THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

AREA OF EXPERTISE

Started with the mission of “Through exceptional learning and performance, we create the world that works better” in 1943, the American society for training and development(ASTD) is an organization that is devoted to helping professionals study at their respective workplaces so that it can contribute to their individual improvement as well as mutually benefit the organization. The ASTD plays a significant and crucial role in creating public policies. ASTD is located in 100 countries and 130 local U.S and 30 international members.

The key roles played by the ASTD could be summarized as

It acts as a forum to bring experts of a similar field together so that they can share and develop ideas through conferences, workshops, and online services.

It provides all available resources for learning through a common platform

It is an important player in the formulation of public policies in this field and voices the issues in this field to the media.

It offers the Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP) program which is an important certification for professionals.

ERIK ERIKSON- BIOGRAPHY:

“Hope is both the earliest and the most indispensable virtue inherent in the state of being alive. If life is to be sustained hope must remain, even where confidence is wounded, trust impaired.” --Erik Erikson

Erik Erikson, the doyen in psychology, was born in Frankfurt, Germany on June 15. The experiences he had in his own life as a child instilled in him a deep interest in psychology. When he was an outcast in his own school for being a tall, blond and also for his Jewish and Nordic background. This, later on, motivated him to delve further into the field of psychoanalysis and drove him towards the pinnacle of success his profession. He has occupied numerous prestigious positions in at the Harvard Medical School University of California at Berkeley, Yale, San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute, Austen Riggs Centre, and Centre for Advanced Studies in the Behavioural Sciences. Books like Childhood and Society and The Life Cycle Completed and Gandhi’s Truth were the notable contributions of Erikson to the literary any psychological field. In fact, his book Gandhi's Truth won the Pulitzer Prize and a national book award. Other prominent and distinguished contributions of Erikson are towards the psychoanalytic theory and understanding of a personality. His name is synonymous with concepts like Stages of Psychosocial Development and Identity Crisis. He also spent a lot of time analyzing the cultural life of Sioux of South Dakota and the Yurok of northern California. Just like Sigmund Freud the father of psychology, he believed that personality develops in a series of stages.

ERIKSON’S THEORY OF PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT:

Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development states the effect of community development on shaping the whole lifespan of an individual. An important concept in Erikson’s psychosocial stage theory is the ego identity. It is nothing but the sense of perception about oneself that is developed by an individual through interaction with the existing environment. Ego identity is also a constantly changing phenomenon in an individual’s life as one traverse through different experiences in life. Erikson stresses that in every stage of psychosocial development, the individual is subconsciously concerned about becoming competent in that particular arena of life. If everything goes on well for the individual, then his ego gets a boost which is called as ego strength or ego quality. If something goes wrong for the individual, then he is left out with a sense of insufficiency. Each stage in the life of a person also takes him through a stage of conflict which is defined as a twist in the life of a person that leads him to attain a psychological superiority/inferiority. Thus conflict can either turn out to be a moment for intensifying a person’s success or failure.

ERIKSON'S STAGES OF PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT:

Stage 1 - Faith vs. Distrust

Age: It comprises of the period from the birth of the child to 18 months or one year of age.

Conflict: Since the child is entirely reliant on its parents or caregivers, they play an important role in developing a sense of trust or mistrust in the child.

Effects and events: nourishing the child is an important action in this phase of life of a child. Children who are provided good care will develop a sense of trust, and uncared children would emerge insecurely. Insecure children will think the world as an unsafe and fearful place.

Stage 2 - Independence vs. Disgrace and uncertainty

Age: It constitutes the period from 2 to 3 years of age hence deals with the early days of childhood.

Conflict: It is the fundamental stage in the life of the child wherein it gradually learns to gain effective control of its body. So the end result is that it develops a sense of autonomy or shame and doubt.

Effects and events: Teaching the child on the toilet or lavatory aspects will inculcate a feeling of personal control in the child. On failing to learn such skills, it develops a sense of humiliation and doubt. Other events like command over food, toys, and clothes also play a role.

Illustration: Children of working parents with unqualified caretakers do not have a sense of independence

Stage 3- Inventiveness vs. Remorse

Age: It takes place during 3 to 5 years when the child is in pre-school.

Conflict: When the child is in the preschool years, it establishes authority and power over the world through community interactions and also by having fun. Successful children emerge with a sense of principle and others develop a sense of guilt and remorse

Effects and events: Pre-School environment and its proceedings are crucial in shaping this stage in the psychological well-being of a child. Social interactions with the child’s playmates are also important.

