I. Connecting Real-World Experiences to Theoretical Concepts

CHAPTER 4 Knowledge to Practice

I. CONNECTING REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCES TO THEORETICAL CONCEPTS

Family Strengths 1. Observe any of the survival-oriented television series (such as Survivor, Lost, or Jericho), and identify how family strengths contribute to the success of the characters. Strengths could include resilient attitude, a sense of humor, financial resources, shared goals. 2. Observe family members at the dinner table—interacting, arguing, discussing—and note the general tone of conversation. Informal observations can be made at the mall, at a fast-food restaurant, or at a park.

Systems 1. Workplaces as Systems: for these concepts from systems theory, identify workplace examples. Whole greater than sum of parts: the company’s annual report portrays “whole” results based on many individiuals’ efforts. Boundaries: ______Open/closed systems: ______Feedback, positive and negative: ______

2. Create your own cartoon or comic strip with the thoughts or language that reflect feedback in the workplace.

2 II. THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS WITH DISCUSSION

Biosocial The nature-nurture debate includes study of socialization. Traditional socialization theory holds that children model after the adults who care for them, with special emphasis on parents’ influence. Another socialization theory focuses on the group. The theory considers a person’s group identity as well as the influences of children’s peers. The following activities highlight group socialization theory in action. 1. Group identity—What movies or television programs draw on themes of adolescents identifying with a small peer group? The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off are classic examples. 2. Childhood peer group—Theory suggests that the elementary school grades are the most influential phase for children to look to peers for information. Most of American society places children in same-age groups (such as grade of school). Look for instances in the media where children socialize in mixed-age groups. 3. Peer pressure—Behaviors and consequences around peer pressure are most easily spotted in groups of children and young people. Social psychologists document that peer pressure is a function of adult life, also. What examples can you think of for these age groups? (Move beyond the obvious!) Elementary school age: buying video games, ______. Adolescence: drinking alcohol, ______. Adulthood: lawn care, ______. 4. If you were to work with middle school youths on the topic of peer pressure, what activities could you facilitate that would never involve an adult’s speaking voice? Starter example: Middle school students have the ability to create a podcast about smoking for distribution among their peers. 5. Influential adult—Regardless of the power of childhood peer groups, research has repeatedly shown that a child’s outcomes can be influenced by the presence of a caring adult, no matter how negative the environment. American television that is directed to young people often ignores or trivializes the role of adults. The big exception is the portrayal of the mentor who helps the child. Common examples are coaches and teachers. Create a list of such characters from the television you watched as a child. How are adults portrayed in the lives of these fictional characters? Dora the Explorer SpongeBob SquarePants Charlie Brown Little Red Riding Hood 6. Differentiation—How a person is differentiated from a setting or social group is sometimes best described by the opposite status: over-identifying with the group. Imagine a typical day for a person who does not differentiate!

Groupie is an informal label for a person who travels (sometimes far and wide) in order to be near a group (often a celebrity group, such as a band). What if this person never participates in the group? Might the groupie actually spend a lot of time alone, just thinking about being in the group?

Stress Locate a stress assessment on-line (use a search term such as “stress quiz”) and take it. 1. Can you spot the variables in the quiz? 2. Compare a quiz for adolescents with a quiz for adults. Would it matter if someone took the quiz not intended for their age range? 3. After looking at several quizzes, think about the impact of the numerical score or the category label of your result. 4. What conditions at the workplace would influence a person’s level of stress?

Feminist theory 1. While not labeled as feminist, Miss Congeniality and Legally Blonde 1 and 2 depict many of the core concepts of feminist theory. What are the concepts and how do these comedies address them? 2. Gender and language—Since the 1960s, textbooks and leisure reading have replaced gender specific terms (such as policeman) with gender neutral terms (such as police officer). List others that you might hear in the workplace, such as man hours, pink collar, and so forth. 3. Egalitarianism—The so-called wage gap compares the pay that a woman makes with the dollar earned by a man. Locate statistics on-line about this gap. Look for statistics that qualify the difference by generation. For example, when all women are counted, the gap is lower than when only younger generation women are counted.

Conflict theory 1. What movies do you think of first when you hear the word conflict? Some people go straight to Saving Private Ryan, but war is only one type of conflict. Can you label the conflicts portrayed in these films? You’ve Got Mail The Family Stone The War of the Roses 2. Citizen Kane and The Great Gatsby are classic films depicting power differentials. Name modern movies that portray people at very different power levels. 3. How does conflict produce a benefit in family? How is it detrimental? Can your conclusions be applied to the workplace, also?

Broken Window 1. Search college Web sites for campus crime statistics. Most public safety offices maintain records of officers’ calls and publish the results annually. How does the record reflect the

4 overall state of the campus community? What difference do the statistics make in the daily life of a student on a particular campus? 2. In a similar search of city or county governments, locate crime statistics and consider their impact on residents and quality of life.

