ON DEVIANT BEHAVIOR CONCEPTS AS AN OBJECT OF PEDAGOGICAL THEORY AND PRACTICE

Transcription

1 ON DEVIANT BEHAVIOR CONCEPTS AS AN OBJECT OF PEDAGOGICAL THEORY AND PRACTICE E.M. Popova Our present society needs system work on the protection of people s life and health, children safety and its important functional part is prevention and overcoming of deviant behavior among the youth. Deviant behavior is behavior of a mentally sane person, leading to the social maladjustment of this person due to the stable breach of moral norms and values accepted in this society. Being the most widespread form of aberrated behavior the deviant behavior is characterized by a big variety of symptoms, for example, aggression, defiance, hooliganism, unauthorized and regular evasion of study and work; home-leaving and vagrancy; antisocial acts of sexual nature; suicide attempts, etc. The particularly widespread form of the youth deviant behavior is abuse of alcohol, tobacco, drugs and psychotropic substances. These aberrations are attributed to addictive (dependent) behavior [3]. The problem of deviant behavior always attracted the attention of both the public and experts in different sciences (medicine, psychology, sociology, law, pedagogy). There is no united theory of deviant behavior, but the extensive knowledge is accumulated on this question in different branches of science. There is a number of theories and concepts that explain the deviation forming and development. They all can be divided into two big groups: personal and social. The first group includes biological and anthropological, psychological theories and concepts according to which the reasons for behavioral deviance lies in the person himself/herself (genetic predisposition, personal characteristics, etc.). The second group of concepts places the responsibility for deviation development on the social system itself. Biological and anthropological theories and concepts were the first to appear. The most well-known theories belong to C. Lombroso, W. Sheldon, W. Pierce, etc. Cesare Lombroso ( ), Italian psychiatrist and criminalist, wrote in his biological theory that a criminal type as a result of degradation to the previous stages of human evolution has a definite appearance and deemed that heredity is a reason for criminal behavior. He discovered about 37 characteristics of an 191

2 inherent criminal type with the help of the anthropometric method; for example, flattened nose, fused earlobes, prominent lower jaw [2]. Though Lombroso s theory took its place in the history of scientific thought, it was called as scientifically untenable. According to the theory of William Sheldon ( ) people behavior is determined by the peculiarities of their build and temperament. While H. Eysenck ( ), psychologist, studied the connection between behavior and individual and typological characteristics of prisoners, he discovered that extroverts more than introverts tend to commit a crime due to the biological reasons. There were attempts to find a connection between criminal behavior and a person s heredity within the biocriminology in the 60-ies. W. Pierce s biological concept states that males who have additional chromosomes of Y-type (XXY, XYY) are more inclined to aggression and crime (this phenomenon is found 15 times more often among prisoners than usually). Critics of this concept say that criminal behavior cannot be explained by an additional Y-chromosome, but other individual characteristics (early maturation, low intelligence, etc.) are responsible for that. Other biological determinants describing deviant behavior include the influence of testosterone hormone, brain damage, organic brain disorders, and certain characteristics of the nervous system. As a rule, the attempts to explain behavioral deviance only with the help of biological factors are refuted. For example, C. Lewis and his colleagues found that deviant behavior among children is connected with microsocial conditions (home violence, mother s mental disease) more often than with nervous system disorder. Psychoanalytical theories also have a great value among various concepts of deviant behavior. They raise such questions as What is the motivation for people s deeds?, What personal structures and characteristics are responsible for deviant behavior?, What psychological mechanisms launch and keep up deviation?, What personal characteristics prevent from developing behavioral deviance?, etc. The theory of S. Freud ( ), founder of psychoanalysis, stated that the reason for behavioral deviance was a fixation on one of the stages of psychosexual development. His followers (A. Adler, E. Fromm, K. Horney, etc.) noted such common characteristics of deviants as aggression, anxiety, inferiority complex and thought that the reason for deviant behavior is in neuroses, sexual disorders, and person s subconscious attraction. Scientists considered different things to be a source of these subconscious repressed attractions, S. Freud 192

3 thought that it is libido, A. Adler striving for superiority and power, E. Fromm attraction to suffering and death, K. Horney subconscious striving for safety. The problem of aggression, anxiety and behavioral deviance as a form of self-assertion was described in the concepts of A. Bandura, A. Bass, and M. Lazarus [4]. A. Maslow, representative of the humanistic movement in psychology, studied healthy and creative people and developed a concept of a psychologically healthy person. According to his theory of human motivation he distinguished primary basic needs and metaneeds, which lead to psychopathologies (sufferings, apathy, and cynicism) unless satisfied. In his opinion a person does not have the natural evil and has an impulse to increase and actualize human potential, self-actualization is the driving force of personal development. C. Rogers, psychotherapist, developed the ideas of psychologically healthy person and thought that the reason for a person s problem behavior was caused by an internal conflict between need for self-realization and dependence of assessment from outside. In his opinion it is necessary to encourage the process of personal actualization (interest display, positive acceptance, attitude without assessment) in order to overcome personal and behavioral problems. V. Frankl thought that the reason for deviant behavior lies in the fact that people restrained their spirituality, avoided the responsibility for the search of meaning of life. The influence of social environment (social relations, social groups) is studied within the sociological theories. The most well-know representatives of this school are E. Durkheim, R. Merton, T. Parsons, E. Erikson, T. Becker, etc. E. Durkheim suggested a concept of anomia (anomia is a social disorganization) according to which social aberrations are the effect of normative and value disintegration of the society. His followers (J. Kettler, J. Dewey, G. Tarde, etc.) disproved the theory of a inborn criminal and pointed out the social roots of this phenomenon. Having carried out a large statistical analysis of various anomic displays (prostitution, suicide, etc.) they stressed that the growth of people s aberrant behavior took place during wars, economic crisis and social upheaval [1]. R. Merton is one of the most known followers of E. Durkheim. He considers deviant behavior to be the result of non-coordination between the goals approved by the society and social structure defining the means to satisfy them. He distinguished as adaptation means the following: conformism (the acceptance of goals and means), innovation 193

