Self-realization is the implementation of individual and personal capabilities of the “I” through one’s own efforts, as well as collaboration with other people. Self-realization is activated in relation to those traits, properties and qualities of a person that are rationally and morally acceptable and supported by society. At the same time, a person is what he makes himself, as far as he feels himself. Self-realization is an attribute of human existence itself.
Consequently, the social system, historical circumstances, natural and ecological conditions, social environment and even chance determine the manifestation of human activity. However, a person can realize his “self” because he is able to recognize his worth, rise above circumstances, have plans and goals for his activities, and take into account the real situation and long-term consequences. The criterion of self-realization, which is included in the evaluation system of each person’s mental activity, reflects society’s satisfaction with the individual and the individual’s satisfaction with social conditions. Consequently, the effectiveness of self-realization will depend not only on real external conditions, but also on how a person understands and evaluates them in relation to himself. This understanding and assessment is determined by knowledge and practical experience, personal characteristics and social skills.
Self-realization plays a crucial role in the entire life path of an individual, in fact, determining it. The prerequisites for self-realization are inherent in human nature itself and exist as inclinations, which, with the development of a person, with the formation of his personal properties, become the basis for the ability to self-realization. The image of the world also changes throughout a person’s life. It must become more and more complete and adequate. However, the condition for successful self-realization is a dynamic functional unity, where the image of the world and the image of “I” are balanced through an adequate understanding of one’s place in the world and the use of adequate social skills. In case of certain violations of this balance, a person has to look for conditional compensatory ways, such as psychological defense, to solve problems of self-realization.
§ 18.2. SELF-POWER AND SELF-ESTEEMSelf-esteem is the central link and motive of the self-concept. Self-concept is the core of personality, an important part of a person’s self-awareness. It includes unconscious ideas that are consistent and should not contradict conscious properties. Self-concept– a stable, internally consistent and consistent idea of a person about himself, recorded in verbal definitions. It performs important functions in a person’s life: it ensures internal consistency of a person’s knowledge about himself, contributes to the interpretation and motivation of new experience, and is a source of expectation of certain actions in relation to himself. The term “I” has many meanings. It includes bodily feeling, body image; self-identity (“I” is a lasting integrity); extension (“I” are my thoughts, and my things, and my group, and my religion, etc.), being a point of reference (egocentrism), etc. Our “I” has spatial and temporal features as a point between past and future.
An important point is the concept of the power of the “I”, which was introduced by 3. Freud. The strength of “I” is a measure of personal freedom from guilt, rigidity, and anxiety. When we talk about a strong character, we mean first of all the strong will of this person; when we talk about a strong personality, we mean a strong “I”, a person’s ability for self-organization and self-realization, mental endurance and self-esteem, as well as great social potential.
There are 6 indicators of the strength of the “I”. Let's call them: this is tolerance to external threats, psychological discomfort; freedom from panic; struggle with guilt (ability to compromise); the ability to effectively suppress unacceptable impulses; balance of rigidity and compliance; control and planning; adequate self-esteem. A weak “I” presupposes a strong development of psychological defense, which increases the inadequacy of the perception of the environment and the individual’s behavior.
Self-respect. Self-esteem is a generalized characteristic that develops in early childhood and is difficult to change. Self-esteem is synonymous in everyday speech as self-esteem. The level of self-esteem is reflected in the prevailing motivation.
T. Shibutani shows the connection between the desire for power and low self-esteem. Adequate self-esteem presupposes a small and well-regulated feeling of guilt, independence from other people's assessments.
The lower self-esteem, the more intolerant a person is towards criticism and humor.
W. James proposed a psychological “formula”:
Self-esteem determines a person’s adequacy in the world around him. Low self-esteem entails for an individual inadequacy in areas that are significant to him, a tendency to self-deception, fear of the truth, dominance of self-affirmation motivation and high development of many forms of psychological defense. Self-respect determines the nature of relationships with others (for example, the more a person does not respect himself, the more he does not value and fears others, and seeks to assert himself by belittling his partners).
