A social role involves following an expected pattern of behavior. Psychological characteristics of social roles
A social role in the most common understanding is the behavior of people occupying a certain position in society. In essence, this is a set of requirements that society places on a person and the actions that he must perform. And even one person can have quite a few social roles.
In addition to this, each person can have a large number of statuses, and the people around them, in turn, have every right to expect others to properly fulfill their social roles. Viewed from this point of view, social role and status are two sides of the same “coin”: while status is a set of special rights, responsibilities and privileges, then role is actions within this set.
Social role includes:
- Role Expectation
- Execution of the role
Social roles can be conventional or institutionalized. Conventional roles are accepted by people by agreement, and they can refuse to accept them. And institutionalized ones involve the adoption of roles determined by social institutions, for example, family, army, university, etc.
Typically, cultural norms are learned by an individual through , and only a few norms are accepted by society as a whole. Acceptance of a role depends on the status that this or that person occupies. What may be quite normal for one status may be completely unacceptable for another. Based on this, socialization can be called one of the fundamental processes of learning role behavior, as a result of which a person becomes part of society.
Types of social roles
The difference in social roles is due to the variety of social groups, forms of activity and interactions in which a person is involved, and depending on which social roles can be individual and interpersonal.
Individual social roles are interconnected with the status, profession or activity in which a person is engaged. They are standardized impersonal roles, built on the basis of duties and rights, regardless of the performer himself. Such roles can be the roles of husband, wife, son, daughter, grandson, etc. – these are socio-demographic roles. The roles of men and women are biologically defined roles that imply special behavioral patterns fixed by society and culture.
Interpersonal social roles are interconnected with relationships between people that are regulated at the emotional level. For example, a person can play the role of leader, offended, idol, loved one, condemned, etc.
In real life, in the process of interpersonal interaction, all people act in some dominant role, typical for them and familiar to those around them. Changing an established image can be very difficult, both for the person and for those around him. And the longer a specific group of people exists, the more familiar the social roles of each become for its members, and the more difficult it is to change an established behavioral stereotype.
Basic characteristics of social roles
The basic characteristics of social roles were identified in the mid-20th century by American sociologist Talcott Parsons. They were offered four characteristics that are common to all roles:
- Scope of the role
- How to get a role
- Degree of formalization of the role
- Type of role motivation
Let's touch on these characteristics in a little more detail.
Scope of the role
The scope of the role depends on the range of interpersonal interactions. If it is large, then the scale of the role is also large. For example, marital social roles are of enormous scale, because There is a wide range of interaction between spouses. From one point of view, their relationships are interpersonal and based on emotional and sensory diversity, but on the other hand, their relationships are regulated by normative acts, and to some extent they are formalized.
Both parties to such social interaction are interested in all sorts of areas of each other’s lives, and their relationship is practically unlimited. In other situations, where relationships are strictly determined by social roles (client-employee, buyer-seller, etc.), interaction is carried out exclusively for a specific reason, and the scale of the role is reduced to a small range of issues relevant to the situation, which means it is very very limited.
How to get a role
The method of obtaining a role depends on the general degree of inevitability for a person of a particular role. For example, the role of a young man, a man or an old man will be automatically determined by age and gender, and no effort is required to acquire it, although the problem may lie in the person's conformity to his role, which is a given.
And if we talk about other roles, then sometimes they need to be achieved and even conquered in the process of life, making specific, targeted efforts for this. For example, the role of a professor, specialist or even student needs to be achieved. Most social roles are associated with people's achievements in professional and other areas.
Degree of formalization of the role
Formalization is a descriptive characteristic of a social role and is defined when one person interacts with others. Some roles may involve the establishment of only formal relationships between people, and are distinguished by specific rules of behavior; others may be based on informal relationships; and the third ones will generally be a combination of the features of the first two.
Agree that the interaction between a law enforcement officer and a police officer should be determined by a set of formal rules, and the relationship between lovers, having messed up, should be based on feelings. This is an indicator of the formalization of social roles.
Type of role motivation
What motivates a social role will depend on each individual's motivations and needs. Different roles will always have different motivations. Thus, when parents care about the welfare of their child, they are guided by feelings of care and love; when a seller seeks to sell a product to a client, his actions may be determined by the desire to increase the organization’s profits and earn his percentage; the role of a person who selflessly helps another will be based on the motives of altruism and performing good deeds, etc.
