Status of social psychology. The concept of a small group in social psychology What is psychological status
Not today, and not even yesterday, people began to hurt their souls. Sick minds (blissful and insane) were often helped to survive by compassionate people, shelters, monasteries, almshouses, and hospitals. But not at all times and always helped mentally ill people. In the Middle Ages in Western Europe there were persecutions of witches and sorcerers, among whom there could be thousands of insane people. They were burned at the stake and disposed of.
In 1547 in London, from the dormitory of the religious brotherhood "Our Lord from Bethlehem", the Bethlem Royal Hospital arose - the first insane asylum (Bedlam).
Only in the time of the Great french revolution in 1798, Phillip Pinel, appointed senior physician of the Salpêtrière hospital, ordered the mentally ill to be removed from the chains.
In Russia, the writer A.P. Chekhov in the story "Ward No. 6" describes the psychiatric department of a hospital with obligatory sauerkraut in the wing, an orderly and abandoned patients.
“There is a small outbuilding in the hospital yard ... and a gray hospital fence with nails. These nails, pointing upwards, and the fence, and the outbuilding itself have that special dull, accursed look that we have only in hospital and prison buildings. And the outhouse itself has that special dull, accursed look that we have only in hospitals and prison buildings. If you are not afraid of getting burned by nettles, then let's go along the narrow path leading to the outbuilding and see what is happening inside. Having opened the first door, we enter the vestibule. Here, against the walls and near the stove, whole mountains of hospital rubbish are piled up. Mattresses, old tattered dressing gowns, pantaloons, shirts with blue stripes, useless, worn-out shoes - all this rags are piled up, crumpled, tangled, rotting and emitting a suffocating smell.
On the rubbish, always with a pipe in his mouth, lies the watchman Nikita, an old retired soldier with red stripes. He has a stern, exhausted face, drooping eyebrows, giving the face the expression of a steppe sheep dog, and a red nose; he is short, lean and wiry in appearance, but his posture is impressive and his fists are hefty. He belongs to those simple-hearted, positive, diligent and stupid people who love order more than anything in the world and are therefore convinced that they must be beaten. He hits in the face, in the chest, in the back, in anything, and I am sure that without this there would be no order here.
Next, you enter a large, spacious room that occupies the entire outbuilding, except for the entrance hall. The walls here are smeared with dirty blue paint, the ceiling is smoky, as in a chicken hut - it is clear that stoves smoke here in winter and it can be carbon monoxide. The windows from the inside are disfigured by iron bars. Paul is gray and splintery. It stinks of sauerkraut, wick, bugs and ammonia, and this stink at first gives you the impression that you are entering a menagerie. There are beds in the room, bolted to the floor. People sit and lie on them in blue hospital gowns and old-fashioned caps. This is crazy. There are five of them in all. Only one of noble rank, the rest are all philistines.
What does a psychologist need to know about a person's mental status?
Can't get down to the basics psychological counseling without knowledge about the client - his ordinary life, his usual social circle in society, with friends and relatives. The psychologist needs to tune his soul to a wave of understanding with the client, which, in general, is very difficult to know and understand.
Studying and then describing the psychological status of the client, the first thing we, psychologists, pay attention to is his appearance, his clothes, movements, facial expressions and various manifestations of mental processes experienced by a person. Many signs will tell you how much it corresponds to the physical, psychological and mental status of a given person (age of a person, his following fashion or neglecting it).
Not only clothing, but also its use, the manner of dressing, walking, gesticulating can be an illustrative example of its connection with character traits.
When looking at a client, the psychologist first of all pays attention to the eyes. The eyes are the mirror of the soul.
Status (lat. status - state, position) is an abstract multi-valued term, in a general sense, denoting a set of stable values of the parameters of an object or subject.
What is the mental status of a person and how to describe it to a psychologist?
Mental status - a description of the state of the human psyche, including its intellectual, emotional and physiological capabilities. The mental status is descriptive and informative in nature with the reliability of the psychological (psychopathological) "portrait" and from the standpoint of clinical information (i.e. assessment)
Description of mental status.
1. Conversation in the office
2. Determination of a clear or clouded consciousness (if necessary, differentiation of these states). If there is no doubt about the presence of a clear (not clouded) consciousness, this section can be omitted.
1. Appearance: neat, well-groomed, careless, make-up, corresponds (does not correspond) to age, features of clothing and more.
2. Behavior: calm, fussy, excitement (describe his character), gait, posture (free, natural, unnatural, artsy (describe), forced, ridiculous, monotonous), other features of motor skills.
3. Features of contact: active (passive), productive (unproductive - describe how it manifests itself), interested, benevolent, hostile, oppositional, spiteful, "negativistic", formal, and so on.
4. The nature of the statements (the main part of the “composition” of the mental status, from which the assessment of the leader and obligatory feature and symptom).
1. In the mental status, emphasis is placed on the client's attitude to his experiences. Therefore, it is appropriate to use such expressions as “reports”, “believes”, “convinced”, “asserts”, “declares”, “assumes” and others. Thus, the client's assessment of previous events, experiences, sensations now, at the present time should be reflected.
2. It is necessary to begin the description of real experiences of a knowledgeable (that is, belonging to a certain group) syndrome, which led to an appeal to a psychologist (client's request).
For example: mood disorders (low, high), hallucinatory phenomena, delusional experiences (content), psychomotor agitation (stupor), pathological sensations, memory impairment, and so on.
4. The description of the leading symptom and syndrome should be exhaustive, that is, using not only the data of the client's subjective self-report, but also including clarifications and additions identified during the conversation.
5. For maximum objectification and accuracy of the description, it is recommended to use quotations (direct speech of the client), which should be brief and reflect only those features of the speech (and word formation) of the client that reflect his condition and cannot be replaced by another adequate (corresponding) speech turnover.
For example: neologisms, paraphasias, figurative comparisons, specific and characteristic expressions and turns, and more. Quotations should not be abused in cases where the presentation in one's own words does not affect the informative significance of these statements.
An exception is the citation of longer examples of speech in cases of violation of its purposefulness, logical and grammatical structure (slipping, diversity, reasoning)
For example: incoherence (confusion) of speech in clients with disturbed consciousness, ataxias (incoherence of thinking) in schizoids, incoherence of speech in clients with psychomotor agitation and clients with different forms dementia and so on.
6. Description of the client's attitude to the existing situation - as hostile, oppositional, spiteful (describe), forced, unacceptable.
7. Description of additional hidden features, that is, naturally occurring within a certain cluster, but which may be absent.
For example: low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts in depressive syndrome.
7. Description of optional symptoms depending on pathoplastic facts (“soil”).
For example: pronounced somatovegetative disorders in depressive (subdepressive) syndrome, as well as phobias, senestopathy, obsessions in the structure of the same syndrome.
8. Emotional reactions:
1. The client's reaction to his experiences, the psychologist's clarifying questions, comments, attempts at correction, and so on.
2. Other emotional reactions (except for describing the manifestations of an affective disorder as the leading psychopathology of the syndrome).
1. Facial expressions (facial reactions): lively, rich, poor, monotonous, expressive, “frozen”, monotonous, artsy (mannered), grimacing, mask-like, hypomimia, amimia (loss of the ability to express with gestures and facial expressions), etc.
