Self -image maintenance in an educational setting: A perceptual control theory study of technical training.

摘要

The purpose of this study was to understand the self-image as a factor of active learning. Ordinarily, the process of learning is presumed to involve the acquisition of concepts and skills relative to instructional objectives set forth by instructors managing the learning environment. More recent studies have described instruction in terms of a social interaction involving an active learner. At the heart of every social interaction is the presentation of the self. Perceptual Control Theory (PCT) is a framework for understanding human behavior as the maintenance of self-image through a multi-tiered, error-reducing process. This self-regulating process is fundamental to the understanding of an active learner's purposeful behavior. Seventeen individuals took part in separate sessions that studied self-image maintenance during a training encounter which involved socially dissonant interactions.;This study considered the conflicts encountered as participants balanced the goals of training with dissonant social interactions while performing a computer task. It was predicted that learners would act to maintain their self-image, but would defer the computer task, predicted to be less supportive of their self-image. Also predicted was that elements of self-image maintenance, competing for sensory and communication channels, would become conflicted as they failed to sustain the self-image. Predictions were made concerning the implications of this conflict and the restoration of the self-image.;Results indicated that participants carefully maintained their self-images. What they did and said (including performing the computer task) ultimately supported that maintenance process. However, the maintenance of the self-image was not as straightforward as expected. Unexpectedly, participants directed their behavior to the computer task, considering social disturbances to be impediments to success in the task, which they indicated was more essential to their role as a subject and hence to their self-images. Participants reframed their perceptions of the interaction around the computer task to regain justification in their self-image as good learners and research subjects. The findings suggest that instructional designers and classroom instructors should recognize the active role of the learner in the design and implementation of instructional sessions.