Social roles are not rigid models of behavior
People can perceive and perform their social roles differently. If a person perceives a social role as a rigid mask, the image of which he must conform to always and everywhere, he can completely break his personality and turn his life into suffering. And this should not be done under any circumstances, besides, a person almost always has the opportunity to choose (unless the role, of course, is determined by natural reasons, such as gender, age, etc., although these “problems” are now faced by many people successfully resolved).
Any of us can always learn a new role, which will affect both the person himself and his life. There is even a special technique for this called image therapy. It means a person “trying on” a new image. However, a person must have the desire to enter a new role. But the most interesting thing is that responsibility for behavior lies not with the person, but with the role that sets new behavioral patterns.
Thus, a person who wants to change begins even in the most familiar and ordinary situations, revealing his hidden potential and achieving new results. All this suggests that people are capable of “making” themselves and building their lives the way they want, regardless of social roles.
QUESTION FOR YOU: Can you say that you know and understand your social roles exactly? Would you like to find a way to develop even more advantages and get rid of disadvantages? With a high degree of probability, we can say that many people will give a negative answer to the first question and a positive answer to the second. If you recognize yourself here, then we invite you to engage in maximum self-knowledge - take our specialized course on self-knowledge, which will allow you to get to know yourself as best as possible and, quite possibly, will tell you about yourself something that you had no idea about. You will find the course at .
We wish you successful self-discovery!
Social role
Social role- a model of human behavior, objectively determined by the social position of the individual in the system of social, public and personal relations. A social role is not something externally associated with social status, but an expression in action of the agent's social position. In other words, a social role is “the behavior that is expected of a person occupying a certain status.”
History of the term
The concept of “social role” was proposed independently by American sociologists R. Linton and J. Mead in the 1930s, with the former interpreting the concept of “social role” as a unit of social structure, described in the form of a system of norms given to a person, the latter - in terms of direct interaction between people, “role play”, during which, due to the fact that a person imagines himself in the role of another, social norms are learned and the social is formed in the individual. Linton's definition of “social role” as a “dynamic aspect of status” was entrenched in structural functionalism and was developed by T. Parsons, A. Radcliffe-Brown, and R. Merton. Mead's ideas were developed in interactionist sociology and psychology. Despite all the differences, both of these approaches are united by the idea of a “social role” as a nodal point at which the individual and society merge, individual behavior turns into social behavior, and the individual properties and inclinations of people are compared with the normative attitudes existing in society, depending on what happens selection of people for certain social roles. Of course, in reality, role expectations are never straightforward. In addition, a person often finds himself in a situation of role conflict, when his different “social roles” turn out to be poorly compatible. Modern society requires an individual to constantly change his behavior pattern to perform specific roles. In this regard, such neo-Marxists and neo-Freudians as T. Adorno, K. Horney and others in their works made a paradoxical conclusion: the “normal” personality of modern society is a neurotic. Moreover, in modern society, role conflicts that arise in situations where an individual is required to simultaneously perform several roles with conflicting requirements are widespread. Irving Goffman, in his studies of interaction rituals, accepting and developing the basic theatrical metaphor, paid attention not so much to role prescriptions and passive adherence to them, but to the very processes of active construction and maintenance of “appearance” in the course of communication, to zones of uncertainty and ambiguity in interaction , mistakes in the behavior of partners.
Definition of the concept
Social role- a dynamic characteristic of a social position, expressed in a set of behavior patterns that are consistent with social expectations (role expectations) and set by special norms (social prescriptions) addressed from the corresponding group (or several groups) to the holder of a certain social position. Holders of a social position expect that the implementation of special instructions (norms) results in regular and therefore predictable behavior, which can be used to guide the behavior of other people. Thanks to this, regular and continuously planable social interaction (communicative interaction) is possible.
Types of social roles
The types of social roles are determined by the variety of social groups, types of activities and relationships in which the individual is included. Depending on social relations, social and interpersonal social roles are distinguished.
In life, in interpersonal relationships, each person acts in some dominant social role, a unique social role as the most typical individual image, familiar to others. Changing a habitual image is extremely difficult both for the person himself and for the perception of the people around him. The longer a group exists, the more familiar the dominant social roles of each group member become to those around them and the more difficult it is to change the behavior pattern habitual to those around them.
Characteristics of a social role
The main characteristics of a social role were highlighted by American sociologist Talcott Parsons. He proposed the following four characteristics of any role:
- By scale. Some roles may be strictly limited, while others may be blurred.
