Coursework: Psychological setting. How psychological attitudes are formed

Perhaps none Research Article in psychology cannot compete in accuracy, conciseness and expressiveness of thought with a successful anecdote in which the same idea is presented in the form of a metaphor.

Here is one such anecdote.

A person receives a letter in the morning in his name, but without a return address and without a signature. Inside is a note with the name and surname of a stranger: "When this person dies, you will receive 25 dollars." He utters a short curse to himself, throws the note in the trash and forgets about it.

But through relatively a short time receives a check in the mail for $25 and a note with the name of another unknown person and a promise: "When this person dies, you will receive $50."

Curiosity awakens in him, he begins to look for the coordinates of the person named in the letter, finds out that this is an elderly and terminally ill person, shrugs his shoulders in surprise, but this time does not throw away the note, but saves it. Soon he receives the promised amount, learns that the person mentioned in the note really died. And in the same letter he finds the name of another person, after whose death he was promised 100 dollars. And so on.

One day the hero sees him on a deserted street and with horror catches himself on an involuntary desire to press the gas...

At some stage, he begins to find out the details. He learns that the new letter is about a crime boss, follows his fate in the newspapers, learns about his murder, receives the promised money and another name indicating a rather large amount.

This time, a completely prosperous, successful and, apparently, healthy young man is mentioned. The hero of the joke finds out where he lives, and from time to time appears in the area. Involuntarily surveillance becomes a part of his own life. And one day, driving a car next to the house young man, the hero sees him on a deserted street and with horror catches himself on an involuntary desire to press the gas ... But still he manages to press the brake.

You already understood that everything ends with the fact that he kills another candidate and gets a large sum money with a note: "How do you like your new job? .."

This anecdote describes in an exaggerated form some of the ways in which behavioral attitudes are formed. This process starts from childhood.

The child is encouraged and pushed to perform the actions desired by the parents, they try to arouse interest in them, then they reward them for their diligence and immediately open up new perspectives.

Gifts can only be given from time to time, so that they do not become an end in themselves, like the hero of a joke

Praise, reward, and showing love for good deeds is preferable to punishment and emotional rejection for bad deeds, although this is often impossible to do without. But in the process of education, it is necessary to strive to ensure that the absence of encouragement seems to be a punishment.

Almost like in this joke, but with the opposite direction: it is necessary to encourage the manifestation of higher human values ​​in behavior. And encouragement must be expressed by a manifestation of the love of those whom the child himself loves. At the same time, gifts can be made only from time to time, so that they do not become an end in themselves, like the hero of a joke.

The emotional manifestation of the love of loved ones, which is so important for the child, the love to which he aspires, is in harmony with the main task of education - the formation of moral values ​​that are incompatible with antisocial acts. These values ​​in the future will prevent the behavior that was achieved from the hero of the joke with the help of promised gifts.

If gifts become the main thing for a child, and not the value of the act itself, then his behavior can be adjusted to any requirement - there would only be hope for a desired gift.

Psychologists distinguish three types installations on the perception of a person: positive, negative and adequate. A sign of a positive attitude is reassessment positive qualities person. The presence of a negative attitude ultimately leads to the fact that we perceive mainly negative qualities person.

Optimally, of course, the presence of adequate psychological attitude that each person has both positive and negative personal qualities. The presence of attitudes is seen as an unconscious predisposition to perceive and evaluate the qualities of other people. These attitudes underlie the typical distortions of ideas about the other person.
Starting communication, people have a mutual influence on each other, which has deep psychological mechanisms.

Psychological methods of communication and mutual influence can be built in a certain psychological series. The very first in this series will be the property of infection - the effect of multiple amplification emotional states people communicating with each other. Infection occurs at an unconscious level and is especially pronounced in a crowd, queue, in public, but infection also occurs at the level of small groups. There is an expression “contagious laughter”, and anger and other emotions can also be contagious.

The next in the series will be two properties: suggestion and imitation. Suggestion, or suggestion, can also be individual and group and occurs on a conscious or unconscious level, depending on the purpose of communication. Each person has the ability to perceive the ideas, actions, feelings transmitted to him in communication in such a way that they involuntarily become, as it were, his own.

Imitation is a dynamic property. Some of its manifestations range from blind copying of behavior, gestures and intonations to a completely conscious motivated imitation of behavior.
One of psychological mechanisms communication is a competition - the property of people to compare themselves with others, the desire to be no worse than others, not to lose face. Competition causes mental, emotional and physical strength. It's good when competition is an incentive for development, it's bad when it develops into rivalry.

