about a momentum for social change efforts
(Inhelder & Piaget, 1958, p. 339). G. Stanley Hall
asserted with his "recapitulation theory" that
human cognitive-developmental changes are adaptive because the momentum caused by cognitive
processes such as adolescent idealism may help to
keep humans refreshed in their social change
efforts (Rice, 1990, p.80; see also Kaplan, 1984, p.
78-80). Hall proposed that the adolescents' quest to
make the world a better place, idealistic or not, was
the adolescents' contribution to the progress of the
human species (Kaplan, 1984).
Seifert & Hoffnung (1997) suggest that adolescent egocentrism and personal fable tendencies do
not exist equally amongst all teens, and may be
very much dependent upon their past experiences,
their relationships with significant others, and the
amount of cognitive and verbal processing support
available to them. They also point out that one
important method of researching personal fables is
the studying of teen diaries which provide evidence
of adolescent reasoning and personal fable tendencies (Seifert & Hoffnung, 1997; see also Inhelder
& Piaget, 1958, p. 344). Research also reveals that
the personal fable tendency usually declines as
teenagers approach young adulthood, yet may not
completely disappear even amongst adults
(Adams, Gullotta, & Markstrom-Adams, 1994;
Enright & Sutterfield, 1980; Kaplan, 1991; Muuss,
1988).
This article explores the prevalence and nature of
the desire to accomplish what some might consider a heroic mission within the goals and desires of
late-adolescent service-learners. Late-adolescents
are young people in "the final years of the adolescent period," ranging roughly from 18 - 22 years of
age" (Balk, 1995, p. 6). It is proposed here that the
personal fable may have an influence upon adolescent service-learners as they embark upon new territories and experiences in community settings that
may be initially unfamiliar to them.
Although the heroic desire may be a normal and
appropriate part of adolescent thinking, even in the
service-learning process, it may have more crucial
implications for adolescent service-learners who
are predisposed, because of adolescent egocentrism, to view their feelings and experiences as
unique, compared to adults who more commonly
see their own heroic desires within a larger, more
realistic context. Adolescents are likely to be more
vulnerable to disappointment and disillusionment
with regard to their service-learning, if they are not
made aware, early-on, of perceptions, feelings and
issues related to adolescent reasoning tendencies.
These issues might include their heroic desires, an
emerging awareness of the complexity of the issues
The Role of the Personal Fable
faced by the community members they serve, and
their grappling with their place within the context
of the experiences that are a normal part of the service-learning process.
This article examines the prevalence and quality
of critical reflection journal passages that appear to
fit within the definition of personal fable when it is
loosely defined or operationalized as the college
students' expression of a desire to have a significant, favorable influence upon the community
members with whom they are engaged. The students' desire to have a significantly favorable influence within the context of their service-learning
experience can be considered an honorable yet
somewhat heroic desire, in that students may have
a total of only 20-48 hours over the course of the
semester to accomplish such a mission, depending
upon the particular placement. The intent here is
not to minimize the value, the influence, and the
power of the potential benefits and accomplishments that can be achieved over such a period of
time, but rather, to acknowledge that the strong
desires of adolescent service-learners sometime
have heroic overtones.
Results of content analyses of past student
reflection comments can assist in the preparation of
future service-learning students who are in the lateadolescent stage of development. The purpose of
providing such data is to make it available to service-learners and those who supervise servicelearners, so that the voices of students grappling
with and finding resolution regarding these issues
can be heard. Supervisors of service-learners can
become more aware of the specific adjustment
issues that students face so that they can assist students in putting their experiences into a perspective
that contains a larger context of information about
the psycho-emotional aspects of the student service-learning process. By providing such data,
future service-learners facing these issues will have
the resource of previous reflection data to assist
them in the processing of their own feelings and
experiences.
Normalizing data may be significant to adolescents who, because of their egocentric tendencies,
may tend to see their experiences and discomfort as
unique, and of their own doing. Therefore, when
students bring up issues in their journals or in their
group processing about specific feelings and experiences that they are having, their professors, college administrators or agency supervisors can be
better equipped to anticipate concerns and discern
the uniqueness of the issue or experience, and can
offer data and information about the prevalence
and manifestation of the issue among other servicelearners. Thus, the student may be less likely to
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