The problem of interpersonal relationships and human interaction - abstract

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………..3

1. THE PROBLEM OF INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS AND INTERACTION OF PEOPLE………………………………………………………………………………………5

1.1. The purpose and objectives of interpersonal interaction……………………5

1.2. Features of interpersonal relationships and human interaction…………………………………………………………………………………..7

2.1. Functions of communication in interpersonal relationships………………...10

2.2. Structure of communication in interpersonal relationships……………….14

2.3. Types of communication in the system of interpersonal relations……………15

CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………..19

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL LIST…………………………………………..21

APPENDIX……………………………………………………………….22

INTRODUCTION

Human interaction with the outside world is carried out in a system of objective relations that develop between people in their social life.

Objective relationships and connections inevitably and naturally arise in any real group. A reflection of these objective relationships between group members are subjective interpersonal relationships, which are studied by social psychology.

The main way to study interpersonal interaction and interaction within a group is an in-depth study of various social factors, as well as the interaction of people within a given group. No human community can carry out full-fledged joint activities unless contact is established between the people included in it and proper mutual understanding is not achieved between them. So, for example, in order for a teacher to teach something to students, he must enter into communication with them.

Communication is a multifaceted process of developing contacts between people, generated by the needs of joint activities.

Over the past 20-25 years, the study of the problem of communication has become one of the leading areas of research in psychological science, and especially in social psychology. Its movement to the center of psychological research is explained by a change in the methodological situation that has clearly emerged in social psychology in the last two decades. From a subject of research, communication has simultaneously turned into a method, a principle of study in the beginning cognitive processes, and then the person’s personality as a whole.

This course work will examine communication in the system of interpersonal relationships and human interaction.

The subject of this course work is to determine the place of communication in the structure of interpersonal interaction and interaction between people. The goal is to study the features of communication in the system of interpersonal interaction and communication between people. The objectives of this course work are:

1. Consider the features of interpersonal relationships, interpersonal interaction.

2.Study the specifics of communication in the system of interpersonal relationships.

To structure the numerous results of research on interpersonal interaction, a systematic approach is used, the elements of which are the subject, the object and the process of interpersonal interaction.

1. THE PROBLEM OF INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS AND INTERACTION

1.1. The purpose and objectives of interpersonal interaction

The concept of “person's perception by person” is not enough to fully understand people. Subsequently, the concept of “understanding a person” was added to it, which involves connecting other cognitive processes to the process of human perception. The effectiveness of perception is associated with socio-psychological observation - a personality trait that allows it to capture subtle, but essential for his understanding, features in a person’s behavior.

The characteristics of the perceiver depend on gender, age, nationality, temperament, health, attitudes, communication experience, professional and personal characteristics, etc.

With age, emotional states differentiate. A person perceives the world around him through the prism of his national way of life. Those people who have a higher level of social intelligence are more successful in identifying various mental states and interpersonal relationships; the object of cognition is both the physical and social appearance of a person; perception initially captures the physical appearance, which includes physiological, functional and paralinguistic characteristics. Anatomical (somatic) features include height, head, etc. Physiological characteristics include breathing, blood circulation, sweating, etc. Functional features include posture, posture and gait, linguistic (non-verbal) communication features include facial expressions, gestures, body movements. Unambiguous emotions are easy to differentiate, but mixed and unexpressed mental states are much more difficult to recognize. Social appearance presupposes the social design of appearance, speech, paralinguistic, proxemic and activity characteristics. Social appearance (appearance) includes a person’s clothing, shoes, singing and other accessories. Proxemic features of communication refer to the state between the communicators and their relative position. An example from fiction that demonstrates the ability to determine place of birth and profession by characteristics is phonetics professor Higgins from the play Pygmalion. Extralinguistic features of speech presuppose the originality of the voice, timbre, pitch, etc. When perceiving a person, social features, in comparison with the physical appearance, are the most informative. 1

The process of human cognition includes mechanisms that distort ideas about what is perceived, mechanisms of interpersonal cognition, feedback from the object and the conditions in which perception occurs. Mechanisms that distort the emerging image of what is perceived limit the possibility of objective knowledge of people. The most significant of them are: the mechanism of primacy, or novelty (reduces to the fact that the first impression of what is perceived influences the subsequent formation of the image of the cognizable object); projection mechanism (transfer to people of the mental characteristics of the perceivers); the mechanism of stereotyping (attributing the perceived person to one of the types of people known to the subject); the mechanism of ethnocentrism (passing all information through a filter associated with the ethnic lifestyle of the perceiver).

To perceive a person and understand him, the subject unconsciously chooses various mechanisms of interpersonal cognition. The main mechanism is the interpretation (correlation) of personal experience of knowing people in general with the perception of a given person. The identification mechanism in interpersonal cognition represents the identification of oneself with another person. The subject also uses the mechanism of causal attribution (attributing to the perceived certain motives and reasons that explain his actions and other characteristics). The mechanism of reflection of another person in interpersonal cognition includes the subject’s awareness of how he is perceived by the object. In interpersonal perception and understanding of an object, there is a fairly strict order of functioning of the mechanisms of interpersonal cognition (from simple to complex).

In the course of interpersonal cognition, the subject takes into account information coming to him through various sensory channels, indicating a change in the state of the communication partner. Feedback from the object of perception performs an informative and corrective function for the subject in the process of perceiving the object.

The conditions for the perception of a person by a person include situations, time and place of communication. Reducing the time when perceiving an object reduces the ability of the perceiver to obtain sufficient information about it. With prolonged and close contact, evaluators begin to show condescension and favoritism.

1.2. Features of interpersonal relationships and human interaction

Interpersonal relationships are an integral part of interaction and are considered in its context. Interpersonal relationships are objectively experienced, to varying degrees perceived, relationships between people. They are based on the various emotional states of interacting people and their psychological characteristics. Unlike business relationships, interpersonal connections are sometimes called expressive and emotional.

The development of interpersonal relationships is determined by gender, age, nationality and many other factors. Women have a much smaller social circle than men. In interpersonal communication, they feel the need for self-disclosure, transferring personal information about themselves to others. They more often complain of loneliness (I.S. Kon). For women, characteristics that manifest themselves in interpersonal relationships are more significant, and for men, business qualities are more significant. In different national communities, interpersonal connections are built taking into account a person’s position in society, gender and age status, belonging to various social strata, etc. 2

The process of development of interpersonal relationships includes dynamics, a mechanism for regulating interpersonal relationships and the conditions for their development.

Interpersonal relationships develop dynamically: they are born, consolidated, reach a certain maturity, after which they can gradually weaken. The dynamics of the development of interpersonal relationships go through several stages: acquaintance, friendly, comradely and friendly relations. Dating takes place depending on the sociocultural norms of society. Friendly relationships form readiness for further development of interpersonal relationships. At the stage of comradely relations, there is a convergence of views and support for each other (it’s not for nothing that they say “act like a comrade”, “comrade in arms”). Friendly relationships have a common subject content - common interests, goals of activity, etc. We can distinguish utilitarian (instrumental-business) and emotionally expressive (emotional-confessional) friendship (I. S. Kon).

The mechanism for the development of interpersonal relationships is empathy - the response of one person to the experiences of another. Empathy has several levels (N. N. Obozov). The first level includes cognitive empathy, which manifests itself in the form of understanding the mental state of another person (without changing one’s state). The second level involves empathy in the form of not only understanding the state of the object, but also empathy with it, i.e. emotional empathy. The third level includes cognitive, emotional and, most importantly, behavioral components. This level involves interpersonal identification, which is mental (perceived and understood), sensory (empathetic) and effective. There are complex, hierarchically organized relationships between these three levels of empathy. Various forms of empathy and its intensity can be inherent in both the subject and the object of communication. A high level of empathy determines emotionality, responsiveness, etc.

The conditions for the development of interpersonal relationships significantly influence their dynamics and forms of manifestation. In urban conditions, compared to rural areas, interpersonal contacts are more numerous, quickly established and just as quickly interrupted. The influence of the time factor varies depending on the ethnic environment: in Eastern cultures, the development of interpersonal relationships is, as it were, extended over time, while in Western cultures it is compressed and dynamic.

2.1. Functions of communication in interpersonal relationships

The functions of communication are understood as those roles and tasks that communication performs in the process of human social existence. The functions of communication are diverse, and there are various grounds for their classification.

One of the generally accepted bases for classification is the identification of three interconnected aspects or characteristics in communication - informational, interactive and perceptual (Andreeva G. M., 1980). In accordance with this, information-communicative, regulatory-communicative and affective-communicative functions are distinguished (Lomov B.F., 1984).

The information and communication function of communication consists of any type of exchange of information between interacting individuals. The exchange of information in human communication has its own specifics. First, we are dealing with the relationship of two individuals, each of whom is an active subject (as opposed to a technical device). Secondly, the exchange of information necessarily involves the interaction of thoughts, feelings and behavior of partners. Thirdly, they must have a single or similar system of codification/decodification of messages.

