Possible Selves
Kris Partridge
PCN/518
Aug 14, 2013

Abstract

There are seven stages of reflective judgment, the first stage is described as such “certain knowledge is gained by direct personal observation and needs no justification” (Cavanaugh, 2013). Stage two is described as such “A person can know with certainty through direct observation or indirectly through an authority” (Cavanaugh, 2013). Stage three is described as such “Knowledge is assumed to be either absolutely certain or just temporarily uncertain” (Cavanaugh, 2013). Stage four is described as such; “Knowledge is uncertain, and knowledge claims are assumed to be idiosyncratic to the individual” (Cavanaugh, 2013). Stage five is described as such: “Knowledge is seen as contextual and subjection” (Cavanaugh, 2013). Stage six is described as such; “Knowledge is actively constructed by comparing evidence and opinion on different sides of an issue; solutions are evaluated by personally endorsed criteria” (Cavanaugh, 2013). Stage seven is described as such; “The general principle is that knowledge is the outcome of process of unreasonable inquiry for constructing a well informed understands” (Cavanaugh, 2013).

Possible Selves
After briefly describing the seven stages of reflective judgment, adults do not need much experience to notice that human development continues through the lifespan, of course there are changes and issues. Take a young woman just getting out of high school and having the possibility to enter college. She is unsure what she wants out of life or if she even wants to go to college. There are so many young adults enter into the adult world not understanding or knowing exactly what they are wanting out of life.
We watch these young adults and their actions sometimes and wonder what they are thinking (Burke-Sivers, 2013). We see many young adults make the decision not to attend college after they get out of high school. Let’s take Kerri age 19, she just graduated from school and has worked at subway for the last two years. Her mother keeps trying to talk to her about college but Kerri keeps avoiding the conversation. She has told one of her friends that she is not ready for college because she is not sure what she wants to do. Her mother is worried that she is going to dismiss college all together and believes that education is really important.
Most people would look at Kerri and feel that she is dismissing her opportunity to go to college or put her in stage four of reflective judgment. Young adults are uncertain because of the decisions that they need to make, ‘where do I go to college, do I want to go to college, where is my future going, these are some of the questions that many young adults ask themselves. This is why there are counselors in high schools to help these young women and young men with these types of questions. As a counselor I would encourage our young men and women to look at their future and really focus on their education.
If Kerri came to me with these types of questions I would ask her “What are you interests?” Helping her find her way out of stage four of reflective judgment and put her in the mind set of stage five, six and seven of reflective judgment. When entering in the right mind set of judgment can change how Kerri will see her future. Many young adults in today’s world have much different issues then young adults twenty years ago (Burke-Sivers, 2013) . Twenty years young adults did not have to worry as much about education. There were many career opportunities that did not require the education levels that are required in today’s work place. It seems that no matter what the person chooses for their field of education there is more that can be learned.
Therapy for young adults may help them to explore their selves this includes what their values are including interests, and questions of who they are in the world and where they might be headed in life (Burke-Sivers, 2013). A person has to have self stability in life and have that feeling of being needed. When there stability is unsure then most everything else is questioned as well. More often than not the person is striving for independence from parents but needing to depend on them for financial or emotional support. “Young adults’ sense of possibilities can help to establish hope for the future, but can also hinder progress if the client is overwhelmed by possibilities and may need assistance narrowing down choices (Burke-Sivers, 2013) ” . In some cases group therapy can help these young adults in their decision making, just knowing that there are other young adults out there with the same issues and that they are not alone can ease a lot of stress.

Reference
Burke-Sivers, C. (2013). Young adult issues. Retrieved from http://www,goodtherapy.org
Kail, R. V., & Cavanaugh, J. C. (2013). Human development--A life-span view (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.