Psychological characteristics of the communication process
Communication is a multifaceted process of developing contacts between people, generated by the needs of joint activities.
There are several parties in the structure of communication. Firstly, this is the exchange of information between participants in joint activities, which can be characterized as the communicative side of communication.
The second side of communication is the interaction of those communicating - the exchange of actions and deeds.
The third side of communication involves the perception of those communicating with each other. It is very important, for example, whether one of the communication partners perceives the other as trustworthy, intelligent, attentive, prepared, or vice versa.
Thus, in a single process of communication we can conditionally distinguish three sides: communicative (information transfer), interactive (interaction) and perceptual (mutual perception).
Social control in interaction processes is carried out in accordance with a set of roles “performed” in communication by communicating people. In psychology, a role is understood as a model of behavior, the adherence to which is prescribed to everyone who occupies one or another social position (by position, age or gender characteristics, position in the family, etc.). The subject acts as a teacher or student, doctor or patient, adult or child, boss or subordinate, mother or grandmother, man or woman, guest or host, etc. And each role must meet very specific requirements and certain expectations of others.
The same person, as a rule, performs different roles when entering different communication situations. Being a director in his official role, he, having fallen ill, fulfills all the doctor’s orders, finding himself in the role of an obedient son of his elderly mother; accepting friends, he is a hospitable host, etc.
Society develops, as social norms, a specific system of behavior patterns that it accepts, approves, cultivates and expects from everyone in the relevant situation. Their violation includes mechanisms of social control (disapproval, condemnation, punishment), which ensures the correction of behavior deviating from the norm. The existence and acceptance of norms is evidenced by the unambiguous reaction of others to someone’s action that differs from the behavior of everyone else.
We can distinguish types of role behavior: formal role, intragroup, interpersonal and individual.
A formal role is the behavior that we build in accordance with the expectations of society that we have internalized, performing one or another social function: seller - buyer, teacher - student, etc.
An intragroup role is the behavior that we build taking into account the expectations placed on us by the members of a given group based on the relationships that have developed in it. We can consciously go against such expectations, but at the same time we take into account the possible reactions of the group in advance and prepare for them. Different groups have different roles: Leader, Authority, Comforter, Comforted, Sage, Troubled Lady, Cinderella, Arbiter, Renegade...
An interpersonal role is a behavior that we build taking into account the expectations placed on us by a person we know based on the relationship that has developed between us. We may not confirm someone's expectations, but at the same time we take into account the possibility of conflicts. Roles: Friend, Admirer, Pal, Enemy, Envious, Flatterer, Offender, Indifferent, Mocker, Savior, Destroyer, etc.
An individual role is a behavior that we build in accordance with personal expectations, i.e. in accordance with the “I” image.
From the point of view of the American psychotherapist E. Bern, who studied the positions of partners in contact, in every person there are three “I”: Child (dependent, subordinate and irresponsible being); Parent (on the contrary, independent, disobedient and taking responsibility) and Adult (able to take into account the situation, understand the interests of others and distribute responsibility between himself and them).
“I” in the form of a Child arises and develops in childhood. At the same age, due to life’s imitation of elders and the desire to be in their place, the Parental “I” is formed. The adult “I” develops over a long period of time due to the subject’s life experience and its accumulation.
Speaking in the position of a Child, a person looks submissive and unsure of himself, in the position of a Parent - self-confident and aggressive; in the position of an Adult - correct and restrained. This is reflected in a person’s character, based on the position in which he tends to perform more.
These role positions are always visible, but they are agreed upon only when one of the partners is ready to accept the position defined for him by the other partner. For example, an adult turns to his co-worker with a proposal to play a joke on a person who must return to the room. If a colleague agrees to participate in the prank, then this is a typical Child-Child transaction. If a colleague shrugged his shoulders: “Why? The person will be offended,” then there is a Child-Adult transaction: the communication partner did not accept the child’s position offered to him. The initiator of the prank will feel awkward in this case. But a co-worker can answer like this: “Shame on you, you’re at work!”, i.e. act from the Parental position, although the Children’s was expected to be accepted. In this case, his playful partner will have to calm down a flash of irritation like: “Just think, a righteous man has turned up!”
Psychological characteristics and fundamentals of the effectiveness of professional communication among police officers
Each type of activity presupposes the peculiarities of communication during its implementation. These features are determined by the specific goals of the activity. It is clear that when communicating, a teacher is guided by different goals than an engineer, and a doctor pursues goals that are different from those of a police officer. It should also be noted that there are types of activities where the specific type of communication is very significant and the activities of police officers relate specifically to this type of activity. Here, more than anywhere else, the importance of objectively received information about the operational situation, crimes committed, etc. is important. The effectiveness of the activities of the police department depends on how effectively police officers can communicate and how well they master communication techniques.