The transmission of any information is possible through various sign systems. Usually, a distinction is made between verbal (speech is used as a sign system) and nonverbal (various non-speech sign systems) communication.

In turn, nonverbal communication also has several forms:

Kinetics (optical-kinetic system, including gestures, facial expressions, pantomime);

Proxemics (norms for organizing space and time in communication);

Visual communication (eye contact system).

Sometimes the set of odors possessed by communication partners is separately considered as a specific sign system. 3

The regulatory-communicative (interactive) function of communication is to regulate behavior and directly organize the joint activities of people in the process of their interaction. Here it is worth saying a few words about the tradition of using the concepts of interaction and communication in social psychology. The concept of interaction is used in two ways: firstly, to characterize the actual real contacts of people (actions, counteractions, assistance) in the process joint activities; secondly, to describe mutual influences (impacts) on each other in the course of joint activities, or more broadly, in the process of social activity.

Identification is the mental process of assimilating oneself to a communication partner in order to cognize and understand his thoughts and ideas.

The affective-communicative function of communication is associated with the regulation of a person’s emotional sphere. Communication is the most important determinant of a person’s emotional states. The entire spectrum of specifically human emotions arises and develops in the conditions of human communication - either a rapprochement of emotional states occurs, or their polarization, mutual strengthening or weakening.

It is possible to give another classification scheme of communication functions, in which, along with those listed, other functions are separately identified: organization of joint activities; people getting to know each other; formation and development of interpersonal relationships. In part, this classification is given in the monograph by V.V. Znakov (1994); the cognitive function as a whole is included in the perceptual function identified by G. M. Andreeva (1988). A comparison of two classification schemes allows us to conditionally include the functions of cognition, the formation of interpersonal relationships and the affective-communicative function in the perceptual function of communication as more capacious and multidimensional (Andreeva G. M., 1988). When studying the perceptual side of communication, a special conceptual and terminological apparatus is used, which includes a number of concepts and definitions and allows one to analyze various aspects of social perception in the process of communication.

Firstly, communication is impossible without a certain level of mutual understanding between the communicating subjects. Understanding is a certain form of reproduction of an object in knowledge that arises in the subject in the process of interaction with cognizable reality (Znakov V.V., 1994). In the case of communication, the object of cognizable reality is another person, a communication partner. At the same time, understanding can be considered from two sides: as a reflection in the consciousness of interacting subjects of each other’s goals, motives, emotions, attitudes; and how the acceptance of these goals allows relationships to be established. Therefore, in communication it is advisable to talk not about social perception in general, but about interpersonal perception or perception. Some researchers prefer to talk not about perception, but about the knowledge of another (Bodalev A. A., 1965, 1983).

The main mechanisms of mutual understanding in the communication process are identification, empathy and reflection. The term “identification” has several meanings in social psychology. In communication issues, identification is the mental process of assimilating oneself to a communication partner in order to cognize and understand his thoughts and ideas. Empathy also refers to the mental process of likening oneself to another person, but with the goal of “understanding” the experiences and feelings of the person being cognized. The word "understanding" is used here in a metaphorical sense - empathy is "affective understanding."

As can be seen from the definitions, identification and empathy are very close in content and often in the psychological literature the term “empathy” has a broad interpretation - it includes the processes of understanding both the thoughts and feelings of a communication partner. At the same time, when speaking about the process of empathy, one must also keep in mind an unconditionally positive attitude towards the individual. This means two things:

a) acceptance of a person’s personality as a whole;

b) own emotional neutrality, absence of value judgments about what is perceived (Sosnin V. A., 1996).

Reflection in the problem of understanding each other is an individual’s understanding of how he is perceived and understood by his communication partner. In the course of mutual reflection of communication participants, reflection is a kind of feedback that contributes to the formation of both the behavioral strategy of the subjects of communication and the correction of their understanding of the characteristics of each other’s inner world.

Another mechanism of understanding in communication is interpersonal attraction. Attraction (from English - to attract, attract) is the process of forming the attractiveness of a person for the perceiver, the result of which is the formation of interpersonal relationships. Currently, an expanded interpretation of the attraction process is being formed as the formation of emotional and evaluative ideas about each other and about one’s interpersonal relationships (both positive and negative) as a kind of social attitude with a predominance of the emotional and evaluative component.

The considered classifications of communication functions, of course, do not exclude each other. Moreover, there are other classification options. This, in turn, suggests that the phenomenon of communication as a multidimensional phenomenon must be studied using systems analysis methods.

2.2. Structure of communication in interpersonal relationships

In Russian social psychology, the problem of the structure of communication occupies an important place. The methodological study of this issue at the moment allows us to identify a set of fairly generally accepted ideas about the structure of communication (Andreeva G. M., 1988; Lomov B. F., 1981; Znakov V. V., 1994), which serve as a general methodological guideline for organizing research.

The structure of an object in science is understood as the order of stable connections between the elements of the object of study, ensuring its integrity as a phenomenon during external and internal changes. The problem of the structure of communication can be approached in different ways, both by highlighting the levels of analysis of this phenomenon, and by listing its main functions. Usually there are at least three levels of analysis (Lomov B.F., 1984):

1. Macro level: an individual’s communication with other people is considered as the most important aspect of his lifestyle. At this level, the communication process is studied in time intervals comparable to the duration human life, with an emphasis on the analysis of the mental development of the individual. Communication here acts as a complex developing network of relationships between an individual and other people and social groups.

2. Mesa level (middle level): communication is considered as a changing set of purposeful, logically completed contacts or interaction situations in which people find themselves in the process of current life activity at specific time periods of their lives. The main emphasis in the study of communication at this level is on the content components of communication situations - “about what” and “for what purpose.” Around this core of the topic, the subject of communication, the dynamics of communication are revealed, the means used (verbal and non-verbal) and the phases or stages of communication during which the exchange of ideas, ideas and experiences are carried out are analyzed.

3. Micro level: here the main emphasis is on the analysis of elementary units of communication as related acts, or transactions. It is important to emphasize that the elementary unit of communication is not a change in the intermittent behavioral acts of its participants, but their interaction. It includes not only the action of one and the partners, but also the associated assistance or opposition of the other (for example, “question-answer”, “incitement to action - action”, “communication of information and attitude towards it”, etc.). 4

Each of the listed levels of analysis requires special theoretical, methodological and methodological support, as well as its own special conceptual apparatus. And since many problems in psychology are complex, the task arises of developing ways to identify relationships between different levels and discover the principles of these relationships.

2.3. Types of communication in the system of interpersonal relations

Interpersonal communication is associated with direct contacts of people in groups or pairs with a constant composition of participants. In social psychology, there are three types of interpersonal communication: imperative, manipulative and dialogic.

Imperative communication is authoritarian, directive interaction with a communication partner in order to achieve control over his behavior, attitudes and thoughts, forcing him to certain actions or decisions. In this case, the communication partner is considered as an object of influence; he acts as a passive, “suffering” party. The ultimate goal of such communication - coercion of a partner - is not veiled. Orders, regulations and demands are used as means of exerting influence. It is possible to indicate a number of areas of activity where the use of imperative communication is quite effective. These areas include: relations of subordination and subordination in conditions of military activity, “superior-subordinate” relations in extreme conditions, under emergency circumstances, etc. But we can also identify those areas of interpersonal relationships where the use of the imperative is inappropriate. These are intimate-personal and marital relationships, child-parent contacts, as well as the entire system of pedagogical relations.

Manipulative communication is a type of interpersonal communication in which influence on a communication partner in order to achieve one’s intentions is carried out covertly. Like the imperative, manipulation presupposes an objective perception of the communication partner, the desire to achieve control over the behavior and thoughts of another person. The area of “permitted manipulation” is business and business relationships in general. This type of communication was symbolized by the concept of communication developed by Dale Carnegie and his followers. The manipulative style of communication is also widespread in the field of propaganda.

Dialogical communication is an equal subject-subject interaction aimed at mutual knowledge and self-knowledge of communication partners. Such communication is possible only if a number of rules of relationship are observed:

1. the presence of a psychological attitude towards the current state of the interlocutor and one’s own current psychological state (following the “here and now” principle).

2.Use of non-judgmental perception of the partner’s personality, an a priori attitude of trust in his intentions.

3. Perception of a partner as an equal, having the right to his own opinion and decisions.

5. You should personalize communication, that is, conduct a conversation on your own behalf (without reference to the opinions of authorities), present your true feelings and desires.

Dialogical communication allows you to achieve deeper mutual understanding, self-disclosure of partners’ personalities, and creates conditions for mutual personal growth.

The following types of communication can also be distinguished:

Formal-role communication, when both the content and means of communication are regulated and instead of knowing the personality of the interlocutor, they make do with knowledge of his social role.

