Self-consciousness of the individual and social behavior. Worldview, its types and forms Self-consciousness of the individual
Credit "Man in the system of social relations"
Public and individual consciousness.
public consciousness- a set of collective ideas inherent in a certain era, public consciousness interacts with individual consciousness.
The structure of public consciousness:
psychological level (psychology)
theoretical level (ideology)
practical level (behavior)
Forms of public consciousness:
art (artistic consciousness)
science (philosophy)
morality
legal awareness (law)
religion
ideology (political consciousness) is the highest form of social consciousness
Forms of public consciousness depend on life, the structure of social institutions, the organization of the process of cognition, etc. Therefore, they are always closely related to a certain type of public relations: economic, political, moral, aesthetic, relations between members of the scientific community.
mass consciousness- the stereotyped consciousness of ordinary citizens of a developed industrial society, which is being formed under the massive influence of the media and stereotypes of mass culture.
Political consciousness- this is a form of social consciousness, the totality of all the theoretical and political ideas and attitudes that spontaneously arise in people in a given era.
The socialization of the individual. social role.
social status the individual primarily influences his behavior. A data-driven behavior model status, commonly called social role.
There are the following types social roles:
Psychosomatic (dependence on biological needs, human culture)
psychodramatic (dependence on the requirements of the environment)
social (dependence on the expectations of representatives of other social categories)
social role- it's kind of pattern of behavior, required from the carrier, of a certain status. Applying for this status, a person must fulfill all the role requirements assigned to this social position.
The process of implementing social roles as a whole is determined by the following factors:
biopsychological capabilities of a person that can contribute to or hinder the fulfillment of a particular social role
a personal model that defines a set of behavioral characteristics necessary for the successful fulfillment of a role
the nature of the role adopted in the group and the features of social control, designed to monitor the implementation of role behavior
the structure of the group, its cohesion and the degree of identification of the individual with the group.
In progress social roles certain difficulties associated with the need for a person to perform in various situations a set of roles. There are intra-role (the requirements of one role contradict each other), inter-role (the requirements of one role contradict another role), personal-role (the requirements of the role contradict the needs of the individual) role conflicts.
Social roles in adolescence.
Youth- this is a socio-demographic group, allocated on the basis of a combination of age characteristics.
Social roles in adolescence: son/daughter, brother/sister, grandson/granddaughter, student/student, worker, family man, sports participant, subculture participant, social movement participant, social interaction participant.
Features of the social status of youth:
transitivity
high level of mobility
acquiring new social roles
finding a place in life
career prospects
spiritual life of man.
Spiritual world- the inner, spiritual life of a person, which includes knowledge, faith, feelings, aspirations of people.
Spiritual world each can be correctly understood only in view of his belonging to social community in close connection with spiritual life of society.
A person who has a highly developed spiritual life, as a rule, has an important personal quality - spirituality. Spirituality means striving for the height of ideals and thoughts that determine the morality of all activities.
On the contrary, a person whose spiritual life is poorly developed is soulless, unable to see and feel all the diversity and beauty of the surrounding world.
At the highest level of human development, the motives, the meanings of his life activity are not personal needs and relationships, but highest human values. The assimilation of certain values, such as truth, goodness, beauty, creates value orientations, i.e. a conscious desire of a person to build his life and transform reality in accordance with them.
In a person's life, a special role is played by the landmarks of his life and activity, a kind of spiritual beacons, which, as a rule, have been developed by the centuries-old experience of mankind and are passed down from generation to generation. The most striking of them are moral and ideological guidelines.
outlook(briefly) is the totality of a person's views on the world that surrounds him.
outlook(complete) - a set of views, assessments, norms and attitudes that determine a person's attitude to the world around him, his place in it and act as guidelines and regulators of personality behavior.
Self-consciousness of the individual and social behavior.
self-awareness(public) - a person's awareness of his actions, feelings, thoughts, motives of behavior, interests, his position in society.
self-awareness(intrapersonal) - a person's awareness of himself as a person capable of making decisions and being responsible for them.
social behavior- the behavior of a person in society, designed to exert a certain influence on the surrounding people and society as a whole.
