors” (1993:52-54). From Nyasani’s (1997:97-100) perspective, the world view of the African under colonialism became one where African cultural traditions, beliefs and behaviors were regarded by Africans to be inferior when compared to non-African ways.

This, he says, resulted in self-loathing among Africans. In fact, he asserts, the world view of most contemporary Africans was replaced by and therefore is in many ways indistinguishable from the European world view.

African Responses to Foreign Influences

In general, the authors surveyed argue that the African individual’s response to overpowering foreign influences has been and remains derived from the personal strategy he uses for survival within the African family and community context unquestioning acceptance and conformity. Therefore, the larger world, like his family and communal milieu, presents the African individual with an equally formidable set of circumstances and requirements he is conditioned not to challenge, is dependent on and from which he cannot escape. Makgoba (1997) clearly identifies the motives behind the interest of this larger world of non-Africans as follows: “Knowledge about African people is always political, useful in maintaining intellectual neo-colonialism, propagates

Western culture, helps generate and perpetuate an inferiority complex (in Africans), fosters individualism amongst Africans, disrupts organisation and unity in the (African) community because there is inherent fear of a united, organised Afrocentric community, or a combination of all of the above. In short, we are (regarded to be) a people who can only succeed, realise our potential and destiny by being controlled, policed, nursed and guided by Europeans.

We are (therefore) incapable of being masters of our own destiny” (1997:205). Concerning the impact of foreign socioeconomic ideology, Gyekye (1988) argues that preeminent African leaders such as Senghor, Nyerere and Nkrumah, all of whom underwent advanced Western education, incorrectly regarded Western socialism to be compatible with traditional African communalism. The consequences of their efforts to use Western socialist ideology as a framework for nation-building in Africa were devastating, he says.

Gyekye argues that African communalism is “essentially and basically a socio-ethical doctrine, not economic; whereas socialism, as I understand it, is primarily an economic arrangement, involving the public control of all the dynamics of the economy.  (Not) everything that can be asserted of communalism can be asserted also for socialism, and vice-versa” (1988:24-26). Kenyan philosopher D. A. Masolo (1995) agrees that “the failures of Nyerere’s ujamaa were due, more than anything else, to the poor sociological assessment of the causes of the apparent communalistic ‘attitudes’ in African traditional social relations . Taking the communalistic phenomenon of African traditional society as a given, Nyerere proceeded to inappropriately build upon it a social-political structure- the ujamaa system” (1995:27-28). Culturally, it is as if the traditional African script of “submit to family and community authority and immerse yourself in and partake of all group values and norms” was rewritten during the colonial period. Through force, Western education and missionary proselytization, the colonialists subordinated traditional African authority and the values and norms of African communalism in the minds of Africans.

This new anti-African script, argues Nyasani (1997), remains deeply imbeded in the minds of contemporary Africans to the point that they:”have adopted and assimilated wholesale whatever the West has to offer. The end result is not just a cultural betrayal but a serious case of self-dehumanization and outright self-subversion both in terms of dignity and self-esteem. Indeed there is no race on earth that abhors its own culture and is so easily prepared to abdicate it and flirt with experimental ideas which promise no more than vanity, to a large extent, like the African race.

Africa is simply overwhelmed and decisively submerged by the never-receding tide of cultural imperialism” (1997:126-128). Psychologically, Nyasani argues that the Africans’ “natural benign docility” contributed to and exacerbated Africa’s widespread social and cultural demise via Western acculturation. He argues that “it would not be difficult to imagine the ripe conditions encountered at the dawn of European imperialism for unbridled exploitations and culture emasculations which left many an African society completely distraught and culturally defrocked.

Indeed the exploiting schemers must have found a ready market glutted with cultural naiveties for quick but effective alienation” (1997:113-114). The post-colonial era has been no different, Nyasani says, in that contemporary “black Africa is painfully crucified on the cross of blackmailers, arm-twisters and their forever more enslaving technologies and each nail of the cross belongs to the economic aid donor nation”.