Practice shows that 60-62% of employees master proper communication skills on their own, 10-12% - under the guidance of their managers, and the rest by communicating with colleagues. In terms of time, 15% of employees learn to communicate effectively during the first year of practical work, 75% - within two years of service, and 10% - within 3 to 4 years. All this indicates the unsatisfactory state of communication skills of police officers. The attitude towards communication, the ability to establish psychological contact, build trusting relationships, choose the right line of behavior taking into account the individual psychological, age, professional, national and other characteristics of citizens is extremely inconsistent with the requirements of the time.
The peculiarities of professional communication among police officers is that it is, as a rule, of an official nature, the order of communication (formalization of communication) is quite clearly regulated by laws and regulations, and because of this it is often coercive both in relation to citizens and the employees themselves. An employee does not have to choose to communicate or not to communicate, regardless of whether this communication is pleasant or unpleasant for him; the same applies to citizens.
An employee needs to fulfill his functional duties, solve operational and service tasks, regardless of his psychological state, mood, emotions. The employee is endowed by law with authority that allows him to dictate the terms of this official communication, often choosing the place, time and method of communication. As a result of this, he has a psychological advantage.
Due to the nature of the tasks being solved, communication between employees and citizens is businesslike; their goal is to obtain the information necessary for the business.
The specifics of professional communication among law enforcement officers are also determined by:
— the specificity of the reasons for entering into communication (this circumstance limits the circle of participants in communication, determines its content and goals);
— the presence of multiple goals in each act of communication, except for obtaining information about an offense;
— the conflictual nature of communication due to the specific reasons for entering into communication, since the goals of the participants in communication often either do not coincide or are not fully understood;
— the specific mental states of communication participants, which are characterized by increased nervous tension due to high responsibility for the results of communication and the dominance of negative emotional states;
— the special importance of psychological contact for optimizing the communication process.
Analysis of the structure of professional communication among law enforcement officials and its dynamics allows us to distinguish four main stages:
1/ psychological “reading” of behavioral characteristics, external appearance, use of available information about a specific person and drawing up a primary psychological portrait of the interacting person;
2/ search for psychological prerequisites for effective communication and creation of favorable conditions for interpersonal contact;
3/ influence in the process of professional communication on other persons by a police officer in order to solve operational and official tasks;
4/ assessment of the results of a specific act of communication and planning the content and process of further contacts with certain individuals /offenders, citizens, law enforcement officers, managers, subordinates/.
Let us consider each of the indicated stages of professional communication, taking into account the use of new psychotechnologies and specific communication techniques.
The first stage of professional communication is focused on knowledge and drawing up a primary psychological portrait of a person interacting with a law enforcement officer. It should be noted that psychological information about another person depends on the specific situation of communication and the reflection of his personal properties, the degree of acquaintance with him, the presence of certain information about him in characteristics, records, criminal and operational search cases, stories about him from other employees, etc. P.
Principles of communication in a business environment
The concept of business communication includes not only the interaction between boss and subordinate and communication between business partners, but also the daily interaction of people who are not in close relationships.
It is customary to interact with strangers in a businesslike, cultural manner. Respectful attitude and behavior are the foundations of business communication and culture in society.
In addition to respect, the general principles of business communication include:
- Interpersonality
Personality is the subject of communication in the business environment. Whatever the issue under discussion, people talk about it, each of them has their own opinion based on personal experience and character traits. This is fundamentally important, since the success of business relationships depends on the nature of interpersonal interaction between partners.
- Multidimensionality
The fundamentals of business communication include the principle of comparing the content of the information being transmitted with how it happens. The tone of voice, its emotional coloring, facial expressions, and gestures are no less important than the content of speech.
The concept of “multidimensionality” assumes that in the interaction of people all components of communication matter.
It is not customary to violate the comfort zone of the interlocutor, or to be too far away during a conversation. The only allowed touch to a business partner is a handshake. It is unacceptable to talk while turning away from the person or looking over your shoulder.
- Focus
The focus of business interaction is multi-purpose. This means that, in addition to the goal that is voiced and discussed, subjects may have other hidden, accompanying goals that do not contradict the first.
- Continuity
While business partners are in close proximity to each other, even if they do not communicate directly, communication continues on a nonverbal level.
