Question

Describle several factors that aid and hinder learning from experience.

a. Hinder

Denial -

Projection -

Regression -

Displacement _

Emotional insulation -

Compensation -

Acting Out -

B. Help

Answer 1

Factors that have a negative effect on learning based on past experiences include:

Denial : denial is a defense mechanism which involves falsifying, negating or not accepting reality by altering one’s thought processes or interpretations about negative, anxiety provoking incidences which may be due to one’s own failure. However, such a negation only means that one turns away from real life incidences and cannot fully adapt to the situation.

Projection- projection involves unconscious transfer of one’s own socially unacceptable or embarrassing feelings, thoughts and wishes on to another person so as to avoid the negative consequences of rejection from others. Here, instead of accepting personal responsibility, the ego avoids any moral conflict and reflexivity by putting the unconscious thoughts onto an external agency, thereby severing ties with a part of one’s own emotional life.

Regression- Regresion is an unconscious motivation to avoid anxiety and threat by taking recourse to an early stage of development. the individual displays behaviours which are typical of an earlier developmental stage when s/he had felt secure and dependent. Thus for instance, it is noticed that in moments of crisis and conflicts in marriage, one of the couples may go back to live and seek comfort of his/her parents’s house Just as s/he did during childhood.

Displacement is a situation of finding a safe outlet or vent by adjudicating oneself of one’s unacceptable, often emotionally destructive and pent up feelings directed at someone onto sources which are considered relatively safe. Thus, people are found to often take out their anger at workplace on their family members as the latter are seen as easier and less threatening targets for one’s own aggression.

However, these factors do not imply that learning from experience is always curtailed by emotional responses. Some defense mechanisms have an adaptive value as well and they aid in learning from experiences if used optimally. These include:

Emotional insulation- it is a defense mechanism that unconsciously protects a person against unwanted, anxiety provoking feelings by creating an attitudinal shield of being detached and not caring. A person unconsciously ‘insulates’ the self or protects it by being indifferent in frustrating situations. Insulation is seen as a common strategy in adapting to past experiences in many collectivist cultures where greater value is given to maintaining harmonious relations. As such, a healthy, optimal level of detachment can help to focus attention from the past onto the present challenges and help a person to move in the positive direction.

Compensation- It refers to a mechanism of concealing a psychological difficulty by developing or offsetting in another direction. people often overachieve in one area to compensate for failures in another. Adversity or failure may lead one person to direct his/her energy into excelling above and beyond his/her capacity in another area. Thus, compensation as a defense mechanism helps to overcome feelings of inferiority by replacing them with superiority such as when a fear and repeated failure in a maths course may lead a student to develop extraordinary prowess in a literature course and engage in creative writing.

Acting out- As a defense strategy, acting out is unique as instead of curbing or disguising behaviour and thoughts like other defense mechanisms, it involves a more explicit behavioral manifestation of the underlying thoughts. Typically, acting out involves performing an extreme behavior so as to express thoughts or feelings the person feels incapable of otherwise expressing. Instead of saying, “I'm angry with you,” a person who acts out may instead tear a page into two halves to express his anger. Thus, acting out provides an immediate relief from emotional tension which may b3 caused due to the inability to communicate one’s real feelings in a situation. Thus, if used upto an optimal level, acting out can help to learn how to avoid frustrations in achievement of goals and communicate one’s thoughts without causing lasting intense hsrm either to oneself or to others.