And the third level of interaction is persuasion: a reasoned conscious verbal or written expression of ideas, opinions, and actions. Persuasion is effective only when it is based not only on words, but also on deeds, emotions, the effects of infection, suggestion and imitation. If the leader relies on all mechanisms, he will achieve good results.

The attitudes of a person considered in psychology are not only his prejudice. This is a certain attitude of his physical and mental forces to a particular situation or certain needs. Moreover, as noted in psychology, the setting of the personality is outside the consciousness of a person. What is this phenomenon? Let's consider this issue in more detail.

Psychological phenomenon

It is already obvious to a person living in the third millennium how rapidly the world in which he lives is changing. Moreover, any newly coming reality is invariably accompanied by certain changes. This requires a change in the people themselves. But admitting the need to change oneself is, you see, much more difficult. In each case, a mechanism of counteracting the newly created conditions begins to work in a person, which is called the psychological barrier. This is nothing more than a specific form of the resistance to change syndrome, which has two sides. A person is afraid of losing his old, familiar, and at the same time, he has a fear of what is unusual for him, new.

If we consider the concept of "barrier" in a broad sense, then it means a long partition, which is affixed as an obstacle to the path, that is, it is a barrier. This word has a similar meaning in the field of psychology. In this science, it denotes those external and internal obstacles existing in a person that do not allow him to achieve his goal.

A psychological barrier is understood as such a state of an individual, in which his inadequate passivity is manifested, which becomes an obstacle to the performance of certain actions. Emotionally, the mechanism similar phenomenon represents an increase in attitudes towards low self-esteem and negative experiences. Psychological barriers exist in social behavior individual. They are expressed by communicative obstacles, which are manifested in the rigidity of interpersonal and other attitudes.

How to solve the problem of barriers? This will make it possible to make a broader framework for such a concept as a “psychological attitude”. It is expressed in the readiness of a person to act and perceive, as well as to interpret the object of thinking and perception or future events in one way or another.

What does the concept of attitude mean in psychology? This is a special vision, which is the basis of human behavior, his selective activity. It is able to regulate conscious and unconscious forms of personality activity in the emotional, cognitive and motivational spheres. Any attitude is formed thanks to the life experience accumulated by a person and can be both a colossal advantage and a significant limitation for him.

Discovery history

In the inner quality of the subject, not realized by him psychological condition, which is based on his previous life experience, as well as a certain activity and predisposition in a given situation. The installation defines and precedes the deployment of any of the existing forms mental activity. Moreover, its presence allows a person to respond in one way or another to a social or political event.

A similar phenomenon was discovered in 1888 by the German scientist L. Lange. Next in general psychology the installation resulted in a whole theory developed by D.N. Uznadze together with the students and followers of his school. The stages necessary for the formation of the installation were most fully disclosed thanks to such a concept as a contrast illusion. At the same time, along with the simplest, researchers have identified more complex types of attitudes - social, value orientations of a person, etc.

S. R. Rubinshtein paid considerable attention to installations. They found that this phenomenon is closely connected with the unconscious.

M. Rokeach also worked on the problem of attitudes in psychology. This researcher made a distinction between a person's attitudes and his values. The latter are the belief that sometimes applies to several situations and objects. An attitude, on the other hand, is a set of beliefs relating to only one situation or object.

Development of the theory

At an early stage of its study, it was believed that the attitude in psychology is one of the forms of a person not aware of nervous activity. This opinion has existed for a long time. The psychology of the attitude of D. N. Uznadze also adhered to it. This theory has continued to develop in this direction. The installation in domestic psychology was considered by the Georgian school, which included followers and students of Dmitry Nikolaevich Uznadze. This scientist not only created a theory of the phenomenon under consideration, but also organized the development of this problem.

Uznadze explained the phenomenon of perception as a reflection of reality and the behavior of a living being. Briefly, this can be explained as follows. In the life of every person, installations occupy important place. They influence the perception of phenomena and objects, thinking, as well as the will of a person. Before the slightest movement of the soul takes place, it will necessarily be preceded by a certain attitude. And then the act of will, perception and cognition will necessarily be affected by life experience person, their goal or mood. This does not exclude errors. This made it possible to prove the experimental foundations of attitude psychology. This is evidenced, for example, by the experience with balls. The person was asked to estimate the size of these objects. And if at first he was shown balls 10-15 times different size, then in his mind there was an opinion that they must necessarily be different. After the researcher offered him the same objects, the reaction did not change. The person continued to perceive the balls as different.

