J. Holland's test to determine professional personality type | Presentation for a psychology lesson (grades 8, 9) on the topic:

The development of social intelligence will help to better understand others, predict their actions, and “see” what emotions they experience. The ability to grasp a will ensure success in personal relationships, business, and studies. Sensitivity to the state of mind of the interlocutor, or even the crowd, can be developed using proven methods.

The term “social intelligence” refers to the skills of successful interaction of an individual with society. Such abilities in some are well expressed by nature and are a natural part of their personality, while in others they are almost not manifested. Some people easily manage to enter any network, while others overcome many internal barriers to start a casual conversation.

What is social intelligence?

Social intelligence is the knowledge and skills that determine the success of interaction, a kind of gift that helps you easily get along with people and avoid getting into awkward situations. The concept is often identified with the emotional mind, but more often researchers see them as running in parallel. The concept of social intelligence has three components:

Some sociologists distinguish it as a separate type of mind, cognitive ability, and put it on a par with cognition, verbal and mathematical intelligence, etc.
The other side of the phenomenon is specific knowledge and talents acquired in the process of socialization.
The third definition is a special personal trait that guarantees successful contact and adaptation in a team.

Social intelligence in psychology

In 1920, Edward Lee Thorndike introduced the concept of social intelligence into psychology. He regarded it as wisdom in interpersonal relationships, the so-called “foresight.” In further works, such authors as G. Allport, F. Vernon, O. Comte, M. Bobneva and V. Kunitsyna and others contributed to the interpretation of the term SI. He acquired the following characteristics:

ability to get along with individuals and understand the mood of a group;
independence from intellect. factor a;
formation of skills during socialization;
the ability to see oneself through the eyes of others;
global abilities developed against the background of communicative traits.

Social intelligence: what is it?

People first started talking about social intelligence in the 20s of the last century (E. Thorndlike), denoting with this phrase foresight and the ability to predict the development of interpersonal relationships. Many scientists have contributed to the development of trends in relationship psychology, which has made it possible to develop methods for improving the quality of social adaptation.

The following approaches have been identified in understanding this designation:

One of the types of cognitive abilities, along with verbal, analytical.
An innate trait that ensures easy integration into any society.
Knowledge acquired through the study of socialization techniques and their application.

The topic is vast and has several interpretation options, each of which is interesting to study. The skill of quality communication with people, necessary for a full life in society, can be cultivated, improved and expanded. The lack of ability or its underdevelopment leads to loneliness, lack of friends and loved ones, and a feeling of alienation even among close relatives.

Levels of social intelligence

Having identified the role of social intelligence in professional development, scientists began to think about what is needed for social intelligence and what kind of people possess it. In the mid-twentieth century, J. Guilford developed the first test capable of measuring SI. By considering parameters such as the complexity of the task, speed and originality of the solution, we can say whether a person is socially savvy. The presence of a good level of social intelligence is indicated by the effectiveness of actions in various states. Efficiency is determined by several SI levels:

medium
– actions in patterns, effectiveness in ordinary life situations;
low
– destructive behavior that can ruin even the most favorable circumstances;
high
– mastery of communication, managing people, the ability to take control of any problem.

High social intelligence

The mathematics of life is such that people regularly face difficult tasks. Those who can solve them are the winners. Social and emotional intelligence is high if an individual has the desire and ability to think. A socially erudite person is always a leader. He forces opponents to change thoughts, beliefs, ideas; quickly digests the information received and manages the problem, finding the right solutions in a short time.

Low social intelligence

If a person has a low level of social intelligence, his existence is full of difficulties that appear by themselves and especially through his fault. People who do not know how to choose a vector of behavior act on instincts and impulses. They find it difficult to get along with others, as they are capable of nipping in the bud the emerging sympathy and ruining relationships with important people. And the difficulties that arise in communication can be overcome by unerudite individuals only with someone else’s help and advice.

Social intelligence

It probably won’t be a big mistake if we make the assumption that almost all people live, study, work, and do anything with the hope of success in their activities. The hope of success largely determines the meaning and degree of application of effort to what one has to do. What influences success in human activity? Can success be predicted and is it possible to increase your ability to achieve success?

First, let's try to define success. Probably the simplest and most understandable thing may sound something like this: success is the logical completion of the work started with positive results. In the light of this definition, three main points can be identified, so to speak, three pillars that underlie any success.

