Social attitudes: what is it in psychology, examples from life. Rigid installation


Story

The concept arose after a study by W. Thomas and F. Znaniecki was published in 1918.
Scientists analyzed letters from people who emigrated from Poland to the United States. It turned out that when emigrants went to a foreign country, having determined for themselves that this was a temporary need to earn money, the period of their adaptation passed slowly and, one might say, even painfully. They had a hard time learning the language and culture and for a long time they could not get along in the new place. But there were also those who moved with the idea of ​​staying in the country forever and starting life anew. And such individuals adapted to unusual conditions much faster and more productively.

As a result of these observations, the researchers concluded that each individual consciously or subconsciously forms an internal attitude towards his own presence in the United States. And existence and motivation depend on it. This phenomenon is called “attitude”.

But this was only the beginning of studying this issue. In 1929, Lewis Thurstone created the first ways to measure installations. He began to assert the presence of an emotional factor in its structure.

There were also opposing opinions. For example, scientist V. Park believed that the state is not subject to direct observation. It is latent in nature and develops through life experience.

Besides this, there were many other theories. But the work of W. Thomas and F. Znaniecki gave impetus to their emergence and development and made the phenomenon central to psychology.

The concept of social attitude

Defining this term is not the easiest task. Discussing in Capital about such a phenomenon as the “commodity”, Karl Marx joked that it was not clear from which side to take it. The same is true with attitude. I'll go from the beginning.

From the very beginning, the concept represented the psychophysiological readiness of the human body to react to certain aspirations and stimuli. Researchers such as L. Lange, and later T. Schumann and G. Müller noticed that when an individual does the same thing, he develops a predisposition to react to a certain external event.

Around the beginning of the 20th century, the term began to be used in various branches of psychology, in particular depth. K. Jung considered this phenomenon fundamental in order to reveal the mental and mental state that influences specific types of his behavior.

But the simplest and most understandable definition was given by the same Thomas and Znaniecki. In their opinion, the social attitude of an individual is the assimilation of a certain social value, which, in essence, is its subjective awareness. In other words, it is a generally accepted norm in the form of individual existence.

Let's take freedom, for example. Each individual perceives and follows it in his own way. Therefore, a person’s attitudinal state in relation to this phenomenon will be personal.

Therefore, we can say that this is a unique form of relationship between the individual and society. At the same time, it represents both a detail of the mental structure of an individual participant and an element of a system of generally accepted values.

What is the psychological attitude of the individual?

Every thought that flashes through our heads, every phrase that we mentally repeat to ourselves, every statement or judgment we make about ourselves is our psychological attitudes.

Psychological attitudes can be long-term or short-term.

Attitudes depend on our mood, well-being, attitude towards ourselves or something, our beliefs, principles, worldview and even our desires. So, if you want to change your life today, then you can use one or another psychological attitude.

There are also psychological attitudes of the individual that contribute to its self-development.

Every psychological attitude is a command given to your brain

Psychological attitudes influence your way of thinking and focus your attention on the fulfillment of a particular desire. Setting up for success

Psychological attitudes are formed both unconsciously and consciously

When you have formed any idea about yourself, you strive - completely unconsciously - to communicate with those people, read those books, watch those films that confirm your beliefs. You can consciously use the possibilities of psychological attitudes to change your way of thinking. Change minus to plus

Formation of the psychological attitude of the individual

This process involves speaking out your desired ideas about yourself. Almost like in the movie “The Most Charming and Attractive.”

Wanting to become charming and attractive, you seem to convince yourself that this is so through regular repetitions of a certain phrase. These phrases are called affirmations, or psychological attitudes. You give a certain task to yourself and your brain to become what you want to become. Or the way you imagine yourself

When forming psychological attitudes, it is important that they do not contain tasks that you are not able to complete. Or those that, by your nature, do not correspond to you at all. One of the functions of psychological attitudes is the development of a harmonious personality, which is why it is so important to choose affirmations that do not contradict your inner self.

Make sure you are in a good mood when you say this or that affirmation. If you are tired or in a bad mood, use the setting that best suits your condition.

When speaking affirmations, it is very important what you feel at that moment. Each attitude that you pronounce should evoke a pleasant feeling in your soul. And after saying the installation, you should feel better.

Choose one or two settings. Don't use the same ones all the time, but change them regularly so that you can feel which affirmations make you feel good and are most consistent with your goals.

You can create your own personal psychological attitude, or you can use the general ones.

Approximate psychological attitudes of the individual

  • "My actions are consistent with my thoughts"
  • “I live in harmony with nature and myself”
  • “I am full of creative ideas that bring joy and happiness to people.”

• I am full of self-confidence and believe in my abilities. • All events that happen in my life are for my benefit. • I am full of strength and energy.

• I will definitely achieve all my goals. • My inner strength and self-confidence are growing every day. • I am successful in everything. • I enjoy all events that can teach me something new.

Other psychological attitudes

  • I remember the values ​​that are important to me.
  • I know what I want and how to achieve it.
  • I make decisions with confidence.
  • I am happy and successful in work and personal life.
  • I myself create positive events in my life.

• I hear my inner voice clearly and distinctly. • I am grateful to fate and happy to be alive.

When choosing a setup, use your intuition. After all, the affirmation that causes a pleasant feeling is correct for you.

Recite the mental attitude for five minutes over and over again. Feel its positive impact on your personality, how it contributes to the realization of your potential.

Talk about a setting that suits you throughout the day as often as possible. Repeat it before going to bed and in the morning immediately after waking up. Just smile and mentally say one of the psychological attitudes several times.

Psychological attitudes or affirmations?

Affirmations are one of the best and most effective methods of combating indecision and doubt. Use attitudes especially when negative thoughts begin to overwhelm you.

Doubts are also just thoughts. Doubts gain strength and power over you only when you focus on them. So are affirmations.

There is no need to fight doubts. It’s better to cast doubt aside as if it has nothing to do with you. Instead of doubting, say your favorite psychological attitude several times and smile.

A person decides for himself which thoughts to allow and which to discard. With the help of a psychological attitude, you essentially control your life.

The relationship between social attitudes and real behavior (Lapierre's paradox).

Since the 40s of the 20th century, scientists have carefully studied the factors influencing attitudes. One of the first researchers was Richard La Pierre, who studied restaurant owners' attitudes toward serving Chinese customers. According to the results of the survey, it was revealed that 90% of the subjects had a clearly negative attitude towards the Chinese, but in 100% of cases this attitude was not manifested in behavior. By the 1960s, dozens of studies had been conducted showing that people's behavior had very little connection with their attitudes. For example, it was found that students' attitudes toward cheat sheets are very weakly related to the frequency of their use. This phenomenon is called La Pierre's paradox.

But research continued and by the 70s it was discovered that our attitudes do influence behavior, but only under certain conditions:

1) when external influences on our words and actions are minimal:

It happens that during a speech we adjust our position to the opinion of our listeners. The pressure of the social environment forces us to behave contrary to our attitudes.

2) when we are dealing with specific attitudes related to specific actions.

People very often preach a healthy lifestyle, but at the same time smoke, worry about the state of the environment, and at the same time throw batteries in regular trash. However, attitudes towards specific activities, such as fast food, will indicate whether they eat at fast food restaurants or not.