Regarding the impact of Westernization on African community and family life, Preston Chitere (see Kimani 1998), Kenyan rural sociologist at the University of Nairobi, offers the following observations regarding the current state of the African family in Kenya, a state or condition that exists in many other sub-Saharan African nations:”The effects of capitalism are already being felt in our families. Individualism in society is increasing. Even families in rural areas like to operate in isolation, and those who offer any help are keen to help their immediate families only. The (conjugal) family is becoming more independent.

The loss of community networks and the development of individualism have resulted in (increased occurrences of) suicide, loneliness, drug abuse and mental illness. The communal system is breaking down. The extended family had certain functions to perform, for instance, to reconcile couples at loggerheads with each other, but this is no longer the case. It is no one (else’s) business to know what’s happening in one’s marriage today (Kimani 1998:1).

“Ghanaian historian Osei (1971:62-63) believes that Africa should chart its future from its indigenous cultural traditions and adopt nd adapt only those aspects of non-African cultures that are compatible with Africa’s needs, goals and circumstances–namely, a scientific perspective and Western educational practices. Taking a broader perspective, Thairu (1975:168-169) argues for a future of greater regional integration through educational and cultural exchanges within and between African nations. This, he says, will bring into the open pan-African cultural similarities, promote more widespread understanding and tolerance on the continent, and contribute to greater overall African unity.

Philosopher Gyekye (1988) shares much of Nyasani, Makgoba and Thairu’s concern over Africans too often forsaking indigenous African values and their wholesale and uncritical adoption of Western ideologies and institutions. One of the most unusual efforts among contemporary African scholars to apply traditional African concepts to national development is that of South African Lovemore Mbigi of the Ubuntu Institute near Pretoria. Professor Mbigi (1997), freely using expressions such as “ancient African wisdom,” argues that the traditional African concept ubuntu (“I am because we are. I can only be a person through others. ) is useful for African corporate and organizational executives, managers and others pursuing organizational or national transformation. Mbigi argues that “birthing rituals are important in African societies.

Leaders must carry out the birthing rituals of creativity and innovation in organisations. They must have a sense of legacy and selflessness if they are going to define the ultimate mystery and meaning of human existence to their followers” (1997:37). The emphasis on Africa’s traditional past as found in the writings of Nyasani and the other African scholars reviewed in this paper, however, is not without its African detractors.

Kenyan philosopher Masolo (1995), for example, in his discussion of “ethnophilosophy” (formal efforts to systematically describe traditional African beliefs and practices) finds little in Africa’s past that can be applied to the present and future of the continent. He believes that”philosophers who are seeking to revive and reinstate the traditional African philosophy as the appropriate philosophy for Africa today are doing a disservice to Africa in trying to pretend that that philosophy is still sufficient or useful or applicable to Africa’s needs, that it is able to cope with the new and modern problems and issues facing Africa today as brought in with encroaching modernization. And because this encroachment requires new methods of investigation and analysis, which must be diversified due to the complexity of the situation, ethnophilosophy just has no place in it” (1995:225). Similarly, Gyekye (1996) abhors the fact that ancestors continue to be of paramount importance in modern and traditional African life.

He also recommends that for Africa to progress scientifically and technologically, “science should be rescued from the morass of (traditional) African religious and mystical beliefs” (1996:174). Nevertheless, Gyekye insists there are many “cultural values and practices of traditional Africa (that) can be considered positive features of the culture and can be accommodated in the scheme of African modernity, even if they must undergo some refinement and pruning to become fully harmonious with the spirit of modern culture and to function satisfactorily within that culture” (ibid. . He discusses these traditional African values at length under the following chapter headings: humanity and brotherhood, communalism and individualism, morality, the family, economic system, chiefship and politics, human rights, knowledge and wisdom, and aesthetics. Kenyan social commentator Mwiti Mugambi (1998) pragmatically argues that the future of Africa can only be forged from accepting and mending the sociocultural present. For Mugambi it is only from aggressively addressing the practical problems found within African nations that improvements in Africa can be made.

