Tag: Help

  • HR for Small Business Owners Help: How to be Know

    HR for Small Business Owners Help: How to be Know

    How Can HR Help Small Business Owners? Whether you’re just starting as an entrepreneur or a business owner, there’s a lot of information out there about starting and running a business. The good news is there’s plenty of good information out there, but the hard part is knowing where to look for it. It’s good news that anyone can create a business. It’s also bad news that creating a business that grows and thrives is not as simple as it seems. There are a few things you need to have to create a business that will last.

    How to Get the Most Out of HR for New Small Business Owners

    That’s where HR comes in. We’ve done the hard work for you by scouring the internet and curating a list of low-cost, free online resources that will help you get started. From blogs and courses to books and podcasts, we’ve got you covered. Keep bookmarking this list and come back to it as your business grows.

    The first thing you need is business knowledge. But the other few elements are just as important. If you want to turn a startup idea into a thriving business, you need to be able to follow through on it as well as acquire business knowledge and skills.

    If you’re considering delegating HR responsibilities to your small business. You’ll want to make sure you’re as well-informed as possible, more to know about BoostFrontline. Here are some other resources for small businesses that can help you out:

    • For small businesses, SHRM has a great selection of helpful articles.
    • For US-based small businesses, the Department of Labor has a great set of resources, especially if you’re looking for information on compliance issues.
    • For U.S.-based small businesses, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has a great series of resources, including blogs, podcasts, guides, case studies, and more.
    • For small businesses looking to learn more about HR, AIHR offers several free online resources.
    • For small business HR topics, check out our Connecteam blog.

    HR for every small business owner or entrepreneur needs

    When you run a small business, you have a lot on your plate. From sales to marketing to product development, there’s no denying the importance of making a profit and staying in business.

    That’s why it’s no surprise that HR work can sometimes fall by the wayside. But don’t worry, there are some essential HR basics every small business owner should be aware of.

    • Are you aware of all employment laws that apply to your business?
    • Do you take the time to understand your staff’s training needs?
    • Have you evaluated your compensation to ensure it’s fair and competitive?
    • Are you doing all you can to ensure the safety of your employees, effective conflict resolution, a diverse and inclusive work environment, and more?

    If you haven’t, you’re not the only one. According to a Paychex survey, 21 percent of small business owners said they didn’t feel confident managing the HR function. Another 21 percent said they weren’t aware of or weren’t enforcing important employment laws that affect their business.

    In this article, I’m going to walk you through a few key HR functions every small business owner needs to know about. Since this is a short article, I will only give a brief overview of each of these functions. I’ll also link to more resources if you’re looking for more information.

    If you’re interested in learning more about HR topics for small businesses, check out our complete Small Business HR Guide, on opsite.biz. It covers everything from hiring to firing and everything in between.

    HR Hire and Recruitment the Best People

    No matter how well your business idea, your marketing strategy, or your planning, it’s your employees who have to put it all together. Without the right people to design your products and represent your company to customers, you’re in trouble. According to a Career Builder survey, 70% of employers hire the wrong person to fill a position. On average, a bad hire leads to lost productivity, time, and cost to hire and train a replacement, etc.

    The first step to effective hiring is to create a job description that speaks for itself, doesn’t exclude good candidates from the job, and is published in the right place. Then, you’ll need to prepare for the interview. You’ll need to know what to ask of your candidate and what to avoid. You’ll also need to create a competitive salary and benefits package for your candidate. Finally, you’ll have to go through important legal hoops.

    Recruiting and retaining high-quality candidates is one of the top HR responsibilities for small businesses. However, it comes at a price. High-quality recruitment and retention practices require time and resources to develop and implement.

    The recruitment process includes:

    • Preparing job descriptions
    • Framework for hiring decisions
    • Managing the recruitment process, including interviews
    • Completing compliance paperwork, such as employment contracts or work eligibility documents
    • Designing an onboarding process

    Improving Employee Satisfaction and Engagement: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) must be more than just a “nice to have”; it must permeate every department and function within your organization. DEI is a key factor in attracting high-quality candidates; nearly 80% of employees say they want to work for a company that values diversity and equity.

    Retention: In addition to recruiting and retaining candidates, HR is responsible for.

    Employee engagement – HR Get your new staff up to speed quickly

    Employee engagement is all about how connected an employee is to your business and what you’re trying to achieve. It’s a key factor in how successful your business is, and it can have a direct impact on your bottom line. Employees who are engaged are more productive and don’t miss work as much. 

    On the flip side, 74% of employees who are actively disengaged are looking for new jobs or looking for other opportunities. Human Resources creates strategies and processes to address any issues that could be causing employee engagement, like improving morale, which can help with retention and your business’s bottom line.

    When you’ve put in the time and effort to hire the best employees, the last thing on earth you want is to lose them. Unfortunately, according to a current survey, 40% of employees quit their jobs within the first year due to poor job internships.

    When you’re just starting, you can train your first few employees on your own. But as your business grows, you’ll need to create an orientation training plan that covers at least the following:

    • An Intro to the business history and Values
    • Practical information about pay and benefits
    • Company policies and vacation time
    • Business structure and key personnel
    • Who are your clients and what do they like
    • What behavior is expected of employees
    • Tools and software the new employee needs to learn

    Compensation Benchmarking

    If you’re a small business owner, HR is usually in charge of figuring out your compensation philosophy, how you want to pay your employees, and how you want to structure your pay structure. You need to know if there are any minimum wages in place and what your competitors are offering. 

    Employee benefits are also a big part of the compensation package, and it’s important to remember that benefits are what employees care about. Payroll and taxes are also important, but they can get complicated and take up a lot of time. Most small business owners don’t realize how long it can take to pay their employees – it can take almost five hours every pay period!

    They offer competitive pay and benefits: How can you determine the right amount of compensation for your employees? Once you know the right amount, how do you adjust your compensation to keep up with changing market conditions and the ever-changing skills and experience of your employees?

    Offer attractive benefits: Employees who are attracted to your company by attractive benefits, such as health insurance and parental leave, as well as retirement plans, are more likely to stay with your company long-term.

    Communicate clearly: 

    It’s at the core of every successful business. But the flip side of that coin is that poor communication can be catastrophic. According to a survey by Fierce Inc, 86% of employees said that workplace failures were due to lack of collaboration, or ineffective communication.

    It’s no secret that small businesses have the advantage of being able to communicate with just a handful of employees, but you still need to be careful how you set things up. In the next tutorial, you’ll learn everything you need to know about keeping people informed, communicating the company’s values, getting feedback from employees, and more.

