Social adjustment

Dr. Purshottam
Assistant Professor (Guest Faculty)
Department of Social Work,
Kurukshetra University

 The word adjustment derived from the biological
term Adaptation. We often use the word
adjustment in our daily life, in a particular
classroom having space for 35 students if there
are 40 students, so the teacher asks to adjust
them. Even when a guest come to stay with us for
a few days we have to adjust them.
 Adjustment is the psychological process by which
an individual manages or cops with various
demands.
 Adjustment is that process by which a living
organisms maintain a balance between its needs &
the circumstances that influence these needs.

Psychologists are interested in
adjustment in a number of areas
including:
Emotional adjustment
Occupational adjustment
School adjustment
Social adjustment

Social adjustment can be defined as a
psychological process. It frequently
involves coping with new standards
and values. In the technical language
of psychology, getting along with the
members of the society as best as
one can is called adjustment.

Social adjustment as an important
indication of psychology health, is a
topic attracting the attention of many
psychologists.
Without adjustment, the person is not
able to meet many of his/her basic
needs. If one is incompatible with the
society properly, he will feel isolated.

 Adaptation of the person to the social
environment. Adjustment may take place by
adapting the self to the environment or by
changing the environment.
Meaning:
 : a small change that improves something or
makes it work better
 : a change that makes it possible for a person
to do better or work better in a new situation
 : the act or process of changing or adjusting
something (such as a number)

 As Plato says 'Man is a social animal.' We live in a society and
form opinion about others and others have opinions about us. We
try to behave according to the norms of the society so that we
can adjust with others. But it is not an easy talk because the
personality of each individual is a unique organization.
 This organization has to make special efforts to adjust with other
unique organization which well society. Social adjustment is the
direction, we, the teacher try to instill adjustment skill in our
students: Teacher should emphasize on the adjustment of the
student in the school.
 Psychologists use the term adjustment of varying conditions of
social and interpersonal relation in the society. Thus adjustment
can be called the reaction to the demands and pressures of the
social environment imposed upon the individual.

 Impartial perception is needed for social adjustment.
The processes of behavior e.g. learning, maturation,
sensation, perception and motivation are significant in
our life because they contribute to the process of
adjustment. The way we interact with people depends
to a great extent upon how we perceive them and how
we interpret their behavior.
 If you perceive that a student is hostile, you are
unlikely to interact or adjust with him/her. Your behavior
in a group is certainly different from the behavior when
in alone. Group affects an individual‘s behavior. The
mere presence of others affects our performance

We shall first discuss 'impression' as a
cognitive process. Impression formation is
the process by which information about
others is converted into more or less
enduring cognition or thoughts about them.
When we first meet someone, we usually
have access to information how the person
looks and where he/she works and what
he/she says.

1. Stress and adaptation The efforts to live and be
satisfied is called adaptation: Environmental factors
which make it hard for an individual to live are called
stress. At the most elementary level of life, stress is
experienced as irritation and discomfort as a slightly
more advanced level, stress is explained as the
anticipation of harm. In human beings certain kinds
of stresses produce anxiety. Anxiety sometimes
produces defensive response which are mental efforts
to reduce stresses. Defenses are generally regarded
as poor methods of adjustment. Actually adjustment
means reduction of tension or satisfaction.

 The process of social influence contains two
critical elements. These are as under:
 (a) Someone's intervention
 (b) Inducing change in other person.
 The phenomena of influence, always contain an
agent which has caused a change in the focal
person (FP).
 Influence situations can be differentiated by
noticing the different characteristics of agent and of
the behaviour that makes up the intervention.
 The following five concepts help us understand the
process of social influence, better.

 In a group situation the presence of others would
always influence performance and thus the efforts
to bring changes in performance of an individual
are called social facilitation. The presence of
others increases an individual's arousal level which
in turn, enhances performance of well learned
responses.
 For example, a well trained singer would,
according to this theory i.e. social facilitation,
performs better when others are present and
would make more mistakes when practicing at
home.

Imitation involves change in focal person's
behaviour that matches as copies others'
behaviour. Student imitates the behaviour
of social personalities for getting the
recognition.

Human being as a social being has to
adjust himself in the social environment in
his daily life, he commands others and
works according to his one or other's rules
and regulations.
In a family every member is dependent 'on
each other. Sometimes even parents obey
the rules of their children. This type of
situation influences them to adjust in social
environment.

Social adjustment

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