Colonial cultural hangovers, pervasive Western cultural inundation, and aid-giving arm-twisting donors are, he argues, here to stay and no amount of looking into Africa’s past will make them go away. He asserts that:”Colonisation and westernisation have brought a permanent and irreversible change in Africa. … As long as we continue talking of Africanisation and ‘going back to our roots’ yet we remain quiet on the reality of modern society, we will sound foolish, out-dated and out of touch with reality.

What African writers and scholars should do is deal with the issues that are afflicting our society such as violence, corruption and rising costs of basic needs, rather than waste time on the issue of ‘Africanness’. The effects of Westernisation are here to stay and the faster we adapt to living with them the better for us and the generations to come” (1998:III). Finally, Sam Mwale (1998), journalist and commentator on Kenyan public policy issues, writing on U. S. President Clinton’s recent visit to the continent, believes that the U. S. head of state’s references to an “Africa that works” and an “African Renaissance” were premature.

Mwale argues that, yes, the nations that Mr. Clinton visited have, in fact, instituted significant reforms; however, “Africa does not work” in three of Africa’s four largest regional economies Nigeria, Kenya and Congo-Kinshasa. Mwale believes that a true renaissance can only be said to have occurred when fundamental changes in how African societies operate have taken place. That “economic development on the continent is taking place in a cultural and philosophical vacuum. The cultural foundations of virtually all African nations remain undefined–an unrefined mish-mash of traditional, colonial and neo-colonial cultures and identities.

From this have often arisen the clan, ethnic, racial and religious fault-lines that have been the bane of independent Africa” (1998:23). For Mwale, an Africa “that works” would show signs of reversing the crushing conditions of poverty and low economic opportunity under which over eighty percent of Africa’s people now live. Regrettably, says Mwale, not one of the countries mentioned as “working” has as its first budgetary priority solving these two most basic of problems. Mwale’s solution to Africa’s future lies in the emergence of ethnically pluralistic societies on the continent.

He argues that: “despite the wonderful talk of an African renaissance, there is no evidence of attempts to evolve an all-embracing culture which allows a healthy expression of diversity. Without a mosaic (national) culture that provides room for co-existence, there cannot be an inclusive political philosophy that allows all to become stake holders in government. Neither can there be a moral order–upon which all development is predicated without a solid cultural foundation. Africa’s post-colonial trauma results from institutions, governance and economic development models without any cultural underpinnings” (ibid).

In the 1960s, cultural relativism came to dominate the social sciences and civil rights emerged at the top of America’s sociopolitical agenda. Both historical movements were welcome and necessary for the emergence of a greater respect for the individual and his humanity, and for acknowledging and respecting cultural diversity in a rapidly shrinking global community. These changes were significant and a very much needed improvement over the narrow, ethnocentric approaches to ethnicity that preceded them.

Regrettably, the response within the social sciences to the ascendance of cultural relativity and heightened ethnic sensitivity and politicization was to retreat from studying broad patterns of culture and cultural adaptation toward a narrower focus on particularistic studies of societies and cultures. This resultant lack of social scientific interest in the study of the broader aspects of African culture and personality manifests itself in the often vague, inappropriate and less than effective manner with which the African scholars surveyed in this paper, for example, use social scientific terms and concepts.

Despite the lack of social scientific interest in this form of inquiry and the fact that there is no unanimity regarding the meaning of culture and personality terms and concepts, there are nevertheless many terminological and conceptual usages cited in the foregoing excerpts that easily exceed or violate the most liberal of social scientific definitions. This is of concern because the high intellectual status of the writers legitimizes such usage. It also misinforms and misleads non-social scientists and other readers of their works.

