There is an old joke that inside every representative of the fair sex there lives a loving woman, a capricious queen and a real witch, whatever you wake up with is what you will encounter. Although this expression is humorous, there is more truth in it than fiction.
It is obvious that people in close relationships have an extremely strong influence on each other. A lot depends on a man’s behavior. However, most psychologists argue that the woman is the “first violin” in a couple. A girl or wife sets the tone for a relationship and models it. How healthy and happy they will be depends on the woman's role.
Social role - what is it?
According to the definition, a social role is behavior that society has deemed acceptable for people in a particular status. A person's social roles change depending on who he is at the moment. Society dictates that a son or daughter behave in one way than, say, a worker, a mother, or a woman.
What is included in the concept of social role:
- Human behavioral reactions, his speech, actions, actions.
- The appearance of the individual. He must also conform to the norms of society. A man wearing a dress or skirt in a number of countries will be perceived negatively, just like an office manager who comes to work in a dirty robe.
- Individual motivation. The environment approves and reacts negatively not only to a person’s behavior, but also to his internal aspirations. Motives are assessed based on the expectations of other people, which are built on the generally accepted understanding. A bride who marries for material benefits will be perceived negatively in certain societies; love and sincere feelings are expected from her, and not commercialism.
Examples from life
Learning to comply with socially accepted norms and stereotypes (rules of the game) begins in a person’s early childhood:
- From parents, the child receives knowledge about what can and cannot be done in different life situations. How you should behave towards your mother, father, elders in general, and friends. What rules of behavior must be observed on the street, at a party, in kindergarten, at school.
- From early childhood, gender roles are mastered. The expectations for how girls and boys should behave are different. The same behavior of children of different sexes will meet with different reactions from parents. For example, a crying girl will be consoled, and a boy will be explained that it is not appropriate for a future man to cry.
- As the child grows up, he masters the social roles of a school student, a friend in the company of peers, a participant in clubs and interest groups. In the near future, a young man usually expects to become a student at an educational institution.
- With the receipt of education, a professional mission in society is mastered - a doctor, a salesman, an actor, a teacher.
- Men and women create families , mastering the roles of husband and wife, and then parents.
People, knowing about the status of a particular person in society, present a certain established, expected set of requirements for his behavior.
Society already has long-established standards for successfully or, conversely, poorly executed social models of behavior for a specific case.
Although, of course, a person has freedom in relation to his “social game”. As a result, each individual is free to fulfill a social role (or reject it altogether) in accordance with his own concepts and ideas about life, individual characteristics.
The importance of social role in human life
Changing behavioral responses can be costly for an individual. Our social roles are determined by the expectations of other people; if we fail to meet them, we risk remaining outcasts. A person who decides to break these peculiar rules is unlikely to build relationships with other members of society. They will condemn him and try to change him. In some cases, such an individual is perceived as mentally abnormal, although the doctor did not make such a diagnosis.
Signs of a social role
This concept is also associated with the profession and type of human activity. This also affects how the social role is manifested. We expect different appearance, speech and actions from a university student and from a schoolchild. A woman, in our understanding, should not do what is included in the concept of normal behavior of a man. And a doctor does not have the right to act in a work environment in the same way as a salesman or engineer would act. The social role in the profession is manifested in appearance and use of terms. By violating these rules, you can be considered a bad specialist.
Types of social roles
Psychologists divide the concept into 2 main categories - interpersonal and status-related. The first are associated with emotional relationships - the leader, the favorite in the team, the soul of the company. The social roles of the individual, depending on the official position, are more determined by profession, type of activity and family - husband, child, salesman. This category is impersonal; behavioral reactions in them are more clearly defined than in the first group.
Each social role is different:
- By the degree of its formalization and scale. There are those where the behavior is very clearly defined and those where the expected actions and reactions by the environment are described vaguely.
- By method of receipt. Achievements are often associated with profession, interpersonal relationships, assigned to marital status, and physiological characteristics. An example of the first subgroup is a lawyer, a leader, and the second is a woman, daughter, mother.
Individual role
Each person has several functions at the same time. Performing each of them, he is forced to behave in a certain way. The individual social role of a person is related to the interests and motives of a person. Each of us perceives ourselves somewhat differently from how other people see us, so our own assessment of behavior and other people's perception of it can differ greatly. Let's say a teenager may consider himself quite mature, having the right to make a number of decisions, but for his parents he will still be a child.
Interpersonal roles of a person
This category is associated with the emotional sphere. This social role of a person is often assigned to him by a certain group of people. An individual can be considered a fun guy, a favorite, a leader, a loser. Based on the group’s perception of the individual, the environment expects a certain standard response from the person. If it is assumed that a teenager is not only a son and a student, but also a joker and a bully, his actions will be assessed through the prism of these unofficial statuses.