2. Voice: quiet, loud, monotonous, modulated, expressive and so on.
3. Vegetative manifestations: hyperemia, pallor, increased respiration, pulse rate, hyperhidrosis, etc.
4. Change in emotional response at the mention of relatives, psychotraumatic situations, and other emotional factors.
5. Adequacy (correspondence) of emotional reactions to the content of the conversation and the nature of painful experiences.
For example: the absence of manifestations of fear, anxiety when the patient is currently experiencing verbal hallucinations of a threatening and frightening nature.
6. Observance by the client of distance and tact (in conversation).
9. Speech: literate, primitive, rich, poor, logically harmonious (illogical and paralogical), purposeful (with violation of purposefulness), grammatically harmonious (agrammatic), connected (incoherent), consistent (inconsistent), detailed, "inhibited" (slowed down ), accelerated in pace, verbose, "speech pressure", sudden stops in speech, silence, and so on. Bring the most bright examples speeches (quotes).
5. It is not necessary to note the disorders currently absent in the client, although in some cases this can be reflected in order to prove that the psychologist was actively trying to identify other (possibly hidden, dissimulated) symptoms, as well as symptoms that the client does not consider a manifestation mental disorder and therefore does not actively report them.
At the same time, one should not write in a generalized way: for example, “without productive symptoms.” Most often, the absence of delusions and hallucinations is meant, while other productive symptoms (for example, affective disorders) are not taken into account.
In this case, it is better to specifically note what exactly the psychologist failed to identify (disorders in the perception of hallucinations, delusions).
For example: "delusions and hallucinations cannot be detected (or not detected)."
Or: “no memory impairment was detected.”
Or: "memory within the age norm"
Or: “intelligence corresponds to the education and lifestyle received”
6. Criticism to one's state - active (passive), complete (incomplete, partial), formal. Criticism to individual manifestations of signs of inadequacy of one's own state or lack of criticism to one's inadequate state to "changes in one's personality" as a whole.
It should be remembered that in a detailed description of such phenomena as "delusion" and the qualification of the syndrome as "delusional", it is inappropriate to note the absence of criticism (to delusion), since the lack of criticism is one of the leading symptoms of a delusional disorder.
7. The dynamics of the mental state during the conversation - an increase in fatigue, an improvement in contact (deterioration), an increase in suspicion, isolation, confusion, the appearance of delayed, slow, monosyllabic answers, spitefulness, aggressiveness, or, on the contrary, greater interest, trust, friendliness, friendliness.
John Sommers-Flanagan, Rita Sommers-Flanagan in the book "Clinical Interviewing" prescribed a study of the mental status of the client.
;"Mental status examination is a method of systematizing and evaluating clinical observations regarding the mental status and condition of the client. The main purpose of mental status examination is to diagnose actual cognitive processes. However, in recent years, mental status examination has become more extensive, some clinicians also include psychosocial history , clarification of personal history, therapy planning and diagnostic impressions.<..>Any person who is going to work in the field of security mental health, must be able to communicate competently professionally with other professionals through mental status examination reports" [pp. 334-335].
knowledge about the actual mental functioning of the client" (p. 335-337).
Main categories of mental status:
1. Appearance.
2. Behavior, or psychomotor activity.
3. Attitudes towards the interviewer.
4. Affect and mood.
5. Speech and thinking.
6. Perceptual disorders.
7. Orientation and consciousness.
8. Memory and intellectual abilities.
9. Reliability, reasonableness and understanding by the client of their problems.
......
During the study of the mental status of the observation, systematize in such a way as to develop a hypothesis about the actual mental functioning of the client on their basis.
Individual and cultural factors
The study of mental status can be complicated by distortions caused by the cultural susceptibility of the psychologist-interviewer. A client's cultural background can be a determining factor in their mental status.
Sometimes certain beliefs associated with a culture, especially religious beliefs, seem like insanity (or misconceptions) from other cultures. The same applies to beliefs and behaviors related to physical illness, entertainment, wedding rituals, and family customs. The interviewer must take into account the influence of individual and cultural factors. For example, these may be differences in culturally appropriate expressions of sadness, stress, humiliation, or the consequences of traumatic experiences. In addition, representatives of national and cultural minorities who have recently found themselves in a new cultural environment may express confusion, fear and distrust. In addition, in extreme or stressful situations disorientation can be demonstrated by people with physical disabilities.
Appearance
Observations are based mainly on physical characteristics and some demographic data.
Physical characteristics of clients include aspects such as cleanliness, clothing, pupillary dilation/contraction, facial expression, perspiration, makeup, tattoos, earrings and piercings, height, weight and build. The interviewer must carefully observe not only the appearance of clients, but also the peculiarities of their physical reaction to themselves or communication with him.
Gender, age, race and ethnicity may be relevant for interviews. “A client who looks older than his age may have a history of drug use, suffer from an organic mental disorder, or have physical illnesses. Appearance can also be an expression of his environment or the situation in which he finds himself.
Behavior and psychomotor activity
The interviewer must observe the client's behavior and record its features. Attention is paid to both excessive or insufficient activity, and the presence or absence of certain behaviors (for example, avoiding eye contact (taking into account cultural influences), grimaces, excessive eye contact (gazing), unusual or repetitive gestures and body positions). Clients may not admit to certain thoughts or feelings (such as being paranoid or depressed). And their behavior will contradict their words (for example, a tense posture and a gaze, or slow psychomotor skills and a motionless face).
Excessive mobility may indicate anxiety, drug use, or the manic phase of bipolar disorder. Excessive slowness may indicate an organic dysfunction of the brain. catatonic schizophrenia or narcotic stupor Depression can manifest either through agitation or psychomotor retardation. Some paranoid clients sometimes look around warily, constantly looking around, constantly fearing an external threat. Constant brushing of imaginary fluff or dust from clothes is sometimes associated with delirium, drug or drug intoxication.
Attitudes towards the interviewer
Aggression: clients express aggression verbally, with gestures, facial expressions. Clients may cut short and respond aggressively to questions such as “How idiotic” or “Of course I'm angry. Can you stop teasing me?"
Indifference: The appearance and movements of clients indicate indifference, lack of interest in the interview. Clients may yawn, drum with fingers, be distracted by extraneous interference.
Hostility: Clients are caustic and indirectly display malevolence (eg, through sarcasm, eye rolling, sour expression).
Fawning: Clients may be obsequious, too active in seeking the interviewer's approval and support. They may try to present themselves in the best possible light or agree with everything the interviewer says. Clients may make too many gestures of agreement (nodding their heads too often), smiling, not looking up from looking at the interviewer's face.
Manipulation: Can use the interviewer's words to their advantage "He was dishonest, wasn't he?"
Tension: constant or almost constant contact, the client moves with his whole body to the psychologist and listens to him tensely. Clients may speak in a loud and tense voice.
Negativism: Clients resist literally everything the interviewer says. They may not agree with unconditionally correct paraphrasing, reflection of feelings, generalizations. They may refuse to answer questions or remain silent. This behavior is also called oppositional.
Impatience: Customers sit on the edge of their chairs. Unable to endure long pauses or slow speech by the interviewer. They can express a desire to get a recipe for solving their problems, show hostility and consistency.
Passivity: Clients show neither interest nor resistance. They can use the phrase "As you say." They can sit and wait. Until they are told what to do.
Suspiciousness: Clients may look suspiciously, cast suspicious glances, ask questions about what the interviewer is recording.