Illustration: malnourished African children have a poor sense of initiative

Stage 4: diligence vs. weakness

Age: It takes place during the school age when the child is 6 to 11 years of age

Conflict: Children need to manage new societal and educational load. Accomplishment leads to a sense of proficiency, while failure leads to an outcome in the manner of inadequacy.

Effects and events: School environment, parents and teachers are the critical players’ here. Children who are encouraged and highly praised by parents and teachers develop a sensing capability and faith in their ability. Children who are not commended by parents, teachers, or peers will end up in uncertainty in their ability to win.

Illustration: The fictional characters in the children’s’ series – famous five and secret seven are examples for confident adults

Stage 6: individuality vs. Role perplexity

Age: It takes place during adolescent age when the individual is 12 to 18 years of age

Conflict: Those who get good back-up and strengthening through individual examination will come out from this Stage with a sturdy intelligence and a feeling of autonomy and power. Those with uncertainty will be unconfident and baffled about the future.

Effects and events: Social relationships in teenage shape the individual’s mentality

Illustration: the literary characters in the book series-Mallory towers are successful adolescents

Stage 7: closeness vs. segregation

Age: It takes place during the young adulthood age when the individual is 19 to 45 years of age

Conflict: Erikson believed it was imperative that people build up secure, steadfast relations with other people.

Those who are victorious at this step will develop associations that are devoted and protected

Effects and events: Erikson believed that a strong sense of individual uniqueness was significant to mounting intimate relationships. Studies have established that those with a deprived identity tend to have less faithful relationships and are more likely to suffer segregation, solitude, and sadness.

Illustration: The literary character Nancy drew is a successful young adult.

Stage 8: Generativity vs. Stagnation

Age: It takes place during the middle adulthood age when the individual is 40 to 65 years of age

Conflict: Adults need to generate or look after things that will survive them, by having children or creating an optimistic transformation. Success leads to a sense of worth and triumph, while failure results in disappointment and lack of association in the world.

Effects and events: labor and motherhood/fatherhood are the events that impart a sense of self-assurance

Illustration: The American president Obama is an example of a successful middle-aged person

Stage 9: character Integrity vs. desolation

Age: It takes place during the maturity age of an individual is above 65 years of age till death.

Conflict: elder adults require retrospection and feel a sense of completion. Success at this stage leads to the outlook of acumen, while failure results in lamenting, resentment, and hopelessness.

Effects and events: These individuals will have a sense of peace achievement when nearing the finishing point in life.

STUDIES RELATING TO ERIKSON’S THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT:

Study I: Vygotsky and Identity Formation: A Socio-cultural Approach

Here the elements that basically decide the human mental functioning are discussed.

This theory examines Erikson’s theory of identity formation. The socio-cultural aspects that are critical in shaping the identity of a person are discussed.

The discussions and conclusions state that local activity settings, cultural and historic resources are important in defining a person’s identity.

We agree with the conclusions of the study as this study projects the primary influences of cultural aspects in enriching or downregulating a person’s identity. Thus it supports and confirms certain aspects of Erikson’s theory of identity formation.

Study II: The importance of emotional and social isolation to loneliness among very old rural adults:

This study deals with the last stage of psychosocial development described by Erikson. It concludes that loss of spouse had a significant effect on loneliness in old adults. Also, lack of interaction with siblings and hearing loss had significant contribution towards loneliness

The conclusions of the study are experimental proof to Erikson’s theory that lonely old adults on looking back at their forlorn life do not have a sense of fulfillment.

Study III: Elderly social relationships with adult children and close friends and depression

This study hypothesized that depression in elderly could be aggravated by collective factors such as low community status, deprived health, monetary problems, and detrimental way of life, as well as by factors specific to an original socio-cultural setting (stressful family dynamics) of a given society.

This study substantiates and supports Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development and concludes that elderly people in unfavorable conditions in life are more prone to develop depression.