3) when we consciously perceive our attitudes: our attitudes may remain unused when we perform habitual actions. To use attitudes, we need to pause and remember how we feel about some action. and then the person begins to adjust his actions to the settings.

Studies have been conducted showing that attitudes also follow behavior, just as behavior follows attitudes. Very often this happens when a person does not know exactly how he feels about a particular object and therefore begins to monitor what he says and does regarding the object. Based on these observations of one’s own behavior, an attitude is formed.

As a result of research, situations have been discovered where attitudes follow behavior.

1) The first of these is the situation of playing a role: when receiving a new role, we begin to try to behave in such a way as to correspond to this role. At first, we experience discomfort and awkwardness, but these feelings pass very quickly and it begins to seem that the new behavior is completely natural, and the old one is inconvenient and generally unacceptable.

The most notable example is the Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Philip Zimbardo.

2) When a statement spoken or written by a person becomes his belief. For example, this happens when, having once adjusted to the opinion of the interlocutor, we ourselves begin to believe in this opinion and consider it our own. But in order for this to happen, it is necessary that there is no pressure from the outside.

3) The third situation is known as the “foot in the door” phenomenon. Surely each of us has encountered the fact that by agreeing to some small and unburdensome participation in a big business, we find ourselves involved in it much more than we intended. In other words, by making concessions, we have practically signed up for full participation. You can find a huge number of examples in everyday life: “go to a party for half an hour.”

18. Social roles of the individual. Contents of the role

The concept of “personality” comes from the Old Russian word “lichina”, i.e. – mask. It is interesting that the concept of “persona” (as personality is called in Romance languages) is also the mask of an actor in the ancient Greek theater. Thus, the concept of “personality” seems to capture what a person wants to show to others. The concept of “social role” is very important for understanding the essence of personality.

Social role

- this is a function, a socially approved way of behavior, formed on the basis of historically established norms and rules in society and expected of everyone who occupies a given social position.
The social role, its meaning, even its very existence, sometimes depend on the social structure. When describing a personality through its social roles, one cannot do without the concept of “society”. Even the so-called “eternal roles” - gender, national - have a social, specific historical overtones. Compare, for example, the social role of women in the United States and the United Arab Emirates; what it’s like to be a black man today in Cuba and in the 19th century. in the southern United States of America. Professional, so-called “relative” roles, for example, the role of an officer, teacher, or mother, father, have a great influence on the individual. Roles can be permanent (gender), long-term (profession), short-term (theater spectator). A person performing a particular social role is expected to behave accordingly. These expectations are the contours of a social role
.

Each individual performs many social roles. There are both positive and negative aspects to this. Positively

the fact that a large number of roles: 1) enriches the personality, makes it more multifaceted and developed; 2) gives greater stability to the individual, i.e.

makes her more whole and free from each role. Negative

that multiple roles lead to role conflicts.

There are conflicts

:
inter-role
- consisting in the practical impossibility for an individual to perform each role in the way that the individual himself considers necessary (due to lack of time, effort);
intra-role
- arising when an individual’s own understanding of a role differs significantly from what is expected of him in a particular society.
The social role is very significant for the individual and affects his personal qualities. For a role to determine an individual's behavior, it must be learned, that is, internalized. An internalized role
is an individual’s internal definition of his social position and his attitude towards this position. As an example, we can cite the change in all the personal characteristics of the heroine of B. Shaw’s play “Pygmalion” by Eliza Doolittle as a result of her assimilating the role of a well-bred girl of high society with correct speech.

Personality structure

Two approaches to identifying personality structure are proposed. The first is based on the social factor, when all the uniqueness of the individual depends on the social structure; the second is based on the biological characteristics of the individual.

The sociologizing explanation of personality structure proceeds from the fact that the determining factor is the material life of society. It forms the structure of society, the social roles of the individual and his interests, acting in the form of a conscious need. Interests underlie the motives, attitudes and life orientations of an individual, which are elements of the personal structure. At the same time: motive

– subjective, emotional source of action;
attitude
is a more stable phenomenon, including thoughts associated with a worldview;
orientation
is a system of attitudes that dictates behavior.

A biological explanation of the structure of personality is contained, for example, in the theory of the Austrian physician and philosopher Z. Freud, who argued that personality consists of three elements - the Super-I, the I and the Id.

19. The influence of social norms on personality

It has long been noted that an individual, being a member of certain social groups, usually builds his activities primarily taking into account the views existing in these groups and in society as a whole. These views are determined by the values ​​and goals of groups and are expressed in certain rules and standards of behavior, in other words, in social norms. Norms can influence not only the actions of an individual that are amenable to direct observation, but also such sometimes difficult to recognize mental phenomena, such as attitudes. Thus, belonging to a group contributes to the formation and fixation of appropriate attitudes among its members. Moreover, often a person does not even realize that when he acts one way or another, he does so precisely under the influence of general group views. Group norms act as one of the regulators of individual behavior not only within a given group, but also when a group member interacts with representatives of other social groups. Social norms of any groups are expressed in the corresponding rules and are:

· as a means of orienting the behavior of each individual in a certain situation;

· as a means of social control over the behavior of an individual on the part of a given community of people.

Certain social norms are inherent in all groups - large (social strata, ethnic communities) and small, formal and informal. The English psychologist Argyle identifies the following types of norms in small groups.

· Norms regarding the task (for example, method, speed and standard of work in the production team);

· Norms governing group interactions that predict the behavior of others, prevent conflicts and ensure fair distribution of rewards;

· Norms regarding attitudes and beliefs (for example, the views of group experts are accepted, the opinions of other members are checked against them rather than against reality, which may be more difficult for the group) [5].

Social norms of small groups may correspond or, conversely, contradict the norms of society as a whole. When a person finds himself in a small group, then, by communicating with its members, he receives information about the values ​​of this group, its customs, traditions, rituals and other rules of behavior. He needs such knowledge to understand the actions of other group members and correct his own behavior. In this case, the individual is exposed to various group sanctions in response to his behavior.

Group norms provide positive sanctions (praise, moral and material rewards) for those who follow them, and negative sanctions for those who deviate from these norms. Various nonverbal signs of disapproval, verbal remarks, threats, boycott, and sometimes exclusion from the group can be used here. Thus, the individual is included in the process of socialization, getting used to following the norms of both small and large groups, as well as the entire society as a whole. If we talk about the norm, then it is in small groups (in the family, in educational and educational institutions, in friendly companies) that the individual assimilates the cultural values ​​of his society and everything connected with them, both at the verbal and behavioral levels.

Any formal organization has a set of certain rules governing its activities and the behavior of its members. These rules represent certain social norms of prescribed and acceptable behavior. Such norms are often systematized in written form. A person's entry into a formal organization usually involves a procedure for familiarizing him with these rules and the need to express his consent to them.

The fear of causing disapproval from members of one's production group is a significant regulator of individual behavior. Informal group norms can influence the behavior of a group member more than formal regulations [2].

The effectiveness of group norms is determined by such a psychological property of the individual as conformity.


Conformity
to the subordination of the individual to group pressure. This is manifested in the individual’s desire to coordinate his opinions and actions with the opinions and actions of group members. With age, the degree of conformity decreases and becomes constant by 15-16 years [2, electronic resource, article].