Business communication is a situation where the goal of interaction is to achieve some clear agreement or agreement. In business communication, the personality characteristics and mood of the interlocutor are taken into account, first of all, to achieve the main goal in the interests of the business. Business communication is usually included as a private moment in any joint productive activity of people and serves as a means of improving the quality of this activity. Its content is what people are doing, and not the problems that affect their inner world.

Intimate and personal communication is possible when you can touch on any topic and do not necessarily resort to words; the interlocutor will understand you by facial expression, movements, and intonation. In such communication, each participant has an image of the interlocutor, knows his personality, and can anticipate his reactions, interests, beliefs and attitudes. Most often, such communication occurs between close people and is largely the result of previous relationships. Unlike business communication, this communication, on the contrary, is centered around psychological problems, interests and needs, which deeply and intimately affect a person’s personality: searching for the meaning of life, determining one’s attitude towards a significant person, to what is happening around, resolving any internal conflict, etc.

Social communication. The essence of secular communication is its pointlessness, that is, people do not say what they think, but what is supposed to be said in such cases; this communication is closed, because people’s points of view on a particular issue do not matter and will not determine the nature of communications.

There is also instrumental communication, which is not an end in itself, is not independently stimulated by need, but pursues some goal other than obtaining satisfaction from the act of communication itself. In contrast, targeted communication itself serves as a means of satisfying a specific need, in this case the need for communication.

Diagnostic communication aims to form a certain idea about the interlocutor or obtain some information from him. Partners are in different positions: one asks, the other answers.

Educational communication involves situations in which one of the participants purposefully influences the other, quite clearly imagining the desired result, that is, knowing what he wants to convince the interlocutor of, what he wants to teach him, etc.

CONCLUSION

Communication is of great importance in the formation of the human psyche, its development and the formation of reasonable, cultural behavior. Through communication with psychologically developed people, thanks to wide possibilities to learning, a person acquires all his higher cognitive abilities and qualities. Through active communication with developed personalities, he himself turns into a personality.

If from birth a person was deprived of the opportunity to communicate with people, he would never become a civilized, cultural and morally developed citizen, and would be doomed to remain a half-animal until the end of his life, only externally, anatomically and physiologically reminiscent of a person.

Communication with adults in the early stages of ontogenesis is especially important for the mental development of a child. At this time, he acquires all his human, mental and behavioral qualities almost exclusively through communication, since until the start of school, and even more definitely - before adolescence, he is deprived of the ability to self-education and self-education. The mental development of a child begins with communication. This is the first type of social activity that arises in ontogenesis and thanks to which the baby receives the information necessary for its individual development. In communication, first through direct imitation (vicarious learning) , and then through verbal instructions (verbal learning) the child's basic life experience is acquired.

Communication constitutes the internal mechanism of joint activities of people, the basis of interpersonal relationships. The increasing role of communication and the importance of its study is due to the fact that in modern society, decisions are made much more often in direct, immediate communication between people, which were previously made, as a rule, by individuals.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL LIST

Andreeva G.M. Social Psychology. – M., Aspect Press, 1996. – 504s.

Brudny A.A. Understanding and communication. M., 1989. - 341 p.

Zimnyaya I.A. Psychology of learning foreign language At school. – M., 1991. – 285 p.

Krizhanskaya Yu.S., Tretyakov V.V. Grammar of communication. L., 1990. - 476s.

Labunskaya V.A. Non-verbal communication. – Rostov-on-Don, 1979. – 259s.

Leontyev A.N. Problems of mental development. – M., 1972. – 404 p.

Lomov B.F. Communication and social regulation of individual behavior // Psychological problems of social regulation of behavior, - M., 1976. – 215 p.

Myers D. Social psychology. St. Petersburg, 1998. – 367 p.

Interpersonal perception and understanding / Ed. V. N. Druzhinina. – M.: Infra-M, 1999. – 589 p.

Nemov R.S. Psychology. Book 1: Fundamentals of general psychology. – M., Education, 1994. - 502 p.

Obozov N. N. Interpersonal relations. - L.: Leningrad State University Publishing House, 1979. - 247 p.

Communication and optimization of joint activities. Edited by Andreeva G.M. and Yanoushek Y. - M., Moscow State University, 1987. – 486 p.

Shibutani T. Social psychology. Per. from English Rostov-on-Don, 1998. – 405s

APPLICATION

FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATION IN INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS

Information and communication

Regulatory-communicative

Affective-communicative

Scheme. Functions of communication in interpersonal relationships

		This is a multifaceted process of developing contacts between people, generated by the needs of joint activities.
	Causal attribution	interpretation by the subject of interpersonal perception of the reasons and motives of other people's behavior
		(Greek empatheia-empathy) comprehension of the emotional states of another person in the form of experience
	Identification	the mental process of assimilating oneself to a communication partner in order to cognize and understand his thoughts and ideas.
	Understanding	this is a certain form of reproduction of an object in knowledge that arises in the subject in the process of interaction with cognizable reality
	Reflection	the process of self-knowledge by the subject of internal mental acts and states.
	Attraction	(from English - attract, attract) a concept denoting the emergence, when a person perceives a person, of the attractiveness of one of them for another.
	Dialogical communication	equal subject-subject interaction, with the goal of mutual knowledge, self-knowledge of communication partners. Such communication is possible only if a number of rules of relationships are observed.
	Manipulative communication	a type of interpersonal communication in which influence on a communication partner in order to achieve one’s intentions is carried out secretly problem interpersonal relations child with other children. Attitude to others people constitutes the main fabric..., but are also realized, manifested in interaction of people. At the same time attitude to another, as opposed to communication... intimate interpersonal relationship Abstract >> Psychology ... interpersonal relations And interaction of people. The subject of my course work is to determine the place of communication in the structure interpersonal interaction And interaction of people ... interpersonal relationships In domestic social psychology problem ... Interpersonal relationship (2) Abstract >> Psychology One of the most important. Problems interpersonal relations In fact, with all group... so that two or more of people could to interact, remaining indifferent to each other... participating in a concerted action People simultaneously interact in two languages... Interpersonal relationship concept and main features Abstract >> Management ... problem studying interpersonal relations becomes very relevant in a team. Today in the psychological press there is much talk about interpersonal interaction ... Interpersonal relationship in the medical team Thesis >> Psychology Concept interpersonal relations. Interpersonal relationship of people– these are subjective connections that arise as a result of their actual interaction and... components under the influence of others of people. Problem interpersonal relations occupied a position in the team for a long time...

§ 21.1. COMMUNICATION FUNCTIONS

Communication is one of the main areas of human life. The types and forms of communication are very diverse. It can be direct, “face to face”, and mediated by certain means, for example technical (telephone, telegraph, etc.); included in the context of a particular professional activity and friendly; subject-subject (dialogical, partner) or subject-object (monological).

Communication is a process of interaction between people, during which interpersonal relationships arise, manifest and are formed. Communication involves the exchange of thoughts, feelings, experiences, etc. The increase in psychological community as similarity, unity, similarity, on the one hand, facilitates communication (“we understand each other perfectly,” “we speak the same language”), on the other hand, a situation may arise when there is nothing left to exchange, everything has been told, discussed, etc. This phenomenon is called information exhaustion of cohabiting partners. Complete identity, if possible, would lead to the impossibility of exchange and thus of communication between people. This encourages us to appreciate even more the uniqueness and difference of each person.

The role and intensity of communication in modern society are constantly increasing. This is due to a number of reasons. First of all, the transition from an industrial society to an information society leads to an increase in the volume of information and, accordingly, an increase in the intensity of the processes of exchange of this information. The second reason is the increasing specialization of workers employed in different areas professional activities, which requires their cooperation and interaction in achieving goals. At the same time, the number of technical means for information exchange. We have witnessed how faxes appeared and became part of the everyday life of many people, Email, Internet, etc. There is another reason that prompts us to think about the growing role of communication in modern society and make this problem the subject of special consideration - this is the increase in the number of people engaged in professional activities related to communication. For professionals of the socionomic group (professions of the “person-to-person” type), one of the components of their professional competence is competence in communication.

Exercise 1.

Think about the place of communication in your life. For one week, record all interpersonal contacts and communication situations in which you participated. For systematization and further analysis, use the table. 8.

Table 8

After analyzing the results obtained, you will be convinced, in particular, that in different situations the goals of communication, as well as its results and effects, may be different. In one case, during the communication you learned something completely new, in another you experienced many pleasant feelings and emotions, in the third you increased your self-esteem, etc.

A number of communication functions can be identified. First of all, communication is a decisive condition for the development of each person as an individual. If a small child is deprived of the opportunity to communicate with other people, this will significantly delay his mental development, and in the case of very large restrictions, irreversible changes can occur. This is evidenced by cases where children were raised wild animals. These children, who subsequently ended up with people, were quite biologically developed, but not socialized at all. For the normal development of a child, constant contact with adults, especially with the mother, is necessary. The results of special studies and experiments indicate that limiting such contacts leads to a reduced level of development of cognitive abilities.