Posture, gestures, signs of attention shown to a business partner are important and carry a semantic load. Even silence is part of interaction. Businessmen do not forget that they are communicating with partners, even if the topic of conversation shifts to an area not related to business.
Method of establishing psychological contact
In the psychology of communication, psychological contact is no longer understood as any contact that people enter into when communicating, but contact with a plus sign that optimizes communication. In relation to the activities of police officers, psychological contact is a situational state of relationship between an employee and a citizen, characterized by the achievement of mutual understanding and the removal of barriers that impede communication in order to obtain information or perform any actions significant for the successful solution of operational and official tasks.
To establish such contact, an indispensable condition is to overcome psychological barriers that make it difficult to achieve mutual understanding, cause wariness, mistrust and other negative psychological phenomena. The most well-known among such barriers are semantic, intellectual, emotional, motivational, volitional and tactical.
The semantic barrier consists in turning off from consciousness everything that is connected in meaning with the danger zone, i.e. a person is switched off from communication if a dangerous zone for him is touched. Therefore, even in the old police manuals there was a recommendation not to directly name the act committed by the criminal at the beginning of communication, replacing it with a word neutral in meaning: he did not steal, but took, did not kill, but hit, etc. The principle here is that in the house of a hanged man one does not talk about rope.
A motivational barrier may be a reluctance at the moment to have a frank conversation, a prejudiced attitude towards police officers, fear of revenge from criminals, and reluctance to take responsibility for what they have done.
An intellectual barrier is caused by errors in misperception of each other, the peculiarities of the speech of communication partners, differences in the level of education, and awareness of certain issues.
An emotional barrier can be caused by both the negative feelings that communication partners experience towards each other, and their emotional states: depression, irritability, lack of self-control, aggressiveness, anger, as well as emotional insensitivity, which is often specially trained by criminals.
A volitional barrier occurs if a communication partner is forced to submit to his will or is bound by a promise not to come into contact with a third party, and also cannot overcome other behavioral attitudes.
The tactical barrier lies in the tactics of behavior aimed at resistance through counterarguments. This barrier is based on blanks - sophistry, answer formulas that neutralize the result of the impact. For example: “Everyone steals, especially those who have power!”
Establishing psychological contact is aimed at achieving a certain level of mutual understanding, mutual acceptance by an employee and a citizen of each other as individuals capable of solving their problems without focusing on a conflict type of relationship. Based on the establishment of psychological contact, the ability of citizens to resist the solution of professional problems and psychological influence in the business sphere is weakened.
Psychological contact is always a certain positive state of interpersonal relationships. Often there is a need to deepen psychological contact and establish a trusting relationship with a specific person, which differs from psychological contact by trusting the employee with confidential information to solve operational and official tasks.
Practice has developed and researchers have generalized special techniques and means that evoke in the person with whom the employee communicates a desire to interact and achieve agreement and trust. This is a special technology for establishing psychological contact, which you will become familiar with today. We present to your attention the method of contact interaction (MCI) by L.B. Filonov, successfully used to establish psychological contact by police officers.
MCM includes three principles and six stages of rapprochement when establishing psychological contact
The principles are as follows:
1. principle of consistency. It lies in the need to sequentially go through the stages of rapprochement, which means two things:
A). You cannot get ahead of the stages or skip them, otherwise a conflict is possible
b). You cannot stop (linger) at stages for a long time, otherwise contact will stop developing.
2. principle of orientation. It means that the transition to the next stage of rapprochement is carried out by focusing on the signs (indicators) of completion of the previous stage (at different stages these can be different signs: anticipation, overcoming misunderstanding, wariness, relaxation and calming, reducing pauses in answers, reducing monosyllabic answers, willingness to carry on a conversation, communicate something, perceive influence, etc.). The experience of distinguishing these indicators is gained through training (up to 12 times), after which they are recognized intuitively.
Psychology of professional communication, establishing contact and trusting relationships
General psychotechnics of professional communication. In the work of a lawyer, communication plays a prominent role. Communication takes place within the framework of a wide variety of professional actions, such as communication with a citizen who has asked for help, during legal consultation, preventive conversation, administrative analysis of an offense, during personal investigation, survey, interrogation, confrontation, and other investigative actions. In the overwhelming majority of cases, this is not a simple conversation between a lawyer and another person, but an act of behavior and action carried out to solve certain professional problems.
His professional characteristics are determined by the result that must be achieved (giving testimony, establishing the truth, changing the behavior of a citizen, etc.), the course of law and legal relations, contact, as a rule, with difficult people, a situation of tension, often conflict and confrontation .
