Infobarrel campaign

I have decided to invest more of my creative energies in this platform to establish another source of traffic to my blogs.  In fact, I would like to use Hubpages for this purpose as well.

There will be a few interesting blogs created in the near future covering topics like my favourite bands, abnormal psychology and the horror and sci-fi entertainment industry.  Consistency and patience is the obvious key areas that I need to focus on of course.

I would like to publish at least 1 article per day on this platform and watch my brand grow.

Wish me luck!

I need to speak

So I need more consistency as my work rate is abysmal.  Fear to commit is certainly a universal obstacle that plagues our waning humanity.  I will attempt to reinforce our cause with every meticulously constructed word.

The attraction to and acceptance of groups

An individual may either have a positive attraction if he is motivated to become or remain a member or a negative attraction if he is indifferent to membership. A group with a high degree of positive attraction becomes more adhesive. This group can mobilize their energies in support of group goals and maintain adherence to group standards.
Acceptance of a group is the degree to which the group employs role prescriptions to influence an individual’s behavior. With positive acceptance the individual embraces the sanctions imposed and will not deviate from group norms. Neutral acceptance occurs when members are indifferent or tolerant of the members’ lack of conformity. Negative acceptance means that members treat the individual as not belonging to the group and being eventually excluded from membership.
Full “psychological membership” is obtained when an individual is both positively attracted to the group and positively accepted by it. “Psychological non membership”, on the other hand, is characterized by neutral attraction together with neutral acceptance.
“Marginal membership” features an indifference towards membership and a “rebellious membership” occurs when an accepted individual desires not to belong to the group.

Further reading:

 Multiple memberships of groups

Group Dependence

The personal characteristics of counselors

The general characteristics of counselors include a deep interest in people and patience with them, sensitivity to the attitudes and the actions of others, emotional stability and objectivity, a capacity for being trusted by others and a natural respect for facts. Furthermore, the counselor should have belief in the individual, commitment to individual human values, alertness to the world, open-mindedness, understanding of self and professional commitment.
The major differences between effective and ineffective counselors are their personal beliefs and traits. According to Combs (1969) the major “technique” of counseling was the “self-as-instrument” as the counselor’s self or person should become the major facilitator of positive growth for the individual. He further stated that effective counselors perceived others as able rather than unable to solve their problems and manage their own lives. Effective counselors should thus be dependable, friendly and witty. These extraordinary individuals are also more likely to identify with people rather than things, to see people as having adequate capacity to cope with problems and to be more self-revealing than self-concealing. During a collaborative research project with Soper (1963) they found that counselors perceive themselves as altruistic and non-dominating.
Rodgers (1961) further concluded that the effective counselor should be an attractive, friendly person, someone who inspires confidence and trust. He further stated that the counselor’s theory and methods were far less important than the client’s perception of the counselor’s attitudes.
This research suggested that one approach to determining counselor effectiveness would be to explore the characteristics of personal effectiveness. The analysis of these characteristics must begin with an analysis of the characteristics of effective persons. In Shoben’s (1957) model of normal personality, he suggested four characteristics to describe the normal development in any healthy person. Those identified was the willingness to accept personal responsibility for behavior, capacity for interpersonal relationships, obligation to society and commitment to ideals and standards. The individual is seen as healthy when he or she is making continued growth and movement towards self-control and personal responsibility.
The fully functioning person has an increasing openness to experience, as opposed to defensive reactions to experiences that are contrary to the self-image and is continually moving toward being a process, fully living in each moment and has an increasing trust in his own organism.
These self-actualized individuals see themselves as liked, wanted, acceptable and able, possess a capacity for identification with others and have perpetual fields that are open to experience.
Blocher (1966) simply grouped these ideas into five sets of relevant characteristics that were intended to be more realistic than idealistic. These included consistency, commitment, control, competence and creativity.