1. Essential to achieving success is a person’s understanding of why he is taking on a certain business, as well as what results he would like to achieve. These two factors determine motivation, that is, those main reasons under the influence of which a person takes the necessary directed actions. Motives that have a definition in time and in the final result would most correctly be called goals. Any successful activity always occurs purposefully, and how fully the implemented activity corresponds to the wishes and idea of the ultimate goal is another completely acceptable definition of success.

When considering an individual activity or a specific goal, everything seems to become clear and does not cause any particular difficulties in understanding - if a person has achieved his goal, then this is success. But life does not end with one goal. What if achieving this goal excludes the possibility of achieving your other goals? What then to do with their implementation? Will such a situation fully correspond to our understanding of success? Obviously, before doing anything in relation to a specific goal, you need to identify your other goals, as well as establish consistency and interconnectedness in them. Certainty and being filled with consistent goals in one’s life are probably the main guideline for success in life, and in achieving them, quite possibly, lies the meaning of life for every person.

It is clear that it is hardly possible to fully plan your life, designating specific goals with unique milestones - the world and your own worldview are changing, your views and priorities, values and desires are changing. It would seem, what is the point of bothering yourself by doing something that is most likely to change? This remark is quite fair. However, the option of living without goals, focusing on satisfying momentary desires, according to the principle of everything now, definitely cannot lead to any lasting success. In this case, it is simply impossible to plan, forecast, or manage one’s own activities in any remote future. And the question of success then becomes completely uncertain.

Goals determine success, and only if you have goals, it becomes clear what success can be, in what direction to move to achieve it and what methods to use. In this case, goals, especially for long-term goals, are rather not some static image-objects, but rather a vector-direction, in line with which life activity is managed, which includes, in addition to predicting the possibilities for the development of the situation and choosing the best option actions, also clarifying the images of specific goals as they become clearer, and applying efforts to their implementation. In this case, everything is built in a fairly clear, flexible and predictable manner.

2. The next important point, extremely necessary for success, is will. The need to “make efforts to achieve goals” was mentioned above. At its core, this means that the success of achieving goals, if we take into account the predicted result, and not an accident or a happy coincidence, depends on such a quality of a person’s character as will. Will is energy, strength and the potential to carry out your plans. This means that any purposeful successful activity requires a person to be able to make some effort of will in order to make a decision to act, perform actions consistently and achieve a logical conclusion in his actions. All of the above is part of the manifestation of a person’s volitional qualities. Without the manifestation of will, no matter how much we would like otherwise, the possibility of achieving any goals can be seriously questioned.

Regarding will, several remarkable points should be highlighted, such as: the manifestation of will, thanks to the conscious, meaningful pursuit of one’s own goals, is the ability to do what you want and what you may not want to do. And also the fact that no one is born weak-willed. That is, absolutely all people are owners of will by the right of their birth. In addition, will is a character trait that can be developed and trained. Goals are achieved through will, and will is trained through achieving goals.

It turns out that there is a very definite interconnectedness - the more a person is capable of demonstrating his strong-willed qualities, the more successful he is and vice versa. Taking this second, but not least, factor into account, the definition of success may sound something like this: success is the effective achievement of set goals through conscious volitional activity.

3. The third necessary component of success, or, more correctly formulated, the main factor that largely determines the realistic chances of success, is understanding other people and the ability to build relationships with them.

If, as we have already found out, success lies in “achieving goals through conscious volitional activity,” which in principle depends entirely on the person himself, then in order to increase the effectiveness of this activity, it is necessary to consider some external aspects that influence the process of achieving goals. In this case, we can especially highlight the following: a person is a social being, that is, living and carrying out his activities in the society of other people. And all his actions, and, accordingly, the achievement of goals as well, are influenced or are to some extent dependent on the people with whom he comes into contact in the process of achieving goals. And you have to contact or, in other words, interact with other people, as anyone can easily see for themselves, almost constantly. This is where the main inconsistencies and contradictions arise, associated with differences in life positions and aspirations. I think there is no particular need for examples. Probably, everyone in their life has come across a situation when the goal seems to be within easy reach, but since it is not included in the interests and plans of other people, as a result, a big cross is put on it. This problem is solvable.