- By method of receipt. Roles are divided into prescribed and conquered (they are also called achieved).
- According to the degree of formalization. Activities can take place either within strictly established limits or arbitrarily.
- By type of motivation. The motivation can be personal profit, public good, etc.
Scope of the role depends on the range of interpersonal relationships. The larger the range, the larger the scale. For example, the social roles of spouses have a very large scale, since the widest range of relationships is established between husband and wife. On the one hand, these are interpersonal relationships based on a variety of feelings and emotions; on the other hand, relations are regulated by regulations and, in a certain sense, are formal. The participants in this social interaction are interested in a variety of aspects of each other’s lives, their relationships are practically unlimited. In other cases, when relationships are strictly defined by social roles (for example, the relationship between a seller and a buyer), interaction can only be carried out for a specific reason (in this case, purchases). Here the scope of the role is limited to a narrow range of specific issues and is small.
How to get a role depends on how inevitable the role is for the person. Thus, the roles of a young man, an old man, a man, a woman are automatically determined by the age and gender of a person and do not require special efforts to acquire them. There can only be a problem of compliance with one’s role, which already exists as a given. Other roles are achieved or even won during the course of a person's life and as a result of targeted special efforts. For example, the role of a student, researcher, professor, etc. These are almost all roles related to the profession and any achievements of a person.
Formalization as a descriptive characteristic of a social role is determined by the specifics of interpersonal relationships of the bearer of this role. Some roles involve the establishment of only formal relationships between people with strict regulation of rules of behavior; others, on the contrary, are only informal; still others may combine both formal and informal relationships. It is obvious that the relationship between a traffic police representative and a traffic rule violator should be determined by formal rules, and relationships between close people should be determined by feelings. Formal relationships are often accompanied by informal ones, in which emotionality is manifested, because a person, perceiving and evaluating another, shows sympathy or antipathy towards him. This occurs when people have been interacting for some time and the relationship has become relatively stable.
Motivation depends on the needs and motives of the person. Different roles are driven by different motives. Parents, caring for the well-being of their child, are guided primarily by a feeling of love and care; the leader works for the sake of the cause, etc.
Role conflicts
Role conflicts arise when the duties of a role are not fulfilled due to subjective reasons (unwillingness, inability).
see also
Bibliography
- "Games People Play" E. Berne
Notes
Links
Wikimedia Foundation.
- 2010.
- Chachba, Alexander Konstantinovich
Fantozzi (film)
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Behavior is a form of interaction of an organism with the environment, the source of which is needs. Human behavior differs from the behavior of animals in its social conditioning, awareness, activity, creativity and is goal-oriented, voluntary in nature.
Structure of social behavior:
1) behavioral act - a single manifestation of activity, its element;
2) social actions - actions performed by individuals or social groups that have social significance and imply socially determined motivation, intentions, relationships;
3) an act is a conscious action of a person who understands its social meaning and is performed in accordance with the accepted intention;
4) act - a set of actions of an individual for which he is responsible.
Types of social behavior of an individual:
1) according to the system of public relations:
a) production behavior (labor, professional);
b) economic behavior (consumer behavior, distribution behavior, exchange behavior, entrepreneurial, investment, etc.);
c) socio-political behavior (political activity, behavior towards authorities, bureaucratic behavior, electoral behavior, etc.);
d) legal behavior (law-abiding, illegal, deviant, deviant, criminal);
e) moral behavior (ethical, moral, immoral, immoral behavior, etc.);
f) religious behavior;
2) by time of implementation:
› impulsive;
› variable;
› long-term implementation.
The subjects of regulation of an individual’s social behavior are society, small groups and the individual himself.
Social status
Social status (from the Latin status - position, state) of an individual is the position of a person in society, which he occupies in accordance with his age, gender, origin, profession, marital status.
Social status is a certain position in the social structure of a group or society, connected to other positions through a system of rights and responsibilities.
Sociologists distinguish several types of social statuses:
1) Statuses determined by the position of an individual in a group - personal and social.
Personal status is the position of a person that he occupies in the so-called small, or primary, group, depending on how his individual qualities are assessed in it.
On the other hand, in the process of interaction with other individuals, each person performs certain social functions that determine his social status.
2) Statuses determined by time frames, influence on the life of the individual as a whole - main and non-main (episodic).
