The Concept
This concept is a very good instrument to analyze your own attitude towards your communication partner before the conversation (see point??) and it helps to put yourself in a good position (+/+). During the conversation or in conflicts it helps you to identified your own position and the position of your conversational partner. The basic attitude describes the attitude of a person towards himself/herself and towards other persons.
This concept is based on the so-called transactional analysis and is in this context presented in an abbreviated version. For further reading, we recommend the relevant literature about transactional analysis.
The 4 Basic Attitudes
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There are four different basic attitudes which are important in the work with children and young persons (especially in self-regulated learning contexts). These four attitudes depend on two aspects:
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How much value a person gives to himself/herself
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And how much value a person gives to another person (in an interaction)
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A distinction is made between being Okay (which means: feeling valuable, being able to solve his/her problems and to act self-responsibly) and being Not Okay (which means that someone doesn’t take responsibility for his/her problem-solving, is rather passive, kind of needy and unimportant).
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The internalized basic attitude shows up especially in stressful situations and can affect a person’s acting, thinking and behavior in a neagtive way negatively.
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Both, teachers and parents, can have different attitudes.
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With a healthy person, the basic attitude shifts/changes depending on the situation even though everyone has a kind of favorite attitude he or she is assuming especially in stressful situations. The more persisting in a specific basic attitude a person is, the unhealthier is his/her behavior.
Exercise
Interplay of basic attitudes
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You have to have a partner for this exercise.
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Choose a topic in your task area together.
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Act the following combinations of the basic attitudes. One person is A and the other one is B. Play each combination (line) for the 3 minutes.
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Take some notes about the effects of your basic attitudes on your behaviour, the topic and the problem solving during the conversation in the end of every sequence.
Note that your answers will not be read, saved or analyzed by us. The text boxes below are only tools to help you take notes smoothly and will be erased at the end of every session.