What is affiliation in psychology?
Affiliation is a natural human need to be part of a society and spend time in that society. Each of us needs to build relationships with other people, receive various emotions from communicating with them, experience affection, trust, mutual respect and other feelings.
The term “affiliation” is derived from the English word affiliation (belonging, accession), which in turn comes from the Latin word filialis (filial or daughter). That is, the literal meaning of this concept is the joining of something smaller to something larger (one person to a group).
This need is formed in us in early childhood when communicating with family and peers. For a small child, the presence of other people creates a feeling of calm and security. If he is often alone, he becomes anxious. An adult also experiences comfort when surrounded by close people , but from prolonged loneliness he can become depressed.
Psychologists believe that affiliation is a consequence of upbringing and has a reasonable cause. For a child, being constantly surrounded by family is the key to safety and well-being. This perception is reinforced in him , and in the future an adult will also constantly need the presence of close people. At the same time, he strives to be part of several independent groups: family, circle of friends, work team.
Is affiliation always prohibited?
The English word affiliated means “attached”, without any negative connotation. Everyone knows that large companies often practice opening their own branches, subsidiaries and branches. They do this openly and often by using well-known logos and trademarks in the names of their associated businesses.
The meaning of the word in itself does not contain a hint of a criminal conspiracy, which is always a secret of its participants.
An example of dangerous connections between interested parties is abuse in public procurement. It may seem that the participation of affiliates in bidding should be strictly prohibited, but this is not the case. Russian legal norms provide their definition. According to the law 44-FZ (Article 39, Part 6), they are considered to be spouses, close relatives, including half-bloods, adoptive parents, adopted children, etc.
At the same time, there is no direct prohibition on the participation of persons affiliated with members of the commission in procurement under government orders. Another law, 135-FZ, indicates the inadmissibility of restricting or eliminating competition using mutual connections of interested parties. Similar provisions are present in 223-FZ.
In other words, affiliation as such does not legally mean the presence of criminal and corrupt intentions. However, it potentially creates conditions for them in cases where it is hidden.
Types of affiliation
The understanding of what an affiliation is may vary slightly depending on the context. Although this is not entirely correct from a psychological point of view, this word is usually used to describe a person’s need to be part of some company. Affiliation can also be called the process of involvement in a relationship or the relationship itself. That is, this word denotes both a feature of the psyche and a social phenomenon associated with it.
When classifying types of affiliation, psychologists use a combination of two concepts:
- Need for affiliation. This is an indicator of how much a person needs to be part of the company. People with high affiliation constantly strive to communicate. They are not necessarily extroverts, but they tolerate loneliness extremely poorly, so they try to spend as much time as possible with loved ones. People with low affiliation, on the contrary, like to be alone, and quickly get tired of too much communication.
- Hope for affiliation. This concept is closely related to a person’s self-esteem. Confident individuals tend to have high affiliation expectancy (that is, they believe they can easily make new friends). If the hope for affiliation is low, the person is constantly afraid that he will fail in the relationship. They say about him that he experiences “fear of rejection.”
The need for affiliation and the hope for it can be combined in four combinations, forming four different situations:
- High need and high hope. Obviously, such people are very sociable and are almost always extroverts. In most cases, they make positive impressions on new acquaintances. However, in the future, their excessive sociability seems annoying to many.
- Low need and high hope. This happens when a person is confident enough in himself and is not afraid of failures in a relationship. Usually he is not very eager to make new acquaintances and connections, since his need for affiliation is usually completely satisfied.
- Low need and low hope. Such a person by nature does not strive for rapprochement. And since at the same time he has a very strong fear of rejection, this only strengthens his confidence that he does not need anyone.
- High need and low hope. This ratio leads to the fact that a person’s need for affiliation often remains unsatisfied. Because of this, he has a powerful internal conflict, which over time can lead to neuroses and other mental disorders.
Some authors believe that the latter combination is the main cause of conformist behavior. That is, the more a person strives for inclusion and the more afraid he is of being rejected, the higher his tendency to conformism will be.
Needs for trusting communication, compassion and support
Home Favorites Random article Educational New additions Feedback FAQThe needs for trusting communication (affiliation) and mercy (altruism) are the most important human needs realized in communication. Therefore, we will dwell on them in more detail.
Motives for affiliation and help are based on a positive attitude towards people and, as a rule, exclude manipulation.
If a person is driven by the need to accept himself, his feelings, goals, rapprochement and trust, most often oriented towards specific people, then this is usually expressed in affiliative behavior. If a person feels the need for empathy, acceptance of other people without focusing on an individual person, then more often this is expressed in helping behavior, responsiveness and mercy.