Types of social behavior:
mass (activity of the masses) - group (interaction of several people)
pro-social - anti-social
helping - competitive
deviant (deviating) - illegal
(meaningful) manifestation of good and evil, friendship and enmity
(meaningful) striving for success, power
(meaningful) confidence and self-doubt
Freedom and responsibility.
freedom(actions) - the absence of obstacles, frames, boundaries.
Freedom (moral) is the ability of a person to act in accordance with his goals and interests, to carry out choice.
freedom(needs) - conscious adherence to the need.
freedom(long) - this is regularity, constancy, inexorability in the implementation of moral requirements by a person.
freedom a person is inextricably linked with responsibility for their actions, duty and duties.
free will- the ability of a person to self-determination in their actions
Self-awareness and social behavior
Prepared by:
Teacher
Kostin A.V.
Plan
- Self-awareness and self-knowledge
- Self esteem and self confession
- social behavior
self-awareness- consciousness by the subject of himself, in contrast to the other - other subjects and the world in general; this is a person's awareness of his social status and his vital needs, thoughts, feelings, motives, instincts, experiences, actions.
I know how flies land on honey
I know death that prowls, ruining everything,
I know books, truths and rumors
I know everything but myself.
François Villon
How the world is changing!
And how I change myself!
Only by one name I am called,
In fact, what they call me -
I'm not alone. There are a lot of us. I'm alive.
N. Zabolotsky
Stages of development of self-consciousness :
- Opening "I" occurs at 1 year of age.
- By the age of 2-3, a person begins separate the results of one's actions from the actions of others and is clearly aware of himself as a doer.
- By the age of 7, the ability to evaluate oneself is formed ( self-esteem).
- Adolescence and youthful age - the stage of active self-knowledge, search for yourself, your style. The period of formation of social and moral assessments is coming to an end.
On formation self-awareness affect :
- Assessments of others and status in the peer group.
- The ratio of "I-real" and "I-ideal".
- Evaluation of the results of their activities.
child's perception
others (parents,
peers, etc.)
social values
expectations, ideals
introspection
experience of social
behavior
external data,
feeling of power and
health
Components of self-awareness V.S. Merlin :
- consciousness of one's identity;
- consciousness of one's own "I" as an active, active principle;
- awareness of their mental properties and qualities;
- a certain system of social and moral self-assessments.
Functions of self-awareness
- Self-knowledge - getting information about yourself.
- Emotional value attitude towards oneself.
- Self-regulation of behavior.
The meaning of self-awareness
- Self-consciousness contributes to the achievement of internal consistency of the personality, identity to oneself in the past, present and future.
- Determines the nature and features of the interpretation of the acquired experience.
- Serves as a source of expectations about oneself and one's behavior
Self-esteem represents an emotional relationship to one's own image.
self-esteem = success
claim
self confession is a complete internal report to oneself about what is happening to us and in us.
social behavior- behavior, expressed in the totality of actions and actions of an individual or group in society and depending on socio-economic factors and prevailing norms.
social action- any manifestation of social activity (activity, behavior, reaction, position, etc.), focused on other people.
social interaction- the process of direct or indirect interaction of social subjects with each other, the process of the exchange of actions between two or more subjects.
Man, unlike animals, is a being that knows and is aware of itself, capable of correcting and improving itself.
Self-consciousness is one of the forms of consciousness, manifested in the unity of self-knowledge and attitude towards oneself.
Self-consciousness is formed gradually as it reflects both the external world and self-knowledge.
Self-knowledge is the study by a person of his own mental and physical characteristics.
In fact, a person is engaged in self-knowledge all his life, but he is not always aware that he
carries out this activity. Self-knowledge begins in infancy and often ends with the last breath. It develops gradually as
the perception of both the external world and the knowledge of oneself.
Knowing yourself through knowing others. At first, the child does not distinguish himself from the outside world. But at the age of 3-8 months, he gradually begins to distinguish himself, his organs and the body as a whole among the objects around him. This process is called self-recognition. This is where self-knowledge begins. An adult is the main source of knowledge about the child himself - he gives him a name, teaches him to respond to him, etc.
The well-known words of the child: “I myself...” mean his transition to an important stage of self-knowledge - a person learns to use words to designate the signs of his “I”, to characterize himself.
The knowledge of the properties of one's own personality proceeds in the process of activity and communication.
