Learning and Self: The Psychology of Adaptation

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It's so funny that Facebook provides canned responses for birthdays, as if we are too lazy to write happy birthday ourselves. We can handle that, at least I can :-)

If you were a student of mine, over the past 10 years, you would know about my "now famous Sunshine Pills". I mentioned I wanted to make a t-shirt, and this awesome student designed these with AI. T-shirts are next.

Tennis is a beautiful sport. Some of my most wonderful experiences in life took place on or around tennis courts. I frequently think back to the days my friends and I practiced with our coach on the San Diego State University courts, when everything still seemed possible. I was naïve but realistic. Visions of me winning tournaments in my 30s, 40s, or older raced through my mind while the stable master (as our coach liked to be called) fed us balls and made funny sounds. We spent hours on the courts with him, playing and dreaming.

The Role of Self and Adaptation in Learning and Development: Chasing Excellence (2024)

Each journey has a beginning and an end. The superior adapter never shies away from challenge and moves forward until the goal is achieved. He accepts meaningful criticism, but the rest he allows in one ear and out the other. He is relentless and never quits until evidence tells him that further progress is not possible. I rarely ever quit a pursuit unless I know further attempts are fruitless. Realization of one’s goals is possible if one transcends barriers and finds the best path to navigate based on his circumstances. Goals may take longer to achieve for some than for others, but no worthwhile goal is achieved without creeping over barriers (The Role of Self and Adaptation in Learning and Development: Chasing Excellence, page 53).

Merry Christmas everybody!

Part of becoming your best Self involves dealing with the barriers blocking your progress. During the course of the pandemic, I've noticed a lot of assimilation and little adaptation. Particularly on social media, but elsewhere, I've noticed that people seem to fall into these distinct categories of beliefs. For instance, there are those who deny the pandemic regardless of the obvious evidence. They are very good at assimilating all information into their worldviews, intellectualizing ever bit of information contradicting their chosen beliefs.
They aren't the only ones. Many among those who accept the pandemic fully tend to over-exaggerate it's potency, raising the value of any one confirmed case as an indication that we are all doomed to a tragic end unless we shelter in place. The folks, fail to realize that many people cannot shelter in place because of a lack of income. Further, many on this side see the pandemic as Trump's fault. It's almost as if when he's finally defeated, the pandemic will end. Both of these sides are flawed, although each has its truths.
Then there are the confusing people like me. I read the information and the scientific literature. I base all of my comments on the data as they present themselves. Thus, one day I may feel optimistic, the next pessimistic. With time, though, I have come to understand the disease quite well. Although not a biologist, I've read all types of studies, from the microbiological to the epidemiological. So, I get to see all the twists that reality brings. I've experienced the highs of being right in my beliefs and the lows of being wrong. Over time though, my understanding has increased. Now, I have this fluid sense of peace when it comes to the pandemic. Folks, there's not much we can do except wear masks, limit face to face contact, and enjoy the ride.
My approach is psychoadaptation. We formulate worldviews but they must be fluid. Postulates will change as new information comes. This fluidity is a strength that will one day result in a worldview that, while malleable is quite stable. Once we've seen a lot and adapted a lot, there are fewer adaptations to make and certainly less disequilibrium. While I still mourn certain lost postulates, that mourning is quite infrequent. Keep in mind, though, the more you achieve adaptation, the more perplexing you will be to others.

https://methods.sagepub.com/case/navigating-the-many-hurdles-in-creating-a-self-report-measure

Navigating the Many Hurdles in Creating a Self-Report Measure - SAGE Research Methods The purpose of this case study is to provide insight into the process of designing and testing a self-report measure to assess self-concept related to combus

It's really important to continually evaluate your SELF. We are bombarded by feedback, either direct or indirect in nature. This feedback is useful in helping us evaluate who we are, and where we belong in the world, with respect to our fellow human beings. Feedback can be difficult, though. Some feedback is helpful in that it allows us to validate our self-perceptions, whereas other feedback is just noise. To know the difference, one must accumulate as much feedback as possible and get the expected value. The expected value is a statistical term. It's the average (mean), or the mode (most frequent response), or median (one in the middle). Although there will be a diversity of views in the feedback we receive, an average view will emerge. This is the one you should be most interested in. For instance, I once spoke to a tennis coach I was hitting with, and she told me of a tennis player lots of coaches at her club work with. This player had this ugly stroke that all the coaches tried to fix. However, instead of listening to the coaches, the player thought her stroke was actually quite good, and was unyielding in her view. The result was that the coaches gave up. This player received feedback, and the expected value was that her stroke wasn't good and needed to be changed. Unfortunately, unlike you and I (lovers of the SELF), she refused to change. Not much one can do there. I play tennis and modify my strokes to be the best they can possibly be. I'm used to hearing negative feedback when it comes to tennis. I'm not a pro and I need work on my game, but I am not afraid to change. I know how I hit from the perspective of skilled others and I use that information to better myself. Do the same😀