Over time, it became obvious that all the laws and facts that were considered by the theory of set are by their nature general psychological. In this regard, this direction began to claim the status of a general psychological concept.

Term specification

In psychology? This phenomenon has a three-part structure, which includes:

  • sensual image (effective component);
  • actions related to the object of evaluation (behavioral component);
  • cognitive factor.

According to the opinion of the students of D. N. Uznadze - T. Sh. Iosebadze and T. T. Iosebadze, the following definition of attitude in psychology can be given. This phenomenon is characterized by scientists as a mode or a specific state inherent in an integral object. That is, it determines the psychophysical organization of a person and his modification in each specific situation, as well as his readiness to perform one or another activity necessary to meet actual needs.

In psychology, the attitude and behavior of an individual are considered a reflection of his internal (subjective) and external (objective) state. At the same time, such a property is considered to be an indirect link, a kind of “connection principle” that exists between the individual states of the subject, its elements and functions.

A clearer position on this issue belongs to Sh. N. Chkhartishvili. This scientist divided the installation into primary and fixed. Both of them are easily differentiated into each other, but at the same time have different functions and properties.

Dispositional concept

There are other theories of attitude in psychology. One of them is the dispositional concept of V. A. Yadov. This scientist proposed his own approach when considering the backbone components that reflect the social behavior of a person.

The concept under consideration is based on a hierarchical system of dispositions. In the triad proposed by D. N. Uznadze, V. A. Yadov replaced the setting with the concept of disposition. This is nothing but the most diverse states of readiness or predisposition of a person to perceive situations. V. A. Yadov considers personality dispositions in the form hierarchical system formed as a result of existing needs and conditions. In this system, the scientist identified three levels. They differ from each other different composition and the ratio of their constituent elements (attitudes, needs, conditions of activity). Each of the levels of disposition predetermines the corresponding level of behavior. Let's consider each of them in more detail.

Fixed installations

It is they who are at the very first and at the same time the lowest level of the disposition. What is an elementary fixed installation? This is in psychology the definition of the specific reactions of the subject to the objective, actual situation, as well as his perception of rapidly changing influences. environment. Elementary attitudes are formed on the basis of the basic needs of physical existence, as well as the simplest situations. This or that behavioral readiness of the individual in this case is fixed by his previous experience.

Social Attitudes

A similar phenomenon is found at the second stage of the dispositional stage. A social attitude is, in psychology, a person's need to be included in contact groups. What behavioral situations arise in this case? They are social. Such installations take place based on the assessment of individual public facilities. It takes into account and social situations. At the same time, the individual performs certain actions. They are the elementary unit of behavior.

What else do we understand by the described term? A social attitude in psychology is nothing more than a stable attitude of an individual to people, as well as to all processes and events taking place in society. It is on her basis that a personality characteristic can be given.

The very term "social attitude" in psychology has several meanings that differ from each other in their characteristics. So, initially, this definition meant the readiness of an individual to solve a given problem. At the same time, what was the object of social installation? This is the person himself, as well as the people included in his environment, events and processes in society, objects of spiritual and material culture, etc.

Somewhat later, the term in question began to have a slightly different meaning. A social attitude in psychology is a stable attitude of one person or group of people towards something or someone. careful study this phenomenon made it clear that it is quite complex. At the same time, such an installation began to be classified not only as mental condition personality, but also as its psychological property.

General orientation of the individual

Consider the third level of disposition. It characterizes the general orientation of the individual in a certain area of ​​social action. On the given level a person's needs regarding his social relations become more complex. For example, an individual seeks to join a particular area of ​​activity, wanting to turn it into the main dominant sphere.

Here, options such as professionalism, leisure or family can be considered. In this case, purposeful and consistent actions of a person form the basis of his behavior in the field of activity where he pursues more distant and significant goals.

Value Orientations

Consider highest level disposition hierarchy. It is characterized by the formation of value orientations not only for the purposes of life, but also for the means necessary to achieve the goals. The fourth level includes higher social needs. At the same time, the life position of a person, into which the self-consciousness of the individual is transformed, becomes an important factor. This is nothing more than the principle of individual behavior, which is based on worldview attitudes, norms and ideals, social values, as well as on the willingness to act.