Having mastered the general psychotechnics of communication, you can adapt it to each specific case.
Technique of complex psychological communication. For some, communication seems very simplified - as an exchange of words and the information behind them. In reality, communication proceeds as contact:
• situational business,
carried out to solve a specific legal problem. Goals, objectives, and environment have a psychological impact on its course and result;
• legal,
during which legal relations arise that determine the procedure for exercising one’s rights and obligations. On the part of the lawyer, it proceeds strictly in compliance with established norms, which his communication partner understands, and this also affects their psychology and communication;
• status-role.
This is not a conversation between two friends talking as equals, when you can say everything. Both the lawyer and the citizen are aware of the differences in positions in the situation that prompted them to communicate;
• cognitive-evaluative.
People who come into contact carefully look at each other and, depending on its results, decide what and how to say and what not to say;
• interpersonal, relationship, largely individualized.
It is not sound devices that speak, but individuals who relate to each other in a certain way, are subject to likes and dislikes, mutual understanding and enmity, trying to influence each other and using all means of communication to do this;
• informational.
Therefore, people in communication are not like acoustic shells that produce and perceive sounds. They not only transmit and receive information, but interact, interact, study, influence each other, pursue their own line of behavior, and defend their interests.
This whole tangle of psychological factors affects the process of exchanging information during communication, and success is ensured by the ability of the initiator of communication - the lawyer - to take them into account and use them to solve the problem at hand.
Rule: communication must be approached with all the psychology of which a lawyer is capable.
A lawyer should deliberately translate his thoughts about methods of communication and overcoming its difficulties into the plane of psychological reasoning, assessments, comparisons, choices, intentions and means of their implementation.
Rule of psychological conditions
requires that care be taken to:
• business atmosphere of communication;
• position, behavior and tactics of the lawyer that are conducive to solving problems;
• choosing and creating psychologically appropriate communication conditions;
• creating a psychological atmosphere of communication that is appropriate for solving problems;
• studying the interlocutor and individualizing communication, taking into account individual psychological characteristics and conditions;
• choosing means and methods of psychological influence that meet the requirements of legality and the problem being solved.
The rule of thoughtfulness of goals and communication scenarios.
You should prepare for each meeting individually, carefully considering how to conduct it, taking into account the specific goal and objectives, the issue on which the communication will be conducted, the desired result of the communication, the individual characteristics of the person invited to the conversation, the situation, etc. A clear mental model of the upcoming communication that responds to questions about what needs to be achieved and how, this is
the communication scenario.
Rule of prudence in communication
requires taking into account the consequences of the lawyer’s words and behavior in different communication situations, thinking not only about what
to say,
but also
how to say it.
An erroneously spoken phrase, tone, or word can seriously harm communication, and sometimes ruin relationships between people for a long time.
A technique for creating initial favorable psychological conditions for solving communication problems. It is necessary to build communication in a calm, business-like environment, if desired, to talk among each other and reach mutual understanding and agreements.
The rule of favorable initial communication conditions.
A two-on-two conversation is preferable, in the absence of strangers (if
the involvement of other lawyers for assistance was not calculated in advance). The position when the lawyer sits at his desk, and the newcomer sits on the chair in front of him, emphasizes status and role differences. If people sit next to each other in armchairs, there is a feeling of conversation as equals, informality, and trust.
The rule of making a favorable impression on the interlocutor.
The lawyer’s appearance should be neat, his face should express calmness, self-confidence and attentiveness, and disposition towards the person entering. This impression is strengthened if the lawyer politely greets the citizen, comes out to meet him or stands up, shakes his hand if necessary, politely invites him to sit down and tell him what is bothering the visitor. Sometimes it is advantageous to look simple, “one of our own,” but sometimes it is advantageous to have the image of an official representative of the authorities.
Technique for developing a favorable psychological atmosphere during communication. The successful creation of initial favorable psychological conditions will set the tone for communication. However, you need to develop your initial success and continue to be a lawyer-psychologist until the end.
The rule of authority, justice and benevolence of a representative of authority.
A lawyer is not a private person, but a representative of government, an employee of the legal field. He should remember that in communicating with citizens he represents not himself, but the state apparatus, power, law, and be attentive and fair. A good start to communication is facilitated by a friendly and calm facial expression, a smile, and a welcoming attitude.
