Rigid person - Who is this? Rigidity - What is it in Psychology?

Rigid people - those who do not recognize any changes, do not know how to adapt to situations or simply do not change their point of view, are conservative, far from stupid, with a high level of IQ. Most researchers argue that human adaptation in society is a normal process. It happens to everyone and is called “socialization”. But how can one be quarrelsome and disagree?

Let's take a closer look at what rigidity is in psychology.

Rigid person - Who is this? Rigidity - What is it in Psychology?

Conservative people do so little evil because they are timid and unsure of themselves;
It is not the conservatives who do evil, but the evil ones. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

• 1.Rigidity: description of the concept and main characteristics
• 2. How can you tell if a person is rigid?
• 3.Types of rigidity
• 4. A rigid person is a clear portrait 4.1. What if rigidity is given to us all in moderation?

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Rigidity: description of the concept and main characteristics

This is a mental property that is not characteristic of every individual.
Rigidity is promoted by a person’s mentality, character, disposition and heredity. Such qualities as conservatism and reluctance to make quick changes are at the root of the concept of “rigidity”. Psychologists tend to believe that if observed in moderation, this quality can be very useful. However, a person who abuses his own obstinacy and unwillingness to change himself and the world around him should think about pathology. But rigidity cannot always be attributed to a mental illness. Rather, this quality is a character trait. Here education plays a huge role.

When an individual suffers from obvious manifestations of rigidity, it can be assumed that he will soon subject himself to maladjustment. However, most psychologists say that rigid people clearly control their behavior and simply tend to exaggerate their own feelings and desires.

The degree of manifestation of rigidity varies. According to scientists, there are cases of catastrophic inability of an individual to adapt to new realities, or manifestations of rigidity in a partial sense. It is precisely the level of rigidity that depends on the psychology of the individual, as well as the characteristics of each specific situation that requires the manifestation of adaptability qualities.

Rigid people are very impressionable, unreliable (you cannot rely on them, trust them), stubborn, and very emotional. They clearly demonstrate their reluctance to change or adapt.

The individuality of a person as an individual - what is it?

Ways to overcome

Correcting the behavior of people with high levels of rigidity is not an easy task. The strategy of interaction with a person of this type should be based on an implicit belief in the form of a recommendation, so that the individual himself gets the impression that the belief comes from himself, and the psychologist only confirms its correctness.

For unlearning to be successful, employees must know that unlearning initiatives depend on their own thinking and actions. Managers must put themselves in the shoes of their employees and think about how to motivate and engage them.

These are the main ways to overcome rigidity for teachers and organizational leaders:

• Isolation from previous experience.
• Situational awareness.
• Temporal and spatial freedom.
• Encouraging a culture of forgiving mistakes.
• Reducing the influence of old knowledge over time.

Here is one example of a successful way to overcome rigidity using a combination of methods:

Doppelmayr, one of the world leaders in the ropeway market, planned to develop a radically innovative product. Senior management felt it necessary to free their employees from preconceived notions, assumptions and other biases.

The idea was to refrain from using drawings and sketches for existing products and start from scratch. Starting with the core team, employees were assigned to a vacant position within the organization 1 day per week for approximately 1 year.

They were located in offices without telephones to isolate them from everyday activities. This helped the team focus on the new product. During this time, employees had the opportunity to question assumptions about existing products in a safe environment.

Employees did not have to fear negative consequences for making critical mistakes. The new product contained several radical innovations and was well received by customers.

Employees are strongly encouraged to get rid of old notes, documents or other information that may make it difficult to generate new ideas. Those interviewed confirmed that this practice really helped them gain new perspectives.

Providing employees with islands of spatial and temporal freedom allows them to question routines, habits and ingrained ways of thinking. This allows employees to unlearn previous experiences, assumptions, and procedures while making room for new ideas and behaviors.

Managers must implement and develop a culture that allows employees to make mistakes and mistakes during the innovation process. Open-minded and proactive people will especially benefit from a forgiving culture that allows for mistakes.

Only when employees are confident that they can make mistakes will they begin to think and do things differently. Of course, they may fail at first, but you can think about it in a new way: they didn't fail, they just found one way that doesn't work.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for managers is ensuring that employees don't fall back into old habits and routines. To actively discard old knowledge from the cognitive and behavioral repertoire of organizational members, managers need to remove the stimulus-response patterns that trigger the use of old knowledge

For example:

• Rearrange tables and furniture.
• Intentionally disrupt the exchange of information, disable the Internet.
• Block the use of certain incentives and procedures, or change corporate language by removing terms or phrases that were associated with the old one.

In psychology, rigidity is a factor that significantly reduces the performance of employees and students. Managers, teachers and organizers are recommended to take measures aimed at preventing and overcoming rigidity.