    Provide effective training and development:

    Providing continuous professional development opportunities is a key factor in boosting employee motivation and engagement. Employees are eager to learn new things. A Deloitte study found that nearly 80% of Gen X and Gen Y employees cited formal workplace training (CT), on-site training (OT), and professional development (P&D) as essential for their performance. 

    A well-thought-out T&D program also prepares employees for internal promotion, saving you time and money when it comes to hiring from within. HR’s T&D responsibilities include creating an Employee Handbook that outlines your company’s mission, key values, employee expectations, company policies, and procedures, as well as disciplinary and termination policies.

    While we’ve already talked about onboarding new employees, training is a constant necessity. In an ever-changing and competitive business environment, you need employees who are up-to-date and learn new skills all the time.

    Good training is also a great way to increase employee happiness and loyalty. Don’t think you can afford a corporate training program? Don’t worry, there are lots of free and low-cost options out there.

    HR Get the Right Help:

    If you’re running a small business, you’ve probably got a lot on your plate. Planning for the future, coming up with great sales and marketing plans, keeping an eye on your accounts, and so much more. That’s why it’s important to get the right help with HR. We’ve covered a lot in this article, but if you do everything we’ve recommended, it can get pretty overwhelming. 

    So, if you’re looking for help with HR, you’ll probably need to hire someone, but if you’re a small business, it’s more likely that you’ll need to hire an outsourcing service or use HR software. We’ve got a tutorial coming up on HR software soon, but before that, you can check out the following tutorial to learn more about HR outsourcing and get profiles from some of the top providers.

    The advantages of delegating HR: Human Resources (HR) plays a critical role in the overall success of a company, whether it’s a small or large one. HR establishes the tone of internal communication and has a direct impact on your company’s culture and financial performance.

    Your employees are the most valuable asset you have in your organization, and ensuring their health and well-being is a top priority through the implementation of HR policies and processes.

    Real-life practice is the best small business resource:

    • Whether you’re just starting or looking to scale your startup venture or side hustle, we’ve got you covered.
    • We’ve shared some of the best small business resources we’ve found to help you get started, manage, and scale your business.
    • But in the end, it’s real-life experience that’s the best resource.
    • So get out there and get started! Or continue scaling your business for success.

    No matter what stage you’re at in your business journey, you can count on us to help you. Whether you’re looking to create a stunning landing page for your small business or plan and optimize your social media posts, we have the tools to help.

    How to Get the Most Out of HR for New Small Business Owners Image
    How to Get the Most Out of HR for New Small Business Owners; Photo by Edmond Dantès.

    When is the right time to delegate HR in your Small Business Owners’ Help? 

    If you’re like most small business owners, you spend most of your time managing the day-to-day HR functions of your small business. However, this can quickly get out of hand, especially as you grow your business and the number of employees you have. 

    • Handing over the HR responsibilities of your small business to an HR person or team can save you time and money in the long term. 
    • It also ensures that your organization is compliant with all relevant labor laws. 
    • In addition, it builds an internal team that understands the HR needs of your organization. 

    So, what are you waiting for?

    By the end of this article, you should have a clear understanding of the key HR basics that small business owners need to know. Is HR the Right Choice for Small Business Owners? Now that you have a better understanding of what it means to be a small business HR manager, let’s take a closer look at each of these areas of HR basics.

    If you’re interested in taking action on each of these areas, I encourage you to take a look at the linked resources below when you have the time. Or, if you’re more interested in learning more about HR for small businesses, you can check out the entire series on small business HR basics.

  • Best tips to quit Smoking – Menthol cigarettes ban

    Best tips to quit Smoking – Menthol cigarettes ban

    Best tips to quit Smoking cigarettes – The ways to you quit smoking while pregnant and health issues, some Menthol cigarettes ban around the world. We all want this smoking cessation effort to be one that will last a lifetime. We strive for constant freedom from nicotine addiction when we put out the last cigarette and begin to heal our bodies.

    Here is the article to explain, The Best tips to quit Smoking – Menthol cigarettes ban, Help, Motivating, and Ways to quit Smoking Cigs!

    Fortunately, many tips and strategies can help you quit smoking and keep it going. By learning what you should (and shouldn’t) do when you try to quit, and knowing what happens when you quit, you can be sure that you will succeed with your quitting plan.

    A little preparation can help you get into quitting smoking thinking and find some tools for better management in the first week to 10-14 days after your last cigarette, which is the most difficult according to the American Lung Association.

    • Make an appointment for a physical. During the visit, tell your doctor that you want to quit smoking and discuss what type of nicotine replacement therapy or nicotine-free smoking cessation tool is best for you.
    • Learn more about nicotine addiction. Smoking is more than just a “bad habit” you can quit at any time. Nicotine is an addictive substance that affects brain chemistry.
    • “Schedule” your cancellation date. In order not to lose momentum, it is best not to plan more than a week or two.
    • Decide how you go. For example, you can take a “cold turkey” or gradual approach.
    • Hunger plan. Make a list of “thirst quenchers” or activities that can help you quit smoking fast. Some examples: go for a walk, drinking a glass of water, solving a crossword puzzle, eating a piece of fruit, or calling a friend.

    The few most important case or things you need to know.

    There’s a lot you need to know about smoking, but these few are the most important.

    About half of all smokers die from smoking cases.

    It’s scary, but it’s true! Nearly 50% of smokers die from smoking. And on average, smokers die 8 years earlier than nonsmokers. Smoking causes many types of cancer – including lung, bladder, and throat cancer – and breathing problems such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking can also cause heart and blood vessel problems, including heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.

    The good news is that once you quit smoking, the health benefits are immediate. The risk of heart disease begins to decrease and after 15 years of not smoking, the risk drops to non-smoker levels.

    Smoking can affect people of all in different ways.

    While all smokers are at a higher risk for the health problems mentioned above, both people of all can be at risk for gender-specific risks. For example, women who smoke increase the risk of cervical cancer. And when a woman smokes and takes contraceptives, the risk of stroke also increases. Male smokers are more likely to have fertility problems and low sperm counts, and the damage to blood vessels from smoking can lead to erectile dysfunction.

    Cigarettes contain more than 3,000 to 4,000 chemicals, many of which are carcinogenic.

    Although nicotine itself does not cause cancer, there are many chemicals in cigarette smoke that can harm the body and cause cancer. Chemicals released from cigarettes include carbon monoxide, tar, cyanide, benzene, and formaldehyde. And yes, you inhale these chemicals into your lungs and release them into the air around you!

    You may have to go several times before you succeed.