In communication, people get to know and appreciate each other. These assessments affect the self-esteem of the individual.
Self-esteem - an emotional attitude to one's own image.
Self-esteem is always subjective, but it is based not only on one's own judgments, but also on the opinions of others about a given person.
The following factors influence the formation of self-esteem.
Self-esteem
Comparison of the image of the real "I" with the image of the ideal that the person would like to be
Evaluation of other people largely determines the self-esteem of the individual
The attitude of the individual to his own successes and failures
According to psychologists, there are three motives for a person's appeal to self-esteem.
Motivations for seeking self-assessment
Understanding yourself (search for accurate knowledge about yourself)
Increasing self-importance (search for favorable knowledge about yourself)
Self-examination (correlation of one's own knowledge about oneself with the assessments of one's personality by others)
Most often, people are guided by the second motive:
most want to increase their self-esteem.
The level of self-esteem is associated with the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of a person with himself, with his activities.
Self-esteem
Realistic
Che1Saya Unrealistic1Saya
Overestimated
Underestimated
Success-oriented people
People who are focused on avoiding failure
Self-knowledge by analyzing one's own activity and behavior. By analyzing and evaluating achievements in a certain area, taking into account the time and effort spent on work, one can determine the level of one's own abilities. Assessing his behavior in society, a person learns the moral and psychological characteristics of his own personality.
A wider circle of communication with other people gives a greater opportunity to compare and learn the positive and negative properties of one's own personality.
Self-knowledge through self-observation. Based on sensations and perceptions, an image begins to form.
"I". In young people, this image is formed primarily from ideas about their own appearance.
The image of "I" ("I"-concept) is a relatively stable, more or less conscious and verbally fixed representation of a person about himself.
An important means of cognition is self-confession - a person's complete internal report to himself about what is happening to him and in him. A person's confession to himself helps him evaluate his own qualities, establish himself or change the assessment of his behavior, gain experience for the future.
Basic forms of self-observation
Personal diaries1SiAn1Sets Tests
with records of thoughts, experiences, impressions
Self-knowledge is closely connected with such a phenomenon as reflection (lat. reflexio - reversal), reflecting the process of reflection of an individual about what is happening in his mind. Reflection includes not only a person's own view of himself, but also takes into account how others see him, especially individuals and groups that are especially significant to him.
To comprehend the "I" is not necessary to conduct psychological experiments.
Self-knowledge can be
through self-observation, introspection
in the process of communication, play, labor, cognitive activity, etc.
Self-control and self-education. Knowing his own strengths, a person seeks to use them in the best possible way in his activity. To do this, he controls
ruet and analyzes their own movements and actions, deeds and behavior. Thanks to self-control, a person can detect errors in activities, better organize work. Self-control is operational in nature and helps to organize the ongoing given time activity. Therefore, it helps to realize the positive and negative in oneself and thereby determine the strategy for the future life.
Self-education opens up new opportunities for human development. A person who begins to work on himself becomes not only an object, but also a subject of education, that is, he is not only educated by society, but also educates himself through his own efforts.
Behavior - a set of human actions performed by him in a relatively long period in constant or changing conditions.
Two people may be engaged in the same activity, but their behavior may be different. If activity consists of actions, then behavior consists of actions.
Action - a process aimed at the implementation of the goal
The concept of “social behavior” is used to denote human behavior in society.
Social behavior is the behavior of a person in society, designed to exert a certain influence on the surrounding people and society as a whole.
There are many types of so-called social behavior, the most important of which are as follows.
Main types of social behavior Mass Group Prosocial Antisocial Helping Competitive
deviant
(off1Valid) Illegal
Mass behavior is the activity of the masses that does not have a specific goal and organization, for example, fashion, panic, spontaneous social and political movements, etc.
Group behavior - joint actions of people in a certain social group, which are the result of the processes taking place in it.
Prosocial behavior - human behavior, which is based on prosocial motives, i.e., the motives for providing people with kindness, help and support.
AT last years The following types of behavior have acquired special significance for the state of society, the position of a person and his fate.
Types of social
behaviors of particular importance
Associated with the manifestation of goodness
and evil, friendship
and enmity between people
Associated with the desire to achieve success and power
Associated with certainty or uncertainty
The types of social behavior are based on patterns accepted in society, which include mores and customs.
