The Psychological “Mental” Solutions to Students’ Escape Psychology ()
1. Introduction
The Baidu Encyclopedia defines “avoidance psychology” as a psychological phenomenon where individuals choose to evade conflicts and contradictions with society and others in real life rather than consciously resolving them. According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, avoidance is a manifestation of the tendency to seek benefits and avoid harm; it serves as a defense mechanism. Avoidance is an expression of the “ego” choosing to evade, thereby alleviating inner anxiety and restoring psychological balance (McWilliams, 2015). However, if students immediately give up or walk away the moment they feel uncomfortable, without allowing themselves time to understand and experience (Wang, 2024), let alone face difficulties and take responsibility, this behavior certainly needs correction (Fromm, 1987).
2. The Reason and Performance of Students’ Escape
Psychology
The reasons for students’ avoidance behaviors can be varied and numerous. Based on the three major influences of the student’s growth environment—family, school, and society—these reasons mainly focus on improper guidance in family education, high academic pressure, and disharmonious or lacking peer relationships (Jin, 2023). First, regarding family education, modern parents often provide love and freedom, giving children space and rights, and encourage parents to be friends with their children. This significantly weakens students’ awareness of rules, responsibility, and boundaries. Second, every parent hopes for their child to excel, but school education often pays little attention to cultivating children’s individuality and creativity. Moreover, society tends to diminish the differences between advantaged and disadvantaged groups, as well as between advantaged and disadvantaged regions, leading to intense competition among students and high academic pressure. Lastly, the fast-paced nature of society places excessive emphasis on academic achievements and early success, resulting in reduced social time for students. This diminishes opportunities for problem-solving and critical thinking development, and there is little focus on necessary life skills and emotional intelligence, leading to disharmonious or absent peer relationships.”
Students exhibit many forms of avoidance behavior. Based on Fromm’s theory of the escape from freedom, which includes the psychological mechanisms of “authoritarianism,” “destructive impulses,” and “mechanical conformity,” my personal observations from 20 years of teaching experience reveal that some students frequently express phrases like “I don’t understand”, “I can’t do it”, or “I won’t be able to”. Others may avoid eye contact, show changes in facial expression, become physically stiff, or speak hurriedly at the slightest inconvenience (Zhong & Liu, 2024). More introverted students might yawn, make concessions, or even refuse to respond. They struggle to confront difficulties (Liu, 2024), developing a habitual avoidance mentality, with poor psychological resilience and a lack of courage to face challenges (Yao, 2014). As a result, they often become weak and overly reliant on others.
3. The Deep Logic of Students’ Escape Psychology
The reasons for students’ avoidance vary greatly, and the manifestations of avoidance are diverse, which can be quite confusing for teachers and parents in education. We not only ponder what the underlying logic of students’ avoidance psychology is, but also consider the commonalities in their avoidance behaviors and whether there are any patterns behind this avoidance (Zhang, 2011). Starting from the essence of students’ avoidance, how can we explore pathways to address and resolve this avoidance?”
Today’s students, from the moment they are born, grow up in an environment where there is no lack of food or clothing. They have been immersed in the “Internet+” era from a young age, where modern technologies such as video games and social media provide instant gratification. In contrast, learning tasks typically do not offer immediate satisfaction and are often filled with challenges and feelings of frustration.
From a physiological perspective, excessive use of electronic devices can lead to insufficient sleep or health problems, causing students to lean towards avoiding learning and daily activities. From a psychological perspective, frustrations during the learning process, along with efforts that do not yield timely rewards, make students lose interest in the learning material or feel that it is irrelevant to them. They lack confidence in their abilities and fear failure, criticism, or facing challenges. As a result, they often avoid trying new things or tackling difficult problems to prevent exposing their shortcomings. This leads to feelings of fear and anxiety, a loss of motivation, and a tendency to escape, which over time fosters self-doubt.
From a social environmental perspective, overly strict or overly indulgent family environments typically do not provide children with the space to act on their ideas, depriving them of the experience of turning thoughts into practice. This can lead to a tendency to give up and develop avoidance behaviors when faced with difficulties. In schools, when students experience bullying or social exclusion and lack coping strategies, they may observe that others gain certain benefits or avoid disadvantages through avoidance. Consequently, they might mimic this avoidance behavior, even opting to escape the school environment. Additionally, the educational system may fail to stimulate the interests of certain students, and teaching methods may not suit all students, which can also lead some students to choose avoidance.
Overall, expectations from family, school, and society can create significant pressure for students. To alleviate this pressure, some students choose to evade responsibilities and obligations. Understanding these underlying logics can help parents, teachers, and mental health professionals adopt appropriate strategies to assist students in overcoming avoidance psychology and developing positive coping strategies and habits.
4. The “Mental” Strategies to Assist Students’ Escape
Psychology
Correcting students’ escape psychology is of great significance for promoting their mental health, improving learning outcomes, cultivating social adaptability, and shaping positive personality traits (Ding, 2018). It not only relates to individual mental health and academic achievement but also serves as an important foundation for the healthy development of society as a whole. Therefore, families, schools, and society should work together to provide a comprehensive and diverse support system for students, helping them grow healthily and face future challenges.