PERSONALITY THEORIES

The term "personality” is defined as” identify the most obvious characteristic of a person, or to refer to that person's social skills. Psychologists pay attention to personality to explain why a similar situation is met with different responses from people from the similar hereditary background. They also analyze how even people with dissimilar genetic backgrounds react differently

Psychoanalytic Theory: Sigmund Freud

This theory deals with two major elements that are the core of all of Fraud’s concepts. They are the conscious and unconscious and dimension. He proposed that the mind has three subsystems. The conscious includes feelings of which we are attentive. The preconscious involves thoughts of which you are not instantaneously conscious about. However, they can be brought to our alertness attention effortlessly. The unconscious involves the chief basis of influence on your obvious, mindful deeds. Exclusive of our consciousness (according to Freud) the conscious becomes a representation of unconscious desires. Thus, by studying things like slips of the tongue and imaginings, Freud would state study unconscious processes.

His concepts like ID, ego, and super-ego are helpful in assessing the reasons for specific personality traits as an individual grows from a child into a mature person.

ID- is present at birth and hence forms a person’s basic requirements.

Ego gradually rises to monitor id. Ego balances the demands of the ID and super-ego is completely for the good of the social order.

Thus, these concepts explain the thought processes associated with the development of an individual.

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder - Symptoms & Treatment

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder - The individual is somebody who likes to do things properly in a systematic manner and is preoccupied with every minute details and method. They are extremely unbending and do the same things, again and again, to attain perfection without skipping the rules. They are conscientious at their occupation but tend not to have many contacts. They are sticklers of principles and standards. They do not believe and assign jobs to others due to their thoroughness. They do not dispose of even old things fearing that they may need it someday. Since they fear that they might go wrong in their tasks, the take a long time to make decisions. The occurrence of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder is about 1% of the general population and in 3%-10% of psychiatric outpatients. Males tend to be more affected by this disorder. This disorder should not be confused with meticulous performance, concentration to specifics, and a longing to do a good quality work and gain job satisfaction. It should also not be confused with typical traditional ethics and ideals, and a wish to hoard wealth for future needs. These are all constructive personality traits that actually aid in managing with the world. Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder is a condition in which these traits are harsh over expressions to the state of becoming pessimistic.

Medication – Antidepressants are used in addition to cognitive therapy

Family Therapy – Family therapy deals with the perception of the disorder by the family members. Thus, lessen family differences and disagreement and motivates the family members.

Group Therapy – Group therapy is another helpful obsessive-compulsive disorder treatment. Through communication with other OCD sufferers, group therapy provides motivation and back-up and helps to cope with feelings of loneliness.

Time Management:

Time management is the maximum utilization of time efficiently and effectively. Time management is not a skill that should be possessed only by the managers; it is necessary for all of us. Every person aspiring to achieve any goals may be personal or professional should be able to manage time. The manager has to use his time and also his subordinates’ time to the fullest to achieve maximum productivity for the organization. Every organization has a time sheet showing the shifts and the time the employees are supposed to work and a tracking mechanism to know the in-time and out-time of the employees. This is only a part of time management. Actual time management can be obtained from the results the organization is expecting from them. The manager can acquire effective time management by setting goals, making a plan, prioritizing, decision-making, delegating and scheduling. The manager has to set the goals to be achieved in a particular time frame and then create a plan to achieving them. The manager should possess decision-making skills and has to prioritize the tasks and schedule them. The manager has to delegate it to the top management and motivate and convince the subordinates to achieve the tasks within deadlines. Time logs or activity logs for a day, a week, a month or start till the end of a particular project would help to manage the time. Managing time profitably not only helps in achieving the organizations’ purpose of existence but also gives self-satisfaction and raises the morale of the manager.

Meetings:

Two or more people forming a group to discuss a particular issue is called a meeting. Meetings can be formal or informal. An example of the formal meeting is the board meetings, and informal meetings may be with friends or family. Meetings are conducted for various reasons, it may be collecting information, views, passing on information, to make decisions, analyzing a situation and finding the solution. A meeting should have an agenda, objective, minutes of the meeting held before, limited to a time frame. To get the desired results, it should consist of the relevant people and a minimum number of people required. It also depends on the timing and place where it is conducted. The manager or the Chair has to be clear about the purpose of the meeting and communicate it to the participants well in advance. The success of any meeting depends mostly on the Chair. A meeting without any outcome or result is same as the meeting not conducted. Organizing and managing a meeting is a hectic task. The Chair should have control over the meeting and focus on the agenda so that it is not misguided or out of track and to end it with a decision. The Manager or the Chair should be motivating and persuading, effective in communication, authoritative when needed, patient, courageous and confident. The manager should listen to everyone’s opinions, appreciate them for the suggestion or information, manage conflicts by intervening, know where and how to stop a meeting. The manager should always try to make the meetings more interactive.