Types of social behavior
Designs accepted in society
Mores Customs
Typical reactions repeated by many people to certain events; are transformed as the consciousness of people changes
The form of human behavior in a certain situation; customs are steadily followed, without thinking about where they came from and why it is supposed to be so
Habit
Mores and customs, being unwritten rules, nevertheless determine the conditions of social behavior.
It has already been mentioned earlier that the self-concept is the social attitude of a person in relation to himself. This means, in essence, that self-awareness, like any other attitude, affects our behavior. Through the self-concept, we strive to behave in a way that matches our self-consciousness. This happens even in cases where such behavior can negatively affect ourselves. So, let's say, a person who is self-consciously courageous is likely to be fearless, although this may threaten his well-being. A person who is aware of himself as truthful will tell the truth, despite the fact that telling the truth is always dangerous and unprofitable.
Or let's take another example: who are we friends with? With whom do we enjoy being and maintaining relationships? Probably with those people who confirm our self-concept and self-esteem, in other words, with those who sympathize with us, appreciate us, respect us, or at least pretend to admire our achievements, that is, flatter us. Conversely, we dislike those who threaten our self-concept and self-esteem.
Let's make a clarification: although our self-consciousness is always with us, the degree of focus on ourselves, on our behavior at different times is different for us. We do not, for example, require self-awareness in fully learned, automatic behavior. Here we behave "thoughtlessly", do not look at ourselves from the outside, do not evaluate our actions.
Deindividuation and behavior
It can be assumed that the last statement is not entirely indisputable and is true only for those people whose self-concept has either not yet developed, or it is weakly expressed, or generally indefinite. But it must be borne in mind that quite a lot of people are generally not inclined to comprehend themselves and their behavior, and, thus, their personality traits are in their infancy. We will have occasion to talk about individual differences in self-awareness later. Now let's turn to two studies by Arthur Beaman, Bonnel Klentz and Edward Diner, which show how the anonymity factor can influence the behavior of children, that is, those people whose self-concept is still in the formative stage (Beaman A., Klentz B. & Diener A., 1979).
The research was carried out in the form of a game, all the children were dressed in masquerade costumes and masks, that is, they remained anonymous. During the game, the researchers offered children to treat themselves to sweets. Moreover, in some cases, a large mirror was placed in front of a glass ball filled with goodies so that the children could see themselves while taking sweets from the ball. In other cases, the mirror was missing. (The mirror in which the subjects see themselves is a classic technique used in the laboratory to activate self-attention and self-understanding.)
The female explorer, who played with the children, sometimes invited them to help themselves without embarrassment, and sometimes allowed them to take only one candy. But she herself, when the children took sweets, turned away and pointedly looked in the other direction. Some children she asked for names, others did not, so they remained anonymous.
The results of the study clearly showed the effect of self-attention on children's behavior. If there was a mirror in front of the children in which they saw themselves, and at the same time they were allowed to take only one candy, then disobedience rarely happened. If there was no mirror, then the children disobeyed much more often. But even without a mirror, the children were embarrassed to take more than allowed when they were forced to give their names. Moreover, when children were allowed to take as many sweets as they liked, but at the same time they saw themselves in the mirror, they rarely took more than one. If there was no mirror, the children behaved differently. Probably, the mirror, when the children saw themselves in it, forced them to correlate their behavior with accepted norms that prevent the manifestation of greed.
It is clear that an adult with an established and stable self-concept does not need to look in the mirror or call himself by name in order to behave with dignity and not commit reprehensible acts - not to be greedy, deceitful, mean, dodgy.
Personal responsibility
But even in the case of an unformed, or childish, self-concept, the situation is not as simple as it might seem after getting acquainted with the studies of A. Beemen and his colleagues. R. Cialdini describes a series of studies by Jonathan Friedman, who also worked with children (Cialdini R., 1999).
Friedman wanted to see if he could stop boys between the ages of seven and nine from playing with an interesting toy, having said six weeks earlier that it was wrong to do so. The main task, according to the researcher, was to convince the boys themselves that it was not good to play with a forbidden toy. But how do you get them to refuse to play with an expensive, battery-powered robot at that age?