Seduction: Clients may seductively or provocatively touch or stroke themselves, move in close, and attempt to touch the interviewer.
Content of affect
Content of affect
First you should determine what kind of affective state you are observing from the client.
What is it - sadness, euphoria, anxiety, fear, anger, anxiety, fear, guilt or remorse, happiness or joy, sadness, surprise, irritation?
Indicators of an affective state can be facial expression, body position, movements and tone of voice of the client.
Range and duration
In some cases, the client's affective range may be too variable; in other cases, it may be quite limited.
As a rule, clients with obsessive-compulsive symptoms show a limited affective range, while clients with manic and hysterical signs show an extremely wide range of emotions, moving from happiness to sadness and back quite quickly. This pattern is called the labile effect. Sometimes during interviews, clients show little or no affect, as if their emotional life has completely stopped (flattened affect). Signs of a flattened effect in clients are an inability to establish emotional contact with people (when taking antipsychotic drugs, schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease).
Adequacy
The adequacy of the affect is judged in the context of the content of the client's speech and the life situation in which he is. For example, the client talks about an undeniably tragic incident and at the same time giggles or demonstrates striking emotional indifference to their situation.
Depth or intensity
Some clients look deeply saddened, while others seem more superficial. Perhaps some clients may go out of their way to "keep a good face on a bad game." However, through careful observation of tone of voice, body position, facial expression, and ability to quickly move (or not move) to new topic the interviewer can get at least some idea of the depth and intensity of the affect. Affect characteristics can be: euphoric. labile, inadequate in relation to the content of speech and life situation, superficial.
Mood
In the study of mental status, mood and affect are considered as two different concepts.
The client's mood should be ascertained through simple, non-directive open-ended questions, such as: "How would you describe your mood?", "How do you feel in recent times?” rather than closed directive questions like “Do you feel overwhelmed?”. When clients are asked about their condition, some of them begin to describe their physical condition or life situation. In this case, just listen to them and then ask: “What about emotions? How do you feel (regarding your physical condition or life situation)?
It's a good idea to write down verbatim the customer's responses to your question about their mood. This makes it possible to compare the client's descriptions of his mood at different times and compare with his description of his thoughts, since the latter can explain the dominant character of the former.
Mood differs from affect in several ways. characteristic features: it is usually more long-term; does not change as spontaneously as affect; creates an emotional background; It is characterized by the client himself, while the affect is clarified by the interviewer.
Figuratively speaking, mood is related to affect in the same way that climate is related to weather.
Speech and thinking
From the point of view of the study of mental status, speech and thinking are closely related. The interviewer observes and diagnoses the client's thought processes, primarily through speech, non-verbal behavior, and body language.
Speech
Speech is characterized by categories such as tempo (i.e. speed of speech), loudness level, and volume.
The tempo and volume level can be:
High (fast pace, loud speech);
Medium (normal or ordinary);
Low (slow pace, quiet speech).
The client's speech is usually described as tense (high speed), loud, slow or stammering (low speed), or soft or inaudible.
If the client speaks freely, without coercion, it is easier for the interviewer to diagnose their speech and thinking. Speech that was not prompted by direct prompting or questions from the interviewer is reported as spontaneous. Spontaneous speech with the client is easier for the interviewer to work with and provides easy access to his internal thought processes. However, some clients avoid open conversation and can only briefly answer direct questions. Such clients are said to have "poor speech". Some clients are very slow to respond to questions. In this case, they speak of an increased or prolonged response latency. The characteristic features of speech may include: accent, high or low tone, defects in vocabulary. Speech disorders include dysarthria (impaired articulation of speech; manifests itself in difficulty in pronunciation, especially with vowel sounds, bradyphasia [slow speech], discontinuity of speech), dysprosody (violation of the melody of speech, its rhythm and accents; manifests itself in muttering, merging words, or, conversely, long pauses and gaps between syllables and words), erratic speech (fast, unstructured, unintelligible speech) and stuttering. All this may be associated with brain disorders or drug intoxication.
Thinking process
Observation and diagnosis of thinking usually includes two broad categories: the mental content of thoughts. Thought process refers to how clients express their thoughts (orderly, organized, logical). Can clients "talk to the point"? The client may experience "verbal vinaigrette", neologisms, blocking thoughts. , a sudden stop in speech or thinking (with a symptom of anxiety, schizophrenia or depression).
Thought content
Thought content refers to the meaning of the client's messages. If a thinking process- it's like, the content of thoughts - this is what.
Characteristics of the thought process
Speech blocking. Sudden interruption of speech in the middle of a sentence. At the same time, there are no explainable reasons why the client stopped talking, and the client himself cannot explain this. Blocking can mean approaching an extremely painful topic. It may also indicate an intervention in the mind of delusional ideas or disturbances in perception.
Detailed speech. Violation of speech, manifested by a slowdown in its pace, the phenomena of bradylogy (difficulty and slowdown in the flow of associative processes (thinking, speech)), excessive thoroughness, viscosity, stuck in circumstances that are insignificant in meaning. The purpose of the statement, the speech task is preserved, but the path to them slows down significantly (typical in epilepsy and in people with a highly developed intellect, among scientists). In the end, they express their thought, but they do it not as directly and clearly as it could be. A lengthy speech can also be a sign of resistance from the client or an expression of paranoid thinking (or it could simply mean that the professor was not prepared for the lecture)
phenotypic associations. A combination of words that are not related in meaning only on the basis of a similar sound, appear through meaningless alliteration or rhymes. For example: "I'm so nasty, cocky, brutal, obstetrical" or "When I think about my dad, paw, sap, cap, tap." Of course, this phenomenon is not always spoken of as psychopathology and may be encouraged by a particular situation or subculture, such as the Rappers).
Leap of ideas. The client does not stop at main idea or unresponsive to a question, overexcited or hyper-energetic (in a manic or hypomanic state), or after taking an overdose of caffeine.
The weakening of the association. Lack or absence of logical connections between thoughts, phrases with their insignificant and abstract connection and events (with schizotypal personality disorders, schizophrenia). For example: “I love you. Bread gives life. Have I met you in church before? Incest is terrible." In this example, the client thinks of sympathy and love, then the love of God for people, expressed through the sacrifice of Christ, whose body is turned into bread in the sacrament of church communion, then the client thinks of the church and recalls the denunciation of the sin of incest during the sermon. The associations are rather weak, completely abstract.
Of course, in some people with non-standard, creative thinking, the weakening of associations is observed regularly.
Silence. Almost complete absence or limited self-expression (autism, catatonic schizophrenia).
Neologisms. Words invented by the client. Neologisms should be distinguished from reservations. They are created spontaneously in speech, i.e. are not a product creative thinking. For example, we have heard from our clients such words as "dive" and "platypus". It is very important to find out from the client the meaning and origin of the word. It can be gleaned from songs, books, films and other sources (“musi-pusi”, “fuck”, etc.).
Perseverations. Involuntary repetition of a word, phrase, or action. Perseverations often indicate psychotic disorders and brain damage. A similar form of behavior is often shown by teenagers when they are denied their requests and desires; although normal teenagers are rather persistent - if they are properly motivated, they can consciously stop.
Distracted speech. There is no consistency in the logic of words and sentences. Clients are unable to follow the sequence of thoughts. This is the highest degree of thought disorder.
