Cooperation
"Game Theory" - The decision to cooperate or not.
"The Prisoner's Dilema" game was a funny one to get my head around at first. My initial reaction on the game was that you have to cooperate with the other player to achieve the final goal, and if you abide by the rules and don't cheat you achieve success. But how much are people willing to cooperate with each other, and are they just playing the game? Robert Axelrod explains his theory of "tit for tat":
Affiliation
"The relationship resulting from affiliating one thing from another."
Affiliation is the psychological process that operates in our brains when people form close relationships with one another.
It provides us "with a network of support that will help us when we are need" ( Crisp and Turner, 2007, p.266).
I think it is extremely important to form close bonds and relationships with people in all walks of life, as Crisp and Turner stated, you never know when you are going to hit rock bottom and need people the most, so I truly believe that what you put into life is what you get out.
One of the principles of the affiliation theory is that of " Homeostasis". (O'Connor and Rosenblood, 1996). It means that our need for affiliation within each one of us may differ, but we each seek to balance our interactions with others to a preferred level. O'Connor and Rosenblood suggest this may link to relative and preferred levels of human stimulation ( introvert and extrovert).
When I was studying at Dance college I was extremely shy and introverted, which I think deferred my development as a dancer and as a person. The more confident and extroverted students seemed to exel in their dancing where I was always on the sideline, and I do believe this has been a set back for me as dancers and performers are naturally quite confident and extroverted. However, my experience of my hardships at dance school and rejections in the industry has slowly but surely toughened my skin, and my naturally quiet persona has had to learn (even though uncomfortable at times) to be confident in any given situation. Although this might of been a negative for me at dance school, these experiences have been invaluable life skills for me so I now count them as a positive.
The Homeostasis principle is something I can really relate to in my practice. I rely on close relationships with people and being away from my loved ones for 7 months at a time on the ship was extremely difficult to me. I prefer to be around friends and family all the time, and it is very important to me especially as I have got older. The privacy regulation idea ( Hofstede, 1980) is where individuals seek to maintain privacy at preferred levels. This is what I found difficult on the ship; you are living and working with your cast members 24/7 and as an introvert I respect my privacy profusely, I found it hard to balance my privacy and social time, and that frustration led to homesickness. Perhaps this has been a defect in my career? Maybe if I wasn't so homesick would I have progressed on ships or in my career if I had continued to work abroad? Forming close bonds on the ship were imperative to me as it was a network of support whist I was so far away from home. It got me thinking, if you are introverted and respect your privacy, will that stop your development in networking in your professional career? I believe professional networking is an extension of our need to affiliate to develop our careers. In the Dance industry it's all about forming bonds and networking with other dancers and directors. What you put in is what you get out, and generally it is about who you know in obtaining work.
Social Constructionism
Humans construct meanings of the world and their experiences of it. " What constructionism claims is that meanings are constructed by human beings as they engage with the world they are interpreting"(Crotty, M. 2005). So in my professional practice, and in my everyday life I engage with the knowledge I already have to gain meaning of a situation. For instance, when I first started rehearsals in Florida for the cruise line, I had no idea what was going to lie ahead of me, it was a completely new situation. But as I socially engaged with others and interpreted more knowledge through interaction, I began to understand the 'meaning' of the situation more. I guess this relates to a new job or a new home- you have no understanding of it before you start but you will eventually gain a meaning for it.
Connectivism
This is really what the BAPP course is about. The online network enables students to engage and learn from one another, reading blogs and Skype sessions have facilitated my learning. This way of learning is completely new to me, it is based on concepts and ideas of others but it really compels you to think for yourself, relate it to your own practice and even question the theory. It is very different from the teacher to student method in the classroom; where you absorb the information given to you and then memorise it.
Communities of practice
Communities of practice are apparent both professional and social situations. (Reader 3, 2014)
References
Axelrod, R. (1984). The evolution of cooperation.London:Penguin
Crisp, J & Turner, r. (2007) Essential social psychology.London:Sage
Crotty.M. (2005) The foundations of social research: meaning and perspectives in the research process, London:Sage
Hofstede (1980)
Lave, J & Wenger, E. (1991) Situated learning. Legitimate peripheral participation, Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press
O'Connor & Rosenblood ( 1996 pp267)
Siemans, G.(2004) Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age
http://www.elearnspace.org/articles/connectivism.htm (assessed July 2012)
"Game Theory" - The decision to cooperate or not.
"The Prisoner's Dilema" game was a funny one to get my head around at first. My initial reaction on the game was that you have to cooperate with the other player to achieve the final goal, and if you abide by the rules and don't cheat you achieve success. But how much are people willing to cooperate with each other, and are they just playing the game? Robert Axelrod explains his theory of "tit for tat":
" Cooperation based solely on reciprocity seemed possible." (Axelrod, R.1984 Pviii)This 'Tit for tat' strategy basically means you copy what the other person did in the round before you, something that Axelrod found a success in testing out this theory in a series of games.
"Cooperating fully with others until you reach a point of maximum benefit and then to defect." (Axelrod, R. 1984)This means that you will cooperate with someone until they are no longer beneficial to you. I myself have never used someone as such to get what I want out of them then end it- I believe cooperation with one another is very important and I don't see myself personally as a 'user' of people. This exploitation of the other person is where I can see a relation in the dance industry. On some level dancers do cooperate and communicate with each other to obtain information for auditions, what social media sites to search for jobs and to get the inside scoop on the dance world. Further more, the termination of the cooperation or the 'defect' is relevant in the industry, however vicious that may be. As you are relatively out there by yourself, the 'defect' in an audition is to get yourself noticed, push others out of the way and in the end, to get the job. You are not cooperating with others by that point, you are purely by yourself. However, in a contrasting workplace such as my job in retail, I believe you do have to cooperate with one another to achieve success. My colleagues and I help each other out if one of us hasn't fulfilled our sales target for the day. We cooperate with each other to reach our final goal, we are a team and it just wouldn't work if we 'defected'.