    If you are ready to quit smoking, be prepared to try, try again. And know that if it takes several tries to quit successfully, you’re definitely not alone! This is the case with most people. Failure and relapse are a natural part of the eternal surrender process. Think of each failure as a lesson you have learned, and each failure is a source of new wisdom. Repetition is only bad if you don’t learn from it!

    Successful smoking cessation is not just about willpower.

    Nicotine addiction can be very strong and even the strongest climbers can relapse. Because when you quit smoking, you will most likely face two powerful obstacles: thirst and compulsion. Thirst is a conscious desire that can be caused by things around you – such as your habits and daily routine (smoking, smoking after eating). You can control your appetite.

    Compulsions, on the other hand, can be a powerful subconscious urge to smoke – even if you know you shouldn’t smoke, even if you know how bad it is for you. Quitting smoking may take more than determination: you need to prepare yourself with tactics that will help you avoid “thirst causes” and you need to be aware of how nicotine drugs consciously and subconsciously affect you.

    There is no best way to quit smoking.

    Many paths can lead to a smoke-free life. A friend may have told you the patch worked great for him while your cousin swore at nicotine gum and your boss skipped the cold turkey. Everyone is unique and different people will like different methods of giving up. You have several methods to choose from and test. Discuss your smoking cessation options with your doctor and try several until you find the one that works best for you.

    You don’t have to quit smoking yourself.

    Quitting smoking is difficult. But it can be easier when you need support from your family, friends, doctor, or counselor. When you have a support system, you have someone to turn to if you want to take a step back and light up. Your supporter can talk to you, take you out for a walk, or help you quit smoking. Although many people can quit on their own, most people are more successful when they seek advice from a doctor.

    You can greatly increase your chances of successful failure if you take the time to plan.

    Not having a smoking cessation plan can cause your business to fail before you even start! Take the right steps and think ahead of time about the potential obstacles and challenges you’ll face in quitting – especially during those tough first few weeks. Your plan should include the pros and cons of your opt-out, a list of the people in your support system (family, friends, doctors, counselors, etc.), the rewards you give yourself for doing well, and strategies to help you. face it. containing hunger and triggers.

    A positive attitude can work wonders when it comes to quitting smoking.

    Avoid criticizing or punishing yourself when you have a weakness. Research has shown that beating yourself up usually doesn’t help – it just makes you feel guilty, which in turn can make you want to reach for a cigarette even more. Emotions are a natural cause of appetite – so don’t provoke them yourself!

    When you quit smoking, your children will smoke less.

    You probably already know that secondhand smoke is harmful to your child’s health. But did you know that if you leave, you will also protect your children from future health problems? When children see their parents or family members smoking, they may think that smoking is normal and are more likely to start smoking themselves. If you smoke, quitting, or at least quitting, is the best example you can set for your children. Next, you’ll understand why and how to quit easy ways from cigs, the tips to quit smoking cigarettes

    Best methods to Quit Smoking Tips Ever.

    The best tips to quit smoking cigarettes for a smoker – the following hints ever to best ways to cease smoking cigarettes below are;

    Find Your Reason.

    To get motivated, you want an effective, private purpose to quit. It can be to defend your family from secondhand smoke. Or lower your chance of having lung cancer, coronary heart ailment, or other situations. Or to look and experience younger. Choose a motive this is robust enough to outweigh the urge to mild up.

    Prepare Before You Go “Cold Turkey”.

    There’s more to it than just tossing your cigarettes out. Smoking is an addiction. The brain is addicted to nicotine. Without it, you’ll undergo withdrawal. Line up aid in advance. Ask your health practitioner approximately all the techniques that will assist, such as stop-smoking classes and apps, counseling, medicinal drug, and hypnosis. You’ll be geared up for the day you pick out to give up.

    Consider Nicotine Replacement Therapy.

    When you stop smoking, nicotine withdrawal can also come up with complications, affect your mood, or sap your strength. The longing for “just one drag” is tough. Nicotine substitute remedies can scale back those urges. Studies show that nicotine gum, lozenges, and patches enhance your probability of achievement while you’re additionally in an end-smoking application.

    Learn About Prescription Pills.

    Medicines can cut down cravings and might additionally make smoking much less enjoyable in case you do pick out up a cigarette. Other capsules can ease withdrawal symptoms, inclusive of melancholy or problems with attention.

    Give Yourself a Break.

    One reason humans smoke is that nicotine helps them relax. Once you stop, you’ll want new ways to unwind. There are many options. You can work out to blow off steam, track in on your favored tune, connect to friends, deal with yourself to a rubdown, or find time for interest. Try to keep away from traumatic situations all through the primary few weeks when you prevent smoking.

    Lean on your Loved Ones (Circle of relatives).

    Tell your pals, circle of relatives, and other people you’re near that you’re looking to stop. They can inspire you to maintain going, in particular when you’re tempted to mild up. You also can be a part of an assist group or speak to a counselor. The behavioral remedy is a sort of counseling that helps you become aware of and keep on with giving up smoking strategies. Even some classes may help.

    Best tips to quit Smoking - Menthol cigarettes ban Image
    Best tips to quit Smoking – Menthol cigarettes ban; Image by Ralf Kunze from Pixabay.
  • Live coding assistance needs with Programming Help

    Live coding assistance needs with Programming Help

    Live coding assistance needs – here is how can live programming help you? When learning to code or developing software, websites, or applications; we will almost always run into a problem or a bug that will not go away no matter what we do.

    Here is the article to explain – Live Coding Assistance Needs with programming help you – How can I get assistance with coding?

    In situations like this, programmers such as yourself can require answers to questions about various coding languages, development platforms, software, APIs, and services. Where can you find the answers you’re looking for?

    favtutor logo

    We had the same idea, and after doing all of the legwork; we’ve come up with the answers you’re searching for; as well as some pointers to help you find the solution you’re looking for.

    What is the concept of coding?

    A means of communicating with a machine is coding. It is the process of giving computer instructions in a language that the computer understands for the computer to perform specific functions. We can use coding to make stuff like computer applications, websites, apps, and video games.

    Depending on what you want to create, you can use a variety of different types of code. And various “programming languages,” each with its own set of laws. But, in essence, coding is the process of providing instructions to a machine for it to generate the desired result.

    What is the benefit of live coding?

    • Simplifies the programming process for inexperienced programmers.
    • Also, it Assists students in learning the debugging process, and.
    • Introduces students to good programming practices.

    What are the benefits of coding in the future?

    Programming aids in the development of problem-solving skills in children.

    Understanding computers and studying the fundamentals of coding will help children gain a better understanding of how things work. It also shows them how software engineers use math to solve problems in a rational and inventive manner.