III. WEBLIOGRAPHY http://www.ubc.ca Click: Athletics & Recreation—UBC REC—Awards & Media—The Point—Article Search Search: Player (in the Author Search)—View PDF “The Transition from Student to Professional Lifestyle” The transition from student to professional during the internship can sometimes be a difficult task. Individuals go from an environment where they are meant to learn to one where they are meant to teach, or at least easily recall the information learned in courses to apply to real world scenarios. The University of British Columbia Web site offers a good article, written from the student’s perspective, on this type of transition.

IV. QUIZ QUESTIONS

Multiple-Choice Questions 1. When an observant intern resists sharing a point of view until he or she is sure of how to introduce it or waits for the right time to discuss it, the intern is adopting a technique of: a. wait and see. b. tact and timing. c. wait and tact. d. tact and deliver. 2. Which of the following best describes an example of a personal “change model”? a. Change can be threatening and disturbing. b. Change is dynamic and has exceptional consequences. c. Change works in a circuitous fashion. d. Change is a catalyst for positive reactivity. 3. Which of the following is NOT a start-up skill for adapting to new environments? a. Introduce yourself to new coworkers, handing a business card to each one. b. Schedule a lunch date with coworkers at your prior assignment or schedule a phone or Internet meeting. c. Avoid giving out your new number or e-mail address for at least two weeks. d. On your new computer, import familiar browser settings and even saved Favorites. 4. Rogers’ phrase, “diffusion of technology” is especially apt to describe: a. how farming equipment is used to diffuse vegetable growth. b. how computers and the internet have been adopted by farmers. c. how computers and the internet have been adopted by individuals and society. d. how farming equipment has changed the way farmers diffuse information. 5. In the context of technology diffusion, laggards:

a. are the visible spreaders of technology. b. are those who adopt technology from the suggestion of early adopters. c. are those who wait until the price of technology goes down or the kinks are worked out. d. resist technology whenever possible. 6. Helping professionals are often characterized in one of which of the following two spheres? a. Prevention or intervention b. Prevention or intermission c. Intervention or acceptance d. Acceptance or intermission 7. ______generally refers to treatment taken after problems or at-risk populations are identified. a. Pretension b. Prevention c. Admission d. Intervention 8. ______generally refers to educational efforts to strengthen communities and families. a. Pretension b. Prevention c. Admission d. Intervention 9. A professional whose work is primarily in making interventions when individuals’ crises interfere with daily functioning is a(n): a. conservationist. b. activist. c. interventionist. d. proventialist. 10. In the five levels f family involvement by service providers, level two: a. supports clients’ feelings. b. has brief focused intervention. c. provides family therapy or counseling. d. provides information and advice to families. 11. An analysis of the state of current conditions or services (or lack of) in the community and/or survey of needs for a specific population is called: a. needs assessment. b. population evaluation. c. needs gratification. d. population extraction. 12. The view that takes into account the larger social setting as well as the historical era when developing a theory is: a. quasihistorical. b. sociocultural. c. sociohistorical. d. quasisocial.

6 13. When a theorist views the entirety of a situation or “the big picture” and acknowledges the interconnectedness of multiple parts, this is considered: a. multiple thinking. b. systems thinking. c. connectivity thinking. d. symbiotic thinking. 14. Positive feedback in a system often promotes: a. chaos. b. happy feelings. c. questioning. d. change. 15. Reuben Hill’s ABC-X theory of family crisis predicts that after daily functioning hits bottom, it is possible: a. for the level of functioning to fall into a deficit model. b. for the level of functioning to return to precrisis levels. c. for the level of functioning to never return to precrisis levels. d. for the level of functioning to prevent family members from interacting.

True/False Questions 1. Feedback in a system can be labeled positive only. 2. In feminist theories, the male perspective is never discussed and must be completely removed from the discussion. 3. Conflict resolution is only used as a last resort after brute force has failed. 4. The broken window thesis is controversial and suggests that if a community gets rundown, people living in it will take less care of their neighborhoods and allow crimes to be committed. 5. Andragogy is the study of adult learners. 6. Adult learners are identical to younger learners in their basic characteristics. 7. Fluid intelligence is one’s reasoning ability that does not depend on what has been learned in a culture. 8. The learner who has high interpersonal abilities is highly attuned to self-knowledge and self- understanding and is best left to work with only him or herself. 9. The ecological framework is illustrated by circles representing the multiple environments in which humans exist. 10. As an intern, it is important to provide suggestions on how to improve workplace functioning whenever possible, but especially when you first begin to work within that organization. 11. Resistance to change is not normal, and those who resist change will likely be unsuccessful in the workforce. 12. In level four of the five levels of family involvement, the service provider’s role is to be the trained preventionist and/or interventionist.

13. There are no such things as “normative events” in the lives of human beings. 14. The most pragmatic approach to theory is the eclectic method because it allows freedom to select theory and research pertinent to a specific context. 15. The deficit model of family functioning focuses on the lack of skills or abilities of individual family members.