Low self-esteem can manifest itself as a feeling of low worth, hide behind self-confidence and bravado, and result in a constant underestimation of one’s capabilities and self-deprecation. These people, as a rule, evaluate others inadequately: they expect aggressive actions or praise.
Adequacy of self-esteem and self-esteem depends on upbringing in early childhood. If a child is perceived as property, he or she develops a feeling of unworthiness. This is influenced by the lack of an emotional, warm atmosphere in the family, the predominance of harsh measures, authoritarianism and despoticism of parents and much more. Low self-esteem requires large expenditures of energy for psychological defense. Such children often develop a psychology of self-flagellation, constant psychological discomfort, and complexes (but they can be overcome); Shyness, fear of mistakes, strong self-control, and lack of spontaneity are usually present.
There are different ways to compensate for low self-esteem. You can lower your level of aspirations. For other people, this results in an escape from themselves, their problems and difficulties (i.e., various forms of psychological defense are formed). A more worthy way is to change your attitude to the situation and change your behavior, reduce the level of aspirations to your capabilities.
People with low self-esteem develop a greater internal distance from other people. Often they experience hobbies and passion, which are quickly replaced by fears, anxiety, suspicion, the inevitable fear of losing a loved one, and jealousy. These contradictory feelings are explained by self-doubt, a painful feeling of low value, which forces one to demand constant proof of respect and love from a partner, and lead to an acute experience of loneliness and the inevitability of the formation of forms of psychological defense.
The term “defense mechanisms” was proposed by Z. Freud in 1926. In his opinion, protection is a necessary condition for maintaining the stability of the personal structure in conditions of constant pathogenic conflict between different levels of self-awareness.
In a broad sense, psychological protection– any (conscious or unconscious) method by which a person is protected from influences that threaten tension and lead to disintegration of the personality.
Its general functions are the destruction of fear and the preservation of self-esteem.
A fairly close psychological concept that denotes stable and complex methods of psychological defense is complexes. Complexes are a strongly emotionally charged set of traits, images, ideas regarding one’s own personality traits and appearance, arising from disappointment and misfortune; is expressed in the form of protective and compensatory behavior and is corrected.
The most famous is the inferiority complex. It is present in other manifestations of experiencing one’s (perhaps only supposed) inferiority, for example, the old maid complex, the complex of poor people, the complex of provincialism, the complex of short stature, obesity and other physical defects, the complex of a loser or the complex of low level of achievements, the sexual complex.
§ 18.3. LEADERSHIP POTENTIALTo date, mainly three independent theories have been formed that explain the origin and essence of leadership potential. They can be roughly called the “great man” theory, the “situational” theory and the “determining role of followers” theory.
Combining the positive aspects of the listed leadership theories allows us to formulate the following definition. Leadership potential is a set of psychological qualities that meet the needs of the group and are most useful for resolving the problem situation in which this group finds itself. Absolute leaders - leaders everywhere and in everything - do not exist, just like absolute “followers”. A leader in business can be a follower in leisure and a scapegoat in family life. Moreover, in a certain field of activity, the assessment of the leadership potential of a particular person is not always unambiguous: the director of an enterprise can be a true leader for his deputies and shop managers, a formal leader from the point of view of middle management workers, and in the perception of workers - act as a source of confusion and bureaucratic lawlessness (i.e., “anti-leader”).
Leadership is leadership in stimulating, planning and organizing group activities. If we talk about groups of people, then behind the ability to lead are such integral characteristics as “danger alertness,” “managerial abilities,” and high “personal activity.”
“Danger alertness” refers to high performance under stress, as well as qualities such as sensitivity to potential danger and fearlessness.
Actions under stressful conditions that are most consistent with the role of a true leader lie in his primacy in protecting the group, in organizing group actions, in attacking actions, in choosing the strategy and tactics of group behavior. Sensitivity to potential danger is the leader's ability to anticipate the possibility of stressful circumstances and options for their development. Fearlessness conventionally denotes a quality that allows a leader to withstand threats directed at him for the longest time and recover faster from certain defeats.