It has been established that the degree of conformity depends on the prestige of the group perceived by the individual, the degree of uncertainty of the judgments that must be given, and the size of the group. The individual properties of a person and his mental state at the moment are also important. Two types of conformity have been identified - compliance

and
internalization.
Under compliance

they mean the pliability of an individual who demonstrates external agreement with the opinion of the group, the majority, with internal disagreement.

A deeper level of conformity is internalization.

In this case, the individual accepts the group’s opinion on faith, actually agrees with it and fully shares it in subsequent situations.
The individual is influenced by the group to such an extent that its social norms become his personal norms. The group’s (external) opinion becomes the individual’s own opinion. Sometimes this phenomenon is called “internal”
or
“true”
conformity.

20. The concept of “social intelligence” (SI) and approaches to its understanding

The concept of “social intelligence” was first used in 1920 by E. Thorndike, denoting foresight in interpersonal relationships and equating it with the ability to act wisely in human relationships. Thorndike considered social intelligence as a specific cognitive ability that ensures successful interaction with people; the main function of social intelligence is predicting behavior. According to Thorndike, there are three types of intelligence: abstract intelligence as the ability to understand abstract verbal and mathematical symbols and perform any actions with them; specific intelligence as the ability to understand things and objects of the material world and perform any actions with them; social intelligence as the ability to understand people and interact with them. E. Thorndike argued that social intelligence exists separately from ordinary intelligence [40].

In 1937, G. Allport describes social intelligence as the special ability to correctly judge people, predict their behavior and ensure adequate adaptation in interpersonal interactions. He identifies a set of qualities that provide a better understanding of other people; Social intelligence is included in the structure of these qualities as a separate ability. Social intelligence, according to G. Allport, is a special “social gift” that ensures smoothness in relationships with people [37]. At the same time, the author pointed out that social intelligence is more related to behavior than to the operation of concepts: its product is social adaptation, and not the operation of concepts.

Then many famous scientists revealed the abilities of social intelligence in the structures of general intelligence. Among them, the models of intelligence proposed by D. Guilford and G. Eysenck are most clearly represented.

G. Eysenck pointed out that in many ways the difficulties in defining intelligence stem from the fact that today there are three relatively different and relatively independent concepts of intelligence. At the same time, he does not contrast them with one another and even tries to explain them “under one roof.”

Social intelligence is the intelligence of an individual, formed during his socialization, under the influence of the conditions of a certain social environment.

The scope of social intelligence, according to J. Guilford, is knowledge of perceptions, thoughts, desires, feelings, moods, etc. other people and yourself. This aspect is measured by social perceptual tests.

Concept and main types

Modern sociology and psychology include various definitions of social attitudes. Most often, Gordon Allport's interpretation is used to explain this term. According to the American psychologist, a social attitude is a psychological state of an individual in which the person is ready to behave in a certain way, according to past experience of “collision” with an object.

G. Allport

In the socio-psychological literature one can find 5 main types of social attitudes:

  1. Perceptual. Attitude is characterized by an individual's readiness to see what he wants to see.
  2. Situational, in which a person is ready to behave differently in relation to the same object, depending on the circumstances.
  3. Social, aimed at an object. This attitude is characterized by specific actions of the individual, regardless of the current situation.
  4. Generalized or general. The emergence of an attitude is influenced by a collection of identical objects.
  5. Private or partial. An attitude towards a certain object arises on the basis of the individual’s personal experience.

Depending on the modality, attitudes are:

  • positive or positive;
  • negative or negative;
  • neutral;
  • ambivalent.

Basic functions of social attitudes

Attitudes are characterized by 4 key functions:

  1. Utilitarian, adaptive or instrumental. Social installation ranks first among important attitudes. The mechanism of action is aimed at helping the individual achieve his goals. The function also helps the individual adapt to the situation, reduce losses and increase rewards. Attitude influences individual identification in a group.
  2. Self-protective. Helps resolve conflicts within the individual. Protects the individual from traumatic information that can negatively affect the psyche. The function allows you to guide a person along a more “gentle” path.
  3. Self-realizing. Helps a person to discover his own abilities and organize behavior in such a way as to satisfy the necessary needs. Thanks to attitudes, the individual realizes himself and begins to understand what kind of person he is.
  4. Organizational. The main direction of this function is to organize the world around us. With the help of attitudes, an individual evaluates the acquired knowledge and correlates it with his own goals, interests and motives. Attitude helps to learn new information in the process of social cognition. This helps solve many problems.

Structure and components of social attitude

Scientist M. Smith in 1942 defined a three-component structure of a social attitude. It includes:

  1. Cognitive component. It is characterized by the subject having knowledge about the area of ​​life to which this or that attitude relates.
  2. Affective component. Expressed in emotional assessments, feelings and experiences associated with events, objects or processes.
  3. Behavioral component. It is characterized by real actions that a person can perform in relation to the object in question.

Behavioral component

Attitude components can either overlap or exist separately.

Important! If all components of the structure are not in conflict with each other, then the settings can be considered consistent.

For example, the presence of a favorable background, positive knowledge and positive actions indicates the presence of harmonious attitudes. When social attitudes are inconsistent, there will be a chaos of negative information, positive attitudes, and neutral actions.

To take consistent steps, a person requires consistent attitudes. Otherwise, the individual will be tormented by ambivalent feelings, and contradictory actions will begin to dominate his behavior.

What approaches are used

The following approaches can influence the formation of social attitudes:

  • cognitive;
  • motivational;
  • structural;
  • behaviorist;
  • genetic.

With the cognitive approach, attitudes are formed as a result of the individual’s desire to resolve internal conflicts that arise due to cognitions and attitudes.

The genetic direction suggests that the development of all attitudes is inextricably linked with innate personality characteristics:

  • temperament;
  • intellectual abilities;
  • biochemical reactions.

Such “innate” attitudes are considered the most durable, in contrast to “acquired” ones.

Congenital and acquired forms of behavior

In the behaviorist approach, attitudes are understood as intermediate variables between the external world and objective stimuli. Therefore, the subject practically does not take part in the formation of attitudes. Development is carried out with the help of:

  • observing the behavior of other individuals and analyzing the consequences;
  • positive reinforcement;
  • formation of associative connections between existing attitudes and stimuli.

Within the framework of the structural approach, the development of attitudes is carried out through comparison with the attitudes of surrounding people. The individual begins to “adjust” his own worldview and value views in order to correspond to one or another social category of persons.

For the motivational approach, the basis for the development of social attitudes is a series of balanced arguments “for” and “against” a particular attitude.

Relationship between behavior and attitude

The experiment consists of two separate stages. The first part of the real-life behavior study in his experiment involved traveling around the United States with two Chinese students. He studied the attitude towards them of the people who served them in various establishments. During the entire period of the trip they visited 252 hotels. During the trip, there was only one case of refusal, when the reason was ethnicity; in all other cases, they received a normal reception that met the standards of service. No difference in service was found. The second part of the study of symbolic behavior (attitude determined by survey). Two years after the trip, LaPierre sent letters to 251 hotels, asking them to respond asking if it was possible for him to visit the hotel with his students, and hope for the same hospitality. The response came from 128 hotels, where 52% had a refusal, only one letter included consent, the rest were vague. From the contents of the letters, one can conclude the presence of a negative attitude, when in a real situation the behavior of hotel employees was carried out on the basis of a positive attitude. It follows that a certain attitude using a survey does not allow one to predict human behavior in real life. Thus, a person’s real attitudes can only be determined by studying his behavior in a real social situation.

