International Journal of School and Cognitive Psychology
Open Access

Research on the Application of Group Socialization and Social Exchange Theory in School Counseling

Xin Yang^{* *}Correspondence: Xin Yang, Department of Psychology, Zhuhai Sports School, Zhuhai, China, Email:

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Description

School counseling refers to the service provided by school counseling workers directly or indirectly to all students to meet their academic, professional, social, and emotional needs [1-3]. It specifically refers to the process of providing assistance and guidance in adjustment and academic development, personality and social development, and career development, as well as the diagnosis and treatment of related psychological and behavioral disorders.

Both counseling psychology and clinical psychology are closely related to the provision of therapeutic interventions. School counseling and psychological counseling refer to practice activities oriented to specific situations. The former mainly deals with educational development issues, while the latter deals with broader psychological issues. In contrast, counseling psychology generally focuses on the well-being and occupational aspects of an individual throughout the life cycle, while clinical psychology delves into diagnosing and treating more serious mental health conditions.

Objective and significance

Objective: From the perspective of school counseling, to better provide high-quality services to all students directly or indirectly to meet students' academic, career social, and emotional needs.

Significance: To further promote the development of school counseling theory and practice.

Social exchange and group socialization theory

The application of group socialization and social exchange theory in school counseling is elucidated through diverse studies. Thibaut and Kelley's foundational framework in "The Social Psychology of Groups" provides insights into interpersonal relations and group dynamics [4]. Price and Collett emphasize the role of interdependence in educator commitment, relevant to school counseling [5]. Korte underscores the importance of relationship building and workgroup context in socialization, applicable to educational settings [6]. Emmerik highlights the impact of support at individual and team levels on performance and satisfaction in school counseling programs [7]. Rook discusses the significant impact of negative social outcomes on well-being, informing school counseling approaches [8]. Mayer DM, et al. [9], demonstrates the influence of ethical leadership on group-level outcomes, applicable to ethical considerations in school counseling. Lastly, Cropanzano and Mitchell’s review of social exchange theory provides a comprehensive perspective beneficial for school counselors. These studies collectively underscore the multifaceted impact of social interactions and relationships in school counseling [10].

Social exchange theory refers to the understanding of human social behavior and social interaction process based on the analogy of commodity trading relationships in the market. Using the theory of social exchange to interpret Makalienko's educational principle of "the combination of respect, trust, and strict requirements", we can also find that the essence of exchange is the exchange of personality and sociality [11], that is, the exchange of respecting students' personality and giving students their social requirements.

Group socialization theory of development is a child socialization theory proposed by American psychologist Harris JR [12], which emphasizes the situational nature of socialization and the important role of peer groups in children's socialization. Previous studies have shown that in school education, the transmission of family culture and the family-society boundary are the key points to study the socialization development of student groups, and the lack of family culture transmission and the loose and strict family-society boundary leads to truancy and school refusal respectively. Students who are in the family culture transmission are normal [11].

Enhancing online assessment through school counseling: A focus on reducing student anxiety and motivation loss

From the perspective of school counseling, by revealing the interaction between anxiety, lack of motivation, academic buoyancy, and autonomy of online assessment, students are given help and guidance in the adaptation and academic development of exam anxiety, especially online assessment. When students' psychological and emotional well-being is taken into account, it is possible to improve their educational and evaluation experience. The results showed that students with less anxiety and loss of motivation were more active and autonomous. This also benefits possible improvements in language learning, education, and assessment, as well as the wider impact of the research.

Research design and method

This topic comprehensively uses a variety of research methods, from the basic types of educational research methods to analyze, including the following two specific:

Empirical methods: Based on scientific positivism epistemology and quantitative research methodology, the hypothesis of the research was formulated in advance, data were collected using investigation, test, and structural observation, and statistical methods were used to analyze and interpret the results, including observation, questionnaire, interview, and measurement [13].

Theoretical methods: The nature and interrelationship of complex issues in this subject are analyzed visually utilizing CiteSpace [14] and other tools, and theoretically analyzed and integrated, abstract and generalized, to find out its internal laws and draw general conclusions. This research mainly covers induction, deduction, analogy, analysis, synthesis, generalization, and other methods. From the analysis of specific educational research methods, this topic integrates educational observation research, educational investigation research, and educational action research.

To be specific, under the guidance of educational theories, using observation, lists, questionnaires, interviews, (school counseling) case studies, and tests, the data collected before and after school counseling in terms of students' behavior, group interaction, teacher-student and parent-child interaction, and participation in school (class) organization and management of 10 primary and secondary schools in G Province were compared. In this way, a scientific analysis of the current research situation is made (qualitative data analysis is carried out by in vivo software, SPSS Amos software, etc., and the relationship between variables is explored by the structural equation model, etc.), and specific suggestions are put forward.

Further studies

Guided by cutting-edge research in pedagogy (covering educational statistics and measurement), psychology, sociology, and other cutting-edge disciplines, The use of artificial intelligence (such as the use of large language models such as ChatGPT to assist in school counseling) and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI) to help cognitive neuroscience, neuroimaging and other developments FMRI technology (revealing human brain activity and function) will further assist school counseling, and build a school counseling community pattern and practice paradigm that conforms to national conditions and has Chinese characteristics. At the research methodological level, explore new approaches that go beyond qualitative and quantitative research: The application of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and its related techniques (including crisp-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (csQCA), multi-value Qualitative Comparative Analysis (mvQCA), and fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), fuzzy set qualitative Comparative analysis (fsQCA)) to research on the application of group socialization and social exchange theory in school counseling.

At the practical level of school counseling, how to better directly or indirectly provide high-quality services to all students to meet students' academic, career, social, and emotional needs to carry out a lot of applied (educational action) research, and refine the results into further guiding practice.

Conclusion

According to Makalienko's educational principle of a "combination of high respect, trust (high care) and strict requirements" under the social exchange theory, school counseling can give better guidance and help students' personality and social development. Taking care of school counseling with group socialization theory can provide better guidance and help students' adaptation and academic development (mainly involving truancy and refusal to attend school).

This study puts forward specific suggestions for the application of social exchange and group socialization theory in school counseling: The guidance for students (children) should adhere to the "combination of high respect, trust (high care) and strict requirements"; More emphasis should be placed on high respect and trust for students (high care); Focus on school counseling to guide parents in family education to give children high respect, trust (high care) and pay attention to adequate family culture transmission and balance family-society boundaries. Advocate the construction of a school counseling community with students and their mental health as the core, facing all students, pointing to the core quality, and directly or indirectly promoting students' personality and social development, academic development, and career development. Advocating for studentcentered (school counseling language) descriptive norms language echoes generous norms of social advocacy; Advocate the construction of understanding, respect, trust, participation, listening, dialogue, equality, mutual help, sharing, incentive, open, inclusive, responsible school counseling ecology.

Funding

This study is supported via funding from The 14^th five-year plan for education scientific research of Zhuhai City, Guangdong province (2023) project (2023ZHGHKT128).

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