The main status determines the main thing in a person’s life (most often this is the status associated with the main place of work and family, for example, a good family man and an irreplaceable worker).
Episodic (non-main) social statuses influence the details of human behavior (for example, pedestrian, passenger, passerby, patient, participant in a demonstration or strike, reader, listener, TV viewer, etc.).
3) Statuses acquired or not acquired as a result of free choice.
Prescribed (assigned) status is a social position that is pre-prescribed to an individual by society, regardless of the individual’s merits (for example, nationality, place of birth, social origin, etc.).
Mixed status has the features of a prescribed and achieved status (a person who has become disabled, the title of academician, Olympic champion, etc.).
Achieved (acquired) is acquired as a result of free choice, personal efforts and is under the control of a person (education, profession, material wealth, business connections, etc.).
In any society there is a certain hierarchy of statuses, which represents the basis of its stratification. Certain statuses are prestigious, others are the opposite. This hierarchy is formed under the influence of two factors:
a) the real usefulness of the social functions that a person performs;
b) a value system characteristic of a given society.
If the prestige of any statuses is unreasonably overestimated or, conversely, underestimated, it is usually said that there is a loss of status balance. A society in which there is a similar tendency to lose this balance is unable to ensure its normal functioning.
Prestige is society’s assessment of the social significance of a particular status, enshrined in culture and public opinion.
Each individual can have a large number of statuses. The social status of an individual primarily influences his behavior. Knowing the social status of a person, you can easily determine most of the qualities that he possesses, as well as predict the actions that he will carry out. Such expected behavior of a person, associated with the status that he has, is usually called a social role.
Social role- This is a model of behavior focused on a certain status.
A social role is a pattern of behavior recognized as appropriate for people of a given status in a given society.
Roles are determined by people's expectations (for example, the idea that parents should take care of their children, that an employee should conscientiously carry out the work assigned to him, has taken root in the public consciousness). But each person, depending on specific circumstances, accumulated life experience and other factors, fulfills a social role in his own way.
When claiming this status, a person must fulfill all the role requirements assigned to this social position. Each person has not one, but a whole set of social roles that he plays in society. The totality of all human roles in society is called a role system or role set.
Role set (role system)
A role set is a set of roles (role complex) associated with one status.
Each role in the role set requires a special manner of behavior and communication with people and is, therefore, a set of relationships that are unlike others. In the role set, one can distinguish basic (typical) and situational social roles.
Examples of basic social roles:
1) hard worker;
2) owner;
3) consumer;
4) citizen;
5) family member (husband, wife, son, daughter).
Social roles can be institutionalized or conventional.
Institutionalized roles: institution of marriage, family (social roles of mother, daughter, wife).
Conventional roles are accepted by agreement (a person can refuse to accept them).
Social roles are associated with social status, profession or type of activity (teacher, student, student, salesperson).
Man and woman are also social roles, biologically predetermined and presupposing specific modes of behavior, enshrined in social norms or customs.
Interpersonal roles are associated with interpersonal relationships that are regulated at the emotional level (leader, offended, family idol, loved one, etc.).
Role behavior
Real role behavior should be distinguished from a social role as a pattern of behavior, which means not the socially expected, but the actual behavior of the performer of a specific role. And here a lot depends on the personal qualities of the individual, on the degree to which he has assimilated social norms, on his beliefs, attitudes, and value orientations.
Factors that determine the process of realizing social roles:
1) biopsychological capabilities of a person, which can facilitate or hinder the fulfillment of a particular social role;
2) the nature of the role accepted in the group and the features of social control designed to monitor the fulfillment of role behavior;
3) a personal model that defines a set of behavioral characteristics necessary for successful performance of the role;
4) the structure of the group, its cohesion and the degree of identification of the individual with the group.
In the process of implementing social roles, certain difficulties may arise related to the need for a person to perform multiple roles in various situations → in some cases, a discrepancy between social roles, the emergence of contradictions and conflict relations between them.
Any social role, according to T. Parsons, can be described using five main characteristics:
level of emotionality - some roles are emotionally restrained, others are relaxed;
method of receipt - prescribed or achieved;
scale of manifestation - strictly limited or blurred;
degree of formalization - strictly established or arbitrary;
motivation - for general profit or for personal benefit.
