SCARF and the Social Needs of the Brain
SCARF = our social needs, all of us.
SCARF = our social needs, all of us.
Cognitive psychologist David Rock drilled down through Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to determine which needs are most imperative for each of us in making decisions and retaining information. SCARF represents those needs.
Cognitive psychologist David Rock drilled down through Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to determine which needs are most imperative for each of us in making decisions and retaining information. SCARF represents those needs.
Every person has these five needs and as they move from situation to situation, the way the needs are met, or NOT met, shifts, based on their relationships with the other people around them.
Understanding SCARF
Understanding SCARF
What do these five needs include? How do they impact our daily life?
SCARF allows us understand behaviors and respond to needs diagnostically.
Without meeting our students' social needs, we can't engage them in higher level thinking.
Without meeting our students' social needs, we can't engage them in higher level thinking.
Social needs = affective engagement
Social needs = affective engagement
Higher level thinking = cognitive engagement
Higher level thinking = cognitive engagement
There are a lot of ways you can build opportunities into your instructional design or work with students that will build their SCARF.
Without SCARF being met:
- Reduced working memory
- Reduced field of view
- Generalizing of threat
- Err on the side of pessimism
EVERY conflict that takes place, or has ever taken place, comes from a GAP in someone's SCARF.
EVERY conflict that takes place, or has ever taken place, comes from a GAP in someone's SCARF.
If one of our SCARF needs isn't being met, our behavior communicates that. Behavior IS communication.
Every time YOU feel upset or a student feels upset or both, try to determine what gaps in SCARF are leading to those feelings.