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Previously,
I discussed primes, conscious or subliminal words or thoughts that create a
mood, altering a person's avoidant or anxious personality to become temporarily
secure. The volunteers in the experiment evaluated others in a favorable
manner, including those of conflicting religious or out-group affiliation, if
they read the words closeness, love, hug, and support on a computer screen.
Another group volunteered to perform an altruistic act after being told
to "imagine that you are surrounded by people who are sensitive and
responsive ….and want to help you because they love you." Presented with
neutral primes such as office,
table, boat, and picture or being told to "imagine yourself going to a
grocery store and buying products you need for your house" did not create
the secure or altruistic response.1
Based on
these studies, Daniel Sonkin, Ph.D., adapted priming in his practice as a marriage and family
therapist. His book, Learning to Live
Without Violence: A Handbook for Men, is published in English, Spanish, and
Japanese and utilized by treatment programs around the world.
He points
out that
…the more accessible the positive memories and
mental images are, the more likely those positive attachment representations
will help guide your reactions and decisions in your real-life relationships.
These positive thoughts may ultimately help you become a more sensitive and
skilled caregiver to the loved ones in your life.2
Sonkin is a proponent of
the secure base priming (SBP) and uses it in
his practice, arguing that the repetition of primes can have a long-lasting
positive effect. He, like Mario Mikulincer and Phillip Shaver in their
experiments, use words: comfort, embrace, love, support along with pictures of
those same interactions between people. Upon examining them I can attest to the
targeted emotions of human and animal images when supplemented with words.2
It activates emotions and moods and sensitizes me to primes that incidentally
come my way.
Sonkin's claim was substantiated by the study where participants
received secure or neutral text message visualization primes for three
consecutive days. Those primed with secure words and picture texts reported
significantly more secure feelings than those receiving neutral words.3,4
The
practice of SBP has been correlated with higher levels of compassion and
tolerance, and bolsters self-esteem.5
Priming at school
First,
schools do a fair amount of priming. The mottos on
buildings, pictures in the hallway, and classroom décor serve as primes.
Elementary school teachers spend a considerable amount of time decorating their
classrooms with a wide range of scenes and objects to create both the academic
and picturesque panorama to make the room inviting and learner-friendly.
The middle
and high schools are similar but are usually designed to be content-relevant in
their respective rooms. Some keep trophies of their teams from regional and
state competitions. Pictures of famous authors and historical figures are hung,
too, with quotes underneath. One teacher in my high school purchased about
thirty animal pictures in cute situations with human emotions positioned next
to the critters. When he retired, I took one with two adorable beagles and
posted it in front of my room.
I also had
a few periodic table of the elements as well as decorative cartoon lab safety
posters. Teaching chemistry was important, but the beagles may have elicited an
adorable, cuddly feeling. One year I posted large pictures of my advisees and
their extracurricular activities. I was
priming my students without
having any knowledge of what secure base priming meant at that time.
We prime
students when we give motivational talks about success in our classes or when
we chide them for not showing enough drive and initiative. We prime them by how
we dress, our age, the expression on our face, our homework, our rules, and much more. Many schools implement a
uniform dress code. That is priming. The students are bombarded with all kinds of messages
from every corner of the school, their lockers often decorated with pictures of
ballplayers, entertainers, or even grotesque attention-grabbing graphics. Their
cellphones provide an abundance of images and texts for after-school viewing.
As an
educator, consider what will prime students positively in the most simplistic
manner – with posters and handouts. Thirty animal posters might be an overkill,
but a rotation of images would be novel. Think about how retailers decorate and
arrange merchandise to create a pleasant atmosphere to minimize distraction and
stress. Courses for marketing majors touch base with these principles,
incorporating both music and lighting to uplift our mood. That is priming.
I found
ways to enhance the social-emotional transaction in the school environment
using primes. Here are some that are helpful.
1
|
As mentioned in the previous chapter, teams should have in
their possession a philosophy and script of statements that cover a broad
range of concerns. Two versions are listed in the chapter. The handout is
crucial for the validation emphasized throughout this book.
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2
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In addition, I recommend that students bring pictures from
home of positive and loving people that support them. These may be from a
vacation or a happy occasion such as a wedding or picnic. Pasting these on
their folders (both inside and out) are strong primes, analogous to the ones
used in the imagery for the Mikulincer and Shaver experiments and currently used in Sonkin's
therapy. They will see them every day while working with their teammates.