Social roles in the family are also interpersonal. There are often situations when one of the children has the status of a favorite. In this case, conflicts between children and parents become pronounced and arise more often. Psychologists advise avoiding assigning interpersonal statuses within the family, because in this situation its members are forced to rebuild behavioral reactions, which leads to personality changes, and not always for the better.
Our life is a theater where everyone plays a role.
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Eastern psychology says that a person is like a chameleon: he takes on the color of the one with whom he communicates. Communication determines our life, because we absorb the qualities of our surroundings, the environment in which we live. This is human nature, and nothing can be done about it.
Once an experiment was conducted: mentally stable, successful students were divided into two groups. The first group was told that they were prisoners, and the second that they were guards, and asked to behave in accordance with these roles.
After four days, the experiment had to be stopped, although it was originally planned that it would last a week: those students who were “prisoners” began to have very severe depression and other signs of behavior characteristic of prisoners in prison. And the “guards” began to behave harshly and rudely towards the prisoners, although these were their friends. One student guard even began to beat them. They were completely immersed in the prison atmosphere.
Even actors who play villain roles are becoming angrier. And there are many opposite examples, when an ordinary actor played the role of a saint, and after the film his life changed a lot: he became a harmonious and wise person.
The life of modern actors is often very tragic, since they rarely have to play the roles of harmonious, spiritually advanced people.
By and large, our life is a big theater where we play certain roles. And our next role, our next life depends on how we play our role. After all, we are an eternal spirit, which, incarnating in this world, plays certain roles - men, women; French, Jew, German, Ukrainian; engineer, teacher, boss, etc.
And what’s interesting: we write our own life script, we set ourselves up for certain programs (conscious and unconscious), behavioral models. And the more ignorance in a person’s life, the more darkness and misfortune there is in it. And vice versa, the more goodness, the more light, happiness and choice, the more conscious and interesting life becomes.
Who would like to play the role of an angry, unhappy, bored person who constantly criticizes others and makes complaints about everything and everyone? So why do people choose these roles?
Communication must be chosen
Therefore, we must consciously choose which roles to play and with whom to communicate . In general, each of us has already been assigned some role for this incarnation. We cannot change our nation, parents, relatives in this life, or significantly change the structure of the body. But even within this framework, we have quite a wide range of choices.
If we want to understand who we are, we need to look at the people with whom we have the closest relationships and with whom we spend the most time.
Ayurvedic psychology considers right relationships to be the foundation of mental well-being. We need to surround ourselves with harmonious people, those who contribute to our progress, bring peace of mind, and help us maintain peace of mind. We should stay away from those who destroy our nervous system, lead us to degradation, and deprive us of peace.
You should communicate with such people only if they want to listen to your advice and are ready to change. If not, then you just need to pray for them and wish them happiness.
Regular communication with people who promote harmonious development and increase love in the soul is more healing and beneficial than visiting a doctor. The very presence of a wise person cools and calms the mind.
When we think about someone, we absorb their energy. Therefore, Eastern philosophy and Eastern psychology say: “Think about God, think about saints, think about what the scriptures, enlightened persons say.” This is what gives us the energy of pure Sattva, and this is already a transcendental level.
There is a very simple rule, following which you will make communication with other people a source of happiness and progress:
1. Those older than us should be shown respect, serve them humbly, and humbly accept their instructions and wishes.
2. You need to be friends with equals, that is, show the qualities of a true friend.
3. We need to take care of juniors and people below us and give them instructions.
By elders we mean those who are physically older than us, and those who are wiser than us, and those who are higher than us on a social level (for example, a boss at work).
– Familiarity destroys relationships.
– The more ignorance and passion a person has, the less he sees teachers in the people around him.
– Equals are those who are about the same age and education as us.
– People below us are people less wise, less educated, younger in age.
– If you give instructions to your elders, and even to your equals (when you are not asked), and try to be friends with the younger ones and take their worldview, learn from them, then you will quickly destroy your life. This, for example, can be seen in life in the conditions of modern education: teenagers are allowed to communicate defiantly, without respect with teachers, to learn and take examples from film actors, women of easy virtue, people of the lowest moral and moral level, to make idols out of them and to honor them. As a result, such teenagers practically lose the opportunity to progress and be happy and successful.
Most of us are not us. Our thoughts are someone else's judgments; our life is mimicry; our passions - quote.
Oscar Wilde
CHAPTER 8. Philosophy - the basis of psychology
How does a living being come into this world?
Now we will look at very important material: how jiva (Sanskrit - “soul, living being”) gets into this material world and how it gets entangled in it.