During communication, reception by the rule of a lawyer
there is
a desire to maximize (demonstrate) one’s communication skills and abilities:
to be sociable, to be able to establish and tactfully direct a conversation; strive to listen and establish psychological contact.
The rule of dialogue, conversation of the interlocutor.
It is possible to understand an active speaker more easily and better, obtain the information necessary to resolve the issue, and monitor what position he will take, what line and tactics of conversation he will begin to pursue. To do this, along with inviting the lawyer to speak out, you should not first immediately touch upon painful and complex issues, otherwise the partner may withdraw into himself. It's better to let him calm down a bit.
You can first justify inviting a citizen to a law enforcement agency by asking polite and meaningless questions: “How did you get to us?”, “Are you straight from work?”, “Please tell us a little about yourself: where do you work? where do you live? what family? etc. After all, this worries any person in one way or another and raises questions.
The rule of attention to the interlocutor and what he says.
With all your appearance - posture, facial and eye expression, voice - express your readiness to objectively understand and help. It is unacceptable to do something else, be distracted by telephone conversations, demonstrate haste and a desire to quickly part with the applicant, or constantly look at the clock.
The rule of active listening and maintaining a citizen’s speech activity:
listen, study, understand, evaluate.
When speaking, a person not only communicates, but always behaves
in relation to the lawyer and the subject of the conversation. Therefore, you need to listen not only to the words, but to the person, to strive to understand what he wants and does not want to say. The correct position is active listening, which is realized by: tilting the body towards the speaker; expression, visual contact, facial expressions, eyes of the “I’m all attention” attitude; responding with all non-verbal
ways to influence the content of what is being stated by the speaker: gestures, changing the shape of the eyebrows, narrowing and widening of the eyes, movements of the lips, jaws, position of the head, body: “I understand,” “What are you talking about?!”, “I can imagine how you felt!” etc.; stimulating a detailed presentation: “I don’t understand. Please clarify this”, “Tell me in more detail”, etc.; summarizing with a proposal to confirm the correctness or make clarification: “I understood you this way... Correct?”, “I draw the following conclusion from your words...”.
The rule of containing emotions.
In an atmosphere of emotions, logical reasoning and arguments lose their power and no issue can be resolved. People turn to a lawyer on their own initiative when something greatly worries and outrages them. The manifestation of feelings when talking about this, about your resentment, anger, is natural, emotional, it cannot be stopped, and it is not necessary. It can be useful to wait a while and let the person “unwind” and freely “pour out his soul.” When jointly considering the essence of the issue, explaining, making decisions, emotions must be restrained, setting an example for the interlocutor.
A technique for achieving the moment of truth in solving conversation problems. Communication serves to resolve certain issues, and therefore, in the course of it, it is correct to deal with the problem, its causes, and not with the people with whom communication is being carried out.
The rule of refusing to demonstrate one's superiority.
A lawyer is always better than ordinary citizens, knowledgeable about legal subtleties, laws, instructions, has experience in solving legal issues, formulates his thoughts more clearly, and often in a language that is difficult for ordinary citizens to understand. This is the position of a citizen as a petitioner, interrogated, etc. psychologically puts those communicating in unequal positions, determines the superiority of the lawyer, tempts some to use the opportunity to “play” on the citizen’s ignorance, outwardly justified, but in essence unfair to refuse him, send him somewhere, etc.
The rule of studying the interlocutor and taking into account his psychology and mental states in communication.
Studying the psychological characteristics of the interlocutor allows you to guide him more flexibly and make adjustments if the noticeable psychological changes along the way do not correspond to the intended psychological scenario of communication and the goals set.
It is necessary to take into account that the very presence of the applicant in a law enforcement agency, in an official and unusual environment, as a rule, causes in him a pronounced or latent state of tension, anxiety, anxiety, uncertainty, which increases his suggestibility.
Rule of presumption of trust.
You cannot initially, a priori, show prejudice, distrust, antipathy towards a citizen, a desire just to quickly end the conversation and the matter. It is necessary to suppress the initial desire not to trust absolutely no one or anything, the conviction that everyone is unscrupulous. The opposite extreme is also wrong. It is also unacceptable to simplistically assume that witnesses are deliberately dishonest, and vice versa.
The rule of subordinating communication to solving the problems of legal education.
An indication of this need is contained in Art. 2 Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR. There are many such instructions in departmental documents and in functional responsibilities. Educational energy is carried not only by the content of the lawyer’s statements, but also by the way he speaks, what position he takes, how he builds
relationships, how to communicate. Legal education is not only a civic and professional duty, but also one of the conditions for success in solving the task facing a law enforcement officer.
