Full Title of Paper
Case Study
This case will discuss the experience of a single mother, a full-time employee, and an online university undergraduate student named Susan. She began obtaining an online education because she aspired to become an addiction therapist. She planned to continue her career in psychology by attending graduate school in that major. However, having the duty to commit to her current job and her son – Joe – she is experiencing a lack of motivation to further meet the requirements of her courses at an online university. One of the issues in the case might be self-regulation that Susan is not applying to her studies. This paper will further discuss the concept of self-control and its effect on education, considering Susan’s case.
Self-regulation is a concept that explains a person’s motivation and intention to achieve end goal. According to studies, self-regulation is an essential factor in restraining means that do not contribute to reaching the objective set by the individual. Self-control is also a concept that requires research because many studies focus on a person’s reaction to stimuli, whereas there is a need to understand conceptual associations of the person with means, ends, and self-control.
Research Support
Research Summary
The research written by Critcher and Ferguson (2016) identifies self-regulation as a social psychological concept and looks into the implications of implicit self-control and decision-making for future success and career. The research includes a pilot and seven more studies focusing on aspects like GPA, exam/test results, and others to achieve research objectives (Critcher & Ferguson, 2016). The methodology of every study is similar – Participants from the University of Berkeley and Cornell University take IAT tests and other tests like the Optimistic Denial Test in the lab (Critcher & Ferguson, 2016). Their test results were analyzed, and several findings were identified in the research. The four objectives set in the research were made progress, and the implicit importance of self-regulation was supported.
Another resource for this case study is a commentary by Martin Hagger (2013) on research by De Ridder et al., where he proposed a model based on the study. The designed model suggests four pathways that affect behavior: trait self-control, implicit motives, intention, and direct link between self-control and behavior (Hagger, 2013). The model provides hypotheses that Hagger offers other researchers to test.
Research Interpretation
The commentary written by Hagger (2013) recognized self-control as an essential socio-psychological concept that affects human behavior. His hypotheses model suggests that self-regulation and other factors impact behavior directly. For instance, the trait of self-control influences implicit motives and intentions, consequently affecting behavior in positive or negative ways. His theories are based on another study and thus require additional research. Nonetheless, these theories support the importance of self-control as a socio-psychological concept.
The study by Critcher and Ferguson (2016), on the other hand, is a composition of seven pieces of research that support the concept of implicit and its role in self-control. The general discussion of the paper concluded that it is essential to analyze conceptual associations of people between means and ends of success related to self-control. The study primarily connects self-regulation to motivation and thus supports the idea that self-control should be researched more as a socio-psychological concept.
Application of Self-Control
In the case of the undergraduate student overgoing different student life and academic experiences, self-control is the concept that persists in the case. Students might neglect self-control, which often happens in the first and second years when they are willing to try many new experiences. Sometimes, students try substances or drugs when they come to university because they might have started the separation process from their parents. In addition, it has been mentioned that plagiarism and cheating become actions performed by students who do not exercise self-regulation. The concept is vital for the students because it helps achieve the means and end-states of the final goal.
Moreover, it is known that young people experience identity crises in their twenties when still enrolled at the university. The concept of self is just as important as employing self-control; thus, these concepts might add to each other. Students can discover the self-using self-control, which is an application of the concept of self-regulation to the case of the students.
Ethical Reasoning Application
The elements of ethical behavior are moral sensitivity, judgment, motivation, and character. This case study considers two major ethical theories – Kantian deontology and Mill and Bentham’s utilitarianism. Since the case study discovers one person’s experience, it has been decided to analyze the case from Kantian deontology. This moral theory denies the righteousness and wrongness of any action and suggests that a person’s virtues determine the morality of an action (Johnson & Cureton, 2022). According to this theory, the most critical factor for any theory is the intention of the person performing the act. In addition, the person acts based on the assumption of what is the best outcome from the consequences of the action being done.
Ethical Concept
In the case of self-regulation, Kantian deontology analyzes the intent or the motive of the action performed under self-control and without it (Johnson & Cureton, 2022). For instance, it is questionable why an individual performs actions that do not contribute to the final goal set by the person. If the student is willing to obtain a maximum GPA, there are some means, such as classes, academics, and other factors. There are also end states, such as graduation, employment, and career. While applying self-regulatory practices to achieve the end-states, it is also essential to pass milestones like means.
On that path, students often face struggles with self-control, which can often be associated with discipline. However, even from the deontological point of view, self-control and discipline are different concepts and virtues. According to the deontological concept, ignoring self-control might be due to a lack of proper motivation for achieving the end-states, or the end-states that exist in a person’s subconscious are different from the ones appearing in conscious parts of the mind (Johnson & Cureton, 2022). Therefore, Kantian deontology supports the idea that self-control is a concept that requires a more profound understanding.
Supportive Evidence
It is necessary to apply an ethical concept to examine the central concept of the study, which is self-regulation. One example from the student academic that requires ethical analysis is plagiarism. If the work is plagiarized, it can be evident that the student neglected self-control. There is a concept of accidental plagiarism, which means that work was not plagiarized on purpose. In such a case, it is essential to understand whether self-control was neglected rightfully or not. Kantian deontology, a concept that focuses on the intentions and morals of the person, is perfect t identifying the issue (Johnson & Cureton, 2022).
The person might not have used self-control because he or she intended to plagiarize the work and use the spare time on other activities. Other activities are also essential to understand whether they are morally acceptable. The case might be different, but the academics that significantly affect GPA, which is an end-state of the student, require many ethical considerations. Therefore, the case study and study of self-control have to consider Kantian deontology.
Critical Thinking Application
Critical Thinking Issue
Every research paper and case study requires a critical look at the problem to identify drawbacks and different perspectives to develop and improve the quality of the paper. In this case study, the concept from critical thinking that will be adapted is the contextual thinking tool. The concept’s meaning is to look at the context of the situation to understand what questions shall be asked or sometimes to understand motives. For instance, even if an unknown subject of archaeology appears, the subject’s purpose and use can be identified by looking at the historical context of the time when the subject was created. The same tool can be applied to a case study or research paper. The issue in this case study is the necessity to use contextual thinking when analyzing the sources and materials used for the paper.
Supportive Evidence
The issue in this paper that requires critical thinking is looking at the context of research papers chosen as sources for the paper. The paper written by Critcher and Ferguson is written with participants from the University of Berkeley and Cornell University, which is why the diversity of the participants can be questioned. Students at top-tier universities often have similar qualities related to academics and passing exams, but the study measured exam scores as one of the significant factors in assessing self-regulation. In addition, the context of the situation is questionable because participants passed the tests for studies in university labs under their professors’ watch. Therefore, the results they showed might be affected by the setting and context of the situation where participants were.
References
Hagger, M. S. (2013). The multiple pathways by which self-control predicts behavior. Frontiers in Psychology, 4(0), 849–851. Web.
Critcher, C. R., & Ferguson, M. J. (2016). “Whether I like it or not, it’s important”: Implicit importance of means predicts self-regulatory persistence and success. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 110(6), 818–839. Web.
Johnson, R. & Cureton, A. (Fall 2022 Edition). “Kant’s Moral Philosophy“, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.). Web.