Firstly, this can be achieved by the threat of punishment, that is, with the help of external pressure. Another thing is how effective and how long will the threat operate? She acted only as long as the boys believed that they could be caught and punished. This is exactly what Friedman foresaw. Already after six weeks, when his assistant worked with the children instead of Friedman himself, who did not threaten punishment, 77% of the boys wanted to play with the robot, which had previously been a "forbidden fruit" for them.
Having recruited another group of boys, Friedman changed the tactics of suggestion. This time, he did not intimidate them, but simply told them that it was not good to play with the robot. This was enough for the boys not to approach the robot immediately after the conversation. But that was enough after six weeks. An amazing thing happened: despite being allowed to play with any toy, most of the boys avoided the robot, although it was the most attractive toy. Only 33% of them chose to play a robot. The prohibition in this case began to act as a social norm that predetermined the behavior of children.
Friedman explains this phenomenon of effective prohibition without threats by the fact that instead of external pressure (threats), the boys had a kind of "internal pressure" that prevented the violation of the prohibition. It turned out to be more reliable and effective than threats, because it "worked" even in the absence of the one who forbade playing with the robot. In other words, the children took personal responsibility for their decision not to touch the attractive toy. They decided that they themselves do not want this, and not someone from outside forces them to do so. Consequently, their behavior was influenced by self-awareness, and not by external coercion.
Let's make an important clarification. The fact is that self-consciousness, along with the standards of behavior, also includes an assessment of one's abilities to build behavior in accordance with these standards. Research has shown that independent, non-conformist behavior is the standard for American students. Many of them, in accordance with their self-concept, can resist the pressure of the group. Some, unsure of their ability to resist group pressure, show conformity, although ideally they want to be independent. And if a person is not sure that he is able to achieve conformity with the ideal Self or the supposed Self, then, as we already know, he experiences anxiety, anxiety, even depression. Therefore, people who are aware of their inability to follow the standard or ideal, as a rule, prefer to avoid awareness of themselves and their behavior altogether. Moreover, they even tend to avoid situations that can activate their self-awareness.
Stigmatization
However, there are other examples of how the self-concept can influence people's behavior. Jennifer Crocker and Brenda Mayor, reviewing many studies, have shown that people who are disfigured, have noticeable deformities, scars, skin pathologies (stigmas), that is, those to whom other people usually treat with squeamish pity and fear, can specifically exhibit their deformities and ulcers for show, to emphasize them, as if flaunting their mutilation. Researchers believe that this is done for self-affirmation, since in stigmatized people, the central aspect of the self-concept can be just the awareness of one's stigma (Crocker
J. & Major B., 1989).
Note that a stigmatized self-consciousness can form not only in outwardly disfigured people, but also in those who generally differ in some way from those around them. Thus, according to Albert Mehrabyan, in the United States, where whites make up the majority of the population, blacks and
Hispanics also have a stigmatized identity as the white majority communicates their prejudices to them through non-verbal communication channels. Thus, a stigmatized self-awareness is formed among national and racial minorities from childhood. People belonging to gender and age minority groups in any social community may also experience discrimination and prejudice from the majority of those around them. As a result, they also develop a stigmatized self-consciousness (E. Pines, K. Maslach, 2000). In addition, individuals with pronounced personality flaws may also have a kind of stigmatized self-consciousness and flaunt their mental deformities. We can say that in this case a person, not seeing any advantages in himself, is forced to be proud of his own shortcomings.
The behavior of people is determined not only by the content of their self-concept, but also
the degree of representation and development of certain functions of self-consciousness. It has already been said before that people have a need and, accordingly, the ability to realize themselves to varying degrees. Some do it all the time, others - from time to time, others - in exceptional cases, the fourth, maybe never at all. And if this is so, then it is clear that behavior is not always and not for all people determined by their self-consciousness. As we remember from the first section, from the point of view of the psychology of the masses, human behavior generally depends little on consciousness, since it is almost entirely determined by the unconscious. And although today this view is being challenged, it must still be recognized that it is true for at least a certain category of people.
me and others
Self-consciousness usually operates on two fronts, as it were. On the one hand, a person is aware of "himself for himself": this function provides the individual with the awareness that he needs, so to speak, for "internal use". On the other hand, a person is aware of "himself for others": this function gives him knowledge of how he looks in the eyes of others, how they perceive him. Moreover, thanks to this function, he is able to determine how other people would like to see him, what social image is expected of him.