Thanks to the dispositional theory, direct links were established between the socio-psychological and sociological behavior of a person. Wherein higher forms installations according to Yadov include:

  • value orientations and life concept;
  • generalized attitudes towards typical social situations and objects;
  • predisposition to behavior and perception in the given conditions and in the given social and objective environment.

Under the value orientations understand the attitude of a person or a group of people to the totality of spiritual and material goods, considered as objects or their properties, goals, as well as means to satisfy the needs of an individual or group. This concept is expressed in the meaning of life, in ideals, and manifests itself in the social behavior of people. Value orientations reflect the attitude of the subject to the existing conditions of his being, which is the result of a conscious choice of objects and objects that are significant for the individual.

Types of psychological attitudes

In psychology, human perception is classified into the following groups:

  • positive;
  • negative;
  • adequate.

What does each of these species mean? With a positive attitude, an assessment of the positive qualities of a person occurs. Negative perception leads to consideration only negative traits character of a person. The most optimal setting is considered adequate. After all, every person has both positive and negative personal qualities. The presence of each of these attitudes is considered by psychologists as an unconscious predisposition to assess and perceive the qualities of the interlocutor.

Starting their communication, people influence each other with the help of deep psychological mechanisms. Researchers have proven that this creates such a property as infection. It is the effect of amplifying the emotions of people in contact with each other. Infection occurs at an unconscious level. And most often it is observed in public, in a queue or in a crowd. For example, laughter, anger and other emotions can be contagious.

Among the psychological attitudes, there are also such properties as imitation and suggestion. The first one is dynamic. Its manifestations can be blind copying of gestures and behavior, as well as intonation, up to a conscious imitation of behavior. Suggestion can be group and individual, occurring at a conscious or unconscious level, which will depend on the purpose of the contact. In psychology, this property is understood as the ability of a person to perceive the feelings, actions and ideas conveyed to him in such a way that they involuntarily become, as it were, his own.

Among the psychological mechanisms of communication is also competition. It represents the desire of people not to lose face, to be no worse than others, as well as the desire to compare themselves with others. Competition contributes to the creation of tension of physical, emotional and mental forces. It is good if such installations serve as an incentive for development. The worst option is when the competition develops into rivalry.

The next level of human interaction is the reasoned, written or verbal, conscious expression of actions, opinions and ideas for the purpose of persuasion. Such an attitude becomes effective only when it is based not only on words, but also on emotions, deeds, as well as on the effects of imitation, suggestion and infection.

Every thought that passes 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, from our beliefs, principles, worldview, and even from our desires. So, if you want to change your life today, then you can use this or that psychological setting.

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

Every mental attitude is a command given to your brain

Psychological attitudes affect your way of thinking and focus your attention on the fulfillment of a particular desire.

Psychological attitudes are formed both unconsciously and consciously

When you have formed any idea about yourself, you tend - quite 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.

Formation of the psychological attitude of the individual

This process involves speaking out your desired self-image. Approximately, as in the movie "The most charming and attractive."

Wanting to become charming and attractive, you seem to convince yourself that this is the case thanks to the regular repetition 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 at all to you.

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 good mood when you say an affirmation. If you are tired or bad mood, use the setting that best suits your condition.

When saying affirmations, it is very important what you feel at that moment. Each installation that you pronounce should evoke a pleasant feeling in your soul. And after pronouncing 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 you can get a feel for which affirmations make you feel good and are most relevant to your goals.

You can create your own personal psychological setting, 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 strength.
Everything that happens in my life is 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 rejoice in 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 get it.
  • I make decisions with confidence.
  • I am happy and successful in my 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 that I live.

Use your intuition when choosing a setting. After all, the affirmation that causes a pleasant feeling is the right one for you.

Speak 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.

Speak the setting that works for you as often as possible throughout the day. Repeat it before going to bed and in the morning right after waking up. Just smile and mentally say one of the psychological settings several times.

Psychological attitudes or affirmations?

Affirmations are one of the best effective methods deal with indecision and doubt. Use mindsets, especially when negative thoughts begin to overwhelm you.

Doubts are just thoughts. Doubts gain strength and power over you only when you concentrate on them. Just like affirmations.

Do not fight doubts. It is better to cast doubt aside as if it had nothing to do with you. Instead of doubting, say your favorite mental 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.