    Why do you hire a coding tutor?

    Many families are turning to the internet to complement conventional schooling or to encourage their children and teenagers to participate in something modern, exciting, and important to today’s competitive landscape. Also, Tutoring provides students with a much-needed opportunity to interact one-on-one with expert teachers; who can tailor lessons to maximize interaction and comprehension.

    And for such reasons students and many parents often search for Live Coding Help.

    Is programming a difficult task?

    No, learning to code is not difficult. However, learning to code is challenging at first, as it is with everything new, and how difficult it is can depend on a variety of factors. Also, The argument is that learning to code isn’t impossible; or, at the very least, it’s not as difficult as it can seem when it comes to involving your children.

    Live coding assistance needs with Programming Help Image
    Live coding assistance needs with Programming Help; Image by 200 Degrees from Pixabay.
  • What is the Self-Efficacy? Meaning, Definition, and Source

    What is the Self-Efficacy? Meaning, Definition, and Source

    Self-Efficacy Meaning, Definition, and Source; Self-efficacy, also referred to as personal efficacy, is the extent or strength of one’s belief in one’s own ability to complete tasks and reach goals. Psychologists have studied self-efficacy from several perspectives, noting various paths in the development of self-efficacy; the dynamics of self-efficacy, and lack thereof, in many different settings; interactions between self-efficacy and self-concept; and habits of attribution that contribute to, or detract from, self-efficacy.

    What is Self-Efficacy? also explain their topic Meaning, Definition, and Source.

    Self-efficacy affects every area of human endeavor. By determining the beliefs, a person holds regarding his or her power to affect situations, strongly influences both the power a person actually has to face challenges competently and the choices a person is most likely to make. These effects are particularly apparent, and compelling, concerning behaviors affecting health.

    Meaning and Definition of Self-Efficacy?

    Perceived self-efficacy define as people’s beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives. Self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves, and behave. Such beliefs produce these diverse effects through four major processes. They include cognitive, motivational, affective, and selection processes.

    A strong sense of efficacy enhances human accomplishment and personal well-being in many ways. People with high assurance in their capabilities approach difficult tasks as challenges to master rather than as threats to avoid. Such an efficacious outlook fosters intrinsic interest and deep engrossment in activities. They set themselves challenging goals and maintain a strong commitment to them. They heighten and sustain their efforts in the face of failure. Also, They quickly recover their sense of efficacy after failures or setbacks.

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    They attribute failure to insufficient effort or deficient knowledge and skills which are acquirable. They approach threatening situations with assurance that they can exercise control over them. Such an efficacious outlook produces personal accomplishments, reduces stress, and lowers vulnerability to depression.

    In contrast, people who doubt their capabilities shy away from difficult tasks which they view as personal threats. Also, They have low aspirations and weak commitment to the goals they choose to pursue. When faced with difficult tasks, they dwell on their personal deficiencies, on the obstacles they will encounter, and all kinds of adverse outcomes rather than concentrate on how to perform successfully. They slacken their efforts and give up quickly in the face of difficulties. They are slow to recover their sense of efficacy following failure or setbacks. Because they view insufficient performance as deficient aptitude it does not require much failure for them to lose faith in their capabilities. They fall easy victim to stress and depression.

    Source of Self-Efficacy

    People’s beliefs about their efficacy can develop by four main sources of influence. The most effective way of creating a strong sense of efficacy is through mastery experiences. Successes build a robust belief in one’s personal efficacy. Failures undermine it, especially if failures occur before a sense of efficacy firmly establish.

    If people experience only easy successes, they come to expect quick results and easily discourage by failure. A resilient sense of efficacy requires experience in overcoming obstacles through perseverant effort. Some setbacks and difficulties in human pursuits serve a useful purpose in teaching that success usually requires sustained effort. After people become convinced they have what it takes to succeed, they persevere in the face of adversity and quickly rebound from setbacks. By sticking it out through tough times, they emerge stronger from adversity.

    Second way

    The second way of creating and strengthening self-beliefs of efficacy is through the vicarious experiences provided by social models. Seeing people similar to oneself succeed by sustained effort raises observers’ beliefs that they too possess the capabilities to master comparable activities required to succeed. By the same token, observing others’ fail despite high effort lowers observers’ judgments of their own efficacy and undermines their efforts. The impact of modeling on perceived self-efficacy strongly influences by perceived similarity to the models. The greater the assumed similarity the more persuasive are the models’ successes and failures. If people, see the models as very different from themselves their perceived self-efficacy is not much influenced by the models’ behavior and the results it produces.

    Modeling influences do more than provide a social standard against which to judge one’s own capabilities. People seek proficient models who possess the competencies to which they aspire. Through their behavior and expressed ways of thinking, competent models transmit knowledge and teach observers effective skills and strategies for managing environmental demands. Acquisition of better means raises perceived self-efficacy.

    Third way

    Social persuasion is a third way of strengthening people’s beliefs that they have what it takes to succeed. People who persuade verbally that they possess the capabilities to master gives activities are likely to mobilize greater effort and sustain it than if they harbor self-doubts and dwell on personal deficiencies when problems arise. To the extent that persuasive boosts in perceived self-efficacy lead people to try hard enough to succeed, they promote the development of skills and a sense of personal efficacy.

    It is more difficult to instill high beliefs of personal efficacy by social persuasion alone than to undermine it. Unrealistic boosts in efficacy quickly dis-confirm by disappointing results of one’s efforts. But people who have been persuaded that they lack capabilities tend to avoid challenging activities that cultivate potentialities and give up quickly in the face of difficulties. By constricting activities and undermining motivation, disbelief in one’s capabilities creates its own behavioral validation.

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    Successful efficacy builders do more than convey positive appraisals. In addition to raising people’s beliefs in their capabilities, they structure situations for them in ways that bring success and avoid placing people in situations prematurely where they are likely to fail often. They measure success in terms of self-improvement rather than by triumphs over others.

    People also rely partly on their somatic and emotional states in judging their capabilities. They interpret their stress reactions and tension as signs of vulnerability to poor performance. In activities involving strength and stamina, people judge their fatigue, aches, and pains as signs of physical debility. Mood also affects people’s judgments of their personal efficacy. A positive mood enhances perceived self-efficacy, a despondent mood diminishes it. The fourth way of modifying self-beliefs of efficacy is to reduce people’s stress reactions and alter their negative emotional proclivities and is-interpretations of their physical states.

