UNIT IV

MANAGING AND CARING FOR THE SELF

1. Learning to be a better Learner

Learning to be a better person is a lifelong process. Mental and emotional maturity does
not come with age. An individual has to learn to control one’s thoughts, how to process
have information and how to motivate one’s self to learn. Emotional maturity refers to
one’s ability to control one’s emotion/behavior. Metacognition is commonly defined as
“Thinking about thinking”.
Some people learn better if they like the subject, some when they are challenged by the topic, and
others if they have a reward system each time they finish a task.

The emotional state and the motivation of a person then should also be in the preferred ideal state for
the person in order to further facilitate his or her learning.

METACOGNITION basically has two aspects:

1. SELF APPRAISAL is your personal reflection on your knowledge and capabilities.
2. SELF-MANAGEMENT of COGNITION is the mental process you employ using what have in
planning and adapting to successfully learn or accomplish a certain task.

Similar concepts:
METACOGNITIVE KNOWLEDGE “What you know about how you think”.
METACOGNITION REGULATION “How you adjust your thinking process to help you learn better”.

A. Personal Variable – evaluation of your strength and weaknesses.

Students become increasingly autonomous in their learning as they become aware of their
strengths and weaknesses and understand that being successful depends on the effort
they make and their strategies.

B. Task Variable – what you know or what you think about the nature of the task, as well as the
strategies the task requires.
As the cognitive processes increases, one’s self-image also improves.

C. Strategies Variables- what strategies or skills you already have in dealing with certain tasks.

Make self-appraisal and self-management work, you must have an accurate self-assessment---
you must be honest about what you know and capable in order to find ways to utilize your
strengths and improve on your weaknesses.

(review your MAI result and your answers during the analysis)

TYPES OF LEARNING STRATEGIES AND SUPPORT: COGNITIVE

STRATEGY DEFINITION BENEFIT

Rehearsal Reciting items to be Believed to influence the attention and coding
learned from a list process. It does not seem to help students connect
current information with prior knowledge.
Elaboration Summarizing and Believe to improve a student’s ability to store
paraphrasing information into the long-term memory by building
internal connections between items to be learned
and assisting with the integration of new
information with prior knowledge.
Organization Outlining Helps learners select appropriate information and
make connections to be learned.
Analyzing Problem-solving, critical Assist student with applying previous knowledge to
thinking new situations in order to solve problems and/or
reach decisions.

According to Waterloo Student Success (n.d.), the following are other skills that can help you in exercising
metacognition.

1. KNOWING YOUR LIMITS. One cannot really make any significance advancement in using
metacognitive skills without having an honest and accurate evaluation of what you know and
what you do not know. Knowing your limits also looks at the scope and limitations of your
resources so that you can work with what you have at the moment and look for ways to cope with
other necessities.
2. MODIFYING YOUR APPROACH. Recognize if your learning strategy is working for you or not. If
not, then MODIFY your strategy in comprehending your material. READ and RE-READ. You
cannot comprehend and finish the material in one sitting. You can make a summary or code to
help you remember the material. Use keywords or highlight the section you are reading.
 3. SKIMMING. Browsing over a material and keeping an eye on keyword, phrases, or sentences.
4. REHEARSING. It’s not about the constant repetition of what you have learned but also trying to
make a personal interpretation or summary of the learning experience.
5. SELF-TEST. Trying to test your comprehension of your learning experience or the skills you have
acquired during learning. Self-test does not only focus on what you have learned but also how
you learned it. It is also an avenue for reflection; the strategies you used, the time of day when
you are most productive, and how you can improve on your learning strategies.

Other study strategies:

1. PRACTICE OVER TIME
Practice testing- Any form of testing for learning which a student is able to do on his or
her own. Examples of this technique are practicing recall through flash cards or
completing practice problems or test.

Distributed practice- distributing the learning over time, not cramming. It takes time and
rehearsal before a material is placed securely in the long-term memory. Overloading of
materials in one sitting will not help in retaining all information in memory. Highlight and
underline important facts, so that when you revisit and review the material, it will be easy
to recognize important details of the material.
2. QUESTIONING AND EXPLANATION
Elaborative interrogation- Asking one’s self why something is the way it is or a particular
concept or fact is true, and providing the answer.

Self-Explanation- the explanation might take form of answering “why”, but also other
questions, as well as relating new information to information which is already known.
3. PRODUCIING SUMMARIES OF TEXT
Involves the reading and comprehension of text, as well as the ability to identify the most
important information within it and to encapsulate it briefly in one’s own words.