Pictures of pets work quite nicely, too.
|
3
|
 Meeting students individually to converse and discuss goals
for a few minutes is a way to make a personal connection. They find the
special attention gratifying and builds trust – another powerful validation moment and can
be done as students work cooperatively. |
Explicit
behavior expectations along with lucid instructions on each assignment keeps
the knowledge flow smooth and interesting. Humans are thinking at an elevated
level when the conversation is continuous, inclusive, and peer advocating and SBP
sets in motion the release of vasopressin, oxytocin, and dopamine, rekindling the brain's memory of positive feelings and
thoughts of attachment.6,7
Moods
A theme in
this text has emphasized creating encounters to stimulate the left prefrontal
cortex to minimize amygdala activation that
inspires negative emotions such as disgust, horror, anger, and fear. While I
would not expect students, in general, to be filled with these undesirable emotions
while attending school, they come into the building with moods activated by
experiences at home, level of parental nurturing, media influence, and the
amount of sleep each evening. Consider that the school environment presents a range of
social stimuli that influence student attitudes.
Some may
be very pleased with their status amongst peers coupled with success in the
classroom. Being the captain of a team that just won a big game, dating a
terrific person, and receiving a ninety-five percent on the chemistry test can
do wonders for one's ego. This can change dramatically, though, based on new
encounters or a bad score on a math quiz. Students are thus caught in the web
of academic and social ups and downs as the amygdala sorts the immense
amount of information from an abundance of stimuli, with the result being a
yo-yo of moods during the school day.
When
students sit in classes where the conversation is predominantly one way –
teacher to students – validation is low because there
is little chance to exercise positive interdependence, or facilitate
ego-gratifying and peer-accepting words. Between-class as well as after-school
socialization can produce a range of emotions exasperated by the behavior of
peers, from simple gossip to bullying. Furthermore, students do not police
themselves well and the explosion of online chatting and messaging can have
devastating consequences on the self-esteem of a child, in some cases resulting
in suicide attempts.
I was
generally preoccupied with lesson planning and not cognizant of the
ruthlessness of out of classroom behavior several of my students experienced,
not observing the signs based on their classroom body language. The nightmarish
lives some students encountered, however, would come to my attention at either
faculty meetings or parent conferences. Though we strive to improve pedagogy during our careers, there is a realm of peer
socialization that is not obvious with the look on our charges' faces with many
maintaining a stoic presence day after day just to get through another week,
month, or whole school year while contending with feelings of rejection and
fear. A friend confided that his children, intelligent and talented teens,
could not wait for the school year to end because the instructional program was
very boring, a common theme I witnessed as the seniors in my building anxiously
anticipated the last day of school year after year (sometimes as early as
January).
Priming for success
Thus, I am
a strong advocate of having students work in structured cooperative settings
due to its proven ability to reduce negativity and promote kindness. Well-articulated
assignments coupled with the feedback script and images
are primes that motivate groups to achieve a goal and take pride in their
accomplishment. The kindness and associated banter activate the left prefrontal
cortex along with the
consequential production of oxytocin that attaches to
sites in the amygdala, diminishes the fear impulse, and initiates the feel-good
endorphin response that motivates
students to complete tasks.
A critical
element in group work is being accepted with reinforcing statements that your
contributions are valued. It follows then that working in a non-threatening
environment allows for maximum assimilation of content and enhances motivation. Experiencing
that success activates the secretion of more dopamine in the nucleus
accumbens, elevating the
attentive focus needed to complete tasks until the end of the school year.
Assertive leadership and cooperative settings are novel, and the
consequential biochemical effect is two-fold: amplify cognition and develop confidence in the capacity to
engage everyone in friendly social discourse.
This
discourse empowers students, modulates
behavior, and nurtures tolerance. They rub shoulders with a range of temperaments and learn to meet
new encounters with poise and patience, paramount for successful living at home
and in the workplace. The repetition of peer approval in such a classroom is
analogous to Sonkin's use of secure base priming in his practice as a
marriage counselor to affect long-term mental health and compatibility.