Presentations:

The presentation should be short and simple to be more effective. Communication plays a vital role in presentations. It is not only what you say but how you say. Before making or drafting a presentation, we should be clear about the purpose of it, the need for the audience, time limit and then the relevant information should be scripted. People tend to remember things more when they listen and visualize. So presenting the information using technology would help a lot and finally the communication of the information plays the major role in presentations. The manager has to be very good at communicating what he actually wants to communicate. This helps the manager when introducing the company to the clients. The presentations should always be targeted towards the audience and hence should be focussed on the subject. The manager should try to involve humor in the presentations it can be deliberate or instinctive so as to make it interesting. The manager should take into consideration the feelings of the audience and try not to undermine or hurt their feelings. The language used by the presenter also plays a vital role in the success of the presentation, and this should be chosen based on the target audience.

Stress Management:

Stress is the result of the changing cultures. Stress at the workplace can be very dangerous as it affects the professional as well as the personal life of a person. Stress can be caused by various factors. It may be the peer pressure, workload, sexual harassment, job security, conflicts in the organization, or sometimes a personal issue too. In this time of credit crunch, every person is affected by stress as the organizations are unable to cope up with the financial losses, and this directly affects the employees and the managers, and they are expected to do exceptionally well to be in the organization. The manager has to manage his own stress and also help the employees to do the same. Time management helps a lot in reducing stress by. Simple ways such as meditation, small breaks or exercises are very helpful in stress management. According to the definition of Geertz (1973), “religion is a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic” (p.90). This definition stresses the meaning of symbols and beliefs and brings a sense of belongingness. In a simpler way, the purpose of religion as viewed by Durkheim (1957) “to make individuals act, [and] to aid us to live” (p. 416). However, in order to believe in religion, desired for the sacred object is not only enough but one must act through the sacred object influence, where rituals help to perform this action.

Rituals promote meaning in a symbolic way so that all people could understand. Wallace (1966) phrased ritual which is a human action form shaped by the view of religious, thus “ritual is religion in action; it is the cutting edge of the tool...It is a ritual that accomplishes what religion sets out to do”. Rituals were conceptualized as a telling of stories of both the individual and community. According to Anderson and Foley (1988), it facilitates the people to “[Forge] and identification with some particular family, tribe or another segment of humanity” (1988, p.23). Anthropologist emphasized rituals in a revolutionary aspect, and they observed rituals as construction and modification of religious beliefs rather than preserving (Bell, 1992, 1997; Humphrey & Laidlaw, 1994). Rituals have constantly changed as society changes and they focused more on experimental aspects of ritual and their effect on the social relations. Ritual and ritual-like activities of six characteristics are identified by Bell (1997), and they include

Formalism: Compared to normal days, during rituals they often employ more restricted and formal codes of speech.

Traditionalism: Anachronistic elements are often employed by rituals.

Invariance: Often repetitive pattern is followed during rituals.

Governance –Rule: In order to determine appropriate behavior, strict codes of rules are often followed.

Sacral symbolism: They employ a symbolism which is considered as a sacred.

Performance: ritual actions are publicly displayed.

In the perspective, rituals are not considered as an event but rather it was looked more a process (Bell, 1992, Humphrey & Laidlaw, 1994) and further practice theory emphasized the ritual as more of the development of the relationship of power (Bell 1992, Comaroff 1985; Ortner 1989).

There are many rituals …. And ones the Holy Communion

This essay specifically addressed the ritual of Holy Communion. According to Driver (1998), Holy Communion should not be passive consumptions of god’s grace instead it should against injustice and oppression and provide space for participants to work with god. Thus, it can be defined as an “an action of God together with the people of God, ritually performed to celebrate freedom and to hasten the liberation of the whole world” (p. 207)

Holy Communion is also called The Eucharist, Sacrament of the Table, or the Lord’s Supper or the Blessed Sacrament, is supreme sacrament practiced by all Christians. This sacrament is reflected in the bible in unquestionable way, which reflects that Jesus shared the last supper, the final meal, a bread and cup of wine with his disciples by saying “This is my body”, and wine, saying, “This is my blood”, before he was arrested and eventual crucifixion. ‘Eucharist’ is the term derived from the Greek which means “thanks,” thus they are “giving thanks” for the love of god, whenever Christians celebrate the sacrament.