J. G. Mead drew attention to this possible multidirectionality of self-consciousness in his theory of personality, highlighting such personality components as I (I) and Me (me). The first, i.e. I, means: "as I am aware of myself", Me - "I am aware of how others perceive me."
In different people, the degree of development of these functions is not the same. Some are more able to realize "themselves for themselves", others - "themselves for others". To determine the development of these functions in American social psychology, special tables have been developed, which consist of a number of affirmative statements. As an example, consider one of them, developed by Allan Fenigstein and his colleagues (Fenigstein A., 1975).
The level of self-consciousness "oneself for oneself" is determined in the table by the following statements:
1. I always strive to understand what I am.
2. I think about myself a lot.
3. I am always attentive to my inner state. Self-consciousness "oneself for others" is defined through statements:
1. I am concerned about what others think of me.
2. I worry about how I look from the outside, in the eyes of others.
3. I am concerned about how my behavior is perceived by other people. People who are little concerned about how they are perceived by others are not very interested in
external assessments of his personality. People who are very concerned about how they are perceived by others are very partial to other people's assessments, they are more sensitive to social reflection.
How self-awareness of "oneself for others" can influence behavior can be judged from the results of a study by K. von Bayer, D. Sherk and M. Zanna (Baeuer K., Sherk D. & Zaiina M., 1981). The essence of it was that women applying for jobs who were to be interviewed before being hired were told that a man would be interviewing them. Moreover, he was introduced to some applicants in advance as a person adhering to a traditionalist, patriarchal view of the role of women in society. To other women, he was described as a supporter of gender equality, sympathetic to independent, enterprising, career-oriented women. The researchers were not only interested in
what and how women will say to the interlocutor during the interview, but also what external image they will create - how they will be dressed, how they will behave, what features they will try to emphasize, demonstrate to the male personnel officer.
It turned out that women created one or another image, depending on what they thought the interlocutor was holding. Those applicants who expected to meet a traditionalist personnel officer tried to look more feminine. This was manifested in their conversation, and in makeup, and in jewelry, and in their demeanor. These women also gave traditional "feminine" answers regarding marriage, children, and household chores.
A completely different image was demonstrated by the applicants, who were counting on a meeting with an interlocutor who sympathized with business women. Both in behavior, and in appearance, and in conversation, they in every possible way emphasized their efficiency and purposefulness, that is, a departure from the traditionally female stereotype.
Of course, this behavior is not unique to women. Similar studies have found that men have the same, and no lesser extent than women, the ability to create an image that would correspond to the supposed expectations of other people.
Self-monitoring
This ability of a person to demonstrate an image that would be pleasing to others, Mark Snyder called self-monitoring(1987). The function of self-monitoring, or the ability to be a social chameleon, is not equally developed in all people (Myers D., 1997). For some, such acting is a way of being and, at the same time, a way of succeeding in life. For others, it is an occasional ability that activates in exceptional situations. But there are also people who do not have this function at all.
To determine the level of self-monitoring, a scale consisting of affirmative judgments has also been developed. People with high level self-monitoring agree with the following statements:
1. I behave like different people in different situations and with different people.
2. I am not always the person I appear to be.
3. I can mislead another person, I can pretend to be friendly with someone I don't really like.
People with low self-monitoring agree with other statements:
1. I have a hard time changing my behavior to suit different situations and people.
2. I can only accept ideas that are in line with my beliefs.
3. I do not change my way of thinking in order to please people or win their favor.
Individuals with a high level of self-monitoring adapt well to any situations and people, are able to control their emotions and behavior in order to use this skill to effectively create the right impression, demonstrating to others an image suitable for the occasion. How do they achieve this? Researchers believe that this ability is achieved by borrowing patterns of someone else's behavior. At the same time, considerable efforts are made to "read" and copy the behavior of other people. This activity can be compared to how professional artists "get into the role." Only if the artists, getting used to the image, do it on purpose and consciously, then people with high self-monitoring do it involuntarily, mostly unconsciously. As already mentioned, for them social mimicry is a way of being.