The rule of ethics and psychological and pedagogical tact.
It is appropriate to remember that nothing is so cheap or valued so much as politeness. This is the duty of any civil servant, the norm of civilization.
Establishing psychological contact and trusting relationships in lawyer communication. To solve difficult problems in communication, you need not just the closeness of the bodies of two people, but the closeness of their souls - goals, thoughts, feelings, intentions. This is exactly what they mean when they talk about psychological intimacy, psychological contact, mutual understanding, mutual trust.
Psychological contact in law enforcement is the manifestation by a law enforcement officer and a citizen of mutual understanding and respect for goals, interests, arguments, proposals, leading to mutual trust and assistance to each other in solving a professional problem by a lawyer. In other words, this is professional psychological contact. Most often, psychological contact and the trusting relationships that arise on its basis are local, have a narrow zone of development, sometimes similar to a thread that somehow connects two people. This is not comprehensive trust, but limited to some information, an agreement on some issue. Most often, it is temporary, not going beyond the scope of the professional action and situation performed by the lawyer. This is a certain, as they say now, consensus - agreement, agreement and very rarely unlimited trust, which happens in friendship. However, establishing such partial, one-time contact is very important. Finding a “thread”, “pulling it” is often the beginning of major success.
The basic psychological conditions for establishing psychological contact are due to the fact that, as a rule, one must not look for the “golden key”, not count on chance, but take a fundamental, comprehensive approach to establishing it.
There are at least five groups of psychological factors that collectively form the conditions for establishing psychological contact:
• psychological significance, difficulty, objective or subjective, assessing the danger of the case, problem, about or in the context of which communication is being conducted and the lawyer is trying to establish psychological contact;
• the psychology of a citizen, the position he takes, his chosen line and tactics of behavior, mental states;
• psychological characteristics of the environment in which communication takes place;
• psychology of a lawyer;
• the psychological effectiveness of the communication and rapport techniques used by the lawyer.
The rule for creating favorable conditions for establishing contact and taking into account the psychology of citizens
duplicates everything that has already been said above about communication. Only its implementation is made absolutely mandatory and as correct as possible.
The rule of self-presentation of personality by a lawyer and a fairly favorable attitude towards a citizen.
No one will willingly be sincere and trusting with a person who does not seem deserving of it. In some cases, it is advisable for a lawyer to ensure that the summoned citizen is informed in advance of information about his personality, qualities, qualifications, and attitude to problems that concern citizens. As already noted, the first impression is strong, and citizens also have it about a lawyer. In the process of communication, it is reasonable to consistently and persistently improve it, strengthening the idea of oneself as a person who can be trusted, one must trust in order to solve one’s problem. This requires: outwardly expressed attention, understanding, sympathy for the citizen, for the issues that concern him, for finding a way out of the difficult situation in which he finds himself; clearly expressed willingness to help; a reminder that only he, a lawyer, can help a citizen; persistently express the conviction that only by trusting a lawyer, a citizen will be able to solve his problems, and there is no other way out.
When communicating with people belonging to the criminal world, you can significantly increase your authority by demonstrating a deep knowledge of tattoos, “thieves” speech, thieves’ customs and traditions, the subculture of the criminal environment, etc. The technique of neutralizing psychological barriers is aimed at eliminating or weakening fears, wariness, mistrust, and hostility that interfere with establishing contact, which are especially strong when citizens communicate with a law enforcement representative. Again, this depends on the lawyer's strict, skillful and consistent implementation of the general rules of communication. In addition, you must clearly demonstrate your objectivity, the absence of an “accusatory bias”, read out the relevant articles of the codes that oblige the lawyer to search for the truth, point out circumstances that can help resolve the issue in his favor, or be of a mitigating nature, and offer to look for them together. It’s good when a lawyer manages to first provide some kind of feasible assistance to a citizen that meets the norms of law (in solving some kind of official or housing issue, in obtaining a passport, other document or material assistance required by law, legal advice, etc.). In this case, the citizen psychologically experiences his own obligation to return good for good to the lawyer. The rule for accumulating consents is
a well-known and successfully used method (technique). It consists in initially asking the interlocutor questions to which he naturally answers “yes.” The following “psychology” characteristic of people is taken into account: 1) if a person initially answered “no,” then it is psychologically difficult for him to say “yes” later; 2) if a person says “yes” several times in a row, then he has a weak, but real, as they say, fixed psychological attitude to continue the trend of agreement and say “yes” once again. The tactic of using the technique is to start with simple, harmless, “neutral” questions that do not cause anxiety and to which there is no answer other than “yes”. Gradually complicate the questions, getting closer to the essence of the problem under discussion, begin to touch on the “painful” points, but to begin with, still not the main ones.