Why are we considering this topic - the gunas, including from the point of view of psychology? Because if you understand it, you will grow a lot as a person, in every way. Now the main problem of our civilization is that the two Huns, Rajas and Tamas, have thoroughly penetrated the consciousness of people. Therefore, it often happens that it makes no sense to work with a person until he is cleansed. This table clearly shows how a jiva (living entity) enters this world.
Academician Vernadsky called Mahat (Mahattatva) - the noosphere.
We are a part of God, one spiritual substance with Him . A living being was originally located in the spiritual world (in Christianity - the Kingdom of God). This is a world that has nothing to do with the material, in it everyone feels unity with God and is full of eternity, knowledge and bliss, but a living being for certain reasons (now we will not touch on these theosophical moments) falls into a kind of “compote” of material energy. This mahatattva is the great material energy, which consists of the three modes of material nature.
When a soul comes from the spiritual world, its first births carry the energy of the transcendental world.
But no matter what part of the material world we are born in, we have a body, we begin to communicate with others, and the third step occurs - identifying ourselves with the environment: “Now I am in this world. I am such and such, I am a yogi, I am a sage, I am big/small, I belong to such and such a family and tribe, and others have such and such qualities.” That is, we begin to identify ourselves with matter, the gunas interact with our mind, and conditioning appears.
Degradation of the mind
At the first stage, the mind understands that the soul is eternal, that one must live by love of God, etc. But subsequently the mind becomes a little defiled, and a false ego (ahankara) appears. When it appears, we begin to identify ourselves with what we actually are not: with the body, with the subtle body, with the mind and mind.
First of all, there is identification with the senses and the mind. And despite the fact that the mind is initially in goodness, it becomes defiled by passion and begins to make plans for pleasure. He is overwhelmed by passion, he loses control over his feelings and falls under their influence. He begins to engage in material activities, although he sees that this does not give him satisfaction. The initially sattvic, blissful mind becomes passionate. For example, if you do meditation and are not attached to anything, then the mind is in peace and pleasure. But when you are influenced by the energy of ahankara (false ego), the mind becomes passionate.
In this world there is always someone above you, someone below you. For example, your neighbor has a better house than yours, and you also begin to want a house no worse than his. Such a passionate mind gains great strength. The mind falls under its subordination, becomes a servant, a slave of the mind, and the main desire of the mind is to satisfy the senses. And then the mind begins to look for ways to satisfy them. If a person’s mind is developed, he can plan for himself a wide variety of sensual pleasures. In today's society, there are many opportunities for sense gratification.
The gunas (mainly passion and ignorance) influence the mind and intelligence through sense objects - and the mind literally goes berserk - because sense pleasures cannot make it completely satisfied. They make him even more restless. Have you ever seen a person walking peacefully through some metropolis, for example, New York or the central streets of Moscow? There is such energy there that, once you get there, even against your will, after a while you will also start running, even if at first you were just walking calmly. There is practically no Sattva in the city, there is only ignorance and passion. The mode of goodness is nature, mountains.
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New social roles of youth
They appeared in connection with a change in social structure. The development of Internet communication has led to the fact that the social roles of young people have changed and become more variable. The development of subcultures also contributed to this. Modern teenagers are increasingly focusing not on official statuses, but on those that are accepted in their society - punk, vaper. The assignment of such perception can be group or individual.
Modern psychologists argue that behavior considered normal for the environment is not characteristic of a healthy person, but of a neurotic person. They associate this fact with the ever-increasing number of people who cannot cope with stress and are forced to turn to specialists for help.
Four Types of Roles We Play Every Day
Many people perform different roles throughout the day. Therefore, to understand their behavior, it is important to know what roles your colleagues and partners use and for what purpose. The role behavior of an individual in a group depends on the people themselves, as well as on the requirements and needs of the group. There are four main types of roles that allow you to solve a given problem: providing a solution to the problem, supporting, procedural and egocentric, facilitating or hindering group interaction.
As a result of the presence of multiple roles and their contours, a person may encounter a complex situation in which his activities in one role interfere with his activities in other roles. As a member of a group, a person experiences intense pressure to give up his self and obligations to himself in exchange for intragroup activities. When this happens, the person faces a situation known as role conflict.
During communication, various role conflicts may arise:
- “person-role” conflict: when the demands of a role violate the basic values, relationships and needs of a person occupying a certain position;
- Intra-role conflict: Occurs when different people define a role with different requirements, making it difficult for the person filling the role to meet all the requirements. For example, a legal adviser at an enterprise, on the one hand, must comply with legal norms, on the other, protect the interests of the administration;
- inter-role conflict: occurs as a result of the clash of multiple roles that may have conflicting expectations associated with them.
When faced with role conflict, a person experiences psychological stress, which can lead to emotional problems when interacting with other people, and sometimes indecisiveness in making decisions.
Role behavior of an individual in a group, i.e. The roles performed by group members depend on their personality and the demands and needs of the group.