The phenomenon is called Lapierre's paradox. Lapierre, in his experiment, established the socio-psychological phenomenon of the discrepancy between a person’s actual behavior and their expressed attitudes, intentions and inherent values. The attitudes caused by a person, which he adheres to, do not coincide with real behavior in situations in which these attitudes should be realized. These attitudes cannot predict the actual behavior of that person. His experiment has become widely known and is often cited, especially when considering the relationship between attitudes and behavior, the problem of discrimination and ethnic bias. This experiment sparked a new wave of research. Some scientists have directed their efforts to refute Lapierre's conclusions through thorough critical reviews. Others have attempted to explain what causes the discrepancy between expressed attitudes and actual behavior and to explore what factors need to be taken into account to more accurately predict actual behavior based on social attitudes. Some ideas about the relationship between attitude and behavior were of particular interest. M. Rokeach proposed the idea of ​​the simultaneous existence of two attitudes - towards the object (the Chinese) and towards the situation (to serve visitors, service standards). D. Katz and E. Stotland proposed the concept of various aspects of attitude. Thus, in different situations either the cognitive or the affective component of the attitude could manifest itself, the result was different [1, p. 284].

The decline in interest in attitudes was associated with the difficulties of substantiating the connection between attitudes and behavior. In the 1980s, there was a new growth of interest in the problem, due to the desire to find new connections between attitude and behavior. Several explanatory models have been proposed. Initially, the causes and various factors complicating the relationship between attitude and behavior (named 40) and conditions of influence were established. In addition, factors (which can oppose causes) that determine the influence of attitude on behavior (strength, expectation of attitude). The agreed conditions preserve the position on the influence of attitude on behavior [1, p. 285].

Other attempts to connect attitude with behavior have led to the development of new theories. A. Aizen and M. Fishbein introduced the concept of “point coincidence”, in which it was necessary to compare single-order levels of attitude and behavior. Actually, if we take into account the “global” attitude, then it must be compared not with a single behavioral act, but with their entire set. Otherwise, there will be no coincidence, which is not proof of the fallacy of the relationship between attitude and behavior. A similar theory of “washing away flow” was proposed by L. Wrightsman, where circumstances wash away the evidence of influence (for example, the intervention of other factors, the collision of dual attitudes, etc.). The lack of unity of attitude and behavior is possible due to an incorrect statement of one’s position by a person in relation to a social object [1, p. 285].

The entire list of specified theories maintains the position of the usefulness of attitudes that make it possible to predict behavior to one degree or another. Probably, the lack of argumentation of this problematic, which appeared incorrect in Bem’s vision, forced us to look for a significantly different approach. D. Bem admitted that there is an inverse relationship between attitude and behavior, i.e. behavior influences attitude. The construction of such an attitude to the problem is seen in the fact that a person first observes his behavior (does not read books), and only subsequently concludes his attitude (does not like to read) [1, p. 285].

The search for the problem of attitudes to interpret behavior indicates the significance of this problem. To better understand the attitude-behavioral connection, the experimental method is usually used, which is the best way and approach for understanding a complex phenomenon, but mostly research takes place in a laboratory setting, which hides the real social context. Thus, the research method, in compliance with all its norms, is simplified and does not provide extensive ability to appeal to a system of behavior in a broad social structure.

The subsequent study of attitude involves the development of ideas that would resolve difficulties in the way of studying this phenomenon. One of the difficulties lies in the integrity of the attitude, which has been lost due to the many attempts to find more and more detailed descriptions of properties and structures. Now, restoring the structure of the integrity of the social installation, we cannot build on early ideas; the relevance of its understanding lies in the social context [1, p. 286].

An attempt to solve these problems lies in Yadov’s concept of dispositional regulation of an individual’s social behavior. The main thing in this idea is that a person has a complex system of various dispositional formations that regulate his behavior and activities. In other words, understanding the holistic structure of personality implies highlighting the hierarchy, systemically forming features or relationships, needs and situations in the field of human action. The scheme of all dispositions contains a hierarchy of needs and situations in behavior.

Hierarchy of needs (H): inclusion of the individual in various spheres of social activity that meet the expansion of his needs. The first area of ​​realization of the needs of the individual comes from the immediate society (1), the actions of the individual within the framework of a contact (small) group (2), a vast sphere of activity associated with work, leisure, everyday life (3), the sphere of activity concluded by the development of the ideology and values ​​of the culture of society, social -class structure (4). Four levels of need satisfaction.

Hierarchy of situations (C): situations are structured according to time, “during which the basic quality of these conditions is preserved.” Situations: Subject-specific, short-term (1'). Group communication within a small group (2'). Sustainable conditions for activity in the field of work, leisure, and everyday life (3'). Long-term stable operating conditions are inherent in a wide area (4'). Thus, the structure of situations can be depicted in four stages.

Hierarchy of dispositions (D): four levels of dispositions: - elementary fixed attitudes - social fixed attitudes - basic social attitudes - value orientations of the individual. The hierarchy of dispositional formations acts as a regulatory system of perception of the world. A more accurate relationship between the level of dispositions and the regulation of certain types of activity: Reactions to a situation, behavioral act(1”). Regulates behavior in a familiar situation (2”). Regulates the very system of actions (3”). The Activity itself (4”) [1, p. 286-287].

This system considers different levels of activity, both small and wide spheres of individual activity, covering the immediate environment and the system of society (connections, relationships). At different levels, the levels of the dispositional mechanism are included, each of the systems plays its own specific role in the regulation of social behavior. For each specific behavioral situation, different levels of dispositions “work.”

The information obtained during the research process can invariably be useful in clarifying and confirming various phenomena, which is theoretical knowledge about the problem. It is safe to say that thanks to further research of the problem raised in this work, new facts will be discovered that will be used and useful in various sectors of human social life.

2.1. CHANGING SOCIAL ATTITUDES

Attitudes do not always serve as good “predictors” of behavior, but this does not mean that with their help it cannot be predicted. The role of various types of influence cannot be ruled out. After all, even the ability to score goals depends not only on your legs.

Research involved in changing social attitudes, the effectiveness of which is determined by the selection of certain methods of persuasion, used either in direct communication with a person or in the media. Many models have been put forward to explain the process of attitude change, in accordance with the principles of research. The vast majority of research related to attitude goes in the direction of two main theories: behaviorist and cognitivist, because common interpretations come from these two traditions [1, p. 291].

Behaviorist tradition. The principle of learning: changing attitudes through a system of rewards and punishments. Thus, it influences the nature of the installation.

Cognitive tradition. Cognitive fit theories: attitude change occurs when a discrepancy occurs in the individual’s cognitive structure (carefully considering the advantages and disadvantages of the position being presented, putting forward one’s own arguments, etc.). People's cognitive reactions to a persuasive message can influence the extent to which the message actually persuades them.