Affiliation
"The relationship resulting from affiliating one thing from another."
Affiliation is the psychological process that operates in our brains when people form close relationships with one another.
It provides us "with a network of support that will help us when we are need" ( Crisp and Turner, 2007, p.266).
I think it is extremely important to form close bonds and relationships with people in all walks of life, as Crisp and Turner stated, you never know when you are going to hit rock bottom and need people the most, so I truly believe that what you put into life is what you get out.
One of the principles of the affiliation theory is that of " Homeostasis". (O'Connor and Rosenblood, 1996). It means that our need for affiliation within each one of us may differ, but we each seek to balance our interactions with others to a preferred level. O'Connor and Rosenblood suggest this may link to relative and preferred levels of human stimulation ( introvert and extrovert).
When I was studying at Dance college I was extremely shy and introverted, which I think deferred my development as a dancer and as a person. The more confident and extroverted students seemed to exel in their dancing where I was always on the sideline, and I do believe this has been a set back for me as dancers and performers are naturally quite confident and extroverted. However, my experience of my hardships at dance school and rejections in the industry has slowly but surely toughened my skin, and my naturally quiet persona has had to learn (even though uncomfortable at times) to be confident in any given situation. Although this might of been a negative for me at dance school, these experiences have been invaluable life skills for me so I now count them as a positive.
The Homeostasis principle is something I can really relate to in my practice. I rely on close relationships with people and being away from my loved ones for 7 months at a time on the ship was extremely difficult to me. I prefer to be around friends and family all the time, and it is very important to me especially as I have got older. The privacy regulation idea ( Hofstede, 1980) is where individuals seek to maintain privacy at preferred levels. This is what I found difficult on the ship; you are living and working with your cast members 24/7 and as an introvert I respect my privacy profusely, I found it hard to balance my privacy and social time, and that frustration led to homesickness. Perhaps this has been a defect in my career? Maybe if I wasn't so homesick would I have progressed on ships or in my career if I had continued to work abroad? Forming close bonds on the ship were imperative to me as it was a network of support whist I was so far away from home. It got me thinking, if you are introverted and respect your privacy, will that stop your development in networking in your professional career? I believe professional networking is an extension of our need to affiliate to develop our careers. In the Dance industry it's all about forming bonds and networking with other dancers and directors. What you put in is what you get out, and generally it is about who you know in obtaining work.
Social Constructionism
Humans construct meanings of the world and their experiences of it. " What constructionism claims is that meanings are constructed by human beings as they engage with the world they are interpreting"(Crotty, M. 2005). So in my professional practice, and in my everyday life I engage with the knowledge I already have to gain meaning of a situation. For instance, when I first started rehearsals in Florida for the cruise line, I had no idea what was going to lie ahead of me, it was a completely new situation. But as I socially engaged with others and interpreted more knowledge through interaction, I began to understand the 'meaning' of the situation more. I guess this relates to a new job or a new home- you have no understanding of it before you start but you will eventually gain a meaning for it.
Connectivism
This is really what the BAPP course is about. The online network enables students to engage and learn from one another, reading blogs and Skype sessions have facilitated my learning. This way of learning is completely new to me, it is based on concepts and ideas of others but it really compels you to think for yourself, relate it to your own practice and even question the theory. It is very different from the teacher to student method in the classroom; where you absorb the information given to you and then memorise it.
"Technology is altering (rewiring) our brains. The tools we use define and shape our thinking." (Siemans, G. 2004).In the article "Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age", Siemans explains that we are all constantly learning, and throughout my career I have learnt through experiences and other dancers.
Communities of practice
Communities of practice are apparent both professional and social situations. (Reader 3, 2014)
I recently had a Skype session with Paula Nottingham with other BAPP students and we discussed our own "communities of practice". I realised I had many different circles, both social and professional, and discovered that these communities all aid my learning in different ways. Members of a community of practice come together because of a mutual interest, and generate a shared experience of engagement. This relative knowledge between one another in the community of practice enables learning and is beneficial to the members in the circle. It can be hard to break into other circles though. I realise I will have to make new networks if I am to go down the teaching route which is something I want to go into after the BAPP degree. I could possibly make new connections through my existing circles, to break through to a new network of teaching.
"A community of practice is a set of relations among persons, activity, and world, over time and in relation with other tangential and overlapping communities of practice." ( Lave and Wegner, 1991).
References
Axelrod, R. (1984). The evolution of cooperation.London:Penguin
Crisp, J & Turner, r. (2007) Essential social psychology.London:Sage
Crotty.M. (2005) The foundations of social research: meaning and perspectives in the research process, London:Sage
Hofstede (1980)
Lave, J & Wenger, E. (1991) Situated learning. Legitimate peripheral participation, Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press
O'Connor & Rosenblood ( 1996 pp267)
Siemans, G.(2004) Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age
http://www.elearnspace.org/articles/connectivism.htm (assessed July 2012)
Hi Katrina,
ReplyDeleteLike yourself I struggle with the idea of people just using you to get an end result and then dropping the relationship. I of course reach out to friends and colleagues for help but that is not where the relationship ends.
Have you ever had an experience where you think someone else has used your relationship purely to help themselves? If so, how did that effect you professionally?
Lisa x