Affiliation
It is human nature to strive for people, to try to get closer, to build trusting relationships. All this fits into the concept of “affiliation”.
Back in 1938, G. Murray defined the motive of affiliation as follows: “To make friends and experience affection. Enjoy other people and live with them. Collaborate and communicate with them. Be in love. Join the group” (Quoted in: Heckhausen, 1986, vol. 1, p. 289).
Emphasizing the fundamental nature of a person’s daily craving for contacts with other people, this motive should be defined as a mutual desire to receive satisfaction from communication and maintain contacts in such a way that they not only bring satisfaction, but also captivate and enrich both parties.
It is important that the partner feels that he is being offered a relationship of equals, in which mutual trust dominates. The purpose of affiliation is a mutual search for acceptance, desirability of oneself, friendly support and sympathy, consonance of experiences. The affiliation motive includes two different tendencies - the desire for rapprochement, hope for affiliation (NA) and fear, fear of rejection (FR).
Researcher and psychotherapist L. Horowitz identifies two types of behavior that underlie any interpersonal relationship: behavior aimed at bringing another person closer - type C actions (bringing closer); and behavior oriented toward moving away from the other—actions of type O (rejection). Type C behavior occurs when there is a tendency toward cooperation, agreement, intimacy, and ultimately love. Type O actions manifest disagreement, mistrust, detachment, and hostility.
Type O behavior creates barriers that others must overcome in order to achieve Type C manifestations. Some people may unconsciously give ambiguous signals such as: “I really need you, go away,” “I may refuse, but you still need to contact me.” , “You have to call me, it’s my right not to pick up the phone,” etc. (according to: Heckhausen, 1986).
Affiliative communication has its own behavioral manifestations (they are ordered using factor analysis and identified from an audiovisual recording by A. Mekhrabyan in 1971) (according to: Heckhausen, 1986):
• total number of statements in 1 minute (especially positive ones);
• duration of speech of partners and duration of eye contact;
• friendly facial expression;
• volume and speed of speech;
• number of gestures, nods, verbal agreements;
• lack of tension (number of leg movements, body swaying, distance to the partner).
The affiliation motive has a complex relationship with the achievement motive. There is a well-known experiment that clearly shows this contradiction. To solve a certain difficult problem, a person was asked to take a partner as an assistant - either a friend who had little understanding of the problem, or a obviously unpleasant, but knowledgeable person. The choice made indicated what the leading motive was for this person, what was more important for him - to maintain friendly relations (since completing the task was both prestigious and paid) or to achieve a result.
The few studies on this topic show that people with a strong affiliation motive are more likely to talk on the phone and write letters, thus fulfilling their need for trusted contacts. They perceive other people more positively and more similar to themselves, which evokes reciprocal feelings and even when communicating with a stranger leads to a feeling of trust and comfort.
Altruism is a motive in its own right, which differs from other motives based on personal gain; it is based on love and selfless concern for others, the ability to make free sacrifices for the sake of the group, the need to give and a sense of responsibility.
Fear of rejection does not lead to a decrease in affiliative needs, but intensifies the search for ways to get closer. When analyzing the components of the achievement motive - hope for success and fear of failure - another tendency is revealed: the presence of fear of failure significantly reduces hope for success.
The affiliative motive is revealed not only in relationships with unfamiliar people, meeting people for the first time, but is woven into the structure of relationships with significant people. This is evidenced by the results of a study of affiliation in college age (see sidebar).
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Affiliation motivation
To better understand what affiliation is, you need to know two more concepts: the motive of affiliation and the motive of rejection. These are two opposing motives present in every person. For most people, the first of them is dominant, but the second sometimes makes itself felt.
The affiliation motive is a complex motive consisting of the desire for affiliation and the need for emotional and trusting relationships. The degree of expression of this motive depends on upbringing, as well as on the person’s life experience. People with a strong affiliation motive are usually successful in communication and have a high status in the team.
The rejection motive is the opposite of the affiliation motive. It lies in the fact that the individual denies and sabotages his own need for inclusion. People for whom this motive is dominant do not strive to be part of a team and are not very upset due to lack of social success.
Need for affiliation
From a psychological point of view, affiliation is one of the fundamental needs present in every person. In all people it is expressed to varying degrees, but it cannot be completely absent. Feeling like part of a certain group, a person feels that in a difficult situation he can count on support. At the same time, he himself is ready to support other members of this group in order to strengthen his connection with them.
The need for affiliation can increase significantly if a person has failed and is in a state of frustration. In such a situation, he can act in one of two ways: either continue to make desperate attempts to join the same group, or begin to look for an alternative way to satisfy the need for affiliation (find another company).