The process of persuasion can be carried out in different ways, such as central and peripheral. The creation of an opinion is carried out in a central way by analyzing the arguments of the message; the more convincing the argument, the more stable the attitude. In this case, a change in attitude can occur even if people do not think about the quality of the argument, they can accept the argument simply because there is no motivation or ability to analyze information, or because the number of arguments is extensive (decision rule). When creating an opinion in a peripheral way, the persuasive individual refers to various signs (for example, the authority of the source of information “tested argument”). In this case, the person may accept the argument simply because it is happening in a pleasant environment, or because the source of information is a professional. In another situation, the proposed arguments may be rejected due to the position being defended, which may be seen as excessive, or the source of information is unsympathetic [4, p. 61-64].

These issues are discussed in more detail in applied research related to the media system [1, p. 292].

CHAPTER 3 CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH ATTITUDE UNIQUELY DETERMINES BEHAVIOR

The first condition under which attitudes uniquely determines behavior. Occurs when it is possible to minimize other influences on statements reflecting people's attitudes and behavior.

Knowing the fact that people are reluctant to open up, social psychologists have long sought to get to the “heart of the soul.” Thus, the method of imaginary source of information was developed by Edward Jones and Harold Segal, designed to falsely extract reliable attitudes from people. In 1971, Segal and Richard Page conducted an experiment. The characteristic idea of ​​this experiment is to obtain information fraudulently using an imaginary lie detector. Before questions are asked, the experimenter convinces the participant that this is a new device with which it is possible to identify their individual settings, and which responds to the smallest muscle contractions through electrodes attached to them. When it was already possible to assure the subjects of the reliable operation of the apparatus, they were then asked to predict the results of the “attitude meter” and express their opinion in relation to African Americans. It follows that the subjects had negative attitudes, compared with other participants who answered the standard survey. It turns out that their train of thought was: “Perhaps I better tell the truth, otherwise they will decide that I am not at peace with myself.” In each state, we are commanded not only by our internal attitudes, but also by the very situation in which we find ourselves [cit. according to 3, p. 157].

Social influence is, in all likelihood, too strong a factor, such that people are “obliged” to give up their deepest beliefs and worldviews. If external pressure factors do not break the connection between behavior and attitudes, then they can be predicted more accurately [3, p. 158-159].

The second condition under which attitudes uniquely determines behavior. When the attitude is specific and relevant to the observed behavior, i.e. the attitude corresponds exactly to the behavior being studied. An accurate prediction of actions can be made on the basis of their relationship to a specific manifestation (for example, cycling, walking), and not on the basis of their relationship to a healthy lifestyle in general. For example, a person's attitude toward recycling waste and making useful things out of it (not environmental issues in general) predicts participation in related programs (Oskamp, ​​1991). Rather than convincing, it will be better to change the very attitude towards certain actions [cit. according to 3, p. 160].

Changing social attitudes

During a person’s life, not only social attitudes are formed, but also they change.

Additional Information. It is this feature that distinguishes attitudes from other psychological characteristics of a person.

Example, formation and change of character, abilities, temperament are carried out slowly and insignificantly throughout life, and the transformation of social attitudes can occur rapidly and repeatedly. Therefore, in order to predict an individual’s behavior, it is necessary, first of all, to pay attention to his attitudes, and not other personality traits.

The main goals of changing attitudes are:

  • adding knowledge;
  • adjustment of views;
  • improving relationships with other people.

The best way to change attitudes is through suggestion. It can be implemented through:

  • authoritative personalities;
  • parents' beliefs;
  • mass media.

To change attitudes, the psychological or social proximity of a particular source of information is of great importance.

Changing social outlook

Important! If a person does not have trust in the subject trying to correct his attitudes, there will be no positive result.

Also, the speed and quality of changes in beliefs are influenced by the order and content of incoming information. The first information has a stronger influence on attitudes than subsequent information. In the event that a person is warned that it is impossible to trust the initial materials, subsequently this primary information will not be taken seriously by the individual.

Additional Information. If a person first received information and then learned that it was unreliable, then in most cases this information will not be able to influence a change in attitudes.

The simplicity of the material presented is an important key to correcting attitudes. An individual will not want to understand complex and distorted information.

Psychological attitudes are an integral part of every individual. To learn how to use them for good, you need to not only be aware of their presence, but also engage in self-reflection. Deep work with your own emotions, feelings and beliefs will help you get rid of internal barriers and improve your life and relationships with society.

Changing social attitudes

Personal attitudes may change in the process of communication and social interaction. The reason for this is that in the process of communication there is always an element of influence on the other person, there is an attempt to change his attitudes. Attitudes form a system; they are interconnected, so rapid change does not occur.

In the system of attitudes, there are central focal attitudes, and there are peripheral ones, with a small number of interconnections, and these are the ones that can be changed more quickly. Focal attitudes are associated with the individual’s worldview, moral creed, and the main central attitude is the attitude towards one’s own “I”, around which the entire system of attitudes is built. The focal setting can be changed only if it is removed, which can lead to the destruction of the entire integrity of the personality.

Thus, a change in the central setting is painful and occurs very rarely.

When changing any setting, the following situations are possible:

  • neighboring attitudes change in emotional sign from (+) to (-) and in intensity, which is possible for peripheral attitudes;
  • possible change in the degree of importance and significance of the installation;
  • changing the principle of communication between neighboring installations.

Social and political attitudes differ depending on a person's age - the older the person, the more conservative his attitudes.

The change and formation of attitudes occurs in the course of a person’s real activity, his involvement in a particular group.

Group influence is very strong and forces its members to abandon previous attitudes, thus isolating a person from society, which leads to “social collapse.” A person loses the ability to think critically and his only reality becomes the life of the group.

Little changing social attitudes gradually develop into stereotypes and prejudices.

Stereotypes are the fruit of personal experience, and prejudice is a social attitude with a distorted content of its cognitive component.

Is it possible to change social attitudes?

This question cannot be answered unambiguously, because it is still unclear how exactly social attitudes are formed. As we wrote above, there are several theories on this matter: some believe that they are formed genetically, others believe that they are acquired.

If we assume that anything can be learned, then perhaps the answer is yes, social attitudes can be changed. But to change yourself completely, you need to focus on a deep level - the level of values, moral and religious beliefs.

The sight of a cake reminds someone of a bad birthday as a child, while others remember a great time with their family. After some time, the opinions of these two people may change under the influence of future experiences. A person also likes to imitate the behavior of other people, even if he does not always admit it. Therefore, social attitudes are born and die constantly.

It takes full awareness and self-reflection to change destructive attitudes and replace them with productive ones. This process is quite long, so you will need patience.

And one last thing. Ask yourself three questions as often as possible:

  • Why do I act this way and not otherwise?
  • Why do I think this way and not otherwise?
  • Why do I feel this way and not differently in this situation?

Answers to these questions, reflection and self-reflection will help to identify the roots of many deep attitudes and change them if necessary.

Social attitude of the individual, its formation and change

A social setting (attitude) is a certain state of consciousness, based on previous experience, that regulates a person’s attitude and behavior.