4 (support of approved goals, but denial of the approved means to achieve these goals), ritualism (denial of the goals, but the use of the approved means), retrism (escape from the reality) and revolt (riot-denial of social norms). The conflict between goals and means leading to anomic tension partially accounts for a high crime rate among lower classes. T. Parsons developed R. Merton s model and included it in a more general theory of interaction analyses having distinguished 8 types of deviant behavior. He thought that the reason for deviant behavior is the motivation of expectation non-fulfillment [6]. E. Erikson suggested a concept according to which deviants are necessary for the society to understand and maintain social norms. E. Thorndike, J. Watson, B. Skinner, behaviorism supporters (behavioral psychology), considered deviant behavior to be the result of the influence of the environment. In order to eliminate or decrease behavioral deviance the environment has such methods as negative reinforcement (deprivation of something), emotionally negative conditioning (punishment), and operant decrement (placing in another environment where the previous behavior is impossible). The researchers say that punishment efficiency depends on a number of conditions: it should be proportional to the act and personally meaningful; it should be carried out without witness and be enforced immediately after the offence. Nevertheless, the vast majority of researchers admit that punishment does not always deter deviant behavior. T. Sally, W. Miller, R. Cloward, L. Oulin studied the influence of subcultures on the deviance development. In their opinion, a person placed in a deviant subculture from early childhood will reliably show the respective forms of deviant behavior. Subjective deviance factors are significant along with objective social factors. According to the stigmatization or labeling theory (G. Becker, E. Lemert) the reason for deviant behavior is that influential groups have power to label the representatives of the less powerful groups as deviant. E. Goffman distinguished three types of stigmata: physical (congenital mutilations), lack of will (alcoholism, drug addiction, mental diseases) and racial stigmata ( the black ) [2]. Taking into account both biological-anthropological, psychological, and social concepts and theories that explain the development of deviance we see that it is necessary to remember three integrated aspects medical-psychological, psychoeducational and sociopedagogical while organizing educational and preventive activity in an educational institution [3]. 194

5 The medical-psychological aspect of educational and preventive activity includes the examination of students health (health group, chronic diseases, physical qualities and physiological indexes, way of life) and the medical support during the period of study; information for students and their parents about health and healthy life-style in a family; measures on prevention of psychoactive substance use, assistance in addiction treatment. The psychoeducational aspect of diagnosing and correction of deviant behavior means the work of educators-psychologists, supervising teachers, tutors on personal psychodiagnosis of students, study and measures on improvement of the psychological climate and interpersonal relations in a group, distribution into risk groups and work on deviant behavior correction (psychoeducational correction programs); psychological support of students, educators, parents. The sociopedagogical aspect of prevention means the study of personality of students (value orientations, needs, interests, inclinations, etc.) and their families, social environment; support of children and families in a socially dangerous situation, orphans and children without parents care; social and legal protection of minors, prevention of neglect, homelessness, cruelty and violence; regular pedagogical control of attendance, progress and behavior of students; inculcation of healthy life-style, socially important skills, active social stand, leadership qualities, development of legal awareness and culture of students and their parents; pedagogical help for parents in the correction of upbringing and family communication. Our experience shows that the implementation of these prevention aspects is possible in the conditions of learning and after-hours activity. It is also important to take into account the development of psychoeducational and sociopedagogical work, tutorials, infrastructure of additional training, as well as close cooperation between an educational institution and health-care agencies, medical, social, and rehabilitation centers (psychotherapists, psychoneurologists, narcologists, etc.), law enforcement agencies, public organizations and youth movements. Therefore, modern views on personal deviant behavior show that it is a complex form of social behavior that is determined by a number of interrelated factors. The analysis of concepts and theories on the conditions of deviance development show that, on the one hand, the need of self-actualization, self-improvement and self-realization is inherent in a person, and on the other hand, the limitedness and 195

6 destructiveness of the social environment can slow down a student s mental and intellectual development and lead to behavior deviations and desocialization. The solution of this problem in the educational process of an institution can be a comprehensive approach which means learning of techniques of educational and prevention activity based on the integration of psychomedical, psychoeducational and sociopedagogical methods of diagnosing and correction of deviant behavior. Bibliography 1. Дюркгейм, Э. Самоубийство; Социологический этюд / Э. Дюркгейм; пер. с фр. А.Н. Ильинского. СПб.: Педагогика, с. 2. Клейберг, Ю.А. Психология девиантного поведения: учеб. пособие для вузов / Ю.А. Клейберг. М., с. 3. Попова, Е.М. Педагогическое обеспечение профилактики девиантного поведения обучающихся профессиональных образовательных учреждений: автореф. дис. канд.пед.наук / Е.М. Попова. М., с. 4. Психология: словарь / под общ. ред. А.В. Петровского, М.Г. Ярошевского. М., с. 5. Роджерс, К. Взгляд на психотерапию. Становление человека / К. Роджерс; пер с англ. Н. М. Исениной. U., с. 6. Parsons, T. The social system. Glencoe, Translated from Russian by Veranika Pakhirka 196