FOUR (4) TYPES OF METACOGNITIVE LEARNERS:

1. “TACIT” LEARNERS- are unaware of their metacognitive processes although they know the
extent of their knowledge.
2. “AWARE” LEARNERS- know some of their metacognitive strategies but do not plan on how to use
these techniques.
3. “STRATEGIC” LEARNERS- strategize and plan their course of action toward a learning
experience.
4. “REFLECTIVE” LEARNERS- reflect on their thinking while they are using their strategies and
adapt metacognitive skills depending on their situation.
2. SETTING GOALS FOR SUCCESS

A. ALBERT E. BANDURA: SELF EFFICACY THEORY

 Based on the assumption that psychological procedures serve as a means of creating and
strengthening expectations of personal efficacy.
 Self-efficacy theory distinguishes between expectations of efficacy and response outcome
expectancies.
Outcome expectancy- is a person’s estimate that a given behavior will lead to
certain outcomes.

Efficacy expectation-is the conviction that one can successfully execute the
behavior required to produce outcomes.

As Gandhi would say,

“Your belief become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words
become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your
values. Your values become your destiny.”

 People’s beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that
exercise influence over events that affect lives.

Four (4) Main sources of Efficacy Beliefs (Bandura, 1997)

1. Mastery Experiences. It is also known as personal performance accomplishments; are
the most effective way to create a strong sense of efficacy.
Positive example: If an individual performed well in a previous job assignment, then they
are more likely to feel confident and have high self-efficacy in performing the task when
their manage assigns them a similar task. The individual’s self-efficacy will be high in
that particular area, and since he or she has high self-efficacy, he or she is more likely to
try harder and complete the task with better results.

Negative example: If an individual experiences a failure, he/she will most likely

experience a reduction in self-efficacy. However, if these failures are later overcome by
conviction, it can serve to increase self-motivated persistence when the situation is
viewed as an achievable challenge.
2. Vicarious Experience. These are done through observance of social models that also
influence one’s perception of self-efficacy. The most important factor that determines the
strength of influence of an observed success or failure on one’s own self-efficacy is the
degree of similarity between the observer and the model.
3. Verbal or Social Persuasion. It is a “way of strengthening people’s belief that they have
what it takes to succeed”. When it is effective in mobilizing a person to action, and their
actions lead to success, the enhanced self-efficacy may become more permanent. It is
influenced by encouragement and discouragement pertaining to an individual’s
performance or ability to perform.
4. Emotional and Physiological States. The state a person is in will influence how he or
she judges self-efficacy. Stress reactions or tension are interpreted as signs of
vulnerability to poor performance whereas positive emotions can boost confidence in
skills.

B. CAROL DWECK’S “MINDSET”

FIXED MINDSET GROWTH MINDSET

People who believe that success is People who believe that success is
based on their innate abilities have a based on hardwork, learning,
“fixed” theory of intelligence. training, and perseverance have
“growth” theory of intelligence.

These individuals dread failure Individuals do not mind or fear failure

because it is a negative statement on as much because they realize their
their basic abilities. performance and can be improved
and learning comes with failure.

Students understand that their

Students believe their basic abilities,
talents and abilities can be developed
their intelligence, their talents are
through effort, good teaching and
just fixed traits. They have a certain
persistence. They believe everyone can
amount and that’s that, and their
get smarter if they work for it.
goal becomes to look smart all the
time and never look dumb.
 4 SIMPLE STEPS TO BEGIN CHANGING MINDSET:

1. Learn to hear your fixed mindset voice.

2. Recognize that you have a choice.
3. Talk back to it with a growth mindset voice.
4. Take the growth mindset action.

C. EDWIN A. LOCKE’S “GOAL SETTING THEORY”

Motivation is the conscious or unconscious reason for behavior.

Locke found that individuals who set specific, difficult goals performed better than those who set
general, easy goals.

5 Principles of Effective Goal Setting:

1. CLARITY. A goal must be specific and clear.
2. CHALLENGE. An easy or tedious goal is demotivating. But keep a realistic balance: don’t expect
anyone on your team to spin straw into gold
3. COMMITMENT. Students have to understand the goal from the outset.
4. FEEDBACK. Provide regular feedback throughout the whole process. This helps to keep the goal
on track.
5. TASK COMPLEXITY. Think about realistic timescales, and breakdown the process into sub-goals
with regular reviews to improve performance.
3. TAKING CARE OF ONE’S HEALTH

STRESS
 May come in a form of a traumatic experience, anxiety, conflict, frustration or pressure.
 It can be something that blocks any behavior in reaching the goal.
 As any factor that makes adaptation to an environment difficult for the individual to
maintain a state of equilibrium between himself and the external environment.
 The body’s nonspecific response to any demand, whether it is caused by or results in
pleasant or unpleasant stimuli.

