Adjustment Learning
Learning about adjustment means making analyses of two things: first, our internal makeup; second, our interpersonal or social behavior that results from having to live and work with other people. We can hink of adjustment as the process by which the individual and his
environment are kept in balance; bring about the effectiveness of one's efforts to meet needs. The concept of adjustment develop gradually in all of us.
Adjustment involves a four-way function of relationships: inrrapersonal, person-to-person, person-to-group, and person-to-object. Adjustment involves solving such common problems as feelings of inferiority, indicated by sensitivity to criticisms, reference of criticism
o oneself, seclusiveness, overresponse to flattery, poor reaction to competition, and tendency to depreciate others. Within limits all of us how fear and anxiety, quite common in the college student who functions in a highly competitive environment. Anxiety is a universal problem which thrives in a climate of uncertainty, and particularly in situations dominated by hostility.
Stress is a build-up process, related to"the wear and tear of daily problems and to our goal seeking. Reactions to stressful situations relate to personality. What may be an overload of stress for one person ay not be for another. The Type A person is characterized by excessive drive, aggressiveness, ambition, involvement in competi've activities, vocational deadlines, pressure for productivity, and an
enhanced sense of time urgency. The converse personality, Type B, is ore relaxed and easygoing, seldom becomes impatient, and takes ore time to enjoy avocational pursuits. While the. Type A person is ely to overload himself, the Type B person does not.
Worry is a characteristic of all of us; it is negative in excess and sensitive when it stimulates us to seek solution to a problem. Although : is impossible to get rid of all worrY, w'e can reduce it by setting a ime to consider it and talking it out; by seeking reliable information 3Jld doing som,ething active about it; and by engaging in other types of sensitivity.
In contrast to coping behavior we find an array of defensive eactions, so common that we can think of them as normal. For most pIe they include dependency, projection, identification, compensan, overcompensation, reaction formation. rumor, rationalization,