4.1. The “Mental” Assist from the Students’ Perspective
Class teachers are expected to interact with students from five aspects, namely five key qualities, starting with “warmth”. When engaging with students, teachers should keep students’ secrets, allowing them to share their thoughts and feelings comfortably. The second quality is “sincerity”. Teachers should communicate with students in a genuine manner to establish real trust. The third is “love”. Teachers should demonstrate unconditional positive regard for students, making them feel accepted and understood. The fourth quality is “confidence”. Teachers should recognize and affirm students’ strengths, encouraging them to leverage these strengths in daily life, such as participating in club activities or taking on class responsibilities. The fifth quality is “dedication”. Teachers should help students identify potential negative thinking patterns, such as “I can’t” or “I won’t do well”, and guide them to challenge these negative thoughts. Through practical exercises, teachers can help students establish positive thinking habits or replace negative thoughts with more positive and realistic ones. By providing encouragement and positive feedback, teachers can help students build confidence and believe in their ability to face challenges and difficulties.
Class teachers should master the “five methods” to help students move away from “Escape”. The first is the “Goal Setting Method”. Teachers should teach students to set SMART goals, which are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. The second is the “Small Steps Adjustment Method”. Teachers encourage students to gradually achieve their goals through small steps, allowing them to experience a continuous sense of accomplishment. They guide students to adjust their goals based on actual circumstances, maintaining flexibility. The third is the “Role-Playing Practice Method”. Teachers can design roles, such as successful students or social butterflies, to help students learn effective success techniques through role-playing. They provide opportunities and platforms for students to express themselves confidently in public. The fourth is the “Reflective Experience Method”. Teachers can encourage students to reflect on their feelings and experiences through journaling or self-immersion during breaks. They can create achievement walls or achievement manuals to help students recognize small progress and celebrate these milestones, allowing them to experience a sense of accomplishment and pride. This method helps students gain a deeper understanding of their inner world, accept their imperfections, and build a positive self-image. The fifth is the “Quality Improvement Method”. Teachers should teach students effective time management and organizational skills to help them better balance study and leisure time. They can share the failure experiences of successful individuals to show students that everyone may face failure, encouraging them to learn lessons from failures and see opportunities for learning and growth. Additionally, teachers should teach problem-solving strategies and techniques, encouraging students to confront challenges, assisting them in trying to solve problems, and enriching their problem-solving experiences, enabling them to grow gradually instead of avoiding issues.
4.2. The “Mental” Assist from the Family Perspective
Class teachers should connect with parents and the school by organizing parent workshops, effectively communicating with parents through social media platforms, respecting their opinions, and understanding family differences. They can provide support and assistance through parent-child activities, volunteer services, and open teaching days, sharing resources and helping to resolve parent-child conflicts and misunderstandings between home and school in a timely manner. This strengthens the shared responsibility for educating children and helps form an alliance with parents in raising their children. Additionally, a regular evaluation mechanism for school-parent cooperation can be established to promote a solid partnership between home and school.
Regarding children’s avoidance behaviors, classroom teachers should first guide parents to create a positive family environment that encourages open communication, allowing children to express their feelings and thoughts while avoiding excessive criticism and pressure. Next, teachers should listen to parents and assist them in discussing and setting reasonable, adjustable expectations for their children. Together with parents, they should encourage children to pursue excellence while also accepting their imperfections, ideally guiding and assisting them in achieving gradual growth.
Teachers should also involve parents in their children’s learning process, helping them understand their children’s learning situations and needs, and providing necessary support. Finally, parents should maintain open and sincere communication with their children to understand their feelings and experiences, collaboratively exploring solutions to problems. This approach fosters children’s awareness of taking charge of their own affairs, develops their independence, and guides them in learning how to think critically and engage in self-discovery and self-improvement.
4.3. The “Mental” Assist from the School Perspective
Schools should provide a safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environment. By conducting interviews and gathering feedback from students, parents, and teachers, schools can adjust their management practices and strengthen campus culture, ensuring that all students feel respected and accepted. Through team projects, social practices, research studies, club activities, and extracurricular activities, schools should encourage student collaboration and participation, enhancing their social skills and sense of responsibility. This involvement allows students to directly experience and discover their potential, gradually understanding the kind of person they want to become.
Additionally, schools should pay attention to individual differences among students and adopt flexible teaching methods to meet the diverse needs of different learners. They should also provide mental health education and counseling services to help students identify and cope with avoidance behaviors.
4.4. The “Mental” Assist from the Social Perspective
With the diversification of educational stakeholders and the integration of artificial intelligence into daily life, society should provide a variety of learning resources and platforms to meet the diverse learning needs and interests of different students. Public awareness of avoidance behaviors among primary and secondary school students should be raised through media and public activities, promoting understanding and support for this issue across society. Additionally, society needs to offer professional psychological counseling and intervention services to help students overcome avoidance behaviors.
5. Conclusion
Students’ avoidance behaviors are a complex phenomenon arising from various factors, including family education, academic pressure, and social relationships. Avoidance behaviors not only affect students’ mental health and academic performance but may also have negative impacts on their future social adaptability. Therefore, to address this issue, families, schools, and society need to work together to provide comprehensive support and intervention measures to effectively help students overcome avoidance behaviors, cultivate positive coping strategies, and promote their healthy growth and development. This is not only an investment in individuals but also a responsibility towards the future of society and the nation.
Acknowledgements
This study is sponsored by the Project for Enhancing Educational Research Capabilities of Primary and Secondary School Teachers in Guangdong Province “Construction and Implementation Strategies of Innovative Models for Psychological Situational Dramas for High School Students. (2025YQJK0871)” supported by Department of Education of Guangdong Province.