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Research and Theories of Reflection
Introduction
Theories of reflection seem sparser than in other fields (excluding personality tests which do not focus specifically on reflection itself, but rather categorise or personality), especially considering that this is dealing with the personal construction of knowledge rather than a subject of knowledge. Surely this warrants more investigation by theorists, as it may shed light on how knowledge, derived from theories and literature, is processed and applied. Not only this but it is at least as important to understand how people react and assimilate knowledge of the world, than it is a piece of knowledge itself. Perhaps it is the apparent large scope of this that is a barrier to vigorous theoretical development?
Understanding the importance of this area is a valuable reflection in itself, as it is such a natural human skill that it is likely that many people are unaware of how it occurs or what benefit it is to us. Furthermore an attempt at trying to conceptualise the process of reflection as part of ‘experiential learning’, may allow us to structure our reflection and its application both personally and for the work environment, as suggested in my initial thoughts on reflection.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (1942)
Other theories may also help in developing this process. Topological theories like Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Briggs-Myers 1942) does not specifically address reflection or how we can utilise it for personal development. However it does suggest that we prefer and tend to process an experience (or event) in different ways, characterised by: thinking, feeling, judgement and perception. The outcome of taking the test is our categorisation as one of 16 ‘types’ of people that approach the world in a similar way.
Although this may have an application in understanding our potential strengths and deficiencies in dealing with our experiences, it does not provide us with a structure of how to improve our personal circumstances. However it may go as far as stimulating reflection based on the traits derived from the model and thus point to how we might want to develop in these constructs. This model is deemed too weak for application however, as it does not stand up to statistical scruitany (Matthews, 2004) and categorising the human race into 16 types is considered overly simplistic to say the least....