The second most pronounced integral quality of a leader can be considered his management abilities. In their structure, the leading functions are the suppression of intragroup aggressiveness (conflicts) and the provision of support to weak members of the group, planning the upcoming actions of the group.
In third place is the leader’s high personal activity, which includes a fairly wide range of private manifestations - from initiative and contact to physical mobility and a tendency to form temporary alliances with different members of the group.
Particular manifestations of leadership potential are a high speed of orientation in the environment, a clear and large-scale vision of a positive future for the group, and the perception of the group as part of one’s own “I”. The scale of the goals generated by a potential leader inevitably prompts him to search for “his” group.
Every person can develop and improve their inherent leadership potential. The ability to lead increases significantly as people grow older and gain professional skill and a variety of life experiences. The main difficulty here is to determine the area of activity for the best application of one's strengths.
A particular way to develop leadership potential is to consciously practice such methods of behavior that people around them involuntarily perceive as leadership. This includes clearly observable elements of appearance, posture, facial expressions, gestures and speech: the absence of pretentious, deliberately “beautiful” elements of appearance, the maximum possible perceived body size (straight posture and head position, turned shoulders, high-soled shoes, etc. .), smoothness and some slowness of movements and gestures (except for situations requiring adequate manifestations of activity and aggressiveness), asymmetry of gestures of the right and left hands, a direct, long-fixed gaze at the opponent, measured and laconic speech, low timbre of voice, moderation of manifestations of outside physiological reactions.
§ 18.4. IMAGE IN LEADERSHIP FORMATIONSince ancient times, famous commanders and rulers have tried to perpetuate their image, the power of the state and achievements in the field of politics. In Ancient Rome, a ruler was a sacred figure, a bearer of unlimited power based on the customs of his ancestors. In Ancient Egypt, the king was associated with the lion, a symbol of power and strength. The king's head was decorated with rich decorations. In Rus', princely dignity was emphasized by a koch - a mantle, a hood - a hat. The symbols of royal power were the eagle and the lion. External attributes of royal power were used: throne, crown, scepter. Our ancestors sought to identify greatness with a visual image, designing their appearance and using rituals of behavior.
In Ancient Greece, knowledge of three areas of the face was used to create an image: from the hairline to the eyebrows, from the eyebrows to the tip of the nose, from the tip of the nose to the chin. With the help of special makeup, faces were given different characters: the top of the face – the spiritual essence of a person, the middle of the face – everyday life, the bottom of the face – eroticism, grotesque, eccentric.
The famous Niccolo Machiavelli described the qualities that a leader should exhibit when making recommendations for statesmen.
Currently, research into the image of leadership behavior is becoming relevant due to the practical significance of rationalization and management efficiency, especially in the highest echelons of political and economic power.
The rapid development of such industries as political psychology, PR activities, commercial and political advertising, management psychology requires knowledge about the psychological characteristics of leadership, especially its external manifestations. The experience of conducting political campaigns and presentations of business leaders indicates the emergence of such professionals as an image consultant. Image makers use a wealth of material accumulated in psychological studies of behavior, historical and memoir literature about outstanding commanders and rulers.
Creating an image is a problem of our time, caused by the rapid development of high technologies, the complication of the sphere of management, an overabundance of information, and the rapid change of events. Modern society is immersed in an information environment where communication processes are leading. It is difficult to distinguish between reality and symbolic representation. New information technologies and media that change consciousness become sources of power and influence. Image is a natural product of processing large amounts of information. The image becomes a label, a sign, a symbol.
The concept of “image” was introduced into scientific psychology by Gustave Le Bon and Walter Lippmann. Usually, in the most general sense, image refers to the image of a person. The concept of “leader’s image” is actively used in PR, political and commercial advertising, and in the modern direction of “imageology”. Currently, there is a wide variety in the interpretation of image. Some researchers in the field of PR, such as Sam Black, Edward Bernays, either do not use the concept of “image” or are against it. Most PR practitioners recognize the importance of image for an organization or leader. In modern psychology, emphasis is placed on the need for scientific development of the image of a leader. The image of a leader as a constructed image largely determines the influence and effectiveness of government. If you do not purposefully form the image of a leader, it may turn out to be unpredictable. This situation is unacceptable during election campaigns. The following key problems of image formation are identified: – psychological content of the concept of “image”;
– what are the components of the image;
– ethical problems of using image;
– image building technologies.