The most effective way to solve this problem is through understanding the very fact that other people have their own goals, understanding their desire for their own success and building productive relationships with them in accordance with this understanding. Without this understanding of other people, you simply will not know what is productive in a relationship and what is not. Thus, we can state: understanding other people and the ability to build relationships with them is another necessary factor for success.

Based on the above, we can formulate the following conclusion: achieving success is a person’s ability, by understanding himself, to understand other people and build relationships with them in such a way that, without entering into conflicts and contradictions, he can effectively achieve his goals through conscious volitional actions.

To summarize, we summarize the following: we examined three pillars - the main components of success in the life of any person and derived several definitions that fully reflect the dependence of success on personal qualities. From the perspective of considering the abilities of an individual, these three components of success can be formulated somewhat differently, namely as the ability to understand oneself, other people, situations of relationships between people and the use of this understanding in line with building mutually beneficial creative interaction towards certain goals.

The totality of these abilities has been identified in detail by studies of precedents for successful activities and has received its name “social intelligence of the individual.” It is the realization of one’s abilities of social intelligence that provides a person with a holistic systemic approach that guarantees success in life and activity, the more reliably, the more they are developed and used in practice.

People deprived of social intelligence are unable to understand themselves, cannot decide on their desires and goals, do not see the point in expressing their will, experience difficulties in making decisions, are not ready to understand other people and to effectively organize interaction even with their loved ones. In turn, all this causes numerous conflicts, disappointments and a feeling of complete meaninglessness in life. Many people stopped believing in themselves and their success. An indistinct collective image of “successful” heroes of television and film screens brings final confusion into the consciousness of primarily young people.

Is it possible to develop social intelligence abilities? This is quite real and depends solely on the desire of the person himself. The life of an individual, as well as his success, depend mainly on himself; he himself is the main instrument in his life. A person is capable of self-education and can become a teacher, a psychologist, and a general director for himself. Any individual has everything necessary for this. Study, observe, experiment - develop your social intelligence abilities on your own.

Components of social intelligence

Based on the results of many studies conducted both abroad and in our country, it can clearly be argued that the main factor influencing the achievement of success in human life and activity is intelligence. The higher the level of his development, the more chances a person has to take more advantageous positions in the social environment and make a career in any field of application of his strength.

At different times, various researchers have proposed many models representing the general structure of intelligence. Despite the divergence of existing opinions, the fact remains that intelligence is the totality of a person’s abilities to know, understand and solve problems in a wide variety of areas of life.

An example of one of the models is the famous multifactor model of general intelligence by J. Guilford, which currently includes up to 180 intellectual abilities. The theory of the multifactor structure of intelligence allows specialists to combine the totality of certain abilities with general concepts, such as, for example, mathematical, creative, musical intelligence, etc.

One of the main achievements of the twentieth century in the field of studying the role of the influence of various intellectual abilities on success in human life and activity can rightfully be considered the opinion formulated by specialists that the main factors of success in situations where communication and interaction with other people are required are a person’s ability to correctly understand yourself, the behavior of other people, situations of interaction between people and use this understanding to build fruitful relationships. Collectively, these abilities are defined by experts as social and emotional intelligence. This point is extremely important, since it allows us to identify from the entire multifactorial series certain abilities that are mainly responsible for the success of human life.

Three groups of abilities describing social intelligence have been identified: cognitive, emotional and behavioral. Each of these groups can be represented as follows:

1.Cognitive:

social knowledge – knowledge about people, knowledge of special rules, understanding of other people;
social memory – memory for names, faces;
social intuition – assessment of feelings, determination of mood, understanding of the motives of other people’s actions, the ability to adequately perceive observed behavior within the social context;
social forecasting – formulating plans for one’s own actions, tracking one’s development, reflecting on one’s own development and assessing unused alternative opportunities.

2. Emotional:

social expressiveness – emotional expressiveness, emotional sensitivity, emotional control;
empathy - the ability to enter into the position of other people, to put oneself in the place of another;
the ability to self-regulate – the ability to regulate one’s own emotions and one’s own mood.

3. Behavioral:

social perception - the ability to listen to your interlocutor, understanding of humor;
social interaction - the ability and willingness to work together, the ability for collective interaction and the highest type of this interaction - collective creativity;
social adaptation - the ability to explain and convince others, the ability to get along with other people, openness in relationships with others.