    It is not the sheer intensity of emotional and physical reactions that is important but rather how they perceive and interpret. People who have a high sense of efficacy are likely to view their state of affective arousal as an energizing facilitator of performance, whereas those who are beset by self-doubts regard their arousal as a debilitator. Physiological indicators of efficacy play an especially influential role in health functioning and athletic and other physical activities.

    What is the Self-Efficacy Meaning Definition and Source Image
    What is the Self-Efficacy? Meaning, Definition, and Source; Image from Pixabay.
  • Best Natural Skin Care Methods, Tips to Combat Rosacea Help

    Best Natural Skin Care Methods, Tips to Combat Rosacea Help

    Best Natural Skin Care Methods and Tips 2021 – Steps, How to Combat Rosacea Help? Rosacea is an ongoing skin issue that outcomes in affectability and redness, ordinarily around the cheeks and nose; also, best skincare tips for acne-prone skin. If we talk about Cosmetic cream product brands, L’Oréal, Mary Kay Ash product, and also Kylie Cosmetics come first in minds. As indicated by dermatologists, different causes, including pressure, daylight, and an assortment of food sources and beverages, can irritate the symptoms.

    Here is the article to explain, Best Natural Skin Care Methods, Steps, Tips to Combat Rosacea Help 2021.

    Notwithstanding, despite it being a common condition, its careful causes are as yet unclear. Patients for the most part have delicate skin that is handily harmed by beautifying agents, creams, and chemicals. You should take additional care of your skin if you have this illness by utilizing the proper items; also, the best natural ingredients for skin lightening. The individuals who experience the ill effects of it know how seriously it can influence a person’s life.

    Methods of Dealing with The Condition; Here are a few tips or methods or steps for managing the condition appropriately to help one look and feel better, for the best natural Skin Care 2021.

    Use Sunscreen Daily

    Quite possibly the most continuous reason for flare-ups is sun openness. Indeed, even brown complexion-toned individuals may encounter flare-ups in the wake of investing energy in the sun. Discover shade and wear defensive attire, for example, wide-overflowed caps and UV-secured shades, any place conceivable to ensure your eyes and skin. Furthermore, consistently you will be outside, apply an expansive range sunscreen (SPF of 30 or higher) on totally uncovered skin. Guarantee that the sunscreen is without aroma, and check for dynamic fixings like titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. They are more averse to bother sensitive skin.

    Before Using New Products

    Perform test tests on a little space of your skin a long time before attempting any new item. Guarantee it doesn’t cause stinging, redness, or a consuming sensation.

    Keep away from Facials however Cleanse Your Face

    Pick a gentle, amicable chemical to use all over before hitting the hay and when you awaken. This helps to eliminate earth and oil that would somehow disturb your skin. Various skincare items utilized for facials, like microdermabrasion treatments and compound strips, will probably cause more damage than anything else if you experience the ill effects of this condition. While they might be ideal for others, they will probably irritate rosacea. If you need a restoring system to help your skin seem young or smoother, talk with your dermatologist on elective skincare choices.

    Know Your Triggers for Flares and Avoid Them

    Various individuals respond diversely to specific triggers like cosmetics, cruel climate conditions, stress, certain staples like fiery food sources, liquor, or cold drinks. Recognize your triggers, keep a diary, and stay away from them. Washing up may limit your triggers. If we talk about Global Branding Strategy and their International Marketing Cosmetic cream product, L’Oréal Cosmetic cream case study in minds first.

    Take a stab at Using Gels or Creams Before Applying Antibiotics

    Numerous skincare items will bother your skin on the off chance that you have rosacea. Utilizing gels or creams before applying anti-infection agents can make them gentler on your generally delicate skin. Albeit delicate saturating, purging, and sun insurance will help limit affectability, you can likewise choose your skincare, anti-infection agents, and cosmetics with care.

    Dermatologists encourage customers to peruse the fixing list before buying drugs. To limit the odds of purchasing a substance that would disturb your face, stay away from anything that contains lactic corrosive, liquor, urea, menthol, camphor, aroma, sodium tree sulfate, and glycolic corrosive.

    Quiet Down Flare-ups When They Occur

    To mitigate symptoms, apply ice packs to your face to lessen the irritation. Green tea concentrates can be quieting also. Nothing hot ought to be utilized since this would disturb the circumstance. Continuously watch out for the temperature of something you put on your sensitive skin.

    Be Gentle

    This condition might be exacerbated by whatever disturbs the skin, so you ought to abstain from scratching, scouring, or cleaning your face. Try not to utilize facial wipes, washcloths, or complete shedding on your skin. Accepting these tips as a piece of your skincare routine will help you care for your rosacea-inclined skin better.

    Utilize Gentle Cleansers

    With this skin condition, scouring is an off-limits area. The cleaning agent type you choose will influence your skin. Avoid items containing salicylic corrosive or retinoids. While rosacea may look like skin inflammation, most skin inflammation medicines will disturb. Along these lines, keep away from astringents and cruel chemicals and guarantee your cleaning agent is hypoallergenic and scent-free.

    When your dermatologist has suggested a treatment plan and you’ve been prompted what moves to make, follow it determinedly for it to be powerful.

    Best Natural Skin Care Methods Steps Tips to Combat Rosacea Help 2021 Image
    Best Natural Skin Care Methods, Steps, Tips to Combat Rosacea Help 2021; Image from Pixabay.
  • Increase Your Strengthening Self-Efficacy

    Increase Your Strengthening Self-Efficacy

    What knows about strengthening self-efficacy? A range of strategies that can use by teachers to enhance self-efficacy has been identified. Strategies that teachers can use to influence self-efficacy include (a) goals and feedback, (b) rewards, (c) self-instruction for verbalization of strategies, (d) participant modeling, and (e) various combinations of these strategies.

    How to Increase Your Strengthening Self-Efficacy? Here is the article to explain.

    Keep in mind that self-efficacy, skill development, and strategy use go hand in hand; whether it be math problem solving, soccer skills, or expository writing. Students learn strategies that enable them to develop skills resulting in increased self-efficacy strengthening.

    Goals, Feedback, Rewards, and Verbalization

    Because task accomplishment is the most powerful source of self-efficacy information; an important approach is to use strategies that can strengthen task accomplishment. The strategies of goal setting, feedback, rewards, and self-talk or verbalization were used in various combinations to help students categorized as LD or remedial to strengthen self-efficacy.

    Schunk and Cox (1986) investigated the combination of strategy verbalization; and, effort feedback on the performance and self-efficacy of students with LD. While solving subtraction problems, students verbalized or said the task steps aloud to themselves; they were then given feedback that their successes were due to their effort. The combination of verbalization and effort feedback led to problem-solving successes, higher self-efficacy, and subtraction skills. The authors believed that the two strategies verbalization and effort feedback serve different purposes. Verbalization was useful for training students to systematically use the task strategy.

