Applications of Indigenous Psychology Educational Achievement aa26cac2

Kelly Graham

Walden University

Applications of Indigenous Psychology: Educational Achievement

East Asia’s with stand to have a high achievement rate and this is recognized through their approach to interdependence, proxy control, self-regulation, collective control and organizational culture. Korean students outperform their Western counterparts in reading, mathematics, and sciences. Indigenous psychology approach examines these five factors that explain the high academic achievements of Korean students. The biological basis would reflect the internal abilities of the students, culturally molded students who begin school already possesses talent taught at home. This is the interdependence that is configured into the child’s learning curves that was supported by the child’s parents. Individualistic values are also placed on the child first beginning school. This examines the child’s self-motivation, intrinsic motivation and self-esteem. Along with the structural features of the Korean school system that provides small class sizes and individual instruction, students begin their journey through the school system, strong and ready. The beliefs that the Korean culture implement in relation to education are the essential ingredients that place a high standard and proven succession throughout the culture. The role of self-efficacy at the individual level, social support at the relational level and Confucian values at the cultural level all reflect the collective control, proxy control, self-regulation and organizational cultures that has awarded non-western indigenous psychology.

Koreans view education as part of a self-cultivation that is pursued for its own sake and to achieve personal, social and occupational success. They don’t believe that the ability is 100% innate but achievement is acquired through persistent effort and discipline. All parents have a huge impact on their child’s maintenance and hold a relational bond at influencing their child’s achievement through support, rather that informational support. Emotional support has been reported to be the most important within this culture. All failures and successes are coordinated and are due to efforts or lack thereof. In Western theories guilt and external pressures do not share negative consequences but instead have an opposite effect. Children feel an indebted to their parents and feel a sense of devotion, sacrifice and support. Parental expectation an and pressures had positive impacts and these factors promotes academic achievement.

In the study of 60 nations, Koreans had the highest IQ while the United States had one of the lowest. This race of Asians that was once inferior just 80 years ago has now become the superior race due to their genes. Psychologist say that these differences can be a direct contribution to environmental factor, innate abilities and personality. Self-efficacy is a known direct impact, beginning with a child’s own belief of their capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments. When children and adults are matched for a specific ability whether it be work or school, those with higher efficacy belief perform significantly better than those with lower efficacy belief. Students in the US, Europe, and Asia who had the self-efficacy beliefs to discipline themselves, to develop cognitive skills, and to obtain the necessary support from parents, teachers, and friends, performed well in school. However, culture has divided abilities and influence among all categories and subjects. A poll was given to students in the US and East Asia. They were all asked is it more important to enjoy life or prepare for life and the more than half of the US students agreed that enjoying life was most important. (Kim,2007)East Asia agreed with the US students that academic achievement was to progress into a high paying job but when asked about effort, the differences were relevant once again. The Us students all had high self-esteem but did poorly in math and science. Limitations in Western cultures that begin in the interdependence level reflect the differences with the non-western civilizations. The environmental factors as well as governmental issues with school funding and high classroom occupancy can contribute to the lack of self-regulation in the US culture. It seems that East Asia has a control system that is proven to work and has evolved in the last 80 years. The US should adopt these trends and use indigenous psychology to acquire a high educational achievement status. Through indigenous psychology the Us can import regulatory demands and use collective control to communicate to parents and teachers’ yearly goals and quotas that should be met. Underlying the cultural value system within the school system will prepare the Us Students for a positively impacted future. The limitations on general psychology has expressed a need for indigenous psychology for reason such as academic achievement. (Stevens,2007)Adopting interdependence, proxy control, self-regulation, collective control and organizational culture of East Asia can finally be reflected in the United States.

References:

Kim, U., & Park, Y. (2006). Indigenous psychological analysis of academic achievement in Korea: The influence of self-efficacy, parents, and culture. International

Stevens, M. J., & Gielen, U. P. (2007). Toward a glob al psychology: Theory, research, intervention, and pedagogy. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.