Thought contents include delusions, obsessions, suicidal or homicidal thoughts (an attraction to homicide, an obsession with taking the life of another), phobias, or strong lasting emotions, especially guilt.
Delusions - deep delusions of the client, indicating a loss of contact with reality; they are not based on facts or real events. The interviewer should record delusional representations. You should not convince clients of the fallacy of their delusional ideas. Instead, you can ask questions that will help you better understand the delusion. For example: “How do you know that you really [describing a crazy idea]?
Delusional clients may suffer from persecutory delusions (paranoia), hypochondriacal delusions (believing they are suffering from a certain illness), delusions of self-blame, delusions of grandeur, and so on.
Obsessive states.
Obsessions are recurring and persistent ideas, thoughts, and images. Actual obsessions are always independent of the person's will and are usually perceived as meaningless or irrational even by those who experience them. If an individual loses control over certain thoughts, one can speak of an obsessive state (one client believed that he was “infested with bacilli and worms”, others performed meaningless rituals every day, or washed or checked something). Obsessive states are characterized primarily by a feeling of doubt and which do not prevent them from functioning normally at home or at work.
Perceptual disorders
Perception (from Latin perceptio) - sensory knowledge of objects of the surrounding world, subjectively presented as a direct reflection of reality by our senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch) and as an already structured reaction nervous system on the environment, in the form of already established images or phenomena.
Perceptual disturbances include hallucinations and illusions. Hallucinations are false sensory impressions or perceptions that occur without appropriate external stimuli. Illusions are understood as false, distorted perceptions of real objects.
Orientation and consciousness
When examining mental status, it is usually diagnosed whether the client is oriented in the situation in which he is (ie, whether clients are aware of where they are, who they are, etc.).
When disoriented, the client may not be able to correctly answer one or more of these orientation questions. In disorientation, clients usually lose their sense of time first, then place, and finally identity. The orientation is restored in the reverse order (first the person, then the place, then the time).
Orientation questions may be perceived by clients with a normal orientation as offensive. The simplest questions about orientation can humiliate them. Therefore, the determination of the orientation of the client should be approached with delicacy.
The interviewer asks simple questions.
Personality
What is your name?
Where are you from?
Where do you currently live?
What are you doing in free time?
You are working? If yes, then by whom?
Are you married(married)? What is the name of your spouse (your spouse)?
Do you have children?
Place
You have been through a lot in the last few days (hours). I wonder if you can describe where you are now (in what city, in what place)?
Can you name today's date? (If the client says that he remembers exactly, ask for at least a rough date, this will help establish the degree of orientation).
Do you remember what day of the week it is?
What month (year) is it?
How long have you been here?
Description of the state of consciousness:
clear;
tangled;
twilight;
Stuporous;
Unconscious;
comatose.
Memory and intellectual abilities
Memory
Memory is broadly understood as the ability to recall the past. I usually diagnose three types of memory: long-term, memory for recent events and short-term.
The possibility of confabulation of long-term memory means spontaneous falsification or distortion of memories. We even found that some couples have serious disagreements if memories of key events Husband and wife do not match. It is clear that human memory is imperfect, and as time passes, the interpretation of events may change. This is especially true in situations where the client is forced to recall the past. The client may talk about some fragmentary memories, but when pressure is exerted on him to expand or clarify the details, confabulations may occur. In this case, it is useful to contact relatives, friends, acquaintances of the client (legal consent is required). In addition, friends and relatives may be insincere, or memories will also be changed.
Clients may directly admit memory problems (but this is not a fact). Clients with depression often exaggerate the degree of cognitive decline by complaining about abnormal brain activity.
The most common technique for diagnosing short-term memory is counting back from one hundred to seven (100, 93, 86, 79). In this case, anxiety should be taken into account. cultural environment and level of education of the client.
Clients are sometimes sensitive to the results of performing cognitive tests. Their reactions range from self-doubt to subterfuge and open acknowledgment of their anxiety.
Intellectual abilities
D. Wexler defined intelligence as "a general ability ... to act rationally, think rationally and effectively interact with one's environment."
Intelligence = is a combination of several particular abilities, and not the general ability to adapt, R. Sternberg and V. Wagner believe. They propose a theory of the triple hierarchy of intelligence:
Academic problem solving;
Practical intelligence;
Creative intelligence.
D. Goleman gave a definition emotional intelligence the ability of a person to recognize emotions, understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people and their own, as well as the ability to manage their emotions and the emotions of other people in order to solve practical problems.
G. Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences states that there are seven or eight types of intelligence that manifest themselves in different areas.
Several methods are used to determine a client's intellectual ability during a mental status examination.
First, by the level of education of the client, the interviewer can judge his innate intelligence. At the same time, special emphasis is placed on academic intelligence.
Second, the client's ability to understand and use speech (vocabulary or word comprehension) is diagnosed. It has been proven that the characteristic vocabulary may serve as the only reliable indicator of potential IQ.
Third, intelligence is judged by the client's responses to questions designed to evoke a store of knowledge.
Fourth, intelligence is judged by answers to questions designed to diagnose abstract thinking.
Fifth, questions designed to diagnose judgment are used to diagnose intellectual functioning.
Sixth, the level of intellectual abilities is established on the basis of the client's answers to questions about orientation, consciousness and memory.
Reliability, reasonableness and understanding by the client of their problems
Reliability
The reliability of the client depends on that. how much he can be trusted, whether the information he provides is trustworthy. A reliable informant is a client who tries to describe their personal history and current situation truthfully and accurately. Some clients are extremely unreliable, for one reason or another they distort, falsify or outright fabricate their personal history or current situation.
Reliability can be established from a number of externally observable factors. Clients who are able to pay close attention to detail and spontaneously develop interviewer questions. Conversely, clients who are evasive or resistive are more likely to be unreliable informants. In some cases, it will be clearly visible that clients deliberately hide or downplay certain parts of their personal history. In some cases, if unreliability is suspected, it is worth contacting relatives, employers or other persons who can confirm the client's information. If there is any doubt about the reliability of the personal history, then this should be noted in the client's mental status study report.
prudence
Reasonable people are able to make constructive and adaptive decisions that reflect positively on their lives. When examining a client's activities, relationships, and professional choices, one might ask, for example, whether he is involved in any illegal activity or whether he has relationships that can be considered harmful. Does the client like to “tickle his nerves”, engage in life-threatening activities. Of course, consistently engaging in illegal or life-threatening activities and maintaining destructive relationships will be evidence that the individual is not judicious in the choice of activities or relationships. The interviewer can judge certain patterns of client behavior by answering questions about their actions in hypothetical situations.
Understanding the client's problems
Clients from high level understanding their problems may discuss possible emotional or psychosocial factors that may be causing their symptoms. Clients with a low level of understanding of their problems, on the contrary, when they are pointed to possible psychosocial or emotional explanations for the reasons for their condition: in many cases, they stubbornly deny the existence of any problems at all.
Interviewers use one of four descriptors to describe the extent to which a client understands their problems.
Missing. Clients who are credited with lack of understanding usually do not admit that they have a problem. They may blame other people for being accused of having psychosocial problems and being referred to a specialist or hospitalized.
Bad. Clients acknowledge minor problems or symptoms but rely solely on physical, medical, or situational factors to explain them. They do not want to accept the fact that the state of health can be determined emotional state. Such clients do not recognize any personal responsibility for their psychosocial problems or the specific role of non-physical factors in them. If they admit there is a problem, they usually see the solution only in medical or surgical treatment, or in isolation from those people who are allegedly responsible for this problem.