And, on the contrary, people with low self-monitoring do not seek to take into account, control, or somehow specially organize the impression that they make on others. They can see, realize how they are perceived, what impression they make and at the same time not try to adjust it, adapt. And although they are able to control the impression they make, they do not do this for one reason or another.
It is easy to find some commonalities between self-monitoring and awareness of "oneself for others." True, the similarity here is partial: a person with a developed function of awareness of "oneself for others" can be aware of the impression he makes, but not use this knowledge in any way. A person with high self-monitoring, on the contrary, will use this knowledge to the maximum in order to create the impression he needs. As we can see, the awareness of "oneself for others" acts
necessary prerequisite for high self-monitoring. But this function alone is not enough to resort to social mimicry and specially organize the desired impression.
Research by Mark Snyder and Thomas Monson experimentally confirmed significant differences in the behavior of people with high and low self-monitoring (Snyder & Monson, 1975). The study was conducted with two groups of participants, one of which consisted of people who are independent and not prone to conformism, the other, on the contrary, prone to conformism. People with high self-monitoring showed both tendencies. They were conformists in the conformist group, where conformity was considered the preferred form of interpersonal interaction, and nonconformists, when independence and resistance to social pressure were the norm of the reference group.
People with low self-monitoring were found to be less sensitive to differences in social conditions and situations.
In a similar study, individuals with high self-monitoring showed a willingness to cooperate when they expected that in the future they would have to interact with this person again (he seemed to them "useful"). And, conversely, they did not show interest in cooperation when interaction was not expected in the future (then the person seemed to them "useless").
People with low self-monitoring did not change their behavior with a partner, regardless of whether future interactions were expected or not.
Conflict of interpretations. How to treat self-monitoring?
According to David Caldwell and Charles O "Reilly, self-monitoring cannot be assessed unambiguously (Caldwell D. & O" Reilly C, 1982). After conducting relevant research, they came to the conclusion that people with a high level of self-monitoring can use their abilities not only to successfully deceive others, but also to be useful to society. Some work activities and certain positions require a person to develop the ability to self-monitor. Basically, this is an activity where a person has to constantly interact with many people and organizations, perform various functions at the same time, and find himself in various situations. This can be work in educational institutions, mass media, the service sector, etc. People with high self-monitoring, able to grasp everything on the fly and instantly change their behavior in accordance with the situation, able to adapt to any views, opinions, tastes and requests , fit here better than others.
Erwin Goffman is of the same opinion, emphasizing that people can be guided by both good and bad intentions, presenting themselves to other people and thus creating one or another image (Goffman E., 1984). On the other hand, the study of Edward Jones, Kenneth Brenner, and John Knight (1990) raises questions about the relationship between self-monitoring, morality, and self-esteem. The authors of the study argue that people with a high level of self-monitoring experience satisfaction even if they successfully played a role that requires unsightly behavior. And vice versa, if a person with a low level of self-monitoring is asked to play the role of such an individual, whatever he would not like to be in life, then his self-esteem in case of a successfully played role will decrease, and in case of failure it will increase. In other words, a successful performance of the role of a scoundrel will upset him, and an unsuccessful one will please him.
The study involved 38 male students. Everyone rated themselves on a self-monitoring scale and filled out a self-assessment questionnaire. The participants had to play the role of a greedy, by all means striving for their own benefit, unprincipled person. To do this, they needed to deal with moral dilemmas appropriately. For example, such: can you use secret commercial information received from a friend for your own purposes? Is it possible to hide breakdowns that require serious repairs when selling a car? etc.
Participants were told that after they had played their part, their true identity would be assessed in a workshop on interpersonal perception by other students. Answers to questions - dilemmas - were recorded on a tape recorder.
After a week, the participants were told how the students in the workshop reacted to their answers. The results were presented in the form of scorecards ostensibly completed by the students at the seminar, and in the form of a short tape recording of the discussion. To portray the successful performance of the role of a participant in the "discussion" was described as a very cynical, unstoppable person (for example, "I felt that this guy is a trickster, he is capable of
anything just to get ahead...") For the portrayal of the unsuccessfully played role, the contestant was described as a "benefactor of mankind" with his head in the clouds, who is unlikely to succeed in the business world (for example, "it feels like this guy will not harm people, will not go over their heads"). After reading the results, the participants again filled out the self-assessment questionnaire.
