Wk 4 Discussion – Excuses [due Thurs] Wk 4 Discussion – Excuses

Post a total of 3 substantive responses over 2 separate days for full participation. This includes your initial post and 2 replies to other students. 

Due Thursday 

Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words: 

What are the advantages and disadvantages of excuses? Provide examples of each from your own experiences.

Due Monday 

Reply to at least two of your classmates with atleast 50 words. Be constructive and professional in your responses.

Latreise Young(Reply 1):

Hi! I think that the advantage of an excuse is that one will be granted the opportunity to be pardoned from whatever the excuse is pertaining to. I also think that excuses can contain information that can validate an issue or concern. I have heard that it is not a good thing to use excuses, but sometimes things simply happen to where as people have to use an excuse, because an excuse validates the reason why this or that may have happened or prevented something from happening or to be postponed. I think that the disadvantage of an excuse is that the excuse is linked to having one to let someone down. The disadvantage of an excuse will or can also make someone look at you in another perspective. It can allow their mind to think differently about the person that uses the excuse to cover for what may have happened. I also think that the best thing about excuses is to try to avoid having to use one, because excuses can be good enough to get one another chance and excuses can allow one to mis out on a valuable opportunity as well.

Amanda Lyn (reply 2):

We as humans are fantastic at picking from a plethora of ready-to-use excuses to limit out own capabilities no matter if they are physical, mental, or even emotional. Psychologists place the excuse-making in the “self-handicapping” category, marking it as a behavior we express that hurts our own performance and motivation. It serves as a distraction that prevents us from achieving a task, but stems from a deeper, unconscious desire to protect ourselves against anxiety and shame. The more anxious and ashamed we are likely to feel, the more likely we are to build barriers that impede our chance of attaining a goal. Excuses themselves aim to shift the focus from issues pertaining to our sense of self to issues that can be relatively less central.

There are both advantages and disadvantages to excuse-making. Excuses can actually be beneficial if the end result is a sheltered self-esteem, low anxiety and depression, and even a boosted immune system. We may end up performing better the next time because we are no longer suffering a threat to our self-image. This in turn can boost self-control and focus, resulting in better performance. However, for the excuses to be “good”, they must be credible and maintain both value for the goal and sympathy for the excuse-maker. These excuses undermine one’s accountability which makes other people see them as deceitful, ineffectual and self-absorbed. These types of excuses are straight lies, self-handicapping, or blame-shifting. My mother has always been infamous for self-handicapping. Her famous words have always been “I can’t do it”, even if she has never even attempted to try it in the first place.