Unlike Baptism, this sacrament would take place, whenever Christians gathered for prayer and worship and be observed throughout the life of Christian. During this time, they share the pieces of bread and the drinking of wine to remind Jesus tremendous sacrifice which was made on their behalf. On this day, they recall not only Jesus but also his joy and love which brings to the community during gathering

Setting of Ritual

Reason for the ritual

We are remembering Christ and his life, resurrection, and death, in observing Communion. In 1 Corinthians 11:24 “And When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you’ do this in remembrance of me.”

In addition, we examine ourselves when we observe communion as indicated in Corinthians 11:28 “A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.”

We are proclaimed to death of Jesus, which is a statement of faith when observing communion and in I Corinthians 11:26: “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

In the body of Christ, we show our participation when observed communion, and we become members of each other when his life becomes our life and in 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 it has mentioned that “Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf”.

Who was there?

In the sacred drama, as “representing” Christ, Catholics focuses on the role of the priest, where priest represented the Jesus and opposed women to be a priest because it would be inappropriate to represent Jesus at a re-enactment of the last supper. However, Protestants view of the sacrament was different, and they believed that in the community of faith including clergy and laity, Christ’s presence exists, thus equal important exist to all including men and women, clergy and lay in the festival of sacred of God’s love.

There is the difference between Catholics and Protestants with reference to who may participate in the sacrament. “One, true church,” such as Catholics with good standing members could participate as far Catholics are concerned, while Protestants invite all believers to the sacrament.

During every Sunday and other times Catholics celebrate Sacrament and for them, it is the distinguishing mark of the mass, for Protestants, the celebration was considered to be flexible where they schedule it every week, or every Sunday or monthly once.

What happened?

Structure of Ritual

Identify specific phases

Ritual – Rite of passage, various stages

Symbols associated with Rituals (meaning and functions)

Symbols are words, images, or actions that reflect some meaning which may be simple or complex. The symbols to reflect holly communalism and represent of Jesus Christ are wheat, chalice, and grapes which represented the Lord’s Supper. Wheat represents the bread of life, and for sustain life it provides nourishment, and physical body of Christ was represented through bead where Jesus Christ gave his life on behalf of us. In John 6:35, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry”. Chalice and grape represent the cup of forgiveness and the blood which has a new covenant. In Luke 22:20, Jesus said, “this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”

Importance of Ritual for the participants

What is the meaning for them?

According to St.Cyril of Jerusalem (died 387), said: “that reception of the Eucharist makes the Christians a “christ bearer” and “one body and one blood with him” (catecheses, 4,3). “…in order to show the great love that he has for us. He mixed himself with us, and joined His body with us so that we might become one like a bread connected with the body” (Homily 46, 3), this was said by St.John Chrysostom (died 407). With regards to the statement of St.Paul’s, “the bread which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord? For we, being many, are one bread all that partake of this bread.” (I Corinthians 10:16-17). While different priest has given different meaning to the holy communion, the official thought about the sacred as taught in churches that “Every effect which bodily food and bodily drink produce in our corporate life, by preserving this life, increasing this life, healing this life, and satisfying this life – is also produced by this Sacrament in the Spiritual life” (Council of Florence, November 22, 1439).

Why is this event marked by a ritual? (i.e. the broader social or religious significance)

According to the Christians, the supernatural life of the soul was preserved by giving supernatural strength to communicant to resist their temptation, and to weaken the power of concupiscence. In order to withstand the assaults of the devil, it reinforces the ability of free will. The church calls Holy communion, which is a formal definition of “an antidote by which we are preserved from grievous sins” (council of Trent, October 11, 1551). The spiritual diseases of the soul and the temporal punishment which occurred due to sin was cured through Holy Communion by cleansing it of venial sins. According to Council of Trent, October 11 (1551), “an antidote by which we are freed from our daily venial sins”. Due to the acts of perfect love of god, by the reception of the Eucharist which is awakened, the remission of venial sins and of the temporal suffering takes place immediately but the intensity of remission depends on the charity received through communion.

Through Holy communion, we obtain spiritual joy in the service we do, in making a sacrifice, in performing duties, in defending the cause.

According to St.Irenaeus (died 202) stated that “when our bodies partake of the Eucharist, they are no longer corruptible as they have the hope of eternal resurrection” (Against the Heresies, IV, 18, 5)