Every person living in society is included in many different social groups (family, study group, friendly company, etc.). In each of these groups he occupies a certain position, has a certain status, and certain requirements are imposed on him. Thus, the same person should behave in one situation like a father, in another - like a friend, in a third - like a boss, i.e. act in different roles. Social role is a way of behavior of people that corresponds to accepted norms, depending on their status or position in society, in the system of interpersonal relations. Mastering social roles is part of the process of socialization of the individual, an indispensable condition for a person to “grow into” the society of his own kind. Socialization is the process and result of an individual’s assimilation and active reproduction of social experience, carried out in communication and activity. Examples of social roles are also gender roles (male or female behavior), professional roles. By observing social roles, a person learns social standards of behavior, learns to evaluate himself from the outside and exercise self-control. However, since in real life a person is involved in many activities and relationships, is forced to perform different roles, the requirements for which may be contradictory, there is a need for some mechanism that would allow a person to maintain the integrity of his “I” in conditions of multiple connections with the world (i.e. e. remain yourself, playing different roles). Personality (or rather, the formed substructure of orientation) is precisely the mechanism, the functional organ that allows you to integrate your “I” and your own life activity, carry out a moral assessment of your actions, find your place not only in a separate social group, but also in life in general, to develop the meaning of one’s existence, to abandon one in favor of another. Thus, a developed personality can use role behavior as a tool for adaptation to certain social situations, while at the same time not merging or identifying with the role. The main components of a social role constitute a hierarchical system in which three levels can be distinguished. The first is peripheral attributes, i.e. those, the presence or absence of which does not affect either the perception of the role by the environment or its effectiveness (for example, the civil status of a poet or doctor). The second level involves role attributes that influence both perception and performance (for example, long hair for a hippie or poor health for an athlete). At the top of the three-level gradation are the role attributes that are decisive for the formation of personal identity. The role concept of personality arose in American social psychology in the 30s of the 20th century. (C. Cooley, J. Mead) and became widespread in various sociological movements, primarily in structural-functional analysis. T. Parsons and his followers consider personality as a function of the many social roles that are inherent in any individual in a particular society. Charles Cooley believed that personality is formed on the basis of many interactions between people and the world around them. In the process of these interactions, people create their “mirror self,” which consists of three elements: 1. how we think others perceive us (“I’m sure people notice my new hairstyle”); 2. how we think they react to 3. what they see (“I’m sure they like my new hairstyle”); 4. how we respond to the reactions we perceive from others (“I guess I’ll always wear my hair like this”). This theory places importance on our interpretation of other people's thoughts and feelings. American psychologist George Herbert Mead went further in his analysis of the process of development of our “I”. Like Cooley, he believed that the “I” is a social product, formed on the basis of relationships with other people. At first, as small children, we are not able to explain to ourselves the motives for the behavior of others. Having learned to comprehend their behavior, children thereby take the first step into life. Having learned to think about themselves, they can think about others; the child begins to acquire a sense of his “I”. According to Mead, the process of personality formation includes three different stages. The first is imitation. At this stage, children copy the behavior of adults without understanding it. This is followed by the play stage, when children understand behavior as the performance of certain roles: doctor, fireman, race driver, etc.; during the game they reproduce these roles.
[edit]
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The current version of the page has not yet been verified by experienced participants and may differ significantly from the version verified on March 20, 2012; 1 edit requires verification.
Social role- a model of human behavior, objectively specified by the social position of the individual in the system of social (public and personal) relations. In other words, a social role is “the behavior that is expected of a person occupying a certain status.” Modern society requires an individual to constantly change his behavior pattern to perform specific roles. In this regard, such neo-Marxists and neo-Freudians as T. Adorno, K. Horney and others in their works made a paradoxical conclusion: the “normal” personality of modern society is a neurotic. Moreover, in modern society, role conflicts that arise in situations where an individual is required to simultaneously perform several roles with conflicting requirements are widespread.
Irving Goffman, in his studies of interaction rituals, accepting and developing the basic theatrical metaphor, paid attention not so much to role prescriptions and passive adherence to them, but to the very processes of active construction and maintenance of “appearance” in the course of communication, to zones of uncertainty and ambiguity in interaction , mistakes in the behavior of partners.
Types of social roles
The types of social roles are determined by the variety of social groups, types of activities and relationships in which the individual is included. Depending on social relations, social and interpersonal social roles are distinguished.
