Journal of Advances in Education Research

Download PDF (447.6 KB) PP. 176 - 190 Pub. Date: August 1, 2018

DOI: 10.22606/jaer.2018.33006

• Eric Pappas^*
  James Madison University
• Rosealie Lynch
  James Madison University
• Jesse Pappas
  James Madison University
• Mariah Chamberlin
  James Madison University

Some of the greatest thinkers of our time have argued that among the most valuable human skills is the ability to change one’s self at will. In the two studies described here, we address questions about the purpose, practice, and consequences of an immersive, week-long intentional selfdevelopment project intended to produce durable and lasting positive changes in the self. The objective of the current research was to examine the immediate and longer-term effects of an original self-development intervention that uses cognitive dissonance (the tension produced by the lack of alignment between one’s values and behaviors) to motivate and sustain a series of intentional changes made in the service of becoming one’s “ideal self” across all life contexts for one full week. Our results show promising evidence that the methodology we have developed leads to students’ progress in the areas of awareness, motivation, and intentional self-development.

Cognitive dissonance, individual sustainability, intentional self-development, cognitive behavioral change

[1] Baltes, P. B., & Baltes, M. (1990). Psychological perspectives on successful aging: The model of selective optimization with compensation. In Baltes & Baltes (Eds.), Successful aging perspectives from the behavioral sciences (pp. 48–69). New York: Cambridge University Press.

[2] Benton, M., Pappas, J., & Pappas, E. (2011). WordPress+Qualtrics: A plugin supporting research and new pedagogy to develop personal sustainability via 360° evaluation. AMCIS 2011: 17th Americas Conference on Information Systems, Detroit, August.

[3] Brandtst?dter, J. (1998). Action perspectives on human development. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Theoretical models of human development (5th ed., Vol. 1, pp. 807–863). New York: Wiley.

[4] Brandtst?dter, J. (1999). The self in action: Cultural, biosocial, and ontogenetic bases of intentional selfdevelopment. In J. Brandtst?dter & R. Lerner (Eds.), Action and self-development: Theory and research through the life span (pp. 37–67). Thousand Oaks, Ca.: Sage.

[5] Brehm, J. S., & Cohen, A. R. (1962). Explorations in cognitive dissonance. New York: Wiley.

[6] Draycott, S., & Dabbs, A. (1998). Cognitive dissonance 1: An overview of the literature and its integration into theory and practice in clinical psychology. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 31, 341-353.

[7] Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Evanston, Illinois: Row, Peterson.

[8] Freund, A. M., Li, Z., & Baltes, P. (1999). The role of selection, optimization, and compensation in successful aging. In J. Brandtst?dter & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Action and development: Theory and research through the life-span (pp. 401–435). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.

[9] Gestsdottir, S., & Lerner, R. M. (2008). Positive development in adolescence: The development and role of intentional self-regulation. Human Development, 51(3), 202–224.

[10] Giambatista, R. C., & Hoover, J. D. (2014). An empirical test of behavioral immersion in experiential learning. Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, 36.

[11] Jackson, N., & Campbell, S. (2014) The nature of immersive experience. In Jackson & Cooper (eds.). Lifewide learning, education & personal development eBook.

[12] Maslow, A. (1968). Toward a psychology of being. New York: Van Nostrand.

[13] McDearis, K., & Pappas, E. (2014). Individual sustainability (video). Journal of Cleaner Production, 86(1).

[14] Morf, C., & Horvath, S. (2010). Self-regulation processes and their signatures: Dynamics of the self-system. In R. Hoyle (Ed.), Handbook of personality and self-regulation (pp. 117–144). Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell.

[15] Nagel, R., Pappas, E., Swain, M., & Hazard, G. (2015). Understanding students’ values toward individual behaviors when in an engineering group. International Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 4, No. 2.

[16] Nagel, R., Pappas, E., & Hazard, G. (2014). “Understanding how students’ value the behaviors of individuals in engineering teams.” ASEE National Conference, Indianapolis, Ind. June.

[17] Neander, W., & Markle, D. (2005). Improving the cultural competence of nursing students: Results of integrating cultural content in the curriculum and an international immersion. Journal of Nursing Education, Vol. 44, 5.

[18] Pappas, E. (2011). A behavioral approach to building cognitive foundations for effective thought and action in a freshman critical thinking course. 2011 Frontiers in Education National Conference, October, Rapid City, S.D.

[19] Pappas, E., & Pappas, J. (2011). A dispositional behavioral approach to teaching cognitive processes that support effective thought and action. Innovative Higher Education, 36(5), 359-372.

[20] Pappas, E. (2013). Individual sustainability: Preliminary research. Frontiers in Education 2012 National Conference, Oklahoma City, October.

[21] Pappas, E., Pappas, J., & Sweeney, D. (2014). Walking the walk: Conceptual foundations of the Sustainable Personality. Journal of Cleaner Production, 86, 323-334.

[22] Pappas, J., & Pappas, E. (2015). The Sustainable Personality: Values and behaviors in Individual Sustainability. International Journal of Higher Education. Vol. 4(1).

[23] Pierrakos, O., Nagel, R., Pappas, E., Nagel, J. Moran, T., Barrella, E., & Panizo, M. (2013). A mixed-methods study of cognitive and affective learning during a sophomore design problem-based service learning experience. International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering, 1-28.

[24] Rogers, C. R. (1951). Client-centered therapy: Its current practices, implications, and theory. Boston, Mass.: Houghton-Mifflin.

[25] Rogers, C. (1969). Freedom to learn. Columbus, Ohio: Merrill.

[26] Rotter, J. B. (1954). Social learning and clinical psychology. New York: Prentice-Hall.

[27] Rotter, J. B.(1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcements. Psychological Monographs, 80(1), 1–28.

[28] Schultz, R., & Heckhausen, J. (1996). A life-span model of successful aging. American Psychologist, 51(2), 702– 714.

[29] Wicklund, R.A., & Brehm, J. W. (1976). Perspectives on cognitive dissonance. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

[30] Zhou, J., Wang, E., Dovidio, J., & Yu G. The effects of structural consistency on attitude-intention and attitude-behavior relationships. Social Behavior and Personality, 2009, 37(6), 781-790.