    Continues

    Giving students feedback that effort is responsible for success communicated that they are developing skills and that they can continue to perform well with hard work. The importance of feedback for enhancing self-efficacy may sometimes overlook by a teacher. Pajares and Johnson (1994) conducted a study in a language arts course for preservice teachers. The students received feedback from their teacher on attempting and completing writing tasks; but, they did not receive feedback on their specific writing skills.

    The end-of-course assessment revealed that, although the students improved on writing skills; their self-efficacy judgments about their skills did not increase. The authors concluded that when teachers note a growth or decline in skills (in this case, writing); they must give the students feedback about their specific skill development. As emphasized earlier, students will make future judgments not just on their actual skills; but, also on their perception of their competence in using the skill. These perceptions of self-efficacy are more likely to increase with specific teacher feedback.

    Participant Modeling

    Vicarious experience is the second most powerful source of self-efficacy. The most frequent form of vicarious experience for students is seeing a model (another student or teacher) perform a skill they are attempting to learn. Who is a more effective model, a peer or teacher, or a mastery or coping model?

    Peer or Teacher Model?

    Schunk and Hanson (1985) had students, ages 8 to 10, observe either a peer or teacher model solving fractions on a videotape. Children who had observed a peer model had higher self-efficacy and achievement scores on the math assessment than did students who had observed the teacher model. The authors concluded that the increase may have been because the children saw themselves as more similar to the peer model. The use of peer models is especially recommended for enhancement of self-efficacy among low-achieving students who are more doubtful about attaining the level of competence demonstrated by the teacher.

    Mastery or Coping Model?

    Which model do you think will be more effective in strengthening self-efficacy; an expert who demonstrates a high level of expertise or one who is competent, but demonstrates the strategies they used to acquire the skill? Previous research found that observer’s beliefs about competence influence by their perceived similarity incompetence to the model. Models can reflect either mastery or coping behaviors. A mastery model demonstrates a task at a high level of expertise with a high level of confidence. In contrast, a coping model demonstrates the task along with the difficulties students experienced and the strategies (e.g., effort) they used to overcome the difficulties. The effectiveness of coping versus mastery peer models was compared by Schunk et al.

    Types of models

    The two types of models demonstrated strategies as follows:

    1. Peer coping model; Made errors at first and verbalized negative statements that reflected self-efficacy (e.g., “I’m not sure I can do this”). The teacher then gave a prompt (e.g., “What do you do when denominators are the same?”). Next, the coping model made statements about how they overcame failure (e.g., “I need to pay attention to what I’m doing”) and eventually performed at a mastery level.
    2. Peer mastery models; Performed all problems correctly while working at the average rate. Verbalized high self-efficacy and ability (e.g., “I’m good at this.” “That was easy”).

    The findings indicated that the subjects judged themselves as more similar to the peer coping model. Students who observed the peer coping model demonstrated higher self-efficacy for learning, greater post-test self-efficacy, and skill development compared with those who observed a peer mastery model.

    Modeling is a resource that is readily available in the classroom. This is a case of positive social comparisons with others (Schunk, 2001). The important implication for teachers is to use caution in choosing peer models. An alert, the sensitive teacher can identify peer coping models in their classrooms and use them to strengthen the self-efficacy of many students.

    Increase Your Strengthening Self-Efficacy Image
    Increase Your Strengthening Self-Efficacy; Image from Pixabay.
  • How Do You Know Your Company Wants Help From The Outside?

    How Do You Know Your Company Wants Help From The Outside?

    How Do You Know Your Company Wants Help From The Outside?


    When Your Company Should Seek Help From The Outside! There’s no reason you should do it all. Everyone needs help once in a while. Days are jam packed with meetings and checking off to-do lists. That leaves little time to nurture your business and employees. There’s no shame in working with a person on the outside to help you grow your business. Be The Change You Want to See in The World.

    Do yourself a favor and stop doing it all alone. Work in teams and build partnerships outside your company to stay ahead of the curve. Don’t sell yourself short just because your schedule is busy. Find ways to work around it and still succeed. See times when your company should seek help from the outside.

    Marketing

    Marketing is a large undertaking. There are various forms of marketing that exist and need to be addressed. This takes a lot of resources and knowledge to do it right. Digital marketing is involved and to complete it right you have to know what you’re doing. Advertising online and on social media is complicated and takes careful planning and execution. Don’t be afraid to search for outside agencies to help you achieve your goals. They’re the experts, and it’ll be helpful to have an agency take some work off of your employee’s plates. New Roles of Human Resource Management in Business Development.

    Definition: Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”

    Technology

    You don’t have to try and learn about technology if it doesn’t interest you. Educate yourself, but leave the rest up to the professionals who know what they’re doing. There’ll be times your computer crashes, or you need them for e-forensics to collect and analyze data. There’s a continuous list of reasons why it’s good to have IT experts on your side. You don’t want to risk losing data or files and having to start all over again on your assignments. You don’t have to know it all, but you do have to know when it’s time to call and get help. 

    Technology is the collection of techniques, skills, methods, and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation.

    Motivation

    There are times when business is slow, and your team is feeling down. This is exactly when you need to bring back the energy to your group. Hire a motivational speaker or host a fun activity in the office. Do Good Always! If spirits are low, it’s leadership’s job to get the team feeling good again and inspired to do their work. Throw some excitement their way and let them know you’re willing to do whatever it takes to make them feel happy to be at the office.

    “Motivation is the reason for people’s actions, desires, and needs. Motivation is also one’s direction to behavior, or what causes a person to want to repeat a behavior. A motive is what prompts the person to act in a certain way, or at least develop an inclination for specific behavior.”

    Consulting

    There are times a business falls into a rut and can’t crawl their way out. This is when you should check into hiring an outside consultant to help you brainstorm and innovate. They know how to work with businesses and bring them up to a higher level of functioning. They’ll work with you and pick your brain to create better ways of doing business and working with your customers. If nothing else, use them to bounce ideas off of each other and reinvent yourself.

    “Management consulting is the practice of helping organizations to improve their performance, operating primarily through the analysis of existing organizational problems and the development of plans for improvement.”

    Conclusion

    A business can’t always do it all themselves. Be Your Extraordinary Self! It’s smart to build new relationships and not put the weight of the company on your shoulders. These are those times when your company will need help from the outside world.

    How-Do-You-Know-Your-Company-Wants-Help-From-The-Outside


  • What are Effects of Goal Orientation on Student Achievement?