Partial. Clients who more often acknowledge the existence of a problem and the possible need for therapy than deny it have partial understanding. However, such a position may be replaced by misunderstanding and non-recognition of one's problem, and as a result, a premature termination of psychotherapy is possible.
Good. Clients readily admit that there is a problem that requires adequate psychotherapy” [p.334-372].
References: Sommer-Flanagan, John, Sommer-Flanagan, Rita. Clinical interview. Moscow: Williams Publishing House, 2006.
Socio-psychological status- a concept denoting the position of a person in the system of interpersonal relations and the measure of his psychological influence on the members of the group.
social perception- the field of socio-psychological research, which studies the processes and mechanisms of people's perception and evaluation of various social objects, events, and other people.
low status- "invisible" role of the subject in interpersonal relations; the individual has little or no influence on the dynamics of relationships within the group.
high status- a significant position in the group and active influence on the dynamics of relations in the group.
The well-known tendency of adolescents to group and a peculiar, often rigid, intra-group status differentiation, inherent not only informal groups, but also school class, makes it necessary to consider the relationship between a teenager's self-esteem and his socio-psychological status. The data of a number of studies by domestic psychologists show the presence of this relationship, which, first of all, positively correlates with the level characteristics of adolescents' self-esteem.
Ya. L. Kolominsky (1976) established a number of interesting patterns social perception in teenagers:
- a tendency to overestimate the sociometric status of low-status students and to an underestimated high-status ;
- egocentric leveling - the tendency to attribute to other members of the group a status either equal to one's own or lower;
- retrospective optimization - the tendency to more favorably evaluate their status in the previous groups.
Subsequent research in this area confirms the influence of adolescent self-esteem features on his socio-psychological status in the classroom: the more self-critical a teenager is and the higher his self-esteem, the higher his positive sociometric status. And further, the higher the self-esteem and the higher the level of claims, the lower the positive sociometric status or the higher the negative status, depending on the behavioral characteristics of a person manifested in relation to the group: those prone to rational conformism fall into the group of “neglected”, prone to nonconformism fall to the "rejected" group.
The reason for this dependence, some authors find in the growth of criticality of adolescents to themselves. At the same time, they point out that a teenager's misunderstanding of his position in a team is often one of the main causes of conflict situations.
Deviation in the adequacy of a teenager's awareness of his position in the team, both in the direction of overestimation and in the direction of underestimation, can lead to undesirable results. If, for example, a student overestimates his position, then, as a rule, he has a negative attitude towards his comrades, showing neglect, while underestimation leads to the emergence of uncertainty, alienation in a teenager.
Self-assessment and pedagogical assessment
Also of interest is the question of the influence of pedagogical assessment on the self-esteem of adolescents.
AT domestic psychology this issue was comprehensively investigated by B. G. Ananiev, who singled out two main functions of pedagogical assessment: orienting(impact on the intellectual sphere) and stimulating(impact on the affective-volitional sphere of personality). The combination of these functions forms the child's knowledge of himself and his experience of his own qualities, that is, self-awareness and self-esteem.
The evaluative influence of the educator also affects the developing relationships of children in the class, their mutual evaluation, expressed, for example, in the popularity and reputation of each individual student (1948).
Research scientists
E. L. Nosenko's research was aimed at identifying the mechanisms of connection between a teenager's self-esteem and the success of his education.
The researcher did not confine herself to the general thesis about the influence of self-esteem on the decrease in the effectiveness of a teenager with low self-esteem due to his lower self-confidence. The author suggested that the mechanism of the influence of self-assessment on the effectiveness of the child's intellectual activity is based on emotional experiences accompanying the activities of a teenager.
The results of studies have shown that the level of self-esteem of adolescents significantly affects both qualitative indicators the effectiveness of intellectual activity, and for the time of its implementation, if there are emotional factors in the situation (for example, the stress of failure, increased responsibility for the quality of activity, etc.).
In adolescents with low self-esteem, the indicators of the quality of activity in emotional situations are statistically lower. significant level than adolescents with high self-esteem, and the time to complete activities is longer. The author explains this trend by the worse adaptation of adolescents with low self-esteem to emotional situations, which leads to the emergence of emotional tension, which negatively affects the qualitative characteristics of the time of performing activities (1998).
Deviations in development
Affect of inadequacy
Affect of inadequacy- inappropriate emotional reactions. The experience of imaginary injustice and inadequate resentment by the subject in a situation of failure, when one's own responsibility for failure is denied, a defensive form of awareness of what happened is used, and other or circumstances are blamed for failures.
Formation of the child's personality in to a large extent depends on how the relationship develops in the course of his life between his claims, self-esteem and his real possibilities to satisfy his claims, to justify his self-esteem.
The main sign of the presence affect of inadequacy in adolescents, there is a manifestation of inadequate reactions to failure, that is, ignoring it. More specifically, it looks like this: failure does not reduce claims; a teenager absolutely does not allow the idea that the reasons for failure may lie in himself, he always blames someone else or objective circumstances for his failures; he has a feeling of resentment and confidence that he is being unfair.
This kind of affect of inadequacy occurs in adolescents quite often and is a serious obstacle to the correct, full-fledged formation of personality. Since such an affect is a barrier that separates the personality from reality, then under its influence, such traits as touchiness, suspiciousness, suspicion, isolation, aggressiveness are formed in a teenager.
The concept of socio-psychological status determines the position of a person in the system of interpersonal relations and the measure of his psychological influence on the members of the group. A person can occupy different places in the system of interpersonal relations in a team, and in one group he can occupy a very high status, and in another group, on the contrary, a very low one.
Socio-psychological status cannot be fully understood and explained on the basis of individual features personality, her psychological qualities. When characterizing the status, it is necessary to take into account the relations of the wider social system in which this group is included and in which it functions.
The socio-psychological status of a person affects his authority and, in turn, is largely determined by it.
Usually, status is understood as the position of an individual, established in terms of rights, duties and privileges. Prestige, powers, rewards - this is a component of the social status of each individual.
Peculiar symbols of the social status of an individual in the eyes of the members of the labor collective surrounding him can be his position, title, salary, the number of books read or the presence of a personal library, the size of the apartment occupied, access to information sources, living in a certain area of the city, etc. . Naturally, in the conditions of the modern world, there are different prices and different weights of these symbols in the eyes of representatives of various social groups and classes.
In the West, the social status of a person is determined by such characteristics as the amount of income, occupation, belonging to a particular social group.
The characteristics of the status of a Russian person, as in pre-perestroika times, are, first of all, labor successes and achievements, the level of education, the social prestige of the profession, the breadth of cultural and spiritual needs and interests. A person enjoys more or less respect and authority, is accepted or rejected by various groups, depending on what place his qualities occupy in a number of values accepted in a given social environment.
Now let's talk about prestige: Many people confuse status with prestige. Prestige is one of the most important characteristics of status, a kind of measure of recognition by society of the merits of an individual, whose behavior and activities are in accordance with the social expectations of the team to which he belongs, and society as a whole. The gain or loss of prestige is one of the mechanisms of interaction between society and the individual. The basis for gaining prestige is usually the socially significant characteristics of the individual: high moral qualities, participation in socially useful affairs, achievements in certain areas of activity. The appropriation of public prestige usually occurs at two levels: official AND unofficial. In the first case, it is carried out by certain state or public organizations "in the form of awarding official signs of prestige - orders," titles; degrees, etc. In the second, prestige is awarded directly by a social group and is expressed in a feeling of love and respect for a given individual, public recognition of his value.