Demonstration of commonality of views, assessments, interests.
Psychological rapprochement is facilitated by finding and emphasizing everything in common between a citizen and a lawyer that can be, and stretching personal “threads of connection” between them, leading them to temporary rapprochement and isolation from the entire world around them (to the formation of the “we” dyad). They can be found in the unity, similarity, likeness, comparability: age, gender, place of residence, community, elements of biography (upbringing in a family without a father, service in the army or navy, absence of parents, upbringing in an orphanage, temporary residence in the past in some city, district, region, tragic, unpleasant events, or vice versa - good luck, etc.); hobbies, ways of spending leisure time, cultural interests, plans for the future, activities in the garden, attitudes towards sports, hobbies for cars, opinions about books read, films and TV shows watched, etc.; understanding and attitude to various events taking place in the country, certain media reports; assessments of people, their valued qualities, the presence of mutual acquaintances, meeting someone at different times and relationships with them.
Psychological “stroking”
represents recognition of positive aspects understood by the lawyer in the behavior and personality of a communication partner, the presence of correctness in his position and words, and an expression of understanding of him. This calms you down a little, increases your sense of confidence, and creates the idea that the lawyer is fair and not indiscriminately negative and benevolent. The main calculation of the application of such a rule is the moral and psychological obligation of the interlocutor, encouraging him to reciprocally recognize the merits and truth of the lawyer, agree with his statements, and express his understanding. When this is done, the number of “points” of psychological rapprochement increases and contact increases.
The final separation into the “we” dyad completes the process of growing intimacy: “You and I,” “You and I,” “The two of us,” “We are alone,” “No one hears us,” “No one sees us.” This is facilitated by face-to-face conversation, the absence of strangers, an intimate atmosphere, and a reduction in the distance of those talking to 30-50 cm. Do not skimp on the word “we,” emphasizing the closeness and intimate, trusting nature of communication.
Demonstration of sincerity by a lawyer
is important as a demonstration that he was the first to trust his communication partner, that he respects his difficulties, as an example to follow, as a signal for the beginning of the manifestation of reciprocal sincerity and trust. Of course, you cannot disclose official or investigative secrets to your interlocutor.
Finding points of agreement in the problem being solved.
It’s time to get down to business and extend the scope of establishing mutual understanding and intimacy to the content of the issue that must be resolved in the process of communication and for the sake of which psychological contact is being established. Move without haste when the lawyer feels that psychological barriers have weakened and that intimacy has really increased. Start by stating the facts of the case, the problem under consideration, that are not in doubt. At the same time, seek clear answers from the interlocutor - “Yes”, “I agree”, “I confirm”, “No objections”. Gradually move on to facts that have not been proven with full conviction and require sincerity from the partner.
Joint search for a mutually acceptable solution to the problem
has a dual purpose. It is useful for business and psychological. Having taken the path of participation in solving the problem facing a law enforcement officer, a citizen becomes psychologically closer in intentions and direction of thoughts to him, and mutual understanding increases.
Updating the motives of sincerity.
The decisive moment in establishing contact, which allows one to overcome the internal struggle of motives and the citizen’s hesitation “to talk or not to talk?”, is the actualization of the motives of sincerity, leading to the decision to “speak.” The task is to provide psychological assistance in making the right choice, to update and increase the strength of the motives of sincerity. If a citizen is afraid of publicity or infringement of self-esteem (this is most often found among victims and accomplices), it is appropriate to rely on the motive of “following the principles of one’s worthy life.” Pay attention to whether he has good qualities, life principles, which he is betraying by not making the right and honest choice now. “The motive of love for one’s neighbors” is a strong motive for almost every person. It is important to show the connection between his duty towards them and the need to bring them a minimum of grief, additional problems, worries, difficulties, and grief. Activation of the “motive of personal gain” is especially appropriate among suspects, accused persons, and defendants.
All the techniques and rules described are fairly mild forms of establishing psychological contact, which in most cases lead to success when solving a variety of law enforcement problems. There are, however, difficult cases when confrontation cannot be overcome, for example, the interrogated person continues to be secretive and lie. Then we have to move on to more energetic measures to suppress and expose lies (see §8.9-8.12) and psychological influence.
