MCAers--
Ugh. The sort of pop research in the video from Australia drives me crazy. The link between self-esteem and bullying is complicated and their link with existing research is even more complicated.
I have struggled for some time to move motivation research into the situative realm and move beyond the corrosive debate between the two prevailing individually-oriented models. There is a summary here but it needs updating http://www.education.com/reference/article/sociocultural-theories-of-motivation/. I am going to be updating this over the next years to help inform the debate of extrinsic incentives that has been sparked by the MacArthur Foundation's Badges for Lifelong Learning Initiative (stay tuned--I predict that this innovation will be a major turning point for digital media and learning, and likely education more broadly: http://dmlcentral.net/blog/david-theo-goldberg/badges-learning-threading-needle-between-skepticism-and-evangelism)
I have not been following the bullying literature lately and am trained more in cognitive psych than developmental psych. But I followed this issue very closely while a doc student at Vandy. Several of my friends there studied with Ken Dodge, who led the research that I assume is being questioned in these and other similar popular accounts. In the tradition Bandura, Dodge et al. were exceedingly careful researcher. For example, Schwartz, Dodge, Pettit and Bates (1997):
This study reports the first prospective investigation of the early family experiences of boys who later emerged as both aggressive and bullied (i.e., aggressive victims) during their middle childhood years. It was hypothesized that a history of violent victimization by adults leads to emotion dysregulation that results in a dual pattern of aggressive behavior and victimizaion by peer. Interviews with mothers of 198 5-year-old boys assessed preschool home environments. Four to 5 years later, aggressive behavior and peer victimization were assessed in the school classroom. The early experiences of 16 aggressive victims were contrasted with those of 21 passive (nonaggressive) victims, 33 nonvictimized aggressors, and 128 normative boys. Analyses indicated that the aggressive victim group had experienced more punitive, hostile, and abusive family treatment than the other groups. In contrast, the nonvictimized aggressive group had a history of greater exposure to adult aggression and conflict, but not victimization by adults, than did the normative group, whereas the passive victim group did not differ from the normative group on any home environment variable.
I was awed at the time both by the amount of work involved in these studies and the precision they used. There are numerous other studies showing that by a variety measures of self that aggressive youths think less of themselves then other similar youths, and that this is strongly linked to exposure to adult aggression, (not coddling, as the current backlash would suggests).
What is frustrating for me is that the psychologists in the video turn to more cultural visions of development to dismiss what IMO is the most appropriate theory and method for uncovering the development of bullies. I assume that there are more cultural analyses of the development of aggression, and those likely shed useful additional light on the question, and help frame the prior developmental research in a broader cultural context.
I hope Eugene Matusov will chime in. I will cc Ken Dodge and see if we can get him to chime in.
Dan Hickey
Indiana University
Learning Sciences Program
-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Andy Blunden
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 12:34 PM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: Re: [xmca] The Self-esteem movement
Thanks Deborah. It's a nice read!
Peter: of course self-esteem, self-confidence and self-respect are essential ingredients for achieving sovereign subjectness. But they have to be learned and earned. The problem arises from self-esteem which is fostered on the basis of deception.
Andy
deborah downing-wilson wrote:
Bronson and Merryman address the self-esteem "movement" in their
popular science book "nurture shock". Their references might be a place to start.
See attached.
On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 4:05 AM, Peter Smagorinsky <smago@uga.edu<mailto:smago@uga.edu>> wrote:
I should follow up by noting that LSV considered a change in the
environment surrounding people of difference (those with biological
"defects" such as deafness) to be fundamental to the self-esteem of
the person of difference. He argued for the need to normalize
difference by changing the attitudes of those in the cultural
mainstream so that they ceased to pity or belittle people with
different biological functions so that they could more easily adapt
and assimilate and thus feel more a part of society and build
self-esteem. So, in LSV's conception, eliminating bullying attitudes
helped to build the self-esteem and feeling of inclusion of people of difference.
-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu<mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu>
[mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]<mailto:[mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]> On Behalf Of Peter Smagorinsky
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 6:20 AM
To: ablunden@mira.net<mailto:ablunden@mira.net>; eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: RE: [xmca] The Self-esteem movement
Well, self-esteem was a central goal of LSV's work in the field of
defectology--provide cultural channels for kids to become involved
with legitimate social labor as a way to feel included and thus
develop greater self-esteem (which is actually the term used in translation).
In the US, I think it goes back to the 60s as part of the general
unrest against "the establishment" and its emphasis on the Protestant
work ethic, which was presumed to be repressive.
I'll check with some of my friends out there who specialize in
bullying to see what they think about the report.
-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu<mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu>
[mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]<mailto:[mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]> On Behalf Of Andy Blunden
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 5:04 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: [xmca] The Self-esteem movement
At last the pendulum has begun to swing back: