1.) In the memoir, look me in the eye: my life with asperger’s, by John Elder Robison there are several points that seem to be significant in the development of his interpersonal self regulation. Identify one of these time points (please use page numbers) and explain how you think this is an example of a shift in interpersonal self regulation. (10 points) Throughout his memoir, Robison recounts upon his inability to communicate socially and his desire for fluid interpersonal skills. He notices that people who are extroverts and are socially capable often “go far in life because interpersonal skill is one of the most important predictors of success” (207). As he grows and becomes more socially capable, he is able to recognize his interpersonal shortcomings and work to change his awkward habits. Because of this, he inherently has more social problems when he is a young boy. “Starting at about six years of age, [he] learned not to submit [him]self to repeated humiliation from people and institutions” (239). Unfortunately, humiliation was the impetus for Robison’s education in interpersonal self-regulation. In chapter 3, Empathy, Robison’s mother has one of her friends over. She comments on a tragedy of someone’s son being killed by a train while playing on train tracks. For lack of an understanding of social and emotional norms, Robison decides to smile at this remark. “She turned to me with a shocked expression on her face. ‘What! Do you think that’s funny?’ I felt embarrassed and a little humiliated. ‘No, I guess not” (29). His response, “No, I guess not”, is key because this is how he learned, through embarrassment and humiliation, that it is not acceptable to find humor in one’s tragic death. For Robison, learning interpersonal self-regulation skills is a bumpy road of learning from his mistakes and differences.
2.) Identify one example of the use of suppression or re-appraisal in the memoir. Please provide the page number from the text. Do you think Robison’s skill in re-appraisal changes over the course of the text? Support your answer with evidence from the text. (10 points) Examples of Robison’s use of re-appraisal are evident in chapter 9, I Drop Out of High School. In this chapter, Robison does a lot of critical thinking because parts of his life, primarily family life and academics, are falling apart. He goes through various decision-making processes and uses re-appraisal techniques to guide the decisions. He has to make heads or tails of his parents, who are each crazy, and decide which one of them is right in their assumptions about the other one. He actually grew to doubt his mother’s predictions that his father would kill his family (86). He “lurched” from one parent to another because his judgments were constantly being reorganized by their crazy actions. “It seemed like everyone told [him] a different story” (87). Here he is constantly re-appraising his family life and his role in the family. He also uses re-appraisal techniques when decides to drop out of school and leave home. When offered a diploma after passing his GED test in the 96 percentile, Robison decides he doesn’t need a diploma, “and [he] never looked back” (90).
3.) In the chapter Interpersonal Functioning Requires Self Regulation (Chapter 20) Handbook of Self Regulation: Research Theory and Applications the authors describe three areas of interpersonal functioning. These are within person interpersonal processes, dyadic interpersonal functioning and group membership. Each of these areas is further developed into research topic areas (for example in the area of functioning within person interpersonal processes there is a set of research describing regulatory focus, they are listed below). Pick one of these research topic areas that is of interest to you.
Briefly describe the research topic area and then select an example of behavior from the memoir that illustrates the topic. Explain why you think the example from the memoir illustrates the research topic. (10 points)
The study about group rejection in Interpersonal Function Requires Self Regulation states that people who are rejected from groups display poorer self-regulation than those who are not rejected. Self-regulation is impaired by social exclusion. The study provided a necessary step in determining whether self-control failure accounts for antisocial tendencies among the socially rejected. This is supported in Robison’s memoir when he becomes a trickster in grade schools. “About this time, I figured out one way to capitalize on my differences from the mass of humanity. In school, I became the class clown. Out of school, I became the trickster” (35). Because of his rejection from social groups and his impaired ability to connect with people, Robison became a troublemaker. His self-regulatory strength was taxed as a result of being exiled, which resulted in the deregulation of his actions.