These two levels are interconnected and inseparable from each other in all those cases; when the norms, value orientations, social expectations of the labor group correspond to the social values of the social system as a whole. Knowing the position occupied by a person in the structure of a particular social group, i.e. having an idea of her social status, you can correlate it with certain standards of behavior that are expected and required from a person in a given situation.
1.1 The concept of socio-psychological status, the main approaches to the study of status
The word "status" came to sociology from the Latin language. AT Ancient Rome it denoted a state legal status legal entity. However, at the end of the 19th century, scientists gave it a new sound. Status - the social position of a person in society. Social status - a generalized characteristic that covers the profession, economic situation, political opportunities, demographic characteristics of a person.
Although the status is almost the most common concept in sociology, a single interpretation of its nature in this science has not been achieved. F. Bates writes that status is commonly understood as a designation of rank, place in social structure associated with a certain set of norms [cit. according to 22, p.201].
M. Weber considered social status in terms of prestige and associated it with the high position of the individual in society.
The classic formulation was proposed in the 1930s by the American anthropologist and sociologist Ralph Linton. He clearly separated the status from the role, while saying that the status of a person occupies as a certain cell (occupy a status), and a person needs to play a role (play a role). Therefore, status is a position in the social structure, and certain thinking and actions stand behind the role. If the status indicates a person's place in society or a group, then the role indicates a way or model of behavior. R. Linton's position was followed, if not by the majority, then by many modern sociologists, including the author of the most famous foreign textbook on sociology in our country, N. Smelzer. Other sociologists agree with him. In particular, T. Marshal and M. Hagopyan believe that the status indicates a position that is associated with a range of rights and obligations, privileges and obligations, opportunities or restrictions attributed by law, recognized publicly and supported by authority. public opinion.
Some sociologists confuse two concepts: status and prestige. So, for example, P. Sorokin believes that status is synonymous with prestige. However, P. Sorokin, in contrast to R. Linton and N. Smelzer, understood by status not only prestige, but also social rank. In other words, not just a position in the social structure, but high, medium or low. In everyday language, this interpretation of status is most often used, and when they want to emphasize the high position of a person or country, they say that they have a high status.
E. Bergel insists on the need to distinguish between two concepts - prestige and status. For example, Reagan and Johnson are both presidents of the United States. They have the same status but different prestige. Prestige refers to specific achievements in a well-known or established field [op. according to 48, p.195].
In addition to these approaches, there are at least two more points of view, the authorship of which is difficult or impossible to establish. The first position consists in identifying the status and role, the second - in attributing an integrating function to the status.
There is another generalizing concept - socioeconomic status. It includes education, profession and income.
A. Kravchenko, analyzing different approaches to the definition of the concept of "status", believes that one model can be distinguished, which has four parameters that describe the concept of "status":
Status name (usually consists of one word: man, teenager).
Definition of status (describes the essence of status and its place in a group or society). Examples of determining the status: lawyer - a person whose profession is the provision of legal assistance to citizens and organizations, the protection of their interests in court; shareholder - a natural or legal person who owns shares of this joint-stock company.
Status rank - the place of this status in the social hierarchy (high, medium, low).
A person daily interacts with different people and social groups. Entering at the same time in many social groups, he occupies in each of them a corresponding position, due to the relationship with other members of the group. To analyze the degree of inclusion of an individual in various groups, as well as the positions that he occupies in each of them, the concepts of social status are used.
Yu.P.Platonov defines social status as the position of an individual or group in a social system, which has features specific to this system. Each social status has a certain prestige.
All social statuses can be divided into two main types: those that are assigned to the individual by society or a group, regardless of his abilities and efforts, and those that the individual achieves through his own efforts.
There is a wide range of basic statuses:
▪ prescribed,
▪ achieved,
▪ mixed,
▪ personal,
▪ professional,
▪ economic,
▪ political,
▪ demographic,
▪ religious
▪ consanguineous.
In addition to them, there are a huge number of episodic, non-main statuses. These are the statuses of a pedestrian, a passer-by, a patient, a witness, a participant in a demonstration, a strike or a crowd, a reader, a listener, a TV viewer, etc. As a rule, these are temporary states. The rights and obligations of holders of such statuses are often not registered in any way.
People have many statuses and belong to many social groups.
The American sociologist R. Merton in the middle of the 20th century introduced the concept of the status set of an individual - this is the totality of all statuses belonging to one individual.
The status set of each person is individual, that is, unique in all details. He, as "a set of points in physical space belonging to one body, accurately captures the position of a person in social space - the position of an individual in society." It is worth changing one of them, say, gender or profession, and leaving all the others unchanged, as we get a similar, but different person. Even if all the main statuses of two people coincide, which happens not so often, the non-basic ones will necessarily differ [cit. according to 46, p.204].
Status, especially high, imposes certain obligations on its bearer - a set of restrictions that relate primarily to behavior. The higher the status, the more severe restrictions are imposed on human behavior. It is no coincidence that they say: position obliges.
Status behavior manifests itself in three areas:
Acquisition of status;
Behavior in a status position;
Loss of status.
The influence of the social role on the development of the individual is quite large. The development of personality is facilitated by its interaction with persons playing a number of roles, as well as its participation in the largest possible role repertoire. The more social roles an individual is able to play, the more adapted to life he is. Thus, the process of personality development often acts as the dynamics of mastering social roles.
Gaining and losing status affect people differently. A newly achieved status requires a more rigid conformity from a person than a status acquired long ago. A person who feels that his standard of living has fallen and it is difficult for him to maintain his former status will seize on the slightest opportunity to maintain his former position, rather than allow himself actions corresponding to a lower status, in which he may already have been placed by the blows of fate.
Leading expert Russian Institute directors, Russian Academy education M.V. Klarin, referring to numerous foreign studies, shows that people are more willing to respond to the request stranger with a high status, which they become aware of by his appearance and clothing, or from previously obtained information about him. The influence of status is strong enough to suppress some reactions. It is known, for example, that a driver who does not move after the green light is turned on gets less honking if he has an expensive car. Moreover, if they begin to honk to him, then much later than to someone who has a car of a non-prestigious brand. Conversely, a high-status person blocked at a traffic light by a middle class car reacts more aggressively.
Thus, Lefkowitz et al showed that when a high-status person violated traffic rules by crossing the road at a red light, 20% of people began to follow his example, while in a control situation or under a low-status condition, the violation occurred only in 1% cases. The study by Gegen and Pichot confirmed these results and even demonstrated a reaction suppression effect (fewer cases of copying the status model) at low status: under conditions of high, medium, low status and in the control situation (no model), the percentage of violation was 54, 18, 9 and 16 % respectively.
In addition to the effect of copying the behavior of the status model, other reactions can be observed. Thus, an accomplice in the Harris experiment wedged into different queues (at the cinema, at the cash desk in a store, at a bank window), consisting of at least fifteen people. Clothes were used to recreate this or that status. In the case of low status, the experimenter's assistant was dressed casually, in the case of high status, very elegantly. The results showed a lower degree of aggressiveness towards the “high status” accomplice compared to the “low status” accomplice, regardless of the presence or absence of an apology and in which segment of the queue he got into.