The impact of the inability to communicate with other people on a person’s condition and well-being can be demonstrated with many examples. Special studies on the effect of individual isolation on a person show that a long stay in a heat chamber leads, as a rule, to a number of disorders in the field of perception, thinking, memory, emotional processes, etc. It should be noted, however, that serious mental disorders human activities and behavior are observed in conditions of isolation only in the absence of purposeful activity and with significant physical inactivity. Interesting and useful material for understanding how isolation affects a person is the testimony of people who voluntarily or accidentally found themselves in a situation of isolation from society and deprived of interpersonal communication. These are people traveling alone across the seas and oceans, wintering in the polar regions, speleologists who voluntarily or forcedly stay in underground caves, sailors who survived a shipwreck.

Data from observations and special studies show that a person under these conditions is characterized by the following feelings: imbalance, increased sensitivity, anxiety, self-doubt, anxiety, despondency, lethargy, etc. The interesting thing is that all of them soon begin to speak in conditions of isolation aloud. At first it is a kind of commentary on what is seen or what is happening. Then there is a need to turn to someone (or something). Some people talk to themselves: they encourage, give commands, ask questions. After a while, almost everyone finds someone to talk to. Speleologist M. Sifre, who spent 63 days alone in an underground cave for the purpose of scientific research, caught a spider on the floor of his tent. “And I started talking to him,” he writes, “it was a strange dialogue! The two of us were the only living things in the dead underground kingdom. I talked to the spider, worried about its fate..."

The main reason for this behavior of people in isolation is that they do not have the opportunity to satisfy the need for communication. Therefore, a person compensates for the lack of real interpersonal communication with imagined and imaginary ones.

Communication has a significant impact on human performance. Scientists have long noticed that the degree of manifestation of certain human properties, the characteristics of his behavior, and the effectiveness of his activities largely depend on whether he acts alone, in isolated conditions, or in the presence of other people, together with them. It turns out that even the passive presence of other people changes the results of an individual's activities. Particularly large changes occur when other people perform the same task nearby or when they communicate while performing it.

In his classic experiments, the famous Russian psychologist and psychoneurologist V. M. Bekhterev studied observation, the ability to establish the differences between similar and similarities of different objects, individual and group attitudes to the situation and a number of other points. In the experiment, individual reactions were first recorded, then a collective discussion took place, a group decision was made, and each group member again recorded his opinion in the protocol. This opinion was compared with the first recorded individual reaction. The research results made it possible to state the fact of the undoubted advantage of joint activities compared to individual ones. During the communication, everyone’s knowledge increased, and mistakes were corrected.

Communication constitutes the internal mechanism of joint activities of people. The increasing role of communication and the importance of its study is also due to the fact that in modern society, decisions are made much more often in direct, immediate communication between people, which were previously made, as a rule, by individuals. Psychologists are developing special methods for making decisions in groups and suggesting ways to improve traditional methods. Such methods include meetings, group discussions, brainstorming, synectics and a number of others.

§ 21.2. MUTUAL INFLUENCE OF PEOPLE IN THE PROCESS OF INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION

Psychological influence is the impact on the mental state, feelings, thoughts and actions of other people using psychological means: verbal, paralinguistic or non-verbal.

Verbal means verbal. Verbal means of influence are words.

Paralinguistic means associated with speech, surrounding speech, but not the speech itself. For example, the volume or speed of speech, articulation, intonation, pauses in speech, chuckles, yawns, sobs, snorting, coughing, whistling, clicking the tongue, imitation of animal sounds, etc. These signals can change the effect of spoken words, in some cases strengthening or weakening it, and in others – changing their meaning. If a person says: “I promise that I will definitely do this!” with a confident and sincere intonation in his voice, then we believe him. However, if he says this in a “bored” tone, snorts, sobs pointedly, or accidentally yawns, we are inclined to doubt the sincerity of the promise.

Non-verbal means non-verbal. Nonverbal means of communication include the relative position of interlocutors in space, for example, the distance between them, their movements and movements in this space, their postures, gestures, facial expressions, direction of gaze, touching each other, as well as visual, auditory and sometimes olfactory signals that one person voluntarily or unwittingly transmits to another in parallel with speech. The appearance of a person, the noise he makes, the smell of perfume - all these are also non-verbal signals. Nonverbal cues can also enhance the effect of words, weaken it, or completely change their meaning. For example, if a person turns to the door and, standing with his back to the interlocutors, says: “I was very glad to meet you,” then this may cause bewilderment or mistrust.

The paradox is that most people, when preparing to influence someone's decision or attitude, think first about the words they will say. Meanwhile, it would be more correct to think, first of all, about how to pronounce words and what actions to accompany them. According to Mehrabian’s well-known American formula, at the first meeting, each of us believes the other person’s nonverbal signals 55%, paralinguistic signals 38%, and the content of speech only 7%. In subsequent meetings, this ratio may change, but the importance of nonverbal and paralinguistic signals should not be underestimated.

Initiator of influence – one of the partners who first attempts to influence in any of the known (or unknown) ways.

Recipient of influence– the partner to whom the first attempt of influence is directed. With further interaction, the initiative can pass from one partner to another in attempts at mutual influence, but each time the one who first started a series of interactions will be called the initiator, and the one who first experienced his influence will be the addressee.

In the process of interpersonal communication, people constantly influence each other, so that in most cases a person is both the initiator and the recipient of influence.

Influence goals

Influence in interpersonal communication is aimed at satisfying one's motives and needs with the help of other people or through them. When a teacher tries to instill in his charges certain behaviors, such as the habit of telling the truth or finishing a task, he does this not only because he considers these habits necessary, but also because he feels the need to form such habits in young people in general. shape other people. When a manager gets his subordinates to solve an important task or achieve a goal, he not only achieves some socially significant result, but fulfills his own need to achieve success (avoid failure, avoid uncertainty, etc.).

In many cases, influence can be aimed primarily at satisfying personal needs, although it is done under the guise of benefit for business, for society, for other people, etc. For example, a teacher can use the opportunity of influence given to him in order to satisfy the need for a sense of his own strength, to assert himself at the expense of his students, to experience a feeling of satisfaction from the fact that they are forced to obey his demands, perhaps even fair ones. A manager may satisfy his need to achieve the approval of a superior or the need to take out his dissatisfaction and embitterment with life on others, therefore, under the guise of criticism or unbearable demands, he will humiliate or insult his subordinates. Parents may strive to satisfy their need for rest and peace when they demand independence or endurance from their children, etc.

Each of us can try to influence others in order to satisfy needs that are in no way directly related to educational, educational or professional tasks. However, it is common for many people to consider (or at least declare) the goals of their influence on others as noble, that is, dictated by the interests of business, society, development, creativity, etc. Goals related to other needs are often not realized or are carefully hidden. Meanwhile, these goals are also not necessarily “ignoble.” They can be associated with completely justified human needs for sympathy, attention, acceptance by other people, approval, psychological comfort, loneliness, safety, confirmation of one’s own importance and strength, etc. (see Chapter 8).

It is important for a modern person to realize the true goals of his influence on others in order not to try to influence others in unconstructive ways, hiding behind the interests of business or society. Having realized our goals, we can decide how worthy they are that we strive to realize them, and then find constructive ways receiving help and support from other people to implement them.

Task 2.

Think about a recent situation in which you tried to influence another person's feelings, thoughts, or actions. Try to determine what goal you were pursuing. What did you really want to achieve? Did this goal coincide with the one that you announced to the recipient of your influence or unspokenly implied? Do you consider this goal worth pursuing?

Types of influence

The formula for mutual influence can be expressed through the concept of power distance:

Power distance = Influence of the boss on the subordinate – Influence of the subordinate on the boss

This formula was discovered by the American scientist Gerd Hofstede while studying the differences national cultures: in those countries where leaders have significantly greater influence than other people, the power distance is large. Conversely, in countries where people can influence general solutions, even if they are not managers, the power distance is small. Russia is considered a country with a large power distance. Therefore, in relation to a young man who is not a leader, at first glance, the scheme presented in Fig. 24 will be fair.

Rice. 24. Scheme of mutual influence of people with different powers

Teachers, teachers, and various kinds of leaders influence the young man from all sides, while his influence on them is very insignificant. In the figure, the relative strength of influence is shown by the size of the corresponding circles.

However, in reality the situation is not as shown in Fig. 24. This scheme describes only that direct, subordinating type of influence, which is usually designated by the term “coercion” (see Table 9). Meanwhile, there is a whole spectrum various types influences that can be used to circumvent or counteract coercion.

Table 9

Types of psychological influence

Continuation of the table. 9

Continuation of the table. 9

???? Continuation of the table. 9

Most of those presented in table. 9 types of influence can be used regardless of power distance. It is not necessary to have formal authority or appear to be an authority figure in order to influence other people. Moreover, some types of influence are used more effectively by precisely those people who not only do not have authority, but also outwardly seem to be unauthoritative. These types of influence include request, formation of favor, destructive criticism, ignoring, manipulation.