For example, an editorial essay in the March 23-29, 1998 edition of The East African, East Africa’s best English weekly newspaper, made the following comment on U. S. president Clinton’s 1998 visit to Rwanda: “His aim in Kigali will be to condemn the 1994 genocide and to stress that ethnic killing must be rooted out of the African psyche. Genocide is by no means unique to Africa but our record of violence stemming from tribalism is a bad one, as recent incidents in Kenya, for instance, attest.

If President Clinton can convey the repugnance of the international community for this shameful and recurring madness that afflicts Africa, more power to him” (emphases mine). This reference to the “African psyche” may well have been derived from someone on the East African’s editorial staff having read and been convinced of the validity of such usage as it appears in Nyasani’s (1997) book of the same title . I do not agree with those who argue that the non-participation of social scientists in group culture and personality studies is as it should be.

I do accept and agree that purposeful insensitivity to the validity of any social group’s ethnicity, values and beliefs is never acceptable and should be challenged from all quarters. However, cultural relativity, social science particularism, and social activism should not be allowed to block, overtly or subtly, responsible inquiry into the patterns and processes of contemporary global cultural adaptation. The African scholars, as evidenced by their generalistic yet persuasive works cited in this paper, are obviously undeterred by such inhibiting influences.

As such, they should be encouraged and joined by social scientists in these areas of inquiry. Both levels of inquiry, the particular and general, are needed if for no other reason than to promote more informed, accurate, and effective international discourse and relations. An emphasis on sociocultural differences and uniqueness is important and, in fact, essential for enhancing individual identity and social cohesion, and furthering sociopolitical goals. Particularism, however, needs to be counterbalanced and contextualized by studies that emphasize cross-cultural similarities such as the works cited in this paper.

If not, the evils of cultural stereotypes, ethnocentrism and bigotry spawned by past culture and personality studies will be replaced by particularism’s negative outcomes of greater cultural exclusivity, arrogance, intolerance, xenophobia, mistrust, and inter-group conflict. Put simply, it is generally recognized that conflict is more likely to arise among peoples who accentuate their differences and uniqueness rather than among those who acknowledge and celebrate their similarities.

If nothing else, there should be a freeing-up of academic and public discourse such that sociocultural uniqueness is respected and the characteristics shared by related or similar sociocultural groups are acknowledged, discussed, and used to find common ground for resolving conflict and sustaining cooperation. Regrettably, free discourse of this kind does not widely characterize the current state of discourse within academia.

Such discourse and goals are also lacking in international (especially inter-governmental) relations where national and sub-national sociopolitical uniqueness, competition and efforts to control and dominate are most often touted and pursued. In light of both the strengths and the weaknesses of contemporary African scholars’ efforts at generalizing about African culture and personality, I encourage among African and non-African social scientists a reinvention of African ethnology and crosscultural studies.

To the particularist core of the social sciences should be added an inter-disciplinary approach where the focus is on African core cultural values, cultural themes and, most importantly, widespread patterns and processes of cultural adaptation. The focus should not be on stereotypes, typical personalities, modernity coefficients, etc. , but rather on adaptive cultural processes and trends. The descriptions and insights derived should be firmly grounded in the substantive data of history, particularist ethnographies and applied anthropology case studies.

Reinventing ethnology along these lines will not be easy. The social sciences, in the United States in particular, it appears, are suffering from a malady similar to that in the humanities described by University of California, Santa Cruz Professor Emeritus John Ellis (1996). In his book Literature Lost: Social Agendas and the Corruption of the Humanities, Ellis argues that:”academic literary criticism has been transformed” from traditional inquiry into a overarching search for relevance and significance applicable to modern society.

That literature and humanistic inquiry are subverted to quests for political power such that “the universities should have an overtly political function, work directly for social and political change, and inculcate a particular political viewpoint in their students. ” Every piece of literature, Ellis argues, is too often reduced to issues of race, gender and class where expressions of victimization and oppression are focused on to the exclusion of all else.