Signs of a social attitude:

1) the social nature of the objects with which a person’s attitude and behavior are connected;

2) awareness of these relationships and behavior;

3) the emotional component of these relationships and behavior;

4) the regulatory role of social attitudes.

Attitude functions:

1) automatic – simplification of consciousness control over activities in standard, previously encountered situations;

2) adaptive – directing the subject to those objects that serve to achieve his goals;

3) protective – contributes to the resolution of internal conflicts of the individual;

4) cognitive – the attitude helps to choose a method of behavior in relation to a specific object;

5) regulatory – a means of freeing the subject from internal tension;

6) rigid – the attitude makes it difficult to adapt to new situations;

7) stabilizing - the attitude determines the stable, consistent, purposeful nature of activity in changing situations.

Structure of social installation:

1) cognitive, containing knowledge, an idea of ​​a social object;

2) affective, reflecting the emotional-evaluative attitude towards the object;

3) behavioral, expressing the potential readiness of the individual to implement certain behavior in relation to the object.

Setting levels:

1) simply settings that regulate behavior at the simplest, mainly everyday level;

2) social attitudes;

3) basic social attitudes, reflecting the individual’s attitude to his main spheres of life (profession, social activities, hobbies, etc.);

4) instrumental function (incorporating the individual into the system of norms and values ​​of a given social environment).

The installation regulates activities at three hierarchical levels:

1) semantic - attitudes are general in nature and determine the relationship of the individual to objects that have personal significance for the individual;

2) goal-oriented - attitudes determine the relatively stable nature of the activity and are associated with specific actions and a person’s desire to complete the work started;

3) operational - the attitude contributes to the perception and interpretation of circumstances based on the past experience of the subject in a similar situation, predicting the possibilities of adequate and effective behavior and making decisions in a specific situation.

Stages of formation of social attitudes according to J. Godefroy

:

1) up to 12 years of age, the attitudes developing during this period correspond to the parent models;

2) from 12 to 20 years of age, attitudes take on a more specific form, which is associated with the assimilation of social roles;

3) from 20 to 30 years - the crystallization of social attitudes occurs, the formation on their basis of a system of beliefs, which is a very stable mental new formation;

4) from 30 years - installations are characterized by significant stability, fixity, and are difficult to change.

Changes in attitudes aim to add knowledge, change attitudes and views. It depends on the novelty of the information, the individual characteristics of the subject, the order in which information is received and the system of attitudes that the subject already has. Attitudes are more successfully changed through a change in attitude, which can be achieved through suggestion, persuasion of parents, authority figures, and the media.

Cognitive scientists believe that changes in attitudes are influenced by the appearance of inconsistencies in an individual’s cognitive structure. Behaviorists are of the opinion that changes in attitudes depend on reinforcement.

58. Social setting and attitude. The formation of social attitudes answers the question: how is the acquired social experience refracted by the Personality and specifically manifests itself in its actions and deeds?

The concept that to a certain extent explains the choice of motive is the concept of social attitude.

There is a concept of installation and attitude - social attitude.

The attitude is considered generally psychologically - the readiness of consciousness for a certain reaction, an unconscious phenomenon (Uznadze).

Attitude in the twentieth century. (1918) proposed by Thomas and Znaniecki . A person’s psychological experience of values, meaning, meaning of social objects. The ability to make a general assessment of the world around us.

The tradition of studying social attitudes has developed in Western social psychology and sociology. In Western social psychology, the term “attitude” is used to denote social attitudes .

The concept of attitude has been defined as “ an individual’s psychological experience of the value, significance, meaning of a social object ,” or as “ an individual’s state of consciousness regarding some social value .”

Attitude was understood by everyone as:

o — a certain state of consciousness and NS;

o - expressing readiness to react;

o - organized;

o - based on previous experience;

o - exerting a guiding and dynamic influence on behavior.

Thus, the dependence of attitude on previous experience and its important regulatory role in behavior were established.

Attitude functions:

1. Adaptive (utilitarian, adaptive) - the attitude directs the subject to those objects that serve to achieve his goals.

2. The function of knowledge - attitude gives simplified instructions regarding the method of behavior in relation to a specific object.

3. Function of expression (values, self-regulation) - attitude acts as a means of freeing the subject from internal tension, expressing oneself as an individual.

4. Protection function - attitude contributes to the resolution of internal conflicts of the Personality.

Socialization occurs through the assimilation of attitudes .

Highlight:

1. Basic – belief system (core of Personality). It is formed in childhood, systematized in adolescence, and ends at 20–30 years old, and then does not change and performs a regulatory function.

2. Peripheral – situational, can change depending on the social situation.

The installation system is a system of basic and peripheral installations. It is individual for each person.

In 1942, M. Smith defined a three-component structure of the installation:

1. Cognitive component – ​​awareness of the object of a social attitude (what the attitude is aimed at).

2. Emotional. component (affective) – assessment of the object of the attitude at the level of sympathy and antipathy.

3. Behavioral component – ​​a sequence of behavior in relation to the installation object.

If these components are coordinated with each other, then the installation will perform a regulatory function.

And in case of mismatch of the installation system, a person behaves differently, the installation will not perform a regulatory function.

59. Conflict (from Latin conflictus) is the most acute way of resolving contradictions in interests, goals, views, arising in the process of social interaction, consisting in the opposition of the participants in the conflict, and usually accompanied by negative emotions [1], going beyond the rules and norms. Conflicts are the subject of study of the science of conflictology. Bipolarity

Bipolarity, or opposition, represents opposition and at the same time interconnectedness, contains the internal potential of contradiction, but in itself does not mean a clash or struggle; Activity Activity is another sign of conflict, but only that activity that is synonymous with the concepts of “struggle” and “counteraction”, activity is impossible without some impulse given by the awareness of the situation on the part of the subject of the conflict; Subjects of conflict The presence of subjects of conflict is another sign; a subject is an active party capable of creating a conflict situation and influencing the course of the conflict depending on its interests. As a rule, subjects of conflict have a special type of consciousness - conflict. Contradiction is a source of conflict situations only for subjects who bear a conflict type of consciousness. Conflictogenesis Conflictogenesis is the process of the emergence and development of modern conflict forms of society, leaving an imprint on, and often directly determining, the direction and content of evolution as a whole. Conflictogenesis is a continuous dialectical process of the origin, development and modernization of existing social reality through its core - conflict [2]. Conflict is the result of conflictogenesis, but what stands at the origins of the process, that “point”, that particle from which the process originates, the gene from which conflict develops during the process of genesis can be considered a conflictogen. Conflict in psychology Conflict is defined in psychology as the lack of agreement between two or more parties - individuals or groups. Main article: Conflict (psychology)

Conflict in programming

A situation that arises as a result of incompatibility of the results of actions of various programs/algorithms.

For example: a conflict occurs when one routine tries to update a record or table that is already locked by another user or routine. Such conflicts are one of the main causes of computer freezes.

Conflict in literature Conflict is the basis of a dynamically developing plot. It is the conflict, unfolding in the plot, that determines certain actions of the characters, the course and nature of events. In the chosen type of conflict, the writer expresses his understanding of real life contradictions. One should not think, however, that conflict is the basis of any plot. The plots of many literary works do not have an underlying conflict; attempts to identify such a conflict can lead to mistakes.

