Question

how would you demonstrate social interest internally in your life and to the community. we have to prepare on reflection paper on social interest in Adlerian therapy class. we have to write down, how we demonstrate social interest inter-intra personally throughout the class.

Answer 1

• Social interest is a capacity inherent in all humans but must be developed and trained. It comes when a person has an inner sense of connectedness and continuity with others and with all of life and is felt by others. Social interest is a highly developed, natural empathy for all. Social interest is lacking more often than we realize.
• I met a man once who delivered a presentation to about fifty people. Before he started, he met each person briefly. Then he remembered every name. I asked him if he used a memory trick. He shared that before meeting people, he addresses any fears of judgment and consciously accepts what he discovers he is judging in himself. This enables him to relax and open to others. He said that most people maintain unconscious self-interest and why so often most cannot remember a person’s name seconds after meeting them. Self-interest trumps social interest.
• Although social interest is recognizable in a person's early childhood, it can also be nurtured and developed over the life course. Encouraging children to be sensitive to the needs of others and try to understand the perspectives of other people is essential to stimulate the growth of the personality dimension.
  
• While social interest has altruistic elements, a sense of psychological well-being accrues from transcending self-centered preoccupations. Finding meaning and purpose in life by participating in endeavors beyond oneself is a key aspect of social interest. Belonging to groups also reduces a sense of isolation and loneliness that can be a part of the human condition.
• Externally,it can be demonstrated by developing social responsibility and helping people,joining social causes and making a difference in the world.The Golden Rule- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,needs to be followed to demonstrate social interest towards the community.
  
• The individual social responsibility includes the engagement of each person towards the community where he lives, which can be expressed as an interest towards what’s happening in the community, as well as in the active participation in the solving of some of the local problems.
• Each community lives its own life that undergoes a process of development all the time. And everyone of us could take part in that development in different ways, for example by taking part in cleaning of the street on which he lives, by taking part in organization of an event, connected with the history of the town or the village or by rendering social services to children without parents or elderly people. The individual social responsibility also could be expressed in making donations for significant for the society causes – social, cultural or ecological.
• Being socially responsible not only requires participating in socially responsible activities like recycling, volunteering and mentoring, but to actually make it a lifestyle. Only through a commitment to embrace and embed social responsibility into your personal value and belief system can you truly become socially responsible in all you do.