In fact, more accurately than in Fig. 24, reflects the mutual influence in interpersonal communication, the diagram presented in Fig. 25.

Rice. 25. Scheme of mutual influence in interpersonal communication

The effectiveness of influence is largely determined by how skillfully the initiator used the appropriate means - both verbal, paralinguistic and non-verbal, for example, the pace and rhythm of speech, intonation, organization of space, gaze, appearance, etc. (see the third column in the table. 9). But is influence that achieves its result always constructive?

Task 3.

Try to determine whether everything presented in the table. 9 types of influence are constructive? Can it be said that they do not violate the rights of the recipient of influence and contribute to the development of interpersonal relationships?

Exercise 4.

Try to determine what type of influence the father uses in L. N. Tolstoy’s story “The Bone.”

“My mother bought plums and wanted to give them to the children after lunch. They were on the plate. Vanya never ate plums and kept sniffing them. And he really liked them. I really wanted to eat it. He kept walking past the plums. When there was no one in the upper room, he could not resist, grabbed one plum and ate it. Before dinner, the mother counted the plums and saw that one was missing. She told her father.

At dinner, the father says: “What, children, didn’t anyone eat one plum?” Everyone said: "No." Vanya turned red like a lobster and also said: “No, I didn’t eat.”

Then the father said: “Whatever one of you has eaten is not good; but that’s not the problem. The trouble is that plums have seeds, and if someone doesn’t know how to eat them and swallows a seed, he will die within a day. I'm afraid of this."

Vanya turned pale and said: “No, I threw the bone out the window.”

And everyone laughed, and Vanya cried.”

Can this method of influence be called constructive? Why?

§ 21.3. COGNITION IN THE PROCESS OF INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION

Knowing other people in the process of interpersonal communication is both a result and a condition of communication. Knowing another person presupposes the formation of an idea about him, which includes the characteristics of his appearance, a system of conclusions about the qualities, abilities of a person, his attitude to various aspects of reality, to himself, other people, as well as those talking about his social group affiliation.

The more complete and accurate understanding of another person we have, the more appropriate behavior in communicating with him we will choose.

The main sources of forming an idea of another person’s personality are his appearance, behavior, characteristics and performance results. Despite the fact that most people understand that there is no direct connection between the characteristics of a person’s physical appearance and his personal qualities, conclusions about such dependencies are common. At the same time, there are people who consciously associate appearance features with personality traits. In a specially conducted study, it was found that out of 72 people surveyed, 17 people believed that people with large foreheads are smart, 14 people said that fat people have a good-natured character, etc. Such generalizations may be the result of insufficient psychological competence, a consequence of a superficial analysis of one’s own communication experience. But nevertheless, these tendencies are a real fact, and they influence the nature of ideas about the personality of other people.

Much more justified are ideas about the personality of another person, formed on the basis of observations of the expressive characteristics of appearance, since the latter are functionally related to the psychological qualities of the individual. And yet, the main sources of forming an idea of another person’s personality are his behavior and activities. At the same time, the content of concepts about the personality of another person depends on the nature of the activity, its results, the characteristics of its course, and the contribution of each participant to the overall result.

Research social psychologists show that the most accurate, adequate ideas about other people are formed by those who are characterized by a focus on another person. ABOUT great importance For normal communication, if partners have a focus on another person, V. A. Sukhomlinsky wrote: “Know how to feel the person next to you, know how to feel his soul, his desires.”

Another factor that, along with focus on another person, ensures the ability to adequately understand and evaluate other people is the degree of development of a person’s cognitive and emotional processes. Among cognitive processes, attention, perception, memory, thinking, and imagination are of particular importance for effective interpersonal communication. The development of the emotional sphere during communication is checked primarily by whether a person can empathize with other people.

The choice of behavior during interpersonal communication largely depends on the level of self-understanding and self-esteem, on the basis of which the ability to consciously manage one’s behavior in different situations communication. Special studies show that inadequate self-esteem makes interpersonal communication difficult. The nature of its inadequacy, in particular, affects the position of the individual in the structure of the group: people with sharply inflated self-esteem have a significantly lower sociometric status in the group than people with low self-esteem.

The process of bringing ideas about oneself and other people’s ideas about this person closer to the most adequate is very difficult process which includes knowledge of oneself and comprehensive knowledge of others.

§ 21.4. TYPICAL DIFFICULTIES AND TECHNIQUES IN INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION

Let's return to the results of the analysis of our everyday communication. Apparently, all the situations that you entered into the table. 8, vary in degree of importance, your personal satisfaction with this communication, as well as other characteristics. Perhaps you could highlight some of these situations as the most difficult for you.

Thus, we can talk about a subjective assessment of the difficulty of a particular communication situation for a person. Most often, people experience difficulties in situations in which there is no goal, insufficient resources and, for one reason or another, self-esteem is low. As a result of these reasons, self-doubt arises. A state of self-doubt occurs periodically in every person. However, if it is repeated, it can turn into a feeling, and then become established as a personality trait.

Task 5.

Now turn to your communication experience and remember one or two situations in which you behaved and felt confident, and one or two situations in which you behaved and felt insecure. Describe your behavior in each of these situations, as well as the reasons for your confident and insecure behavior.

Having analyzed a number of situations of interpersonal communication in this way, one can find that one of the common reasons causing difficulties in communication is the inability to establish contact with the interlocutor, listen to and understand him.

"Small" conversation

In order to engage a person in a conversation, you need to start with what is interesting or important to him. Therefore, the most important skill when conducting a conversation is the skill of quick orientation in what may be the subject of an introductory, so-called “small” conversation. “Small” conversation in most cases concerns those topics that the interlocutor is pleased or interested in discussing. Most often they relate to the positive aspects of his own life. The purpose of the “small” conversation is to create a favorable psychological atmosphere, to lay the foundations of mutual sympathy and trust. It often has nothing to do with the “big” conversation that was planned and should be the essence of the meeting. The topic of the “small” conversation is born immediately at the moment of the meeting. Important to remember following rules"small" conversation:

1. The topic should not be too serious and relate to unresolved problems, concerns and anxieties. All this should be left for the “big” conversation.

2. It is useful to start with a clarifying question about pleasant events in the life of the interlocutor about which you already know something, for example: “I heard that you were at this wonderful festival on Sunday?...”; “What a wonderful pen you have, it’s a gift from your wife, you said?”; “Now the metro line has been laid almost directly to your house, isn’t it?”

3. Make as many positive statements as possible about different subjects, about other people’s ideas, achievements, about people not participating in the conversation but known to both interlocutors, etc. For example: “I like that now there is commercial transport in the city. When you are in a hurry, he is irreplaceable”; “I recently met Andrey. He was so carried away by his thoughts! Preparing an invention. Amazing!"; "Today I met so many interesting people! and so on.

Task 6.

Try to have small conversations with at least three people in one day. Find topics that are interesting and enjoyable for your interlocutors. Review how successful you have been in finding small talk topics and in creating an atmosphere of sympathy and trust.

The art of asking questions

It is known that in scientific research A precisely posed question is half the solution to the problem. In communication, a good question is one that the interlocutor wants to answer, can answer, or wants to think about.

Questions can be closed, open or alternative.

Closed question - This is a question to which you can give a clear answer, for example “yes”, “no”, name the exact date, name or number, etc. For example: “Do you live in Moscow?” - "No". “Do you like psychology?” - "Yes".

Open question is a question that is difficult to answer in one word. Such a question begins with the words “why”, “why”, “how”, “what is your decision regarding this”, “what could you offer us”, etc., and this requires a detailed answer.

Alternative question is something in between: it is asked in the form of an open question, but several pre-prepared answer options are offered. For example: “How did you decide to become an engineer: did you consciously choose this specialty, followed in the footsteps of your parents, decided to enroll with a friend, or don’t you know why?”

In order to get your interlocutor talking, it is better to use open questions that he is interested in answering. You can try to use alternative questions, but it is important that none of the alternatives offend the interlocutor (“Oh, what assumptions do you have about me!”). In order to somehow organize a conversation with an overly talkative interlocutor, it is better to use closed questions. At the same time, we must remember that we only learn what we ask about, while with open questions we can learn a lot that does not relate to the essence of the question.

It is recommended to soften questions that may offend the interlocutor and formulate them in the form of a conditional hypothesis. For example, instead of asking: “Are you afraid of him?” It is recommended to ask the question: “Could it be that sometimes you have a fear of this person?”

It is not recommended to start a question with the words: “What are you...” or: “Why don’t you...” A truly competent question is a request for information, and not a hidden accusation. If you are unhappy with the decision of the interlocutor or his actions, try to tactfully tell him about it in the form of a statement, but not in the form of a question.

Likewise, if you already know the answer to a question, don't ask it.