The conflict can be imaginary, illusory - in this case, the plot of the work also becomes illusory, illusory, as happened, for example, in N. V. Gogol’s play “The Inspector General”. After all, Khlestakov is an imaginary figure, and county officials behave inappropriately towards him. Their efforts spent on avoiding the wrath of an important St. Petersburg person, their feverish bustle is just running in place. In addition to the main conflict - the engine of the plot action - there can be a variety of private conflicts in the work that arise in the relationships of the characters. In complex, multifaceted works (for example, in L. N. Tolstoy’s epic novel “War and Peace”), private conflicts are necessary in order to more accurately recreate the panorama of the life of society, life, era, complexity and inconsistency of people’s characters. In some works there are no clearly expressed conflict, it is replaced by a conflict background. Its presence, for example, in A.P. Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard,” as well as in his other plays, is manifested in increased anxiety, even nervousness of the characters. The source of their behavior is not externally determined. This is not the result of any obvious conflict that disrupts the smooth flow of life. The reason for unmotivated actions, strange remarks falling from the lips of characters, some kind of stupid fuss that arises from time to time in Ranevskaya’s house is not eventual, but psychological. Therefore, in Chekhov's plays, the plot action fades into the background, and the main thing becomes the psychological subtext that appears behind many private everyday conflicts. Legal conflict A legal conflict is a situation in which two or more parties oppose each other, argue about legal rights and obligations. A legal conflict may arise over recognition, restoration, violation of legal rights, or failure to fulfill legal obligations. A legal conflict is a type of social conflict. This means that in the emergence, development and even resolution of legal conflicts one can find traces of the action of the general laws of the origin, ripening and resolution of social conflict. Although, due to the fact that a legal conflict arises only between people and is inflated by them, legal conflicts are based on the eternal aspirations of people for equally well-known values ​​- wealth, power, status. At the same time, a legal conflict, being an independent type of social conflict, cannot but have its own peculiarities. Further, a legal conflict is evident if there is a dispute over the volume or nature of legal rights, over claims to certain rights, over the redistribution of legal rights and obligations. An important characteristic of legal conflicts is the onset of legally significant consequences (the appearance or disappearance of legal rights, legal obligations of the parties, changes in their scope, etc.), as well as special forms and procedures for recording and resolving legal conflicts.

Political conflict Anti-constructive actions caused by differences in the interests of political groups (interest means the totality of interests of group members). Political conflict is one of the possible options for the interaction of political subjects. It can be defined as a type (and result) of competitive interaction between two or more parties (groups, states, individuals) challenging each other's power or resources. The concept of political conflict means the struggle of some subjects with others for influence in the system of political relations, access to making generally significant decisions, disposal of resources, monopoly of interests and recognition of them as socially necessary, for everything that constitutes power and political dominance. Conflicts, reflecting the rivalry of certain subjects (institutions) with some forces, as a rule, express their cooperation with others, stimulating the formation of political coalitions, alliances, and agreements. Thus, political conflicts presuppose a clear formulation of the positions of the forces participating in the political game, which has a beneficial effect on the rationalization and structuring of the entire political process. The leading role in the emergence of conflicts is played, as recognized by conflictological studies, by social factors. Among this type of determinants, there are three main reasons underlying political confrontations:

  • various forms and aspects of social relations that determine the discrepancy between the statuses of political subjects, their role assignments and functions, interests and needs for power, lack of resources, etc. These, relatively speaking, objective sources of political conflicts most often determine the contradictions between the ruling elite and the counter-elite , various pressure groups fighting for parts of the state budget, as well as between all other political subjects of the power system. The external orientation of such conflicts, as a rule, can be extinguished quite easily. However, it is possible to eradicate the sources of conflict disposition of the parties involved in various ways in the political struggle only through transformations, either changing the very organization of power in society, or reforming the socio-economic foundations of the political activities of competing subjects;
  • differences between people (their groups and associations) in basic values ​​and political ideals, in assessments of historical and current events, as well as in other subjectively significant ideas about political phenomena. Such conflicts most often arise in those countries where qualitatively different opinions about ways to reform statehood collide, the foundations of a new political structure of society are being laid, and ways out of the social crisis are being sought. In resolving such conflicts, finding a compromise is often very difficult;
  • processes of identification of citizens, their awareness of their belonging to social, ethnic, religious and other communities and associations, which determines their understanding of their place in the social and political system. Conflicts of this kind are characteristic, first of all, of unstable societies, where people have to recognize themselves as citizens of a new state and get used to non-traditional norms of relationships with the authorities. The same contradictions arise in those countries where tensions in relations with the ruling structures cause people to defend the cultural integrity of their national, religious and similar groups.

Marital conflictsThe causes of all marital conflicts are divided into three broad categories:

1. conflicts based on unfair distribution of labor (different concepts of rights and responsibilities);

2. conflicts due to the dissatisfaction of any needs;

3. quarrels due to shortcomings in upbringing.

Regarding the first reason, it should be noted that the main thing in the distribution of family responsibilities is the consent of both spouses to the specific state of affairs. As a result, both the traditional (with different responsibilities of spouses) and the egalitarian model of the distribution of family responsibilities may turn out to be quite acceptable for family well-being when they satisfy both spouses. If family members understand their roles differently and present each other with inconsistent, rejected by others, expectations and requirements corresponding to them, the family is obviously incompatible and conflict-ridden. The behavior of each person, which corresponds to his individual ideas about his family role, will be considered by him as the only correct one, and the behavior of the other partner, which does not meet these ideas, as incorrect and even malicious.

Closely related to these expectations and ideas are the needs that spouses would like to satisfy in marriage. If the ideas do not coincide, then the needs are in mutual disagreement: we strive to satisfy not those needs that are relevant for the other, and accordingly, we expect him to satisfy those of our needs that he, as a spouse, is not going to satisfy. Such a mismatch first turns into a hidden, and then into an open behavioral conflict, when one of the spouses with his expectations and needs becomes an obstacle to satisfying the desires, intentions and interests of the other. Many authors associate conflict or success (not conflict) in relationships with behavioral patterns in parents' family. Thus, psychotherapist Stanislav Kratochvil notes that there is a tendency when individuals unconsciously follow the model of relationships that was accepted in the family of their parents, regardless of whether the individual likes this model or not.

Strategies of behavior in conflict In modern conflictology, five strategies of behavior in a conflict situation are identified [3]:

  • Adaptation - one side agrees with the other on everything, but has its own opinion, which it is afraid to express.
  • Avoidance is avoidance of a conflict situation.
  • A compromise is a joint decision that satisfies both parties.
  • Rivalry is active opposition to the other side.
  • Cooperation is an attempt to come to a joint decision.

Types of conflicts

  • Intrapersonal conflict
  • Interpersonal conflict
  • Intragroup conflict
  • Intergroup conflict
  • Social conflict
  • Interclass conflict
  • Intraorganizational conflict
  • Interethnic conflict
  • Pedagogical conflict

Formation of social attitudes

Let us note that their formation is gradual and sometimes even imperceptible. After all, what we generalized today becomes a firm belief for us in a couple of weeks.