Ellis argues that “if we are determined to take from literature only the attitudes that we bring to it, it ceases to have any point”. A large group of contemporary scholars, Ellis notes, “have no real interest in what literature might say (in its full diversity), only an interest in what they can use it for” (1996:13). What Ellis describes for the humanities is also true for Western social science, at least where culture and personality studies are concerned.

Social scientists and/or social activists who seek to promote greater diversity in the controlling sectors of society, and related agendas, are too often the first to restrict social science inquiry to areas of theory and methodology that promote or at minimum support their particular brand of political and social activism. For example, at present, at least in the U. S. , culture and personality studies or their associated concepts are condemned when they are seen as harmful to social and political change, yet embraced when they are seen as advancing such causes. This low tolerance for a wide diversity of approaches in the ocial sciences is such that academic freedom is stifled from a fear of offending a colleague at the academy, or being lambasted as being a bigot for suggesting that it may be worthwhile researching and describing core cultural values and broad patterns of cultural adaptation within and between large contemporary populations. If social scientists, as Makgoba (1997) asserts, have a crucial and practical role to play in African socioeconomic development, we must identify particular and general themes and patterns of cultural adaptation and their attendant psychological processes throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

The first step in expanding what are acceptable social science areas of inquiry is to look at what scholars in the lesser developed societies such as those in Africa are focusing on. This paper has made an attempt to move discussion and debate in this direction. The second step is to investigate the validity of specific claims of pan-African cultural and psychological traits and adaptive responses. The assertions made by the African scholars surveyed above suggest new areas of research as follows:1.

Do traditional African authority structures and communal proscriptions and prescriptions give rise to psychological handicaps, such as “natural benign docility” or “mental encapsulation” (Nyasani 1997:113, 130-131), that have and continue to put Africans at a disadvantage when confronting non-African cultural influences? Or, is Gyekye (1988:31-32) correct in asserting that African communalism allows for and demands individual expression and accountability; and that the causes of Africa’s cultural maladaptations are to be found elsewhere?

Are Masolo (1995) and Mugambi (1998) correct in insisting that the solutions to Africa’s problems and its future are not to be found in Africa’s traditional past, rather in addressing the problems of the present, using contemporary methods? >2. Is Nyasani (1997:51-55) justified in insisting there is such a thing as an African “mentality” or “psyche” that arose from and reflects a long history of social, cultural and environmental adaptation and acculturation?

Is he justified in positing the existence of African, European and Asian “cultural streams and edifices” (1997:57)? >3. Mazrui and Mazrui (1995:1-3) argue that Kiswahili has promoted “detribalization” in East Africa in the sense of “declining ‘ethnic behavior'”. Yet, they say there is “stable or even increasing ethnic loyalty in terms of emotional attachment”. Do ethnographic and other sources support this? Attitude and values surveys should be conducted to test this assertion. If true, how widespread and intense are these ethnic “behaviors” and “loyalties”? gt;4. Are prominent Kenyan social commentator Philip Ochieng’s (1998) assertions about Luo culture, group personality and origins valid? Has Luo cultural arrogance undermined their pursuit of political power in Kenya? How do Luos view their history and culture vis-a-vis other tribes and ethnic groups?

Conclusion

Numerous core values, cultural themes and patterns of cultural adaptation unique to Africa have been presented in this paper, as identified in the writings of selected African scholars. Most of the writers effectively argue that there is a widespread pattern of social and cultural maladaptation within African societies evidenced by continuing national development under-achievement and less than optimal regional socioeconomic integration. This is regarded by the majority of the writers to be a post-colonial legacy, the result of ongoing external interference, and a now endemic and intense African admiration of Western culture over African culture.