The definition of emotional intelligence is interpreted as the ability to understand one’s own and others’ emotions and manage them. The ability to understand emotions means that a person can:

recognize the emotion, i.e. establish the very fact of having an emotional experience in yourself or another person;
identify the emotion, i.e. establish what kind of emotion he himself or another person is experiencing, and find a verbal expression for it;
understand the reasons that caused this emotion and the consequences to which it will lead.

The ability to manage emotions means that a person can:

control the intensity of emotions, first of all, muffle excessively strong emotions;
can control the external expression of emotions;
can, if necessary, arbitrarily evoke one or another emotion.

The ability to understand and the ability to manage emotions can be directed both at one’s own emotions and at the emotions of other people.

One can easily establish a direct relationship between social and emotional intelligence and assume that social intelligence is a broader concept than emotional intelligence and includes the abilities that define emotional intelligence.

If you are serious about success in your life and work, it is recommended that you pay close attention to developing your social and emotional intelligence abilities.

Behavioral strategies to achieve your own goals

Relationships between people are determined by the social structure of society. It is possible to avoid them by subjecting yourself to complete isolation from other people and the influence they produce through television, radio, the Internet, the press, trade, industrial production and interpersonal communication. If such a need arises, this can be done, for example, by retiring to the taiga and fully providing for yourself by engaging in subsistence farming. Otherwise, you need to learn to build productive relationships with people.

It is impossible to achieve good relationships without understanding what people want and what motivates them in relationship situations. The main point for this understanding is that any relationship is always determined by certain motives. In their daily lives, people are guided mainly by short-term pragmatic goals - the immediate causes of behavior. Despite this, all of them can be correlated with the following main motives:

establishing social connections;
obtaining the necessary information;
maintaining positive self-esteem;
protecting yourself and your loved ones from danger;
achieving and strengthening social status;
acquisition or exchange of material goods;
attracting and retaining sexual partners.

These motives are not always recognized by a person and in a situation of daily interaction they can be divided into many subgoals that are directly tied to specific circumstances. However, knowing the main motives and keeping them in mind, it is possible with a reasonable degree of confidence to determine the goals to which almost any person is mainly oriented when entering in one way or another into relationships with other people.

Another important point is that the listed motives do not exist in isolation. As a rule, they are in close relationship with each other. For example, the motivation to establish social connections serves the purpose of strengthening one’s prestige and social status, obtaining necessary information and support from others, and acquiring material wealth. In addition, this motivation underlies another important goal - maintaining positive self-esteem. In this case, the motivation to establish social connections serves as a connecting bridge for achieving all other life goals. As an example of a relationship, we can consider the motive of obtaining social status, which, when it increases, contributes to the provision of material benefits and attracts people of the opposite sex.

A person, entering into relationships with other people, can ensure that he achieves his goals using only two behavioral strategies - those focused on mutual assistance or aggression.

Aggression involves forcing other people to do things against their wishes. This refers to various methods of exerting pressure, violence, manipulation, deliberate deception. Aggressive behavior in relationships corresponds mainly to individuals prone to dominance and seeking to gain benefits at the expense of other people. Many people prefer to adhere to this same strategy, due to their immaturity and desire to achieve their goals as quickly as possible. This behavior strategy often arises as a result of a situation of competition or competition. In fact, many people have been instilled with this strategy since childhood. From a young age, children are taught that in order to achieve their goals, they must make their way by “elbowing others.” Naturally, in the future, a person mainly builds his relationships in this way.

An aggressive strategy undoubtedly allows a person to achieve his goals because, as a rule, it is based on existing abilities and a certain strength of personality. However, in the long term, aggressive behavior suggests serious difficulties in establishing and maintaining fruitful relationships. The relationship that has developed in this case is characterized by a lack of mutual trust, ignoring the interests and infringement of the rights of other people. Other participants in such relationships may harbor resentment, and then there is no hope for support or other help from them in the future. In addition, the remaining participants in such interaction can react to aggressive behavior in an appropriate and adequate way - aggression generates reciprocal aggression, which will inevitably lead to a clash of characters and conflict.