    What are Effects of Goal Orientation on Student Achievement?


    The extent to which students have a learning or performance goal orientation is associated with a variety of student behaviors and beliefs. These have been divided into cognitive strategies and engagement and motivational beliefs and actions.

    Cognitive Strategies and Engagement

    Learning goals foster cognitive engagement and effort (Meece, Blumenfeld, & Hoyle, 1988). Fifth- and sixth-grade science students who placed greater emphasis on learning goals also reported more active cognitive engagement. Students with performance goals (pleasing the teacher or seeking social recognition) had a lower level of cognitive engagement. Wolters, Yu, and Pintrich (1996) found that task value and interest were related to learning goals. The use of cognitive strategies and information processing is related to goal orientations of students at different levels of schooling. Learning that is potentially more meaningful or complex, requiring deep-level processing, appears to be the most vulnerable to the negative effects of performance goals (Graham & Golan, 1991). When the emphasis was on ability, as in the performance goal situation, there was interference with memory for tasks that required a great deal of cognitive effort. Performance goals also undermined the problem-solving strategies of children (Elliott & Dweck, 1988). In contrast, learning goals were the strongest predictor of seventh- and eighth-grade students’ cognitive strategy use (Wolters et al., 1996). These goals were also predictive of deep processing, persistence, effort, and exam performance of college students (Elliot, McGregor, & Gable, 1999).

    Motivational Beliefs and Actions

    The particular goal orientation affects motivation beliefs such as the role of effort in learning, self-efficacy beliefs, the tendency to use self-handicapping strategies, help seeking, and helpless patterns.

    Self-Efficacy: A learning goal orientation was generally found to be associated with higher self-efficacy. Wolters et al. (1996) reported that seventh- and eighth-grade students who reported greater endorsement of a learning goal also tended to report higher levels of self-efficacy. Learning goals were also positively related to self-efficacy in the subjects of writing and science (Pajares, Britner, & Valiante, 2000). In contrast, performance goals were related to low self-efficacy (Pintrich, Zusho, Schiefele, & Pekrun, 2001).

    Self-Handicapping: Self-handicapping strategies, such as low effort, are associated with performance goals (Midgley & Urden, 2001). Elliott and Dweck (1988) found that children with performance goals were more likely to avoid challenge and exhibit low persistence. These strategies undermine student achievement. Another type of self-handicapping strategy associated with performance goals is cheating (Anderman, Griesinger, & Westerfield, 1998). The authors explained that, by cheating, not only do students protect themselves against perceptions of low ability, they improve their grades.

    Help Seeking: The particular goal orientation was also found to influence help-seeking behaviors (Butler & Neuman, 1995). Second- and sixth-grade students were more likely to seek help when the task was presented to them as an opportunity to develop competence. When tasks were presented to students as a measure of their ability, they were less likely to seek help. Students were more likely to seek help in classrooms with a learning goal focus and to avoid help seeking in a performance goal structure (Butler & Neuman, 1995; Ryan, Gheen, & Midgley, 1998).

    Helpless Patterns: Finally, one of the most debilitating effects of performance goals is the vulnerability to helpless patterns (Dweck, 1986). Goals that focus students on using performances to judge their ability can make them vulnerable to a helpless pattern in the face of failure (Dweck & Sorich, 1999; Heyman & Dweck, 1992; Midgley et al., 2001).

    In conclusion, performance goal beliefs are generally seen as the most maladaptive pattern as students are more extrinsically motivated, focused on outcome and not on learning (C. Ames, 1992), and focused on being superior to others (Nicholls, 1990). At the same time, there is continued agreement that the learning goal pattern is the more adaptive one, fostering long-term achievement that reflects intrinsic motivation (C. Ames, 1992; Heyman & Dweck, 1992; Kaplan & Middleton, 2002; Meece, 1991; Midgley et al., 2001). As Kaplan and Middleton asked, “Should childhood be a journey or a race?”


  • Help Seeking

    What do you understand by Help Seeking?


    Help seeking theory postulates that people follow a series of predictable steps to seek help for their inadequacies, it is a series of well-ordered and purposeful cognitive and behavioral steps, each leading to specific types of solutions.

    Help seeking theory falls into two categories where some consider similarity in the process’ (e.g. Cepeda-Benito & Short, 1998) while others consider it as dependent upon the problem (e.g. Di Fabio & Bernaud, 2008). In general help seeking behaviors are dependent upon three categories, attitudes (beliefs and willingness) towards help-seeking, intention to seek help, and actual help-seeking behavior.

    Helped A Dog Named Cheeseburger

    Do you ask for help when you need it or do you have the view, “I have to do it myself, no one can do it except me?” From a motivational perspective, help seeking is an adaptive cognitive strategy that indicates a striving for mastery and achievement (R. Ames, 1983; Karabenick, 1998; Newman, 1998) and a general problem-solving strategy (Nelson-Le Gall, 1985). If help seeking is an adaptive strategy, why do teachers observe that students

    who are most in need of help are often the most reluctant to seek help? We have learned from research that seeking help from others can have negative connotations (Newman, 1990, 1991).

    Help Seeking 00

    Help seeking may be seen as threatening if the student thinks it is a sign of low ability. In this case, there is a personal cost to seeking help: Students may feel incompetent. Help seeking is positive when students seek assistance in order to make a change in their learning. The attributional process is an important factor in whether help seeking is seen as positive or negative and consequently whether students attend academic help sessions. R. Ames and Lau (1982) identified factors that affected the extent that college students attend help sessions:

    • Low-performing students were more likely to attend help sessions if they were given specific positive information about the effects of the sessions (e.g., “students who attended improved their performance”).
    • Students who attributed success to effort were more likely to attend.
    • Students who did not seek help used more external attributions for failure, such as “tricky test questions,” and used these external reasons as excuses.

    Newman’s (1990, 1991) investigations of help seeking among children in Grades 3, 5, and 7 provided a fuller understanding of help seeking. For example, who seeks help, individuals with high or low self-esteem? For all grades, the higher the perceived competence of the children, the less they felt there were personal costs to help seeking (e.g., being thought of as low ability). Students with low self-esteem were especially unlikely to seek help, whereas those with high self-esteem were more likely to seek help. Similar results were obtained by Nelson-Le Gall and Jones (1990) for average-achieving African-American children. Newman (1991) also found differences between younger and older students in views about help seeking. Seventh graders were more aware than younger children that negative fallout might result from help seeking (e.g., embarrassment). However, older children were also more likely than younger ones to believe that smart classmates rather than “dumb” ones ask questions of the teacher. Help seeking by college students showed a pattern similar to that of children. Karabenick and Knapp (1991) found that students with low self-esteem were more threatened by seeking help.