Author: Svitkevich Julia

How can you tell if a person is rigid in front of you?

Rigidity, according to experienced specialists in the field of psychology, is nothing more than a psychopathic phenomenon, characteristic of individuals with obvious paranoid tendencies, sick by nature, which is called hereditary factors.
Rigidity is a mental illness. If the degree is aggravated by other factors (withdrawal, depression, frequent manifestations of aggression), this option can be considered clinical. The patient needs to be treated. And here specialists from the psychiatric service get involved.

Rigid people are very conflicted. If a person has a lot of ideas, even if they are not feasible, such a person is literally obsessed with his thoughts.

However, not all experts believe that rigidity is a diagnosis. According to the comments of a number of psychologists, the concept should be considered in a positive way.

Such properties are in great demand in work activities that involve routine. For example, working at a machine, sorting, at a conveyor belt.

Conservatism is not always a negative concept. But if a person develops a sharp fear of change, surprises, and at the same time the person does not react in any way to a change in the situation, falling into a stupor, it is better to take control of this condition by paying close attention. If necessary, you should undergo a course of treatment, as well as conversations with a psychologist.

It is important to remember that focusing on the inability to change with fundamental changes in society or the environment of such an individual does not in any way affect his self-esteem. In fact, rigidity can be contrasted with flexibility of mind, a high degree of adaptability to new conditions and circumstances.

Reasons for the formation of this trait

Poor mental mobility can be congenital or socially conditioned. In psychology, it is generally accepted that rigidity of thinking is caused by factors such as:

• genetic predisposition (for example, a child inheriting a phlegmatic type of temperament from parents);
• character accentuations;
• low speed of mental processes, weak reactivity of the nervous system, disturbances in the process of its functioning;
• low rate of mental activity due to biochemical changes in the brain;
• endocrine disorders;
• age-related changes in the psyche, manifested in the form of conservatism in views and habits;
• mistakes in family education, many prohibitions and punishments, increased demands on the child;
• coldness of parent-child relationships;
• unfavorable psychological situation in the family;
• intrapersonal emotional conflict;
• exposure to psychotraumatic factors, stress, depression;
• disappointment in personal life;
• lack of opportunity for self-realization;
• failures in professional activities, tense interpersonal relationships in the production team;
• neurasthenia, hysteria, neurosis, psychosis;
• autism, narcissistic personality disorder, Asperger's syndrome;
• encephalitis, meningitis;
• radiculitis, cervical spine injuries, osteochondrosis;
• Parkinson's disease, stroke, brain abscess;
• poor nutrition;
• alcohol or drug addiction;
• chemical poisoning;
• injuries and organic damage to the brain or spinal cord.

In psychology, it is believed that the foundation for the development of such a quality as rigidity is a combination of psychophysiological prerequisites with social factors.

Types of rigidity

In psychology, there are only 3 main types of rigidity:

1. Cognitive.
   The cognitive variety is caused by a person’s inability to change the picture of phenomena and worldview he himself has formed. Despite the fact that there is more and more information in the modern world, you need to be able to adapt to changes in society.

   Such people are practically unable to correct the planned action. If they have already determined for themselves this or that scheme according to which they will act, they will definitely not change it, under any circumstances.

2. Motivational.
   The motivational type of rigidity involves a refusal to change established and long-accepted needs. This applies to food preferences and behavioral reactions. Such an individual simply gets stuck in the same situations, repeating them over and over again.

   The habit of working under the same conditions and receiving a stable salary is also a kind of motivational type of rigidity.

3. Affective.
   The affective type is characterized by the creation of “exorbitant” ideas and the constant desire to implement them. Each such thought is of particular value. It should not change under any circumstances.

These are classic types of rigidity.
However, according to modern psychologist and scientist Andrei Yudin, rigidity of one type or another may also differ in the degree of influence on the individual. And here it all depends on life factors and situations:

1. Cognitivists
   , with a high degree of rigidity, are absolutely unable to build an optimal sequence of their own steps if the situation changes unexpectedly. No matter how the world changes, these people will still not change their previously planned plans.
2. Motivators
   never strive to correct their own mistakes or mistakes. And they don’t want to constantly learn something, saying that they already have all the necessary knowledge.
3. Affective people
   are out of tune with their feelings and spiritual moods. And from the reactions themselves, you can understand that a person is not friends with himself. He focuses his attention on one object or action and does not want to transfer it somewhere else or be scattered among other events.

Manifestations of this trait

Increased aggressiveness and anxiety are considered the first signs of rigidity in behavior. It is these personality traits that manifest psychological rigidity: when the situation changes unpredictably, a person does not know how to behave or how to react correctly. Therefore, he gets angry and stressed because this happened to him.