The results showed that when treated politely, the subjects (salesmen in a bakery) agreed to the request of an accomplice, regardless of his status (average 93%). However, when treated rudely, the request of a low-status accomplice was fulfilled by 20% of the subjects, of medium status by 40%, and of high status by 75%.
The influence of status is felt even in situations where the law is violated. Gegen and Pascal showed that when a high-status person commits a shoplifting, subjects tend to react less (to chastise or warn a nearby security guard) than when a person with an average or low status is the thief.
Taken together, all these works show that in some circumstances a high status tends to suppress the reaction, in others it can cause inaccurate assessments of reality and provoke copying of the behavior of the status model. Both suppression and activation often have the same result. In both cases, behavior appropriate to the situation or context is shown less frequently.
The influence of the status is not limited conflict situations. It also extends to the help that people are ready to give to any person, regardless of whether he asked for it or not. So, it has been proven that we are more willing to come to the aid of a person who has dropped things at the moment when he was about to put them in the trunk of his car, if this is a person with a high status. A person with a high status (an expensive new car) received assistance in 53% of cases, while a person with a low status (a cheap car in poor condition) received only 23%.
The same effect is observed when we are talking about an urgent request coming from a person whose appearance clearly defines his status. For example, Kleinck showed that people are more willing to give money to a beggar who is dressed in a classic suit (80%) than to one who is casually dressed (32%). The same effect was observed when students determined the amount of donations to the needs of a charitable organization. The request for donation came from a professor (high status) and from a student (equal status). The average donation given to a professor whose status was indicated by a robe was Rs 6.02, and the amount collected by a student was Rs 2.62 on average. At the same time, in this experiment, the professor was a dummy, that is, he did not teach from those whom he asked for donations.
M.V. Klarin concludes that in some circumstances a high status tends to suppress the reaction, in others it can cause inaccurate assessments of reality and provoke copying of the behavior of the status model. Both suppression and activation often have the same result. In both cases, behavior appropriate to the situation or context is shown less frequently. http://www.elitarium.ru/
Yu.P. Platonov notes that for any society it is no less important to prescribe roles in accordance with age. The adaptation of individuals to constantly changing ages and age statuses is an eternal problem. The individual does not have time to adapt to one age, as another one immediately approaches, with new statuses and new roles. As soon as a young man begins to cope with embarrassment and complexes of youth, he is already on the threshold of maturity; as soon as a person begins to show wisdom and experience, old age comes. Each age period is associated with favorable opportunities for the manifestation of human abilities, moreover, it prescribes new statuses and requirements for learning new roles. At a certain age, an individual may experience problems in adapting to new role status requirements. A child who is said to be older than his years, i.e., has reached the status inherent in the older age category, usually does not fully realize his potential childhood roles, which negatively affects the completeness of his socialization. Often such children feel lonely, flawed. At the same time, immature adult status is a combination of adult status with the attitudes and behaviors of childhood or adolescence. Such a person usually has conflicts in the performance of roles appropriate to her age. These two examples show an unfortunate adjustment to the age statuses prescribed by society.
Sociologists distinguish a situation in which the same person in different group hierarchies occupies different ranks - high, middle and low. This situation is called status incompatibility. In contrast, status compatibility is a situation in which the same person in different group hierarchies occupies approximately the same ranks: all high, all middle, or all low.
A. Kravchenko believes that “status incompatibility is the cause of personal dissatisfaction and social tension. A person feels disharmony in his statuses, a feeling of dejection, pessimism, disappointment in himself and in life does not leave him. ... status incompatibility causes personal drama, and may indicate serious failures in the social mechanism.
Thus, status incompatibility leads to psychological dissatisfaction, the contradiction between two or more statuses is the cause of many social conflicts of values.
Status as the position of the subject in the system of interpersonal or social relations includes two concepts: "social status" and "sociometric". Social status, as discussed above, reflects the position occupied by a person in the social system of society. Ya.L. Kolominsky considers the sociometric status as “the position of the individual in the system of interpersonal relations and is determined by the number of choices or preferences that each member of the group receives based on the results of a sociometric survey” [cit. by 56, p. 128].
The position of a person in the system of personal relationships in a group depends on two systems of factors: the qualities of the personality itself and characteristic features groups. M.I.Bobneva notes that "the change in the sociometric status occurs in the process of socialization of adolescents in the study group." It is influenced by communication and Team work in the group, as well as the degree of acceptance by the individual of group norms and values. Unlike social status, sociometric status includes personal characteristics associated with the specifics of interpersonal relationships. Thus, the sociometric status is characterized by the presence of a relationship with the cognitive and affective aspects of the personality.
Thus, the concept of the socio-psychological status of a person includes the position of the individual in the social system, which has features specific to this system. Each individual has his own idea of the occupied and desired place in society, and builds his behavior in accordance with this, which undoubtedly has a certain influence on the formation of his personality.
society norms and expectations; social phenomena expressed in relatively massive and stable forms human activity who do not meet the criteria of behavior established in society. 1.2 Deviant behavior as a social problem Scientists define deviance by compliance or non-compliance with social norms-expectations. Therefore, deviant behavior is not...
Analysis of results, qualitative analysis of results, content analysis, methods of mathematical processing of results. In the process of studying literature
The word "status" came to sociology from the Latin language. In ancient Rome, it denoted the state, the legal status of a legal entity. However, at the end of the 19th century, scientists gave it a new sound. Status - the social position of a person in society. Social status - a generalized characteristic that covers the profession, economic situation, political opportunities, demographic properties of a person.
Although the status is almost the most common concept in sociology, a single interpretation of its nature in this science has not been achieved. F. Bates writes that status is usually understood as a designation of rank, a place in the social structure, associated with a certain set of norms.
M. Weber considered social status in terms of prestige and associated it with the high position of the individual in society.
The classic formulation was proposed in the 1930s by the American anthropologist and sociologist Ralph Linton. He clearly separated the status from the role, while saying that the status of a person occupies as a kind of cell, and the role of a person needs to be played. Therefore, status is a position in the social structure, and certain thinking and actions stand behind the role. If the status indicates a person's place in society or a group, then the role indicates a way or model of behavior.
Consider the manifestations in interpersonal relationships in the social status of adolescents.
A. Gazel, an American psychologist wrote:
13 years old is a teenager. Introversion (introversion), self-criticism, sensitive to criticism, critical of parents, selective in friendship.
14 years old is a teenager. Extraversion, energetic, sociable, self-confident, shows interest in other people, discusses and compares himself with others, with heroes.
15 years old is a teenager. "Acquired" individual differences: the spirit of independence, freedom from external control, the beginning of conscious self-education, vulnerability, susceptibility to harmful influences.
Psychological features of this age: the appearance of sexual desires, the formation of self-consciousness of one’s “I”, selectivity in learning, a feeling of “adulthood” arises, one relates to the ideal, memory increases, the ability to independently understand difficult questions, self-affirmation of their independence, originality.
They develop two systems of relationships: one with adults, the other with peers. Relationships with peers are equal, while others are unequal. The teenager begins to spend more time with peers. Relationships in the peer group become stable and begin to obey more stringent rules.