    Help Seeking 01

    One important and perhaps surprising finding was that students who use more learning strategies are more likely to seek help when needed, whereas students who use fewer strategies are less likely to seek help when needed. This attitude presents a double bind for those needing help. Not only do they lack the necessary strategies for success, but they do not seek the needed study assistance. The authors concluded that students need to learn to judge when they need help and that help seeking should be included in learning strategy and motivation programs. These findings on help seeking are important for teachers and counselors so that they can plan ways to get students to attend help sessions or seek help in counseling when needed. Nelson-Le Gall (1985) emphasized the need to think of help seeking as an adaptive coping strategy rather than as a self-threatening activity. Some ways to accomplish this are listed in Strategy.

    Types of Help Seeking

    Help seeking behavior is divided into two types, adaptive behavior and non-adaptive behavior. It is adaptive when exercised to overcome a difficulty and it depends upon the person’s recognition, insight and dimension of the problem and resources for solving the same, this is valued as an active strategy. It is non-adaptive when the behavior persists even after understanding and experiencing the problem solving mechanism and when used for avoidance. Dynamic barriers in seeking help can also affect active process (e.g.: culture, ego, classism, etc.). Nelson-Le Gall (1981) distinguished between instrumental help-seeking, which she regarded as being essential for learning, and passive dependency.

    Strategy of Help Seeking

    • The overriding task is to have students view help seeking, when needed, as a smart move instead of a dumb one.
    • Establish a classroom climate where students are encouraged to ask questions.
    • Document attendance and improved performance as a result of the help sessions and show this to students.
    • Be sure students who have improved after attending help sessions attribute the improvement to the help sessions.
    • Teach students a self-talk script to practice asking teachers for help in classes where they were having problems, as one middle school teacher did.
  • Helpless

    What is a meaning of Helpless?


    Meaning of helpless: “Unable to defend oneself or to act without help.” A student who has a history of failure and does not expect this to change will attribute failure to ability an internal and stable factor. This pattern is characteristic of students classified as having learned helplessness. These individuals expect that their actions will be futile in affecting future outcomes. Consequently, they give up. Learned helplessness was first investigated in young animals who had been presented with inescapable electric shocks in one situation; when placed in a different situation, they failed to try to escape or avoid the shock (Seligman & Maier, 1967). Animals that demonstrated no connection between their activity and avoiding the shock had learned to be helpless. It was further hypothesized that humans responded the same way: they were passive in situations where they believed their actions would have no effect on what happens to them. In this original explanation, helplessness was viewed as global affecting all domains of one’s life. Later research found that people may experience helplessness in one situation and not in others (Alloy, Abramson, Peterson, & Seligman, 1984). This means that a student may feel helpless in learning math but not in learning history.

    Helplessness exists in achievement situations when students do not see a connection between their actions and their performance and grades. The important aspect of learned helplessness is how it affects the motivational behavior of students in the face of failure. The attributions a student makes for failure act as a bridge between a student’s willingness to try again and the student’s tendency to give up.

    Helpless and Mastery Orientation

    Helpless 02

    In a now-classic study, Diener and Dweck (1978) identified two patterns of responses to failure following success in problem-solving tasks: a maladaptive-helpless orientation and an adaptive-mastery orientation. Children showed different response patterns to failure in their thinking, self-talk, affect, and actions. Keep in mind that the students in the study had the same failure experience while performing the tasks, but there were two different patterns of response to the failure outcome. The thinking, self-talk, and actions of the helpless-oriented children formed a self-defeating pattern. When failure is attributed to lack of ability, there is a decline in performance. Attribution to lack of effort does not show this decline (Dweck & Goetz, 1978).

    Are there ability differences in learned helplessness? Butkowsky and Willows (1980) compared good, average, and poor readers. They found that poor readers had lower expectancies of success on a reading task. Poor readers overwhelmingly attributed their failures to lack of ability (68% compared with 13% for average readers and 12% for good readers). They took less responsibility for success, attributing success more to task ease an external cause than did the good and average readers. In the face of difficulty, poor readers became less persistent a self-defeating behavior. Helplessness was also found when children studied new material that required them to read passages with confusing concepts.

    In a study by Licht and Dweck (1984), half the children received material with a clear passage, and the other half received a confusing passage. There were no differences between mastery orientation and helpless orientation when the passage was clearly written. In contrast, when the passage was not clear, most of the mastery children reached the learning criterion, whereas only one third of the helpless children did. This investigation is important because some academic subjects, like math, are characterized by constant new learning, which may be initially confusing to students. Mastery students will not be discouraged by the initial difficulty, whereas helpless students immediately lose confidence although they may be equally competent. When teaching new material, teachers can be especially alert for this pattern of helplessness in the face of initial difficulty.

    Learned Helplessness and Students with Learning Disabilities

    Helpless 01

    Are some students more prone to experience a sense of helplessness? Students particularly susceptible to the pattern of learned helplessness are those students who are identified as having learning disabilities (LD) (Licht, 1983). Children with LD experience much failure over a long period of time on a variety of school tasks. As a result, these children come to doubt their academic abilities, with the accompanying belief that nothing they can do will help them be successful. This is followed by the self-defeating response of decreasing effort. Children with LD have been found to exhibit the following characteristics of the learned helplessness pattern (Licht, 1983):

    • Score lower than non-LD children on measures of self-esteem and perceptions of ability,
    • Are more likely to attribute difficulty with tasks to lack of ability,
    • Are less likely to attribute failure to insufficient effort, and
    • Lower their expectations for future success and display greater decline in expectation following failure.

    It is important for teachers to be aware of the characteristics of helplessness because learned helplessness may explain the students’ apparent lack of motivation. How can a teacher identify a helpless pattern? What can a teacher do to lessen the likelihood of helplessness and help students who have this tendency? Butkowsky and Willows (1980) suggested that educators must begin to rethink failure as a necessary component of the learning process and not as a damaging experience to be avoided.

    Does the pattern of learned helplessness show up in young children? Dweck and Sorich (1999) concluded that there is clear evidence of a helplessness pattern in children younger than age 8. After experiencing failure or criticism, they show signs of helplessness like self-blame, lowered persistence, and lack of constructive strategies. Mastery-oriented children, in contrast, assumed they were still good even when their work had errors, and believed they could improve through effort. An important implication for parents and teachers, according to the authors, is to be very cautious when giving feedback to children. Extremely positive or negative feedback can be detrimental to children’s beliefs about their competence.