VIII. Look through the passages from A to E which contain examples of inadequate ways of thinking and match them with the titles.

Social Pressure. Drawing Wrong Conclusions. Inability to Use Symbols. Rigid Thinking. Magical Thinking.

 

A. This kind of a thinking pattern occurs when a solution (решение) to a problem is thought about in an either or manner. Statements such as "You either can do it my way or not at all" and "There are only two possible solutions to this question" reflect such a pattern. People who come from background (социальная Среда) where everything is evaluated in terms of right or wrong, black or white, good or bad usually have difficulties in problem solving. As a result they fail to evaluate the many alternatives present in any complex problem.

B. Many people come from backgrounds where thinking occured in a mystical way. The reasons for a certain difficulty were attributed to the position of the stars or the phases of the Moon. The fact that a person is continually plagued (мучиться) with problems results from his being born on a certain day or at a particular hour. There are those who have been lead to believe that only certain people can help you solve a problem, those gifted (одаренные) which certain magic powers (силы).

C. Some people have never been given opportunity to think long enough about a situation to reach an accurate conclusion. Their analysis of situation is incomplete; they do not collect the necessary information. Some parent demand (требовать) of their children that they make their decision immediately. They indirectly teach the child not to tolerate (терпеть) an indecisive moment or ambiguous (двусмысленный) situation. Thus the child never gets any practice in finding out what the factors are in making a decision.

D. Some families encourage (поощрять) their children to think like everyone else or to accept what they are told and what they are given to read without question. After their early years those so trained (наученные таким образом) tend to accept ideas automatically from their peer (ровесники) group and from political groups.

E. People who are familiar with and who can manipulate signs (знак) are likely to think more effectively. One of the reasons that school is such a necessary part of everyone's experience is that in school we learn how to use words and to think about ideas and concepts. Students often feel that they are learning little from school because they forget many of the specific facts to which they are exposed. However a more important goal of education involves the learning of tools (средства) and techniques (these would include the use of words and concepts) through which one can learn to think more effectively in order to solve problems later in life.

 

 

Unit 14

Motivation

Цель – формирование представлений студентов о мотивации, использование знания иностранного языка в профессиональной деятельности и профессиональной коммуникации.

Key words

 

motives	мотив, повод, побуждение
motivation	мотивация, целенаправленность
setting	установка, пуск в ход
satisfy	удовлетворять
need	потребность, побуждающий стимул
tension	напряжение
incorporate	объединять, включать
esteem	уважение
tend	иметь склонность
day-to-day	ежедневный
long term	долгосрочный
in all probability	по всей вероятности
to exert oneself	стараться, лезть из кожи вон

Text

In the human's earlier life, motivation is an integral component of learning and a critical problem in educational settings.

Unsatisfied needs, with the accompanying tensions, arouse and direct activity toward goals which the individual perceives as satisfying those needs. A classification scheme which incorporates most human needs includes: physio­logical needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs, self-actu­alization needs, the need to explore, and the need to achieve.

All children appear to need the approval of parents, teachers and equals; to be loved; to achieve some success; to experience stability of social relation­ships; to have some attention paid to them; to be able to manipulate things and ideas; and to think well of themselves. In addition there are certain other sources of motivation more directly due to opportunity and environment, such as the day-to-day interests of children and their long-term interests and hobbies. These are very powerful motives at times. Hence we suggest:

a)children will work harder at tasks when they feel the result is important to them, or that in some way the task measures their real worth as persons;

b)children tend to exert themselves more when a standard of attainment has been set. In all probability, the child who cannot reach the standard feels a reduction in his own sense of worth, and feels that he is losing the approval of his teachers and equals. It is important that the target be set within the capacity of the children, providing their work hard;

c)moderate competition among children seems generally to increase their output of work;

d)under the influence of basic motives and opportunities, experience and training, pupils develop strong interests (at certain ages) in, say, stamp collecting-, dramatics, athletics and flying. These interests can act as very powerful motives. Motivation has been dealt with before abilities, for the latter may be of little use if the child is poorly motivated.

 

EXERCISES