STRESSOR
 Any event or conditions that put a strain on the individual.
 Are situations that are experienced as perceived threat to one’s well-being or position in
life , when the challenge of dealing with which, exceeds the person’s perceived available
resources.

CATEGORIES OF STRESSORS:
1. Physiological (or Physical) stressor- are those who put a strain on the body (temperature, injury,
chronic illness, or pain).
2. Psychological stressors- are events situation, individual, comments or anything we interpret as
negative or threatening.
3. Absolute stressors- Those to which everyone exposed would interpret as being stressful (i.e:
earthquakes, a tsunami, extreme terrorist attack).
4. Relative stressors- are those to which only some persons exposed would interpret as being
stressful. These are subjective stressors that cause different reactions in different people (i.e.:
time pressure at work and traffic, paying taxes or bills, writing or taking an exam).

Dr. Hans Selye (1907-1982) defined stress as the nonspecific response of the body to any demand made
on it. General adaptation syndrome (GAS), which is a popular stress response model propounded by
Selye, is based on the premise that every biological organism tries to maintain an internal balance
(homeostasis) in response to continued exposure to stressors. According to Selye, the body could
experience stress due to pleasant and unpleasant events. He coined the term 'eustress' to represent stress
that occurs due to a pleasant event. The term 'distress' refers to stress that arises due to an unpleasant
event. He used the term 'stressors' for factors or events that trigger stress.

According to his stress response theory, the human body elicits a reaction, when the internal balance of
the body (homeostasis) is disturbed. This response occurs in three stages. The reactions to stress are
basically the body's attempt to defend, resist, or adapt itself to the demands placed on the body. If the
body is unable to respond to the stimulus, it becomes susceptible to the diseases of adaptation.

Hans Selye's 3-Stage Stress Response Model

✦ The alarm reaction

✦ The stage of resistance
✦ The stage of exhaustion

The Alarm Reaction

When the body identifies the presence of a stressor, the HPA axis gets activated. The HPA axis consists of
a system of feedback interactions among the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal glands. The
activated HPA system reacts by producing the flight-or-fight response. During this stage, the
hypothalamus stimulates the adrenal-cortical system by releasing the Corticotropin-releasing Factor
(CRF), which stimulates the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). This is
followed by the release of corticoids, such as cortisol and cortisone, by the adrenal cortex of the adrenal
glands. The hypothalamus also activates the sympathetic nervous system, which is followed by the
release of adrenaline and noradrenaline by the adrenal medulla. The secretion of these hormones brings
about the fight-or-flight response that prepares the body to deal with the perceived threat. This response
is characterized by:

✦ An increase in the heart rate

✦ Higher blood pressure
✦ An increase in blood glucose levels
✦ Dilation of the pupils
✦ Increased blood flow to the muscles
✦ Increased muscle tension
✦ Suppression of the immune system by cortisol and cortisone
✦ Increased alertness
✦ Reduced production of hormones by the reproductive glands

Cortisol, which is also known as the stress hormone, plays a vital role in the stress response of the body.
Cortisol is also a part of the inhibitory feedback loop. Once the underlying cause of stress is removed, it
blocks the secretion of corticotropin-releasing hormone, thereby preventing the HPA axis interactions.
Thus, normalcy can be restored.

Stage of Resistance

While the alarm reaction involves the activation or mobilization of the defense mechanisms of the body,
the second stage of resistance or adaptation is the stage wherein the body tries to adapt to the stressful
stimulus. The body tries to resist the perception of threat with calmness, thereby trying to adapt or cope
with the situation in an effective manner. The aim is to achieve homeostasis or the internal balance by
reducing the intensity of endocrine and sympathetic activity, which is still higher than normal, but lower
than the alarm reaction. During this phase, the affected person tries to adapt to the stressor. This is
achieved with the help of the release of glucocorticoids by the adrenal cortex to sustain energy for dealing
with the stressor. The body tries to maintain the heart rate, blood pressure, and cardiac output.

However, if this phase continues for an extended period, in the absence of periods of rest or relaxation,
the body's adaptive energy reserves could get depleted. This can make the affected individual susceptible
to disease. As a result, one might experience symptoms such as:

✦ Fatigue
✦ Irritability
✦ Loss of concentration
✦ Lethargy

If the stress does not get resolved, one enters the third stage that is called exhaustion.