Those who deliberately prefer to adhere to an aggressive strategy in behavior have more than once been convinced of the following from their own life experience. Finding satisfaction in the rapid “takeoff” in the number of your victories in achieving goals using an aggressive strategy, you should understand that after a certain period of time the situation will certainly change and such behavior will certainly lead to a hard “landing” with subsequent disappointment and quite possible tragic consequences.

In the logic of social intelligence, the correct and effective strategy for behavior in achieving goals is a relationship-building strategy focused on mutual assistance. In this case, we mean the mutual assistance provided to each other by the participants in the relationship in achieving each of his own goals on the principle of mutually beneficial cooperation. The key word here is “mutually beneficial,” since providing assistance without any conditions can easily turn into exploitation, and this is a completely different strategy and completely different results. In this case, only one side will achieve goals and it is difficult to call such relationships fruitful.

Providing assistance is perceived by people as some kind of reward. This behavior automatically evokes gratitude and possible reciprocal help from other participants in the relationship, which contributes to the establishment of strong trusting ties between all participants and allows one to hope for long-term cooperation, interaction and support in the future.

Mutual assistance on the principle of mutually beneficial cooperation, in addition to being an effective strategy for achieving a goal proven by practice, is itself an act approved by other people in almost any society. For a person using such a behavior strategy, this fact serves as the basis for confidence in achieving, thus, two important goals - establishing strong social connections and forming positive self-esteem. At the same time, the prospect of ensuing consequences arises in the form of opening up opportunities for achieving other goals.

Using the resource of human relationships to the fullest, a person can acquire in his own life five more important resource advantages necessary to achieve his goals:

a person receives approval for his actions from other people, thereby acquiring and increasing his prestige and social status;
a person learns to understand and take into account both the motives of his own behavior and the behavior of other people. Becomes more attentive, thoughtful and reasonable. He finds satisfaction in his ability to manage himself, becomes self-confident, calm, and less prone to irritation, because he understands that a negative emotional reaction can have a negative impact on his relationships with others. In addition, appropriate management of one’s emotions allows a person to maintain his health;
a person learns to set goals and successfully achieve them. At the same time, one of the goals achieved is the formation of positive self-esteem. A person determines his image in the future, forms this desired personal image by performing conscious, planned actions, and confirms it in relationships with others;
the advantage arising from the previous three is material. A person builds relationships that allow him to effectively achieve his own goals, including material ones. This can be expressed, for example, in career advancement and a corresponding increase in wages; the opportunity to earn money in joint projects with other people; finding mutually beneficial solutions for all participants in their relationships in a variety of situations;
summarizing all the previous ones, perhaps the most important advantage is genetic. In the sense that a person who fully realizes the resource of human relationships significantly increases his chances of survival, since in this case his relationships are organized in such a way that they help him avoid conflicts and allow him to acquire friends, like-minded people and partners. In addition, the resulting material advantage, strengthening social status, maintaining health through managing emotions and conforming to one’s desired personality image - all this leads to the preservation of life and well-being, both for the person himself and for his family members.

In general, the acquisition of the listed advantages indicates that a person has developed social intelligence and allows the formation of more favorable circumstances in his life relative to the situation of many other people living in our far from stable world.

How to develop social intelligence?

Many people are concerned with the development of social intelligence as an opportunity to increase their status in society. To do this, it is necessary to understand what the model of this phenomenon includes. The structure of social intelligence is multidimensional and contains such components as:

personality potential – contact, compatibility with other people;
self-awareness, absence of barriers and neglected complexes;
social modeling phenomena;
understanding people's motives and behavior.

To raise the bar of social intelligence, it is necessary to improve some knowledge and get rid of other habits that interfere with contacts in society. The very first thing is to go beyond egoism and turn your attention to other people, that is, increase your sensitivity. It would be helpful to learn to do the following things:

understand body language;
read emotions;
capture the mood of the interlocutor;
listen and hear;
manage your own emotions;
speaking in public without embarrassment.

"S" = Situational awareness

Much of interacting well with others comes down to our situational awareness, or “social radar.” Before interacting with people, socially intelligent people take the time to "scan" the room to assess other people's emotional states, their possible intentions, or simply see whether they are similar to those interacting or not.

Observing the behavior and mood of people around you before approaching them is a good start. You don't want to talk about your big day when the person in front of you is busy cleaning.

Albrecht, however, takes it one step further by encouraging us to reserve time for purposeful “people-watching.” Through their verbal and nonverbal communication, we can begin to gain insight into people's personalities and social dynamics regarding those around us.