Psychological impact when establishing contact. The law prohibits law enforcement officials from using any kind of violence, threats, making impossible promises, or resorting to other illegal measures. Acceptable and legitimate influence should induce the person at whom it is directed to consciously change their decisions, positions taken, and lines of behavior that are contrary to the interests and goals of the administration of justice.
Legal science and practice have developed many legitimate methods of psychological influence.1 Below are a number of the most effective ones.
Information attack or “psychological injection” (V.V. Mitskevich).
Hints and statements have a strong influence on the partner that the lawyer has information incriminating him, but it is temporarily not made public, because it is in the interests of the citizen to report it himself, and denial is pointless. In the absence of complete evidentiary information, individual reliable information may unexpectedly be reported, albeit insignificant, but confirming the presence of information, which usually has a stunning effect on the person who is withdrawn and does not make contact. You can report on a large amount of work done (who the lawyer talked to, where he visited, what documents he collected, what he studied, etc.), which indirectly confirms that he has a large amount of information, including that hidden by the person who is hiding. All this is useful to do, especially when the person being interviewed (interrogated) believes in his safety and the powerlessness of the lawyer.
Compromise of “friends”.
The denials and deceit of the interrogated person are often explained by “corporate solidarity”, loyalty to “thieves’ friendship”, reluctance to hand over “accomplices”, “authorities”, hoping that they will not hand him over. Therefore, destroying the ties of this mutual responsibility is an important task in destroying a false position. You can, of course, explain the insincerity and depravity of it, like the entire criminal subculture. But it’s even better if the lawyer has facts about the deceit of “friendship”, “caring” for the person under investigation and his family, giving incriminating evidence against him, “setting him up”, etc.
For the purpose of compromise, the following methods are also used:
• calling one of the “friends” to a law enforcement agency with informing the prisoner about this fact and forming an idea in his mind about the possibility of giving a confession or secretly planting information about this to “friends” who are at large;
• a “random” secret meeting between a law enforcement officer and a “friend” in front of the target;
• providing specific examples from the practice of disclosing and investigating examples confirming frequent cases of betrayal of “friends”;
• placing accomplices and a “seasoned criminal” in the same temporary detention cell. One of the accomplices is called in for questioning more often than the other and is not returned to the cell for a long time. A less experienced detainee is given the opportunity to figure out this fact himself and listen to the revealing revelations of the “seasoned” one. Often, inexperienced and newbies cannot withstand the psychological stress, they begin to suspect an “accomplice,” quarrels arise between them, and mutual trust and solidarity are lost. Everyone begins to fight for themselves, neglecting the interests of the other. The lawyer also has opportunities to use this fact.2
Caught in a lie.
Being caught in a lie has a strong impact, which sometimes leads to the capitulation of the confronting enemy in a conversation. It can be carried out on the basis of identifying external manifestations of lies and hidden circumstances. Having noticed them, you should tell the respondent (interrogated) about this, emphasizing their reliability. Caution of lying is possible by identifying contradictions in words, expressions, and information communicated at different times. Usually, in this case, if a person does not admit it, he loses his composure and begins to make more mistakes, which creates opportunities for ascertaining new manifestations of insincerity. Caution in a lie is also possible by telling a person information received from other persons and contradicting the words of the person who is withdrawing and leading an insincere line of behavior.
The presentation of material evidence always comes as a bolt from the blue. The sudden and silent appearance of such evidence on the table has a psychological impact that sometimes exceeds any verbal tricks of the lawyer. Contrast and effect increase if the lawyer first asks a series of questions related to the upcoming presentation of evidence, without preventing the interviewee from lying.
1 See: Ratinov A.R.
Forensic psychology for investigators;
Rakhunov R.D.
Acknowledgment of guilt by the accused.
- M., 1975; Khaidukov N.P.
Tactical and psychological basis of the investigator's influence on the persons involved in the case.
- Saratov, 1984; Shestakov A.G.
Psychological impact in the activities of employees of internal affairs bodies.
- Leningrad, 1985; Mitskevich V.V.
Techniques for establishing psychological contact between police officers and citizens when solving operational and official tasks.
- Minsk, 1989; Noskov V.A.
Psychotechnics of communication in the work of a BHSS detective.
-WITH. 92-104; Karagodin V.N.
Overcoming opposition to preliminary investigation.
- Sverdlovsk, 1992; Belkin R.S.
Forensics course.
T. 3. - M., 1997. - P. 216-235; Chufarovsky Yu.V.
Psychology in operational-search activities. - M., 1996, etc.
2Mitskevich V.V.
Decree. op. — P. 33.