§ Social roles associated with social status, profession or type of activity (teacher, student, student, salesperson). These are standardized impersonal roles, built on the basis of rights and responsibilities, regardless of who plays these roles. There are socio-demographic roles: husband, wife, daughter, son, grandson... Man and woman are also social roles, biologically predetermined and presupposing specific modes of behavior, enshrined in social norms and customs.
§ Interpersonal roles associated with interpersonal relationships that are regulated at the emotional level (leader, offended, neglected, family idol, loved one, etc.).
In life, in interpersonal relationships, each person acts in some dominant social role, a unique social role as the most typical individual image, familiar to others. Changing a habitual image is extremely difficult both for the person himself and for the perception of the people around him. The longer a group exists, the more familiar the dominant social roles of each group member become to those around them and the more difficult it is to change the behavior pattern habitual to those around them.
[edit]Characteristics of a social role
The main characteristics of the social role were highlighted by the American sociologist Talcott Parsons. He proposed the following four characteristics of any role:
§ By scale. Some roles may be strictly limited, while others may be blurred.
§ By method of receipt. Roles are divided into prescribed and conquered (they are also called achieved).
§ According to the degree of formalization. Activities can take place either within strictly established limits or arbitrarily.
§ By type of motivation. The motivation can be personal profit, public good, etc.
Scope of the role depends on the range of interpersonal relationships. The larger the range, the larger the scale. For example, the social roles of spouses have a very large scale, since the widest range of relationships is established between husband and wife. On the one hand, these are interpersonal relationships based on a variety of feelings and emotions; on the other hand, relations are regulated by regulations and, in a certain sense, are formal. The participants in this social interaction are interested in a variety of aspects of each other’s lives, their relationships are practically unlimited. In other cases, when relationships are strictly defined by social roles (for example, the relationship between a seller and a buyer), interaction can only be carried out for a specific reason (in this case, purchases). Here the scope of the role is limited to a narrow range of specific issues and is small.
How to get a role depends on how inevitable the role is for the person. Thus, the roles of a young man, an old man, a man, a woman are automatically determined by the age and gender of a person and do not require special efforts to acquire them. There can only be a problem of compliance with one’s role, which already exists as a given. Other roles are achieved or even won during the course of a person's life and as a result of targeted special efforts. For example, the role of a student, researcher, professor, etc. These are almost all roles related to the profession and any achievements of a person.
Formalization as a descriptive characteristic of a social role is determined by the specifics of interpersonal relationships of the bearer of this role. Some roles involve the establishment of only formal relationships between people with strict regulation of rules of behavior; others, on the contrary, are only informal; still others may combine both formal and informal relationships. It is obvious that the relationship between a traffic police representative and a traffic rule violator should be determined by formal rules, and relationships between close people should be determined by feelings. Formal relationships are often accompanied by informal ones, in which emotionality is manifested, because a person, perceiving and evaluating another, shows sympathy or antipathy towards him. This occurs when people have been interacting for some time and the relationship has become relatively stable.
Motivation depends on the needs and motives of the person. Different roles are driven by different motives. Parents, caring for the well-being of their child, are guided primarily by a feeling of love and care; the leader works for the sake of the cause, etc.
[edit]Role conflicts
Role conflicts arise when the duties of a role are not fulfilled due to subjective reasons (unwillingness, inability).
Motivation is divided into externally organized and internally organized (or, as Western psychologists write, external and internal). The first is associated with the influence on the subject’s formation of the motive for the action or deed of other people (with the help of advice, suggestion, etc.). The extent to which this intervention will be perceived by the subject depends on the degree of his suggestibility, conformity and negativism.
Suggestibility- this is the subject’s tendency to uncritical (involuntary) compliance with the influences of other people, their advice, instructions, even if they contradict his own beliefs and interests.
This is an unconscious change in one’s behavior under the influence of suggestion. Suggestible subjects are easily infected by the moods, views and habits of other people. They are often prone to imitation. Suggestibility depends both on the stable properties of a person - a high level of neuroticism, weakness of the nervous system (Yu. E. Ryzhkin, 1977), and on his situational states - anxiety, self-doubt or emotional arousal.
Suggestibility is influenced by such personal characteristics as low self-esteem and feelings of inferiority, humility and devotion, an undeveloped sense of responsibility, timidity and shyness, gullibility, increased emotionality and impressionability, daydreaming, superstitiousness and faith, a tendency to fantasize, unstable beliefs and uncritical thinking ( N. N. Obozov, 1997, etc.).