There are four main types of roles that allow you to solve a given problem: providing a solution to the problem, supporting, procedural and egocentric, facilitating or hindering group interaction.
1. Roles that ensure the solution of the task: group members who perform such roles, communicate information to the group or express their point of view, search for and analyze information or opinions. Among them:
- information seeker: often poses questions and tries to get answers to them, encourages other participants in group interaction to make decisions;
- initiator: most often offers new solutions, makes proposals regarding the task assigned to the group;
- follower: picks up a new idea, initiative, expands and deepens it, helps bring it to a solution;
- evaluator: evaluates the activities of individual members and the entire group, the relevance of the situation, compares with goals, sums up.
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2. Supporting roles help the group develop and maintain good relationships among its members , group cohesion and an effective level of resolution of conflicts of opinion. Members who perform supportive roles must encourage other group members, relieve tension, and bring harmony. Among them:
- encouraging: motivating and “pushing others” to participate in the group process, involving inactive and silent members in the work, demonstrating through their verbal and non-verbal behavior an understanding of other people’s ideas and opinions (“good point of view”, “great idea”);
- harmonizer: encourages joint activities, resolves conflict situations, tries to overcome contradictions between group members and lead everyone to a compromise, using a smile and witty remarks;
- relieves tension: tries to relieve tension in difficult situations, often jokes, jokes, jokes, tells jokes;
- guardian of the rules: reminds group members of the proclaimed norms and rules of interaction, draws attention to their compliance;
- "translator": skillfully uses knowledge of the differences in social, cultural, national and gender orientations of group members to help them understand each other.
3. Procedural roles assist the group in problem solving. Among them:
- dispatcher: promotes the correct “division of labor” in the group so that any discussion works towards the final result, monitors the regulations, monitors the group’s progress towards the task assigned to it;
- protocol keeper: tries to write down everything that the group has worked out, as if keeping a protocol on the decision-making procedure;
- Guardian: Ensures that everyone has equal opportunity to participate in the discussion. Analyzes non-verbal signals and, based on them, invites one or another group member to speak.
4. Egocentric roles focus attention on personal needs and tasks to the detriment of group goals. Egocentric roles reduce the effectiveness of group work. Among them:
- aggressor: opposes group initiatives, questions the importance of what happens in the group. Seeks to increase his own status by criticizing almost everything or blaming others when things are not going well, and belittling the personal qualities and status of others. When personal goals conflict with group goals, he gives preference to the former;
- seeking recognition: regardless of what is happening in the group, he tries to attract attention, reminds of his merits, demonstrates his abilities and capabilities in all situations suitable for these purposes. Tries to constantly be the center of attention, craves recognition and praise;
- monopolist: constantly talks, often prevents others from speaking, strives to take a leadership position in the group, imposes his opinion, tries to manipulate other participants;
- absentee: avoids working in a group, does not support group initiatives, tends to be on the sidelines. Avoids conflicts of opinions and actions and situations that are risky for himself and his reputation. Prefers to remain silent or give evasive answers;
- joker: fools around, imitates others, turning everything that happens into a joke, trying to attract attention to himself.
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To achieve their goals in a certain situation, participants in interaction, in addition to playing certain roles, also build appropriate positions. From this point of view, interpersonal interaction involves:
- choosing a position in relation to another, psychological adjustment to the positions of partners, testing their strength;
- formalizing a position taken through the use of verbal and non-verbal means of communication.
There are three types of attachment to a partner:
- Extension from above: may look like teachings, condemnations, reprimands, advice, appeals, sometimes degrading the dignity of an adult, for example: verbal - “you”, “baby” or non-verbal - patting on the shoulder, looking down, etc.
- An extension from below: means a position of subordination and dictates its own behavioral patterns. In such a situation, a person adapts to a stronger partner, leans forward when talking, lowers his head, etc.
- The position of equality of parties: presupposes appropriate verbal and non-verbal forms of behavior: a calm look into the eyes of the interlocutor, an open expression of feelings and expectations, reasonable statements, demonstrates a willingness to listen to criticism addressed to oneself.
In addition to playing roles and adapting to the partner’s position during social interaction, various effects are also used:
- contrast effect: the ability to quickly change psychological positions depending on the situation; this is an important indicator of communication skills;
- assimilation effect: the use of ready-made skills and abilities in new conditions without significantly changing them. Typically, this inflexible type of role behavior is used by a person who is ambitious, self-confident, or with intentions that leave much to be desired;
- technique of behavioral reinforcement: a partner, fulfilling a particular role, not only limits himself to verbal and non-verbal contacts, but also reinforces them with his actions and deeds.
Author: Alvina Pavlovna Panfilova, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor of the Department of Social Management of the Russian State Pedagogical University. A.I. Herzen.
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