Signs of rigidity of attitudes are:

• rigid determination, readiness to achieve the goal at any cost;
• law-abiding behavior, high level of personal morality;
• perfectionism, pedantry;
• accuracy;
• stereotypical thinking, reaction, behavior;
• constancy of habits;
• a person’s inability to abandon an ineffective behavior pattern;
• the desire to implement fantastic or insignificant ideas;
• fear of any innovation;
• love for various daily rituals;
• protest against any changes in the usual way of life;
• suspiciousness, suggestibility;
• emotional excitability and impressionability;
• poorly developed self-control;
• painful perception of criticism, refusal to admit one’s own mistakes;
• desire to dominate in relationships;
• authoritarian style in communication

A rigid person is a clear portrait

Rigidity since childhood

Psychologists advise equipping yourself with skills and knowledge that will allow you to quickly recognize rigid people. They will be useful to managers and HR departments of enterprises, teachers, and doctors.

The list of features includes the following rigidity characteristics:

• Stubbornness, no matter what.
• Following old habits.
• Impressionability.
• Harmfulness, inconsistency with one’s own statements.
• Excessive emotionality.
• Suggestibility.
• Unwillingness to correct mistakes and repent of what they have done.
• Inability to analyze one's own actions.

Stereotypes, constructivism and conservatism are clear signs of a person who is naturally prone to rigidity.
They cannot change themselves. New trends, fashion, changing trends and directions - all this is incomprehensible to individuals who fall into the rigid category. The thinking of these individuals is not flexible, it is very difficult to communicate with them. If they put forward any ideas, they must be implemented invariably, in their original form. These people are simply not able to learn anything new. The unpredictability of the situation for them is equal to collapse.

What if rigidity is given to us all in moderation?

In this way, rigidity can be used to its advantage.
The same conservatism in reasonable “doses” makes it possible to insist on one’s own when a person is right. Accuracy and pedantry “work” in the same direction. When a person also knows how to set priorities and enjoys constant calm and balance, then such a person is indispensable in any process, including production.

If measures are taken to show pedantry, conscientiousness, and adherence to principles, it is not difficult for a person to adapt to any situation.

After all, it is often worth using an opportunity for your own purposes, and being able to adjust the situation to suit yourself. A number of other qualities of rigid people that play into their hands:

• Straightforwardness.
• Honesty.
• Desire to be specific.
• A thorough approach to business.

At the same time, the psyche of such individuals is very resistant to stress, it is difficult to anger them. Here, stubbornness also plays a huge role, similar to perseverance and incorruptibility, steadfastness.

Examples of rigid behavior

Reluctance to master and use the latest technologies, gadgets, mobile phones, tablets.
Even if they make life much easier. In this regard, rigid people are guided by the following rule or rhetorical question: “If I am used to doing this, then why should it be different?” The unexpected is scary. Rigid people are very afraid to travel, discover new realities, and adapt their own ideas to the current or changing situation. New ways of behavior are alien to such individuals.

For example, such a person was pushed in the subway or on a busy street. He will “digest” this event for a couple of days. The situation may not even turn into a conflict, but the rigid object will begin to eat itself, constantly replaying the current circumstances in its mind. But at the same time, life goes on, and new situations and moments happen. And they are more important and significant, but a rigid individual does not notice this.

Such individuals interact with others, referring exclusively to the principles of competition. If a person is not deprived of intelligence and is highly educated, rigidity can help demonstrate leadership abilities and even lead a large team.

Obsession with ideas and the ability to “infect” them makes it possible to lead like-minded people. So the idea of ​​​​creating a trade union from among exclusively female representatives is nothing more than an opportunity to work despite discrimination against women and for the benefit of good ideas.

Rigid people are excellent economists and accountants. They are capable of routine work and paperwork. Such individuals are suitable for those professions where it is necessary to show accuracy, calculation, a clear plan of action, and categoricalness.

Risk factors

Psychological rigidity is especially noticeable in populations with anxiety disorders. For example, people who struggle with flexible thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are at increased risk of developing major depressive disorder.

Routine is another contributing factor to failure to unlearn. Due to the daily routine, employees rarely have enough time to identify outdated practices. Thus, people with responsible jobs are at risk.

In addition, people are exposed to more and more information, which can lead to sensory overload. Excessive amounts of meetings, phone and video calls, email, and exposure to the Internet, social media, and news can lead to an inability to separate relevant knowledge from irrelevant knowledge.

Resistance to not learning also arises from people's fear that taking risks will lead to critical mistakes. Due to the fear of making a critical mistake, employees tend to refrain from trying new ways of doing things but prefer to stay on the safe side.