What vibrations do the people around you produce? Do they look open? Or does their body language appear closed?
What do their facial expressions reflect? Do they appear relaxed and positive? Or are they tense, serious, or even sad?
What about their tone of voice? Do they sound rushed or even cold? Or do their voices show affection and genuine interest in the people around them?

If you also want to raise your social intelligence, listen to Albrecht's advice. The more we study the people around us, the faster we can begin to make real connections with them.

Social Intelligence - Literature

You can understand the essence of social intelligence by reading the literature on this topic. These are works on psychology and sociology, works that talk about personality problems, as well as ways to solve them. It is useful to familiarize yourself with such publications as:

Guilford J., "Three Sides of Intelligence", 1965.
Kunitsyna V.N., “Social competence and social intelligence: structure, functions, relationship,” 1995.
Albrecht K., “Social intelligence. The science of skills for successful interaction with others,” 2011.

"P" = "Presence"

When it comes to our effectiveness at work, distractions are enemy number one for most people. The same applies to interacting productively with the people around us.

Being physically close to people is not enough. We also need to be present mentally and emotionally. Communication with people becomes a serious challenge if we do not pay attention to people.

Being present is not easy. Apart from all the external distractions around us, we must learn to quiet the internal dialogue that goes on in our head in order to focus on the person in front of us. As author Stephen Covey said, “Most people do not listen with the intention of understanding; they listen with the intention of responding.”

Every interaction we have is an opportunity to improve our presence.

— Put your agenda in the back of your mind by reminding yourself to take other people's mindsets into account in your daily conversations.
Prioritize your notebook instead of your phone, while challenging yourself to write down items that are clearly important to the people you meet.
When your mind starts to wander, use it as a cue to regain eye contact with the person you're talking to to bring yourself back into the conversation.

Perhaps the best thing you can do to be more present is to practice meditation. Research has shown that it helps us regulate our emotions, increase focus and working memory, while reducing stress; All of this contributes to creating better conversations with other people.

"A" = "Authenticity"

Albrecht breaks authenticity down into three parts: self-respect, faith in your personal values and beliefs, and honesty with others. When you get this trifecta right, others perceive you as authentic.

The basis of authenticity, however, lies in our self-awareness, in which a deep understanding of our values plays a key role. We will never become who we want to be if we don't know what that person looks like.

To clarify your values, Albrecht suggests writing a personal mission statement. This may seem like a daunting task, but don't overcomplicate it. Use Oprah Winfrey's mission statement as a guide: “Be a teacher. And to be known for inspiring my students to be more than they thought they could be.”

It may sound basic, but within these two short sentences you can find the values of community, growth, responsibility, kindness, and influence. Watching Oprah, it's clear she lives up to her mission.

When you write your mission statement, Christopher D. Connors, author of Your Worth, recommends clarifying your five core values and then writing a copy of no more than 50 words to serve as your guiding light. Follow Chris's advice and ask yourself:

What are my natural gifts and talents?
What lights me up and motivates me?
What have I learned from my experiences and how have they made me a better person?
How can my gifts best serve my community?

According to Chris, these questions will not only give you clarity about your values and increase your self-awareness. It will also improve your decision making process. It's hard to be honest with people if you don't know when you should say yes and when you should say no.

"C" = "Clarity"

When it comes to communication, clarity is key. Socially intelligent people constantly work to express their thoughts and feelings in an easily digestible manner.

One exercise Albrecht recommends is the “elevator workout.” Start by imagining that you have one minute to introduce your company or yourself to someone who has the power to change your life.

What would you say?

As someone who grew up with a severe speech impediment, in my experience, a few exercises will improve your communication skills. You can try to record yourself, listen, draw conclusions, repeat. Until you achieve a satisfactory result.

However, as with other aspects of social intelligence, there are many ways to practice communicating with greater clarity.

Write, write, and then write some more (writing is thinking, after all).

Study the strong communicators around you (How do they present themselves? How do they navigate difficult situations?).

Watch great speeches and pay close attention not only to what they say, but also to how they say it.

Record yourself answering common interview questions or simply practice telling your favorite stories.

The ability to simplify complex ideas into easy-to-understand yet compelling language is a skill that is becoming increasingly important in our fast-paced world.