The African scholars’ prescriptions for Africa’s future focus on economic independence through educational processes that combine Western techno-economic theory and practice with the best of African sociocultural traditions. Overall, the efforts of the African scholars examined in this paper are significant and provocative contributions to understanding Africa and its peoples. However, their works, excluding Gyekye (1988), are not clearly or consistently tied to ethnographic and historical data. This omission weakens their often innovative insights and arguments.

It also prohibits independent cross-cultural comparison and verification of their generalizations and persuasive assertions. Finally, their conclusions and recommendations are weakened by their not adequately addressing cultural and behavioral variation and deviance within and outside Africa. Social scientists, including ethnologists, should join African scholars outside the social sciences in studying the broader core values, cultural themes and adaptive responses of Africans to indigenous sociocultural circumstances and external influences.

Regrettably, eminent Western scholars such as Eric Wolf (1994) continue to encourage anthropologists along the narrow path of particularism in their studies of culture in order to “take much greater account of heterogeneity and contradictions in cultural systems” (1994:7). Conceptions of race, culture and people will indeed remain “perilous ideas”, as Professor Wolf calls them, if social scientists continue to avoid such broader global cultural landscapes that in fact unite us, and focus only on particularistic studies of societies and cultures that separate us and allow us to stand proudly apart.

What is worse, however, is that without generalistic studies of cross-cultural similarities and broad patterns of cultural adaptation serving to complement particularistic studies, we risk increasing the global occurrence and intensity of cultural isolationism and arrogance, xenophobia, inter-cultural misunderstanding, and international conflict. Perilous ideas, indeed! Anthropology should not allow itself to be influenced by or become the exclusive domain of contemporary Western culture, political correctness, or social and political activism.

Anthropology, and ethnology in particular, should freely pursue a full range of understandings of culture, specific cultures and their similarities and differences, the processes of regional and global cultural adaptation, and how such knowledge can improve human living conditions. Particularistic studies of cultures, groups and sociocultural topics, alone, are not enough. To this must be added the study of core cultural values and themes, patterns of regional cultural adaptation and global acculturation.

The imprecise usage of cultural and psychological terminology and concepts by scholars outside the social sciences and the social science community’s refusal to attend to large group psychological processes and the broader patterns of human cultural adaptation are significant matters. They tend to draw attention away from our common humanity and destiny, and impede understanding of on-going global cultural processes of utmost importance.

However, all of us, Africans and non-Africans, scholars, social scientists and the public, have a personal responsibility to ensure, by all means possible, that such broad cultural and psychological understandings are not used to legitimize injustices or promote malevolent struggles for political power and dominance. Endnotes(1)The opinions and conclusions expressed in this paper are solely those of the author. They in no way reflect or otherwise represent the policies or official positions of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service or any other U. S. Government entity.

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The Contribution in the Field of Psychology

1-All about the contribution in the field of psychology with psychologist Sigmund Freud: As Sigmund Freud was Austrian neurologist and he was the famous founder for psychology field and that the reason, he known as Psychoanalysis and while the years of psychology he was a dominating school of concept and still quietly strong.

His age was around 73-year-old and his birth date was May 6, 1856 and he died in September 23, 1939. Freud’s show with a group of therapeutic skills work on talk therapy and its useful for scheme for example dream clarification, free relationship and transference. The work of Sigmund Freud on psychology, as exoteric culture also used his ideas and there were topics for epitome, Freudian slips, denial and completion of unconscious wish, moreover the attitude is also used in language which used in daily routine.

The great impression and famous psychologist of the twenty century, Sigmund Freud was on number three and he was popularly known as founder of psychanalysis, there was the study and theory of psychosexual development and the Id, superego ego, Free relationship and Dream clarification.

Contribution in the field of psychology: There is no inquiry that Sigmund Freud had a plentiful effect on the psychology field, paying little heed to the impression of his chance. Through his work and hypothesis, he mentioned that every single change and sickness is not based on psychology. Such as, he establishes the social qualifications which effect on science and conduct.