Stage of Exhaustion

This is the third stage wherein the body's energy reserves and the immunity become exhausted.
According to Selye, the continued exposure to stress leads to adrenal exhaustion. The body's defenses
become weak, which in turn has an adverse effect on one's physical and emotional health. Chronic stress
is associated with high levels of circulating cortisol in the body, which can have an adverse effect on the
immune system, digestive system, circulatory system, etc. It can make one susceptible to fatigue and
depression. According to Selye, the affected individual is at an increased risk of developing diseases of
adaptation at this time. Adrenal exhaustion has an adverse effect on the blood glucose levels. Low blood
glucose levels and reduced energy levels are bound to give rise to the following symptoms:

✦ Reduced tolerance to stress

✦ Extreme mental and physical exhaustion
✦ Susceptibility to diseases of adaptation (ulcers, high blood pressure, and heart attacks)

On a concluding note, the response to stress can vary, depending on the personality of the individual,
perception of the stressor, or the availability of the resources for coping. There's no denying the fact that
chronic stress is extremely detrimental to one's physical and emotional well-being. It can lead to the
suppression of the HPA system, thereby making one susceptible to diseases. Therefore, every individual
must ensure that stress is dealt with adequately, so as to prevent the stage of exhaustion from setting in.

Prolonged stress can lead to “Psychosomatic disorder”. The term “psychosomatic disorder” is mainly used
to mean “a physical disease that is thought to be caused, or made worse, by mental factors.” The term is
also used when mental factors cause physical symptoms but where there is no physical disease. For
example, chest pain may be caused by stress and no physical disease can be found.

Some physical diseases are thought to be prone to be made worse by mental factors such as stress and
anxiety. At any given time, a person’s mental state can affect the degree of severity of a physical disease.
Physical symptoms that are caused by mental factors are also called somatization or somatoform
disorders. These symptoms are due to increased activity of nervous impulses sent from the brain to
various parts of the body.

A number of factors may play a role in psychosomatic disorders, such as personality traits; genetic or
environmental family influences; biological factors; learned behavior and more.
COPING- refers to how an individual manage and deal with stressful events.
There are two kinds of coping:
1. Emotion-focused Coping. This involves trying to reduce the negative emotional responses
associated with stress such as embarrassment, fear, anxiety, depression, excitement and
frustration. This may be the only realistic option when the source of stress is outside the person’s
control.

Drug therapy can be seen as emotion focused coping as it focuses on the arousal caused by stress not
the problem. Other emotion focused coping techniques include:

 Distraction, e.g. keeping yourself busy to take your mind off the issue.
 Emotional disclosure. This involves expressing strong emotions by talking or writing about
negative events which precipitated those emotions (Pennebaker, 1995) This is an important part
of psychotherapy.
 Praying for guidance and strength.
 Meditation, e.g. mindfulness.
 Eating more, e.g. comfort food.
 Drinking alcohol.
 Using drugs.
 Journaling, e.g. writing a gratitude diary (Cheng, Tsui, & Lam, 2015).
 Cognitive reappraisal. This is a form of cognitive change that involves construing a potentially
emotion-eliciting situation in a way that changes its emotional impact (Lazarus & Alfert, 1964).
 Suppressing (stopping/inhibition of) negative thoughts or emotions. Suppressing emotions over
an extended period of time compromises immune competence and leads to poor physical health
(Petrie, K. J., Booth, R. J., & Pennebaker, 1988).

2. Problem-focused Coping. This type of coping targets the causes of stress in practical ways which
tackles the problem or stressful situation that is causing stress, consequently directly reducing
the stress.

Problem focused strategies aim to remove or reduce the cause of the stressor, including:

 Problem-solving.
 Time-management.
 Obtaining instrumental social support.

TECHNIQUES TO COUNTER CHRONIC STRESS:

1. Relaxation response
2. Physical Activity
3. Social Support

SELF-CARE THERAPY
1. Stop, breathe, and tell yourself: “This is hard and I will get through this one step at a time”.
2. Acknowledge to tell yourself what you are feeling. All feelings are normal so accept whatever you
are feeling.
3. Find someone who listens and is accepting.
4. Maintain your normal routine as much as possible
5. Allow plenty of time for a task.
6. Take good care of yourself. Remember to:
a. Get enough rest and sleep.
b. Eat regularly and make healthy choices.
c. Know your limits and when you need to let go.
d. Identify or create a nurturing place in your home.
e. Practice relaxation or meditation.