As the researchers expected, successfully playing a dubious, unseemly role brought joy and satisfaction to people with a high level of self-monitoring. Conversely, people with low self-monitoring experienced satisfaction if their game was recognized as unsuccessful. Hence the title of the article, in which the authors report the results of their research - "When failure leads to increased self-esteem" (E. Pines, K. Maslach, 2000).
Thus, we focused on how the self-concept, being a person’s attitude towards himself, largely determines his behavior, affects his well-being, attitude towards other people, the world around him. But it must be borne in mind that there is also a feedback, namely: behavior affects the content and structure of a person's self-consciousness. How these processes proceed is described in the theory of cognitive dissonance by L. Festinger and the theory of self-understanding by D. Bem (a more detailed discussion of these concepts will be given in the "Social Attitude" section).
Now, briefly summarizing what has been said, we note that the self-concept is both the result of our social interactions and a factor influencing these interactions, and more broadly, human behavior as a whole. This is quite clearly manifested in the case of a sense of personal control.
Human self-awareness is a complex mental phenomenon that consists of emotions and instincts, thoughts and interests, personality type, cultural and social environment in which the individual resides. In his inner world a person may feel like an artist, an entertainer, a political or social leader, an outstanding athlete, an entrepreneur, or anyone else. Such self-perceptions of the individual may or may not correspond to the real resources, abilities and talents of the person. Mismatch of the dominants of self-consciousness with the achieved results, with the attitude of others, can lead to psychological conflicts, which is reflected in social behavior.
Every person from a very early age voluntarily or involuntarily evaluates his personality, behavior and abilities, comparing himself with other members of society. Positive ratings they add self-esteem to the individual, negative ones lead to annoyance, an underestimated level of claims, psychological breakdowns, aggression, deviant (deviant) behavior.
A person's self-consciousness is formed gradually, over the years absorbing the values of the surrounding world, forming models for imitation or rejection of any actions. At different countries and peoples, this period of the formation of self-consciousness is usually estimated by a different time period - in some cultures it is 16-18 years, in others 21 years. Before this age, which is also called coming of age, it is believed that the individual cannot be fully aware of his actions, that is, he incompetent in whole or in part. In practical terms, this means that a person with an unstable self-consciousness cannot elect and be elected to state and municipal positions, cannot bear full responsibility for the offenses and crimes committed, have a permit to carry weapons, buy and consume alcohol and tobacco.
The formation of self-consciousness and thinking are processes hidden from superficial observation; people around cannot say with certainty that this or that individual has reached the proper level of self-consciousness. Of course, you can conduct tests and qualifying exams that reveal the level of knowledge, skills, abilities or physical training a certain person. But the degree of development of self-awareness cannot be directly measured, although this can be very important in order to prevent betrayal in law enforcement agencies, corruption in government agencies, and theft of intellectual property in the corporate sector.
Representatives behaviorism and a number of others scientific directions rightly believe that self-consciousness and the unconscious are unobservable, the brain and mind are a “black box”, but behavior can be studied and through it to obtain information about thought processes and behavioral constants embedded in the human genetic memory. In this case, science is a good help. ethology, studying the behavior of animals, and partly of people. The study of social hierarchy in packs, mutual assistance in family relationships, cooperation in joint hunting, mating games and collisions - all this provides useful information for a better understanding of human behavior in society.
Crime remains a big problem for humanity, which in itself represents some kind of antisocial behavior. Robbery and murder, hooliganism and theft, kidnapping and terrorism - all this is the result of antisocial (delinquent) behavior. Similarly, illegal political actions can be considered - various Maidans, unrest, "rose revolutions". Some individuals violate the law because of selfish motives and greed, the other because of violated (as it seems to them) justice.
For the executive and legislature, it is very important prediction of social behavior citizens who approve or disapprove of certain political, economic and social decisions. Indicators such as the growth of crime, strikes, protests, hidden discontent are widely used by sociologists who present the results of their surveys to government agencies and the public. Graphs of protest moods and popularity ratings of political leaders can accurately predict future public behavior.