Active Listening Techniques

Often what prevents us from listening is focusing on our own thoughts or desires. Sometimes it turns out that formally we hear our partner, but essentially we don’t. This is well illustrated by the dialogue from the film magazine “Yeralash”. Two boys - fat and thin - are sitting on the school windowsill. One of them peels a tangerine in front of the other and slowly, with appetite, eats it. Another boy says: “If I had a tangerine, I would share it with you.” The fat man answers, looking into space: “Yes... It’s a pity that you don’t have a tangerine.” A formal dialogue took place, but no understanding was reached.

Verbatim repetition– reproduction of part of a partner’s statement or his entire phrase. For example:

– I do not agree that Sergei and I should do this work together. It will be impossible for us to come to an agreement. We'll just get bogged down in words.

– Get bogged down in words?

- Well, of course. Do you understand what it means to put me and Sergei on one team? Everyone has their own ideas about how this project should be done, their own ideas.

– Your ideas?

- Certainly. So let it be better to have two projects.

- Two projects...

Verbatim repetition helps us to focus on our partner’s words and continuously follow the thread of his reasoning. The repetitions make it clear to the partner that he is being heard, and that they hear him well enough to be able to reproduce his words. In order for the repetitions to sound natural, you can start them with an introductory phrase: “As I understand you...”, “So, you think...”, etc.

Paraphrasing – a brief reproduction of the main content of the partner’s speech, the essence of his statement. For example:

– Let there be two projects, two solutions. Let there be a competition of projects, and not our personal competition within the project group. It will be better for business this way. Let him win best project. If it's Sergei's project and not mine, well... I'll agree with it in the end. If they convince me that this is really the case.

– So, are you suggesting that you do two independent projects and then the best one is chosen?

Here we reproduce the partner’s statements in an abbreviated, generalized form, briefly formulating the most significant things in his words. You can start with an introductory phrase: “Your main ideas, as I understand it, are...”; “In other words, you think that...”, etc.

Task 7.

Try using verbatim repetition and paraphrasing in conversations with people you know or don't know. Try to determine in which cases the first method is more effective and in which the second is more effective. Find out which method is most suitable for you.

Summary

Communication is a process of interaction between people, during which interpersonal relationships arise, manifest and are formed. Communication involves the exchange of thoughts, feelings, experiences and attempts at mutual influence. The functions of communication are diverse: it is a decisive condition for the development of each person as an individual, the implementation of personal goals and the satisfaction of the most important needs; it constitutes the internal mechanism of joint activity of people and is the most important source of information for humans.

In the process of interpersonal communication, people consciously or unconsciously influence each other's mental state, feelings, thoughts and actions. The purpose of influence is for a person to realize his personal needs, such as the need for respect, approval, love, belonging to a group, social recognition, independence, psychological comfort, etc. Many of these needs cannot be satisfied without the help or participation of other people. In the process of influence, various psychological means are effectively used: verbal, paralinguistic or non-verbal. However, not every influence will be constructive for both participants in the interaction, that is, satisfying the personal needs of both and, at least, not contradicting them. Types of influence such as persuasion and self-promotion can be considered constructive in most cases; destructive criticism and manipulation - as destructive; suggestion, infection, stimulation to imitation, formation of favor, request, coercion and ignoring - as ambiguous. Their constructiveness depends on the specific goals of influence, the situation and the characteristics of the implementation.

In the process of communication, each person experiences his own individual difficulties. At the same time, some common difficulties can be avoided if you systematically use conversation methods, daily training your practical skills in their use. “Small” conversation and the art of asking questions can help you get your interlocutor talking, methods of verbatim reproduction of his statements and paraphrasing can help you understand him.

Answer to task 3 (Table 10).

Table 10

Continuation of the table. 10

Answer to task 4.

The father used manipulation with “innocent” deception in order to frighten the boy and extract an involuntary confession from him. The manipulation was successful, and the boy was ridiculed for his fear and his confession. Forced honesty received negative reinforcement.

This type of behavior on the part of the father can hardly be called constructive. The child will be more cunning next time: now he has received a model of manipulation and will be able to use it himself even before it is used against him. Every person has “strings” in their soul that can be “played.” The child's father is no exception. He will apparently have to “reap” what he “sowed.”

On the other hand, manipulation may still be preferable to brutal coercion or destructive criticism, since their effect is even more destructive.

The category “communication” is one of the central ones in psychological science, along with such categories as “thinking”, “behaviour”, “personality”, “relationships”. Interpersonal communication is a process of interaction between two or more persons, aimed at mutual knowledge, establishment and development of relationships and involving mutual influence on the states, views, behavior and regulation of joint activities of the participants in this process.

Over the past 20-25 years, the study of the problem of communication has become one of the leading areas of research in psychological science, and especially in social psychology. Its movement to the center of psychological research is explained by a change in the methodological situation that has clearly emerged in social psychology in the last two decades. From a subject of research, communication has simultaneously turned into a method, a principle for studying, first, cognitive processes, and then the personality of a person as a whole.

Communication is reality human relations, which involves any form of joint activity of people. However, the nature of this connection is understood in different ways. Sometimes activity and communication are considered as two sides of a person’s social existence; in other cases, communication is understood as an element of any activity, and the latter is considered as a condition of communication. Finally, communication can be interpreted as a special type of activity.

According to V.V. Znakova, communication is a form of interaction between subjects that is initially motivated by their desire to identify each other’s mental qualities and during which interpersonal relationships are formed between them.

The subject-subject approach to the problem of the relationship between communication and activity overcomes the one-sided understanding of activity only as a subject-object relationship. In Russian psychology, this approach is implemented through the methodological principle of communication as subject-subject interaction, theoretically and experimentally developed by B.F. Lomov and his staff. Communication considered in this regard acts as a special independent form subject activity. Its result is not so much a transformed object (material or ideal), but rather the relationship of a person with a person, with other people. In the process of communication, not only a mutual exchange of activities takes place, but also perceptions, ideas, feelings, a system of “subject-subject(s)” relationships manifests itself and develops.

In the work of A.V. Brushlinsky and V.A. Polikarpov, along with this, provides a critical understanding of this methodological principle, and also lists the most famous cycles of research in which all the multidimensional problems of communication in domestic psychological science are analyzed.

In Russian social psychology, the problem of the structure of communication occupies an important place. The methodological study of this issue at the moment allows us to identify a set of fairly generally accepted ideas about the structure of communication that act as a general methodological guideline for organizing research.

The structure of an object in science is understood as the order of stable connections between the elements of the object of study, ensuring its integrity as a phenomenon under external and internal changes. The problem of the structure of communication can be approached in different ways, both by highlighting the levels of analysis of this phenomenon, and by listing its main functions. Typically, three levels of analysis are distinguished.

1. Macro level: an individual’s communication with other people is considered as the most important aspect of his lifestyle. At this level, the process of communication is studied in time intervals comparable to the duration of human life, with an emphasis on the analysis of the mental development of the individual. Communication here acts as a complex developing network of relationships between an individual and other people and social groups.

Structure of communication.

The perceptual side is the process of partners’ perception of each other, their mutual knowledge as the basis for mutual understanding; perceptual skills are manifested in the ability to: determine the context of the meeting; understand your partner’s mood by his verbal and non-verbal behavior; take into account the psychological effects of perception when analyzing a communicative situation.

The communicative side is the use of means of communication, divided into verbal and non-verbal. A good communicator is a person who has a rich repertoire of communication techniques used at different levels of communication.

The interactive side is the interaction of people, which involves a certain form of organization of joint activities.

Subject area of interpersonal communication: mental processes and states that ensure transaction; communicative practices that mediate interaction between people; norms and rules that make joint activity possible, often unconscious, developed within a certain sociocultural group.

One of the generally accepted basis for classification is the identification of three interrelated aspects or characteristics in communication: informational, interactive and perceptual. In accordance with this, information-communicative, regulatory-communicative and affective-communicative functions are distinguished.

The information and communication function of communication consists of any type of exchange of information between interacting individuals. The exchange of information in human communication has its own specifics. Firstly, we are dealing with the relationship of two individuals, each of whom is an active subject (as opposed to a technical device). Secondly, the exchange of information necessarily involves the interaction of thoughts, feelings and behavior of partners. Thirdly, they must have a single or similar system of codification (decodification) of messages.

In turn, nonverbal communication also has several forms:

Kinetics (optical-kinetic system, including gestures, facial expressions, pantomime);

Paralinguistics and extralinguistics (system of vocalization of the voice, pauses, coughing, etc.);

Proxemics (norms for organizing space and time in communication);

Visual communication (eye contact system).

The regulatory-communicative (interactive) function of communication is to regulate behavior and directly organize the joint activities of people in the process of their interaction. The concept of interaction is used in two ways: firstly, to characterize the actual real contacts of people (actions, counteractions, assistance) in the process of joint activity; secondly, to describe mutual influences (impacts) on each other in the course of joint activities, or more broadly, in the process of social activity.

