Paper Instructions
Academic level – Undergraduate 3-4
Type of paper – Coursework
Topic Title – Disrupting Homeostasis
Instructions:
Main Topic: Disrupting Homeostasis
To complete this assignment, find some way to disrupt the current homeostasis in your family, romantic relationship, or among your friends. Be sure to choose something that will not harm people or relationships!
Then share your observations about how you and the other people responded.
Example:
Find a habit or aspect of homeostasis in one of your relationships and find a way to disrupt it in a way that will not harm anyone and may even have potential to lead to relationship benefits. Describe the homeostasis before you chose to disrupt it. How did you disrupt the homeostasis? How did the people involved respond? Be sure to include your own response! What do you expect to be the outcome in your relationship because of your disruption? Example: Do you think the system will choose to accept the disruption as a permanent part of your new homeostasis?
Coursework Sample
My propensity to act hyperaware of other people’s emotions and make touch is the homeostasis I have always fostered in my environment. I frequently need to take care of others’ emotional needs and make sure our relationship is healthy since I have an anxious attachment type. It does have some negatives, though, such as my family and friends not taking the initiative to start conversations or meetings. I was somewhat worried about the results, but I was also irritated by people’s passivity and wanted to feel more emotionally safe in the connection.
By ceasing to initiate contact and consistently displaying open disturbance for other people’s sentiments, I interfered with the homeostasis. I waited to call my mother in the hopes that she would do it instead of me. Additionally, during the friend gatherings, I started to pay more attention to myself and stopped reacting to every emotional demand that was generally exhibited by those around me. I halted this habit by just expressing my compassion to the person who declared her mood to be negative. In the past, I would have offered my assistance. I didn’t mean to upset anyone; rather, I just displayed a more mature approach toward both myself and others, which isn’t often the case in partnerships.
Surprisingly, the majority of people initially responded negatively, but as they understood that the shift was permanent, they started to open up and take an active role in our dialogue. Homeostatic systems are frequently interrelated, and any modifications can be perceived as threats to the preexisting dynamic (Seshadri, 2019). After a few days, my mother called to voice her displeasure with my lack of participation. But after a sympathetic conversation, she pledged to get in touch with me more frequently. Even more remarkable was my interaction with friends; for the first hour, they discreetly studied me before asking if I was okay. However, because our silent interaction was so private, my pals were unable to request the pathological compassion I had previously shown them. They eventually started paying closer attention to me.
Despite my initial discomfort with my own choices, I eventually started to feel more comfortable with them and I began to appreciate the results of my decision. A significant drive to preserve social equilibrium frequently arises in those with anxious attachment styles (Bales et al., 2023). I felt stressed as a result, despite the fact that I knew I wasn’t to blame for keeping my relationships in such a negative way. After a few days, I came to appreciate how liberated I felt and how my mental boundaries were firmer. Nevertheless, I found the changes to be helpful. I think my expression of concern for this shift varied depending on the circumstance, demonstrating my reliance on such actions.
Unfortunately, because of my own lack of readiness and other people’s reluctance, I’m not confident that the system will accept this adjustment as permanent. This experience has taught me that the established system can adapt if a person refuses to behave in accordance with the past pattern, but it first tries to place a person in the past (Seshadri, 2019). Unfortunately, I lack the confidence to set such limits in the majority of my interactions on a daily basis, which may be emotionally and physically taxing. In spite of this, I can choose to gradually upset homeostasis in my relationships with various people because doing so can be difficult and necessitate considerable thought and reflection.
References
Bales, K. L., Hang, S., Paulus, J. P., Jahanfard, E., Manca, C., Jost, G., Boyer, C., Bern, R., Yerumyan, D., Rogers, S., & Mederos, S. L. (2023). Individual differences in social homeostasis. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 17. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1068609
Seshadri, G. (2019). Homeostasis in Family Systems Theory. In J. L. Lebow, A. L. Chambers, & D. C. Breunlin (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy (pp. 1395–1399). essay, Springer.