User:Chodges8/Apathy

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Apathy

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Apathy is a lack of feeling, emotion, interest, or concern about something. It is a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation, or passion. An apathetic individual has an absence of interest in or concern about emotional, social, spiritual, philosophical, virtual, or physical life and the world. Apathy can also be defined as a person's lack of goal orientation.

The apathetic may lack a sense of purpose, worth, or meaning in their life. People that suffer from severe apathy tend to have a lower quality of life and are at a higher risk for mortality and early institutionalization. They may also exhibit insensibility or sluggishness. In positive psychology, apathy is described as a result of the individuals' feeling they do not possess the level of skill required to confront a challenge (i.e. "flow"). It may also be a result of perceiving no challenge at all (e.g. the challenge is irrelevant to them, or conversely, they have learned helplessness). Apathy is something that all people face in some capacity and is a natural response to disappointment, dejection, and stress. As a response, apathy is a way to forget about these negative feelings.[citation needed] This type of common apathy is usually felt only in the short term, but sometimes it becomes a long-term or even lifelong state, often leading to deeper social and psychological issues. '''An example of common apathy would be driving past a car crash and not worrying about it because the police will most likely take care of it. An extreme form of apathy may be someone being numb to different stressful life events such as the losing a job or doing bad in school.'''

Apathy should be distinguished from reduced affect display, which refers to reduced emotional expression but not necessarily reduced emotion.

Pathological apathy, characterized by extreme forms of apathy, is now known to occur in many different brain disorders, including neurodegenerative conditions often associated with dementia such as Alzheimer's disease, and psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. Although many patients with pathological apathy also suffer from depression, several studies have shown that the two syndromes are dissociable: apathy can occur independently of depression and vice versa.

There were a few changes that I made in the main paper where I included some previous citations of the paper where they were forgot to be put.

School Section

Apathy in students, especially those in high school, is a growing problem. It causes teachers to lower standards in order to try to engage their students. Apathy in schools is most easily recognized by students being unmotivated or, quite commonly, being motivated by outside factors. For example, when asked about their motivation for doing well in school, fifty percent of students cited outside sources such as "college acceptance" or "good grades". On the contrary, only fourteen percent cited "gaining an understanding of content knowledge or learning subject material" as their motivation to do well in school. As a result of these outside sources, and not a genuine desire for knowledge, students often do the minimum amount of work necessary to get by in their classes. This then leads to average grades and test grades but no real grasping of knowledge. Many students cited that "assignments/content was irrelevant or meaningless" and that this was the cause of their apathetic attitudes toward their schooling. These apathetic attitudes lead to teacher and parent frustration. Other causes of apathy in students include situations within their home life, media influences, peer influences, and school struggles and failures. Some of the signs for apathetic students include declining grades, skipping classes, routine illness, and behavioral changes both in school and at home. '''In order to combat this lack apathy, teachers have to be aware that several students have different motivation profiles. '''