In the process of communication as interaction (verbal, physical, non-verbal), an individual can influence motives, goals, programs, decision-making, execution and control of actions, i.e. on all components of their partner’s activities, including mutual stimulation and behavior correction. Identification is the mental process of assimilating oneself to a communication partner in order to cognize and understand his thoughts and ideas.

It is possible to give another classification scheme of communication functions, in which, along with those listed, other functions are separately identified: organization of joint activities; people getting to know each other; formation and development of interpersonal relationships. This classification is partly given in the monograph by V.V. Znakova; the cognitive function as a whole is included in the perceptual function identified by G.M. Andreeva. A comparison of two classification schemes allows us to conditionally include the functions of cognition, the formation of interpersonal relationships, and the affective-communicative function into the perceptual function of communication as more capacious and multidimensional. When studying the perceptual side of communication, a special conceptual and terminological apparatus is used, which includes a number of concepts and definitions and allows one to analyze various aspects of social perception in the process of communication.

Firstly, communication is impossible without a certain level of mutual understanding between the communicating subjects. Understanding is a certain form of reproduction of an object in knowledge that arises in the subject in the process of interaction with cognizable reality. In the case of communication, the object of cognizable reality is another person, a communication partner. At the same time, understanding can be considered from two sides: as a reflection in the consciousness of interacting subjects of each other’s goals, motives, emotions, attitudes; and how the acceptance of these goals allows relationships to be established. Therefore, in communication it is advisable to talk not about social perception in general, but about interpersonal perception or perception. Some researchers prefer to talk not about perception, but about the knowledge of another.

Reflection in the problem of understanding each other is an individual’s understanding of how he is perceived and understood by his communication partner. In the course of mutual reflection of the participants in communication, reflection is a kind of feedback that contributes to the formation of both the behavior strategy of the subjects of communication and the correction of their understanding of the characteristics inner world each other.

Another mechanism of understanding in communication is interpersonal attraction. Attraction is the process of forming the attractiveness of a person for the perceiver, the result of which is the formation of interpersonal relationships. Currently, an expanded interpretation of the attraction process is being formed as the formation of emotional and evaluative ideas about each other and about one’s interpersonal relationships (both positive and negative) as a kind of social attitude with a predominance of the emotional and evaluative component.

The most important idea of the three-dimensional theory of interpersonal relations of W. Schutz is the position that each individual has a characteristic way of social orientation in relation to other people, and this orientation determines his interpersonal behavior.

The theory attempts to explain an individual's interpersonal behavior based on three needs: inclusion, control, and affect. These needs develop in childhood in the interaction of the child with adults, primarily with parents. Thus, the development of the need for “inclusion” depends on how much the child was included in the family; the need for “control” depends on whether the emphasis in the parent-child relationship was on freedom or control; the need for "affect" depends on the degree to which the child has been emotionally accepted or rejected by his immediate environment. If these needs were not met during childhood, the individual feels insignificant, incompetent, and unworthy of love. To overcome these feelings, he develops defense mechanisms that manifest themselves as characteristic modes of behavior in interpersonal contacts. Formed in childhood, these modes of behavior continue to exist in adulthood, generally determining the typical characteristics of an individual’s orientation in the social environment.

W. Schutz identifies three types of “normal” interpersonal behavior within each area, which correspond to different degrees of satisfaction of the corresponding needs:

1) deficit behavior, which assumes that the individual does not directly try to satisfy his needs;

2) excessive - the individual constantly tries to satisfy needs at any cost;

3) ideal behavior - needs are adequately satisfied.

Characteristics of basic interpersonal needs and types of interpersonal behavior:

The need for "control". The characteristic modes of behavior of two individuals in interpersonal interaction can be either compatible or not. V. Schutz defines interpersonal compatibility as a relationship between two or more individuals in which a certain degree of mutual satisfaction of interpersonal needs is achieved. Pathology - unsuccessful establishment of relationships in the field of inclusion leads to alienation and isolation, to a person’s attempts to create his own artificial world. The development of functional psychoses, autism, schizophrenia is likely;

The need for inclusion is the need to create and maintain satisfactory relationships with other people on the basis of which interaction and cooperation arise. From the point of view of self-esteem, this need manifests itself in the desire to feel like a valuable and significant person, to be liked, to attract attention and interest, in the desire to achieve recognition, and to gain approval. To be a person unlike others, i.e. being an individual is another aspect of the need for inclusion. What is special about this distinction from the mass of others is that in order to achieve full-fledged relationships with people, you need to achieve understanding, to feel that others see the traits and characteristics inherent only in the individual. Pathology - the individual's inability to control or influence leads to the development of a psychopathic personality;

The need for “affect” is defined as the need to create and maintain satisfactory relationships with other people, based on love and close, warm emotional contacts. At the emotional level, it manifests itself in the individual's ability to love other people and in the awareness that he is loved enough by others that he is worthy of love. This need usually concerns personal emotional relationships between two close people (pair relationships) and leads to behavior aimed at emotional closeness with a partner or partners. In childhood, if the child's upbringing was emotionally inadequate, a feeling of fear may develop, which the individual may subsequently try to overcome. different ways, developing appropriate types of behavior. Pathology - difficulties in the emotional area usually lead to neuroses.

Currently, more and more attention is paid not only to the theoretical analysis of conflicts, their types and structure, but also to the development of psychotechnics of communicative behavior, which significantly reduces the level of conflict in the process of communication and interaction between people. Knowledge of the characteristics of communicative behavior helps to avoid unnecessary conflicts in business communication and act psychologically competently.

The technique is intended to diagnose the dominant strategy of psychological defense in communication and allows us to determine the type of human defense mechanism.

The basis of defensive activity (psychological discomfort) or increasing self-esteem is protection through distortion of the process of selection and transformation of information. Thanks to this, the correspondence between the individual’s ideas about the world around him, himself and incoming information is maintained.

Psychological protection is considered as a system of adaptive reactions of the individual, aimed at protectively changing the significance of maladaptive components of relationships (cognitive, emotional, behavioral) in order to weaken their psychologically traumatic impact on the individual. Negative feelings such as anxiety, fear, anger, shame, and stress cause adaptive processes in the individual to reassess the meaning of the situation, relationships, and self-image in order to reduce psychological discomfort and maintain an appropriate level of self-esteem. This process occurs, as a rule, within the framework of unconscious mental activity with the help of a number of psychological defense mechanisms. Psychological defense mechanisms operate at the levels of perception and transformation.

A common feature of the defense mechanism is the individual’s refusal to engage in activities intended to productively resolve a situation or problem that caused negative experiences.

Communication is a process of interaction between two or more persons, aimed at mutual knowledge, at establishing and developing relationships, exerting mutual influence on their states, views and behavior, as well as regulating their joint activities.

Communication is understood very broadly: as the reality of human relations, which represents specific forms of joint activity of people. That is, communication is considered as a form of joint activity. However, the nature of this connection is understood in different ways. Sometimes activity and communication are considered as two sides of a person’s social existence; in other cases, communication is understood as an element of any activity, and the latter is considered as a condition of communication. Finally, communication can be interpreted as a special type of activity.

In Russian social psychology, the features of the structure of communication occupy an important place, and the study of this issue allows us to identify a set of fairly generally accepted ideas about the structure of communication. Researchers approach the structure of communication in different ways, both by identifying levels of analysis of a phenomenon and by listing its main functions. B.F. Lomov identifies three levels of analysis:

The first level is the macro level: an individual’s communication with other people is considered as the most important aspect of his lifestyle. At this level, the communication process is studied in time intervals comparable to the duration of human life, with an emphasis on the analysis of the mental development of the individual.

The second level is the mesa level (middle level): communication is considered as a changing set of purposeful, logically completed contacts or interaction situations in which people find themselves in the process of current life activity, in specific time periods of their lives. The main emphasis in the study of communication at this level is on the content components of communication situations - about “what” and “for what purpose”.

The third level is the micro level: the main emphasis is on the analysis of elementary units of communication as related acts or transactions. It is important to emphasize that the elementary unit of communication is not a change in intermittent behavioral acts or actions of participants, but their interaction. It includes not only the action of one of the partners, but also the associated assistance or opposition of the partner, for example, “question - answer”, “incitement to action - action”, “communication of information - attitude towards it”, etc. . .

The functions of communication are those roles or tasks that communication performs in the process of human social existence.

There are classification schemes for communication functions, in which, along with those listed, the following functions are separately identified: 1. Organization of joint activities; people getting to know each other; 2. Formation and development of interpersonal relationships (partly this classification is given in the monograph by V.V. Znakov; and the cognitive function as a whole is included in the perceptive function identified by G.M. Andreeva).

When studying the perceptual side of communication, a special conceptual and terminological apparatus is used, which includes a number of concepts and definitions and allows one to analyze various aspects of social perception in the process of communication.

Firstly, communication is impossible without a certain level of understanding (or rather, mutual understanding) of the communicating subjects.

Understanding is a certain form of reproduction of an object in consciousness, which arises in the subject in the process of interaction with cognizable reality.

