Coping with Seven Disruptive Personality Types in the Classroom

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detected asleep, they will be asked to leave then and there, perhaps totheir acute embarrassment.Finally, instructors who have discovered that a disproportionate number of their students arenodding off might reasonably surmise that they are guilty of inflicting dull lectures on theirstudents and therefore should seek help in finding ways to enliven their style of teaching andlecturing. The act of sleeping during a talk that is inordinately boring is, of course, somewhatforgivable, as we all remember Vice President Dick Cheney nodding off during PresidentGeorge W. Bush’s self-congratulatory farewell speech.Procrastination• Act of defiance, usually unconscious, unintentional• Discussing may motivate some to overcome pattern• Mention campus counseling service as a resource• Give periodic unscheduled quizzes• Compliment and show interest when students submit assignments andkeep up with readingsAnother very familiar form of passive-aggressive behavior is procrastination. It is quitecommon for students to read assignments and submit papers well after the deadlineestablished by the instructor. With the possible exception of delays due to serious crises ordisruptions in a student’s life, procrastination is definitely an act of defiance, albeit one thatis usually unconscious and unintentional.The process of procrastination begins, of course, when the instructor issues the assignment.The serious student has, it seems, every intention to fulfill the requirements of theassignment in a timely way—at least at first. However, once the student takes the assignmenthome, a derailment from the initial intention may take place. The student thinks about theassignment and then a feeling of dissatisfaction or aversion sets in. The assignment isperceived to be difficult, time consuming, and an odious burden.Despite the fact that procrastinating students understand that an early start on anassignment, and a piecemeal approach to the challenge, might work best, and that doing wellon assignments is generally essential to their future economic and emotional well-being, anunfortunate psychological detour takes place at this point. Such students allow themselvesto be lured away from the unpleasant prospect of mental exertion by their desire forimmediate hedonistic gratification.It is then that they make a pivotal decision without realizing it is so pivotal. For immediatepleasure, they will pick up the phone to call friends, watch escapist television programs, or18
play equally escapist video games. In short, they will do virtually anything rather thanplunge into the drudgery of the assignment. Often, this form of escapism continues for daysor weeks until the reality of the deadline approaches and the student is in a virtual panic,cramming o meet it.When therapists have pointed out to such students the ways in which their procrastinatingseem to represent unconscious feelings of rebellion and defiance against the unpleasantacademic demands made by their instructors, their first reactions are usually defensive andskeptical. Upon closer examination of the sequence of choices and decisions that underminetheir ability to work on their assignments, however, these students often grasp how theirdefiance tripped them up, and they find ways to resist their rebellious pleasure seeking andeven come to view their difficult assignments in a more positive light.Part of this process often involves shedding light on how much they resented, as children,their parents’ sometimes-authoritarian demands that they carry out unpleasant tasks like,yes, carrying out the garbage. If it has not occurred to you as of yet, consider now the factthat instructors, like therapists, are often targeted with many of the same intense feelings,both negative and positive, that students have long harbored toward their parents. Thepsychoanalytic term for this is, of course, “transference.” Therefore, instructors can onlyhope that they will have only students who were raised in happy, nurturing families! Most ofus will have to deal with students who were raised in less-than-perfect households and whoexhibit behaviors learned in those settings.Now that we have a more dynamic understanding of the nature of passive-aggressiveprocrastination, what can instructors do about it? First, discussing the subject with yourstudents might lead to some interesting insights on how to motivate some of them toovercome their pattern of procrastination. At the same time, instructors might mention thatthe counseling or psychological service on campus is an excellent resource for dealing withsuch problems.Some instructors who are aware of the prevalence of procrastination let their students knowthat they will periodically but without notice give unscheduled quizzes, adding a cautionarystatement that the students should keep up on their readings in order to be prepared forthese assessments. Even if this does not solve the problem, it will at least hold the offendingstudents accountable for their behavior.A friendlier tack would be to compliment and show consistent interest in the progressstudents make in submitting their assignments and keeping abreast of their reading. Ofcourse, students need to know that you are not only interested in the punctuality of the workbut, even more important, also in the quality of their scholarship. If compliments are19
Page 1 and 2: Coping withSeven DisruptivePersonal
Page 3 and 4: About This White PaperThis Magna Pu
Page 5 and 6: IntroductionThe typical college pro
Page 7 and 8: kThe Explosive StudentCharacteristi
Page 9 and 10: However, in situations in which the
Page 11 and 12: lThe Antisocial StudentCharacterist
Page 13 and 14: when detected and verified, have ad
Page 15 and 16: mThe Passive-Aggressive StudentChar
Page 17: • Keep records; mention in syllab
Page 21 and 22: The issue here is that a great many
Page 23 and 24: nThe Narcissistic StudentCharacteri
Page 25 and 26: A short, straightforward comment to
Page 27 and 28: Without much ado, the consultant to
Page 29 and 30: pThe Litigious StudentCharacteristi
Page 31 and 32: qThe Compulsive StudentCharacterist
Page 33 and 34: imaginative tales nonetheless.It se
Page 35 and 36: Appendix A: Additional Issues and C
Page 37 and 38: of it. That could result in you bei
Page 39 and 40: had seen him as a potential menace
Page 41 and 42: to say, “Well, we agree to disagr
Page 43 and 44: As we know, some college football p
Page 45 and 46: Imitation of murderers is another r
Page 47 and 48: #3: Passive-AggressiveStyleCharacte
Page 49: We Value Your FeedbackWe hope you

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