Mental activity works according to a specific algorithm developed on generalizations and assessments. This program makes the functioning of the brain much easier. After all, every time a person encounters a phenomenon that is already familiar to him, he does not have to waste energy on analyzing it. Since he already has a scheme that leads to quick actions.

The main characteristic of this phenomenon is its versatility. After all, at the same time it represents skills and abilities, sensations and emotions, reactions and the desire to act in a certain way.

But attitude can not only help, but also create obstacles. Of course, with its help we focus on important things, but at the same time, such patterns can lead to the wrong path. I will help you understand what is good and what is not, and also get rid of interfering beliefs in my personal consultation.

I have already talked about how social attitudes are related to individual behavior and what it is in general. But such a complex concept categorically cannot be viewed from one angle. After all, the term exists in different areas of psychology. Which is worth mentioning.

Levels

  • the simplest form – regulates behavior in everyday life;
  • social;
  • basic social – the individual’s attitude to his areas of life (profession and work, interests, family);
  • instrumental - acceptance and inclusion in the set of norms that have developed in society.

Attitude controls activity at 3 hierarchical stages:

  1. Semantic - is of a general nature and determines people’s position towards objects and events that are important to them.
  2. Target. Determines the relatively stable course of functioning and has a connection with the desire to bring the task to its logical conclusion.
  3. Operational. The perception of a specific phenomenon occurs through previous experience, as well as through forecasting the possibilities of productive actions and decision-making under certain circumstances.

Capacity for Change

It is impossible to say for sure about this, since it is still unclear exactly how they are formed. Of course, there are many theories, and I described the main ones above, but scientists have not come to a general conclusion.

If we rely on the belief that it is possible to acquire any skills, then perhaps we can say that attitudes are changeable. But to do this, you need to focus on a deeper level - values, religious and moral principles.

A striking example of a psychological attitude: when one person sees a birthday cake, he remembers an unsuccessful celebration, while another, on the contrary, experiences positive emotions, recalling a pleasant evening with family and friends. But over time, this perception can change, and future experiences will have a huge impact on this.

In addition, the individual, even if unconsciously, imitates the actions of others. This is why attitudes arise and disappear regularly. But in order to change them, absolute awareness and self-reflection will be required. This will help change destructive beliefs to more effective ones and resolve many internal conflicts.

Social influence from the perspective of social attitudes research

Things, phenomena and events in the world are not inherently good or bad, beautiful or ugly, significant or insignificant, small or large; they acquire meaning or significance only through our perception. In this context, the ancient Greek skeptical philosopher Protagoras argued that man is the measure of all things. It is he who defines or “measures” things. And, as the famous saying goes, “everyone measures by his own measure.” The ratios we will be talking about are precisely those “bars” or “measures” by which people measure or define things.

A person does not just know about every phenomenon. He forms a certain attitude towards the object of knowledge. For example, your attitude towards opera can be either positive or negative. We may like some people and not like others. Likewise, there are people who like us and those who don't really like us. To this they answer: “One likes the priest, and the other likes the priest’s daughter.”

Our attitude towards people, phenomena, things and events is determined by many factors, but ultimately by our assessments. In fact, a social attitude is our attitude towards someone or something, formed on the basis of knowledge and assessments. Self-concept or self-awareness is a person's attitude towards himself. In other words, we can say that self-awareness is a person’s attitude towards himself.

This self-perception is also based on evaluation - self-esteem. At the same time, most people have a purely positive attitude towards themselves, sometimes even a very positive one. From the point of view of clinical psychologists, this is a good symptom, since high self-esteem is the key to mental health. Correct, if this does not lead to excesses in the form of narcissism, egoism, self-absorption, delusions of grandeur and other social and psychotic personality disorders.

Attitudes are prototypes and stereotypes, other cognitive schemas that we discussed when discussing social cognition. Our attitude towards other people, events and even things is largely determined by our attitude towards ourselves, in other words, our self-perception.

It is obvious that our attitude towards something or someone influences our behavior in one way or another. In other words, people's attitudes and behavior are somehow related. Therefore, by influencing attitudes, we can influence behavior. However, today we can rightfully say the opposite: by changing people’s behavior, we can change their attitude. Of course, this statement sounds unusual from the point of view of traditional approaches to psychology, but Leon Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance states exactly this. Daryl Bem's theory of self-concept also insists on this.

William Thomas and Florian Znaniecki believed that attitude is the dual value of a person to society; and that activity in any form is nothing more than a connection between them. Attitude is a process of individual consciousness. It determines the actual or potential activity of a person in society. By virtue of its connection with individual consciousness and activity, value differs from a natural thing. Due to its connection with activity, and therefore with the social world, an attitude is not identical to a physical state.

G. Alfort defines the attributes of an attitude as a special state of mind and nerves, readiness to respond, structure, the significance of past experience, as well as a guiding and sometimes dynamic influence on behavior.

Since attitudes and behavior are somehow related, the problem of social attitudes has become one of the most important topics in social psychology.

Basic information about rigid installations

In psychology, rigidity is the inability of an individual to change the nature of behavior and thinking in certain situations.

Literally, this term means steadfastness and inflexibility. Previously, the term was used only in physiology and medicine to denote the response of organs and tissues to certain stimuli. In the psychological field, rigidity is used to describe a permanent type of personality that has difficulty acquiring new knowledge and skills.

Rigid people do not change their thinking and behavior tactics even in situations where such changes are necessary. This psychological feature can significantly worsen the quality of life.

In more detail, in psychology, rigidity is described as the inability to change point of view, give in in arguments, adapt behavior to certain situations and develop emotional intelligence.

If we talk about the emotional state of a rigid person, then it is necessary to pay attention to the person’s fixation on his own feelings. Such people usually have a low level of empathy, so the ability to empathize is undeveloped or completely absent.

Emotional rigidity may be a prerequisite for the development of narcissistic personality disorder. Milder forms of this psychological trait only slightly limit personal development.

A specific example of psychological (personal) constancy is fixation on already created models of behavior and thinking. Normally, throughout life, a person constantly gains new experiences that allow him to modify cognitive and emotional patterns.

Systematic research into this condition began in the field of Gestalt psychology. More than 100 years ago, scientists described the main characteristics of this personality type. Scientists such as Charles Spearman, Milton Roach, and Kurt Goldstein have studied rigidity in detail. Today, the problems of cognitive persistence are dealt with by psychologists and psychiatrists.

Manifestations of mental rigidity in humans

Rigidity can be an innate character trait or an acquired one. In both the first and second cases, this is not a deviation from the norm of mental development, if the rigidity has not acquired a pathological character. This problem is not so much a public problem as an individual one.

Nowadays, there are more and more people with pronounced manifestations of rigidity. People diagnosed with mental rigidity are not required to register with psychiatric hospitals. They exist calmly in society, but it is quite difficult for them to adapt to new living conditions, to a new team at work, to any acquaintances, etc.

Rigidity can be a congenital character trait or acquired

The first manifestations of rigidity in a person are aggression and a high level of anxiety. A person who is not able to quickly navigate non-standard life situations, who is not able to adequately perceive new circumstances, begins to enter a state of stress. At the same time, he experiences stress not because of his perception of the situation, but because this situation occurred in his life.

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