In the case of communication, the object of cognizable reality is another person, a communication partner. At the same time, understanding can be considered from two sides: as a reflection in the consciousness of interacting subjects of each other’s goals, motives, emotions, attitudes; and how the acceptance of these goals allows relationships to be established. Therefore, in communication, it is advisable to talk not about social perception in general, but about interpersonal perception or perception, and some researchers no longer talk about perception, but about the knowledge of another.

Reflection in the problem of understanding each other is an individual’s understanding of how he is perceived and understood by his communication partner. In the course of mutual reflection of the participants in communication, “reflection” is a kind of feedback that contributes to the formation of a strategy for the behavior of the subjects of communication, and the correction of their understanding of the characteristics of each other’s inner world.

The considered classifications of communication functions, of course, do not exclude each other; other options can be proposed. At the same time, they show that communication should be studied as a multidimensional phenomenon. And this involves studying the phenomenon using systems analysis methods.

In historical terms, three approaches to the study of the peculiarities of interpersonal relationships in psychological and pedagogical literature can be distinguished: informational (focused on the transmission and reception of information); international (interaction-oriented); relational (focused on the interconnection of communication and relationships).

Despite the obvious similarity of concepts, terminology and research techniques, each approach is based on different methodological traditions and assumes, although complementary, but nevertheless different aspects of the analysis of the problem of communication.

There are two ways of communication: non-verbal and verbal. Verbal communication is communication between individuals using words (speech). Verbal communication uses human speech, natural sound language, as a sign system, that is, a system of phonetic signs that includes two principles: lexical and syntactic. Speech is the most universal means of communication, since when transmitting information through speech, the meaning of the message is least lost. True, this should be consistent with a high degree of common understanding of the situation by all participants in the communicative process.

Dialogue, or dialogic speech, as a specific type of “conversation” is a consistent change of communicative roles, during which the meaning of a speech message is revealed, that is, the phenomenon that was designated as “enrichment, development of information” occurs.

However, the communication process is incomplete if non-verbal communication is not taken into account.

Nonverbal communication is communication between individuals without the use of words, that is, without speech and language presented in direct or any symbolic form. The human body, which has an exceptionally wide range of means and methods for transmitting or exchanging information, becomes an instrument of communication. On the other hand, both consciousness and the unconscious and subconscious components of the human psyche endow him with the ability to perceive and interpret information transmitted in non-verbal form. The fact that the transmission and reception of non-verbal information can be carried out at unconscious or subconscious levels introduces some complexity into the understanding of this phenomenon and even raises the question of the justification of using the concept of “communication”, since in linguistic and speech communication this process, one way or another, understood by both parties. Therefore, it is quite acceptable, when it comes to nonverbal communication, to also use the concept of “nonverbal behavior,” understanding it as the behavior of an individual that carries certain information, regardless of whether the individual is aware of it or not.

Studies of interpersonal interaction and practical observations allow all possible methods of reaction of people in interpersonal contact to be conditionally combined into two groups according to the parameter of effectiveness - ineffectiveness from the point of view of realizing the goals of communication: firstly, what methods are effective and when it is advisable to use them for the development of personal contacts, positive relationships and mutual understanding with a partner; secondly, what techniques and when it is advisable to use to provide a direct psychological impact (again, to fully achieve the goals of communication).

The main parameters of the effectiveness of interaction are a person’s ability and skills in using two communication techniques (in accordance with the two meta-goals of communication noted above): the technique of understanding communication and the technique of directive communication.

The parameters of the ineffectiveness of practical communication are a person’s inclinations and habits to use the so-called belittling-compliant and defensive-aggressive forms of command, as inadequate substitutes for understanding and directive communication.

Thus, to summarize the above, we can say that communication is connected with both public and personal relationships of a person. Both series of human relationships, both social and personal, are realized precisely in communication. Thus, communication is the realization of the entire system of human relations. Under normal circumstances, a person’s relationship to the objective world around him is always mediated by his relationship to people, to society, that is, they are included in communication.

In addition, communication is inextricably linked with human activity. Communication itself between people occurs directly in the process of activity, about this activity.

Communication, being a complex psychological and pedagogical phenomenon, has its own structure. Three sides can be distinguished in interpersonal communication:

1. The communicative side of communication is associated with the exchange of information, enriching each other through the accumulation of knowledge by each.

2. The interactive side of communication serves the practical interaction of people with each other in the process of joint activities. Here their ability to cooperate, help each other, coordinate their actions, and coordinate them is manifested. The lack of communication skills and abilities or their insufficient development negatively affects the development of the individual.

3. The perceptual side of communication characterizes the process of people’s perception of other people, the process of learning their individual properties and qualities. The main mechanisms of perception and knowledge of each other in communication processes are identification, reflection and stereotyping.

The communicative, interactive and perceptual aspects of communication in their unity determine its content, forms and role in people’s lives.

25. Social interaction is systematic, fairly regular, interdependent social action subjects directed at each other. When interactions turn into stable system, then they become social relationships. People interact at different levels of community. In accordance with this, one can highlight the interpersonal relationships of individuals; personal-group relations; intergroup relations. The development of social relations can occur in two directions: strengthening connections, partnerships, or isolation and even confrontation. Main forms of interaction: cooperation, competition, conflict. Cooperation involves participation in a common cause. It manifests itself in many specific relationships between people: business partnerships, friendship, solidarity, political alliance between partners, states, cooperation between firms. Rivalry is manifested in the desire of the parties to surpass each other, to achieve some success in achieving the indivisible object of the claims of both parties.

Problems of interpersonal communication in the youth sphere. Ability to communicate. Tolerance .
26. Interpersonal communication is a process of interaction between at least two persons, aimed at mutual knowledge, establishment and development of relationships and involving mutual influence on the states, views, behavior and regulation of joint activities of the participants in this process. Young people, as a special socio-demographic group, have specific characteristics of communication and interaction, building relationships, which primarily manifest themselves at the interpersonal level. The course addresses problems of youth communication: vocabulary, slang, non-verbal means, interpersonal interaction, etiquette, conflicts and interpersonal perception, age and personality characteristics. Productive and unproductive tactics of communication and interaction in youth communication are considered. The existence of an individual as a person and the manifestation of his social qualities and properties in communication and relationships between people: achieving mutual understanding during contact, anticipatory communications, the ability of communicants to communicate at the verbal and non-verbal levels. Tolerance is a sociological term that denotes tolerance for a different way of life, behavior, customs, feelings, opinions, ideas, beliefs. In many cultures, the concept of tolerance is a kind of synonym for tolerance. The concept of tolerance was introduced into scientific circulation in the 18th century. In Russia, the concept of tolerance began to be used in the liberal press from the mid-19th century, but from the mid-30s of the 20th century it disappeared from political vocabulary until it reappeared in the early 90s of the 20th century. In contrast to tolerance, to endure - without opposing, without complaining, to endure without complaint, to endure something disastrous, difficult, unpleasant, tolerance in modern language the word came from English. tolerance - the willingness to favorably recognize and accept the behavior, beliefs and views of other people that differ from one’s own.

Interpersonal conflicts: causes, origins. Interpersonal conflicts in the youth sphere.
27.Interpersonal conflicts are conflicts between individuals in the process of their social and psychological interaction. The causes of such conflicts are both socio-psychological and personal, in fact, psychological. The first include: loss and distortion of information in the process of interpersonal communication, unbalanced role interaction between two people, differences in the ways of assessing each other’s activities and personality, etc., tense interpersonal relationships, the desire for power, psychological incompatibility. Personal causes of conflicts are associated with the individual psychological characteristics of its participants: assessment of the behavior of another as unacceptable, low level of socio-psychological competence when, for example, a person does not imagine that there are many ways out of a conflict situation, insufficient psychological stability, poor developed ability to empathy, high or low level of aspirations, choleric type of temperament, excessive expression of certain character traits. Psychological incompatibility - bad combination temperaments and characters of interacting persons, contradictions in life values, ideals, motives, goals of activity, discrepancies in worldviews, ideological attitudes, etc.

Society as a complex dynamic system. Subsystems and elements of society.

28. Society as a system is complex because it includes many levels, subsystems, and elements. The macrostructure of society as a system consists of four subsystems, which are the main spheres human activity- material and production, social, political, spiritual. Society is a complex system a kind of supersystem. A characteristic feature of society as a system is the presence in its composition of elements of different quality, both material and ideal. The main element of society as a system is a person who has the ability to set goals and choose the means to carry out his activities. Like any system, society is an ordered entity. This means that the components of the system are not in chaotic disorder, but occupy a certain position within the system and are connected in a certain way with other components - this system has an integrative quality. Integral, i.e. the general qualities of any system inherent in the entire system are not a simple sum of qualities, but represent a new quality.

The problem of interpersonal relationships and human interaction - abstract

CONCLUSION

APPLICATION

intimate interpersonal relationship

Interpersonal relationship (2)

Interpersonal relationship concept and main features

Interpersonal relationship in the medical team