Increased suggestibility is typical for children, especially 10-year-olds. This is explained by the fact that their critical thinking is still poorly developed, which reduces the degree of suggestibility. True, at the age of 5 and after 10, especially among older schoolchildren, there is a decrease in suggestibility (A.I. Zakharov (1998), see Fig. 9.1). By the way, the latter was noted among older adolescents at the end of the 19th century. A. Binet (1900) and A. Nechaev (1900).
The degree of suggestibility of women is higher than that of men (V. A. Petrik, 1977; L. Levenfeld, 1977).
Another stable personality characteristic is conformity, the study of which was initiated by S. Asch (1956).
Conformity- this is a person’s tendency to voluntarily consciously (arbitrarily) change his expected reactions in order to get closer to the reaction of others due to the recognition that they are more right. At the same time, if the intention or social attitudes that a person had coincide with those of those around him, then we are no longer talking about conformity.
The concept of “conformity” has many meanings in Western psychological literature. For example, R. Crutchfield (1967) speaks of “internal conformity,” which is described as close to suggestibility.
Conformity is also called intragroup suggestion or suggestibility (note that some authors, for example, A.E. Lichko et al. (1970) do not equate suggestibility and conformity, noting the lack of dependence between them and the difference in the mechanisms of their manifestation). Other researchers distinguish between two types of conformity: “acceptance,” when an individual changes his views, attitudes, and corresponding behavior, and “agreement,” when a person follows a group without sharing its opinion (in Russian science this is called conformism). If a person tends to constantly agree with the opinion of the group, he is a conformist; if he tends to disagree with the opinion imposed on him, then he is classified as a nonconformist (the latter, according to foreign psychologists, includes about a third of people).
There are external and internal conformity. In the first case, a person returns to his previous opinion as soon as the group pressure on him disappears. With internal conformity, he retains the accepted group opinion even after the pressure from the outside has ceased.
The degree of a person’s subordination to a group depends on many external (situational) and internal (personal) factors, which (mostly external) were systematized by A. P. Sopikov (1969). These include:
Age and gender differences: among children and youth there are more conformists than among adults (maximum conformity is noted at 12 years of age, its noticeable decrease is after 1-6 years); women are more susceptible to group pressure than men;
Difficulty of the problem being solved: the more difficult it is, the more the individual submits to the group; the more complex the task and the more ambiguous the decisions made, the higher the conformity;
A person’s status in a group: the higher he is, the less this person shows conformity;
The nature of the group affiliation: the subject entered the group of his own free will or under duress; in the latter case, his psychological subjugation is often only superficial;
Attractiveness of the group for the individual: the subject lends himself more easily to the reference group;
Goals facing a person: if his group competes with another group, the subject's conformity increases; if group members compete with each other, it decreases (the same is observed when defending a group or personal opinion);
The presence and effectiveness of a connection that confirms the correctness or incorrectness of a person’s conforming actions: when an action is wrong, a person can return to his point of view.
With pronounced conformism, a person’s decisiveness increases when making decisions and forming intentions, but at the same time, the feeling of his individual responsibility for an act committed together with others weakens. This is especially noticeable in groups that are not socially mature enough.
Although the influence of situational factors often prevails over the role of individual differences, there are still people who are easily persuaded in any situation (S. Hovland, I. Janis, 1959; I. Janis, P. Field, 1956).
Such people have certain personality traits. It has been revealed, for example, that the most conforming children suffer from an “inferiority complex” and have insufficient “ego strength” (Hartup, 1970). They tend to be more dependent and anxious than their peers, and are sensitive to the opinions and hints of others. Children with such personality traits tend to constantly control their behavior and speech, that is, they have a high level of self-control. They care about how they look in the eyes of others, they often compare themselves with their peers.
According to F. Zimbardo (1977), shy people who have low self-esteem are easily persuaded. It is no coincidence that a connection has been identified between a person’s low self-esteem and his easy susceptibility to outside persuasion (W. McGuire, 1985). This happens due to the fact that they have little respect for their opinions and attitudes, therefore, their motivation to defend their beliefs is weakened. They consider themselves wrong in advance.
R. Nurmi (1970) provides data according to which conformers are characterized by rigidity and a weak nervous system.
It should, however, be kept in mind in what situation conformity manifests itself - in a normative or informational one. This may also affect its connections with other personality traits. In an information situation, there is a noticeable tendency to connect conformity with extraversion (N. N. Obozov, 1997).