How might The Outward
Bound Process be used in psychology other than treatment?
In order to find out
how the Outward Bound Process model is used in psychology, I felt it would be
good to start at this base of the subject. For this journal, I decided to gather more information about
what exactly Walsh and Golins where originally seeking to convey, this is what
I found. I then was kind of
curious about what these folks looked like, the picture below is what I found. Side-note, Don't get to time warped with these outfits and forget to check that killer backdrop.
 |
| Victor "Vic" Walsh is third from the left (note cool hat), Gerald "Jerry" Golins is first on the right |
Secondly, I went to a solid reliable
source I was familiar with, my notes from my Social Psychology class with Dr.
Powell. Here is a condensed snip it on which part of my notes I focused on.
The article from the
70s talked about how this social environment is created by a ten group or
primary group. This primary group
has about seven to fifteen people who seek a common objective. Also, a bound and collective consciousness
is present. The size of the group
allows them to have stricter conformity in the group and eventually
participants realize that fighting against the group is less than ideal and
taking a “go with the flow” attitude is imperative for our social being. Those who don’t find themselves a
member of the group might experience self-doubt and having a fear of
rejection.
Another area of the OBP
that relates to social psychology is the idea that the learner finds reward in
solving concrete and manageable problems within a positive peer
environment. The new attitudes and
values allow people to become more likely to tackle upcoming problems. This leads to the social psychology
concept of internalization.
Internalization occurs when behaviors persists after the group is no
longer present. Formally, participants
might have experienced cognitive dissonance, which is a disconnect between
their internal beliefs and statements leading to discomfort. There is now, for a participant, no disconnecting
between these internal beliefs and the external statement. Afterwards, A participant has
demonstrated the internalized gained knowledge with no feelings of guilt or
doubt.
Drawing these points
together, the Outward Bound Process can be used in the research component of
social psychology. It can be used
to further provide support for these theories and continue to expand and further
define these concepts. In conclusion, the OBM has many connections to social
psychology with this blog displaying only a few examples.
To gain more insight on these two Outward Bound founders and see more old photos from other pioneers go here.
Citations:
Walsh, V.,
& Golins, G. L. (1976). The exploration of the Outward Bound process.
Denver, CO: Colorado Outward Bound School.
Powell, C.
(2012). Unit 1: Conformity. Personal
collection of C. Powell, Georgia College, Milledgeville, GA.
Robertson, J. (2012, June) . COBS Pioneers. Retrieved from http://outwardbounds50thanniversary.weebly.com/cobs-pioneers.html