Three meet different types relationships that differ from each other in the degree of closeness, content and the functions that they perform in life. External, episodic, business contacts serve to satisfy momentary interests and needs that do not deeply affect the individual. If in the younger adolescence - companionship, then in the older adolescence they become friendly (allow them to resolve issues of an emotional and personal nature). Communication takes a lot of time and is no less important than other things. They have a desire to live a group life. Dysfunctional relationships are hard to come by. To attract the attention of their comrades, they do everything possible; sometimes violate social norms, conflict with parents. Companionable relationships are based on the "code of partnership" - this is respect for the personal dignity of another person, loyalty, equality, humanity, decency, readiness to help. Selfishness, greed, violation of the word, treason are condemned - such behavior causes responses. Personal attention from a leader is very valuable. Teenagers bond if there are similarities in interests. Sometimes the desire to be friends with a friend is the reason for the interest in the case. Interest in the opposite sex, the desire to please - hence the attention to their appearance, clothing, demeanor. Relationships become more romantic (write notes, make dates, go to the movies), engage in self-education. . Become less irritable adequate self-esteem and sometimes overstated. However, many difficulties still do not understand, do not believe them. If parents correctly understand the essence of the phenomena of this age, reasonably react to behavior, then no special conflicts arise and this period occurs safely and painlessly. The main thing is awareness of one's individuality.
The term "sociometry" means the measurement of interpersonal relationships in a group. The founder of sociometry is the famous American psychiatrist and social psychologist J. Moreno. The totality of interpersonal relations in a group constitutes, according to J. Moreno, that primary socio-psychological structure, the characteristics of which are largely determined not only by the integral characteristics of the group, but also by the state of mind of a person.
Sociometric technique is used to diagnose interpersonal and intergroup relations in order to change, improve and improve them. With the help of sociometry, it is possible to study the typology of people's social behavior in the conditions of group activity, to judge the socio-psychological compatibility of members of specific groups.
Each member of the group evaluates the others, so a chain of preferences and alienations gradually develops. Sociometric methods make it possible to express intra-group relations in the form of numerical values and graphs and thus obtain valuable information about the state of the group.
A sociometric procedure may aim to:
a) measuring the degree of cohesion-disunity in the group;
b) identifying "sociometric positions", i.e., the relative authority of group members on the basis of sympathy-antipathy, where the "leader" of the group and the "rejected" are at the extreme poles;
c) detection of intra-group subsystems, close-knit formations, which may be headed by their informal leaders.
The use of sociometry makes it possible to measure the authority of formal and informal leaders in order to regroup people in teams in such a way as to reduce tension in the team arising from the mutual hostility of some members of the group.
Sociometric status characterizes the individual properties of a person as a member of a group. This is the number of choices (preferences) that each member of the group receives according to the results of a sociometric survey. A positive sociometric status characterizes the leadership position of a group member. Leaders are people or social roles that can have a greater impact on the team than others. As a rule, they occupy a central place in the communication structure of the group, and the initiatives they take are more effective than those of other members of the group, that is, they map out a plan of action, guide them and guide members of their group who follow their path and implement their recommendations. They own the most important role in choosing the direction of the group, in preserving its traditions and customs, and they instill confidence in other members of the group in achieving their goals. The functions of leaders are the function of a specialist in a particular field (expert), who initiates the structure for a long time in accordance with the task facing it, and the function of a specialist in the field of interpersonal relations, which regulates the psychological microclimate in the group. Negative sociometric status characterizes disorganizing tendencies in the behavior of a group member.
A special method for measuring sociometric status is sociometry. The simplest method for determining sociometric status is the procedure of secret voting for one or another candidate in competitive elections. During the selection process, intra-group formations such as dyads (occur whenever there is a mutual choice) and triads (may occur when all three people like each other, when one attracts two others who do not particularly like each other, or when two people dependent on a third person who exploits them). Moreno also speaks of the formations, the stars, which consist of a natural leader and his followers.
Conclusions to chapter I
In the first chapter, we consider psychological characteristics adolescence, domestic and foreign psychologists.
The definition of the psychological content of adolescence is still a debatable problem of the fatherland. In spite of big number studies, there is no consensus yet regarding such key aspects of this problem as the leading activity of adolescence, central neoplasms of age. And the question of whether adolescence should be classified as a stable or crisis age remains open.
We also consider such concepts as adolescence, confidence and status, social position.
Vygotsky L.S. and Raig F. understand adolescence as a special period ontogenetic development a person, whose originality lies in his intermediate position between childhood and maturity, is characterized as a turning point, transitional, critical.
Rüdiger and Rita Ulrich understand self-confidence as the ability of an individual to make demands and requests in interaction with the social environment and achieve their implementation.
A self-confident person can be distinguished from an insecure person by appearance, behavior, speech, gait, etc. Observing a person, you can hear and see the following characteristic signs:
1. smooth speech, with one pace and its preservation when the volume changes;
2. absence of pauses and hitches;
3. fast and firm gait;
5. takes a stable, comfortable posture;
6. frequent and justified use of personal expressions (I, mine, in my opinion ...);
7. the ability to be the first to start and end communication;
8. use of imperative verbs (go, fetch, give...);
9. when laughing, the chest is even or convex, the shoulders are even or laid back;
10. when communicating, it is located with the whole body to the interlocutor;
11. tries to occupy the center of space in a room or group;
These and many other signs allow you to understand how much a person knows what he says and does, and determine whether it is worth interacting with him.
Confidence appears with personal development, as a result of gaining knowledge about yourself, your capabilities and the consequences of your activities.
Status is understood as a position in the social structure, and certain thinking and actions stand behind the role.
A person simultaneously performs both roles, an interpersonal role affects the style of performing a social role and is associated with emotional relationships between partners.
AT business communication behavior should be determined primarily by the social role, a person in a work environment should be able to control the way the interpersonal role is performed.
In any joint action, the degree to which individual person can vary the performance of the role, present their individuality, is inversely proportional to the degree of formalization of relationships in the organization.
Types of situations and variation in role performance:
1. Compliance with rituals. The more closely the ritual is followed, the better. For example, rituals of acquaintance and greeting, presentations and wires. Minimal variation, although dribbling style may vary.
2. Acting according to instructions in a hierarchical organization, the administrator has very limited opportunities for self-expression, impersonal relationships are encouraged.
3. Standard, repetitive situations determined by norms - the choice of certain behaviors within the scenario, for example, the way of negotiating, the methods of authorization.
4. Critical situation - in an unpredictable situation, the opportunity to show one's individuality is maximum. When quick decisions are needed within an organized structure, a special
Social status is understood as a generalized characteristic, covering the profession, economic situation, political opportunities, demographic characteristics of a person.
Self-doubt in the view of W. Wendlandt and H.-W. Höfert manifests itself at various stages of the process of regulating behavior - when setting the goal of behavior, when planning actions, when performing actions. Uncertainty also manifests itself in the results of actions and in their evaluation. Uncertainty has been defined as a condition that occurs when a habitual or planned course of action is "disturbed", when something happens in an unusual or unplanned way.
Uncertainty is also characterized by insufficiently clear statements of intent; incomplete action plans; a negative assessment of the results of actions that lead to the emergence of "defective" or "deficient" stereotypes of behavior.
Low status in adolescence plays leading role, since in society a teenager interacts with peers, which is very important for his further self-realization.
Thus, each person simultaneously performs some of the social roles, but the style of its performance is determined by the accepted interpersonal role (in different groups, the same social role performed differently).