Sigmund Freud’s training and compositions added to our understanding of identity, medical psychology, human improvement, and uncommon psychology. He was the beginner of psychology school in Austria. As There were many psychologists impressed by Sigmund and his daughter. In 1896, Sigmund Freud was the one of person who used the condition of psychoanalysis. By that time his theory was showed up.

The theory of normal and abnormal didn’t make by Sigmund Freud but he was the one of person who made them popular. Freud won this with the help of his theory of mental reality: id, personality, and superego.

2-I admire him and selection of him for my presentation-There are number of reasons to choose that person and admire as his popularity for psychology was the famous mandate thinker and psychologist of the twenty century and he got third position in this field. Sigmund Freud displayed the theory of personally improvement, and that controversial image structured by struggle with three fundamental ways of human brain: id, ego and superego.

That is the reason, I feel that, these three formed develops as kids improving their personality, as victorious raising to adept of child and every form is important for it, moreover the timing and timetable in every develops is very necessary for kids to victoriously arrive rising adulthood. Also, with the help of his theory and work that clarify, there is no connection between mental issues with psychological reasons and individuals can get recognize personality by him or herself.

3- The psychologist Sigmund Freud and his work based on this course: In this course, we have covered Sigmund Freud adding the normal and personality. He emphasized that significant of the abnormal mind and a major expectation of Freud theory is that the unconscious brain handles the behavior to biggest degree than people are not believing.

The convert unconscious mind into conscious is aim of psychanalysis: Sigmund Freud believe that there are different three levels to consciousness for epitome: precocious, conscious and unconscious.

  • Conscious- In present time, which we are doing with active mind that called conscious and its impressed our personalities and behaviors. The ideas, feelings and memories for that we are aware (Hubbard 2018).
  • Preconscious- Nowadays we are not aware for sudden situations or problems, but there is good thing we are able to be a conscious and get awareness to handle these problems, also for all us
    feelings and memories as well ideas, we cannot think consciously but still we can convert into conscious awareness (Hubbard, 2018).
  • Unconscious- Nowadays, what activities we are doing without awareness that called unconscious and still we can influence our feelings, memories and thoughts. Our all unpleasant memories even aim and wishes that are not included in consciousness (Hubbard 2018).

According to Freud’ theory and his three fundamentals which reflect our mind-id, superego and ego: –

  1. Id- when we want something like I want chocolate ice-cream and cake same time (Id).
  2. Superego- when my mind saying I do not have money for both things(superego).
  3. Ego-when ego decided that once I can have one thing another one I will buy another day. (Ego).

4- Sigmund Freud and his work related to your everyday life;

Examples 1st -As according to Freud’ theory of personality, behavior and development same as my ECE field I must get information about all these things as well I can understand about child’s need and interest with that I can plan activities for them also children can improve their confidence level.

2nd -As we have different levels of mind for examples, when I am conscious for my exam I read and learn properly because my mind is aware but if I am unconscious that time I cannot ready anything for exam and same time I am thinking about other situations, however if I am preconscious , that time I can convert my mind into conscious and can work on my exact task.

3rd- According to Freud’ three fundaments id, superego and ego with this I can judge about my situation, like I want to eat pizza(id) but same time I have to buy a book for study(superego) at time my ego make me understand I do not have enough money so first I have to buy book and next time I can eat pizza(ego), its very useful for me.

References

  • Biography.com. (2017/2014, December/April 4/2). Sigmund Freud Biography. Retrieved from The Biography.com website: https://www.biography.com/people/sigmund-freud-9302400
  • Phillips, A. (2014). Becoming Freud: the making of a psychoanalyst. Retrieved from https://senecacollege-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=01SENC_ALMA5148410560003226;context=L;vid=01SE
  • Hubbard, K. (2018). Psychoanalytic Approach [PowerPoint Presentation]. Retrieved from My. Seneca.

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