In
addition, it carries over to issues in the realm of impulsivity and self-control, because these
qualities coincide with the emerging development of executive functions through the
mid-twenties. These will be discussed in the chapter related to
adolescent concerns. Teens
conditioned, however, with repeated primes of acceptance and intelligence
through cooperative sessions are less
likely to
…"strike
back when being teased, blame others when getting into a fight, and overreact
to accidents…. [become] emotionally 'hot,' defensive, and impulsive."8
…[be]
"drawn to the immediate rewards of a potential choice and less attentive
to the possible risks."9
…[be]
"self-objectifying and detracted from the ability to concentrate and
focus, thus leading to impaired performance on mental activities."10
… [see
the] "power of their gender tied to what they look like—and how 'sexy'
they are."11
The
standards set by most educational institutions are a refreshing alternative
from the negativity that exists outside their walls. Our nation should be
grateful for the nurturing teachers and counselors that advocate for children
in an impulse-driven, media primed, society.
Benefits of
Controversy
|
I feared controversy in the classroom because it could get loud.
It was not much of an issue in my case because chemistry did not lend itself
to much controversy. But before one class several years ago, a few students
were arguing rather vociferously about the inclusion of a high school
graduate into the NBA, namely Kobe Bryant. One side felt he deserved the
opportunity to be a star and make money; the other group saw it as a slap in
the face to colleges and intellectual pursuits.
Dave and Roger Johnson12 embrace occasional
opportunities for controversy to play out in class. In a structured collaborative setting, members are presented with a range
of perspectives and have opportunities to challenge individual views. It is
not the knock-down, drag-out approach but rather the calm, focused discussion
where students offer facts and weigh arguments for relevance and accuracy.
That is the social self-control, everyone needs as they approach adulthood,
where a host of views (biases) about culture are in the workplace and in our
homes. Compared to the individualistic classroom, the collaborative setting
allows students to voice their opinions about a topic where they are forced
to reconceptualize their existing knowledge and develop a deeper
understanding of the issue. The Johnsons believe that the critical listening
and challenges of such sessions have significant benefits scaling both the
academic and social realms. (p.198)
I would not bring up the
controversy of whether NCAA athletes should be paid a
salary because it is not contextual for my science class but could entertain
a discussion about the excessive use of salt on snow-covered roads. The
environmental science teacher could set up collaborative discussions about
fracking, recycling, or use of nuclear versus fossil fuels.
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*******
References
1. Mikulincer,
M., Shaver, P., (2001). Attachment Theory and Reactions to Others' Needs:
Evidence That Activation of the Sense of Attachment Security Promotes Empathic
Responses, Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, Vol. 81. No. 6. 1205-1224
2. Daniel Sonkin,
Ph.D., Secure Base Priming Program,
Retrieved
from
http://www.securebasepriming.org/
3. Otway, L.,
Carnelley, K., & Rowe, A. (2013).
Texting “boosts” felt security. Attachment
& Human Development.
4. Aguilera, A.,
Muñoz, R. (2011). Text messaging as an
adjunct to CBT in low-income populations: A usability and feasibility pilot
study. Professional Psychology: Research
and Practice, 42(6), 472.
5. Rowe, K.
Carnelley, A., (March 2010). Priming a sense of security: What goes through
people’s minds? Journal of Social and
Personal Relationships vol. 27 no. 2, 253-261
6. Quirin, M.,
Gillath, O., Pruessner, J. C., & Eggert, L. D. (2010). Adult attachment insecurity and hippocampal
cell density. Social cognitive and
affective neuroscience, 5(1), 39-47.
7. Gillath, O.,
Shaver, P., Baek, J., Chun, D. (2008).
Genetic correlates of adult attachment style. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(10), 1396-1405.
8. Guido Frank,
professor at the University of Colorado Department of Psychiatry
9. Chein, J.,
Albert, D., O'Brien, L., Uckert, K., and Steinberg, L., (March 2011). Peers
increase adolescent risk taking by enhancing activity in the brain's reward circuitry, Dev Sci.
14(2): F1–F10.
10. The American
Psychological Association (APA) Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls,
(2007).
Retrieved
from http://www.apa.org/pi/women/programs/girls/report.aspx
11. YMCA, Beauty at
Any Cost: The Consequences of America's Beauty Obsession on Women & Girls,
Retrieved from
http://www.ywca.org/atf/cf/%7B711d5519-9e3c-4362-b753-ad138b5d352c%7D/BEAUTY-AT-ANY-COST.PDF
12. Johnson, D.,
Johnson, R. (1975). Learning together and alone, cooperation, competition, and
individualization. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