Leaders are born in a particular community. The main feature of the relationship between the leader and the group is the relationship of power. J. Blondol considered power to be a key feature of leadership. Power is potential, it is realized in influence. In psychology, influence is understood as a process in which the behavior of one or groups of people changes the state of other people. As a result of the influence, knowledge (cognitive aspect), feelings, values, motivation, attitudes, and behaviors change.
Influence is the psychological basis of leadership. Thus, a leader not only has potential power, but also constantly influences other people. Influence is always an interaction between the leader and the group. Moreover, the influence is asymmetrical, since the leader has a greater opportunity to influence other people. There are two types of leadership: “face to face” leadership and “distant” leadership, that is, political leadership of leaders influencing the masses. The success of a leader is largely determined by the communication situation: “face to face” or indirectly through the media. In this regard, researchers pay special attention to the features of the image. In direct communication, the public interacts with a real person. In mediated communication, an intermediate element appears - the image of the leader. A leader acts in the area of changing the state of people. Power allows a person to achieve maximum self-realization. Influence is considered from the point of view of socially determined norms of behavior and ethical criteria. The model of power action is described in the categories “goal-means-result-feedback”. The goal is the satisfaction of a need, the means are various resources of influence on a person, the result is the state of the object of power, feedback influences the subject of power - the leader, changing his actions. A special role in the implementation of power relations is played by externally observable characteristics of behavior, in connection with the problem of choosing means of influence. These include:
1) means of influence associated with the official role, position in society (role characteristics, the power of custom);
2) personal influence: physical strength, charm, beauty, intelligence;
3) influence using speech. Depending on the choice of means of influence, the problem of style of self-presentation and construction of the public “I” is solved. In this case, the reliance is placed not on the life world of the leader, but on the living space of the group, where the archetype plays a special role; which is based on historically formed connections between object – feeling – action. Thus, there is a generalized model of how a person interacts and understands another person. The starting point for describing people’s behavior is the emotional criterion, which generates the actual meaning.
The problem of image is related to the everyday experience of a person, the development of consciousness and self-awareness.
S. L. Rubinstein, discussing the problem of communication between people, noted that a person orients himself in the behavior of others as if he “reads another person,” deciphers the meaning of his external data and reveals the meaning of his behavior. In the process of life, each person develops a certain, automatically functioning psychological mechanism for understanding other people.
According to psychological research, it is known that the choice of political orientation in all historical periods is made only by a minority of people on the basis of a political concept. The majority are characterized by a personalized choice. The perception and evaluation of leaders' images replaces the work of understanding the content of the political situation. Thus, only the emotional-sensory level of perception works.
In the studies of E. Yu. Artemyeva on the study of the subjective picture of the world, the leading role of the emotional-evaluative properties of an object in the process of its perception is clearly demonstrated, and the process of development of the meanings of human actions is described. The moment of “first vision”, the first impression, is highlighted, when the relationship of the object to the subject (pleasant, dangerous) is formed - this is an analogue of the individual unconscious. Personal meanings are identified with the collective unconscious, an archetype according to C. Jung.
The first impression is formed on the basis of the perception of words (content) - 7%, characteristic features of the voice - 38%, appearance and non-verbal signals - 55%. Visual symbols lead in terms of impact effectiveness. It is this feature of psychological influence that is used in creating information “for everyone,” when they try to rewrite almost all variants of messages in a visual form. The increase in the level of image reliability in the case of visual communication is explained based on the analysis of the patterns of the visual field. Visual communication codes are not rigid. This allows the observer to weave them into their own context, the image becomes natural. An image created on the basis of visual signals is stored in memory longer and is more effective.
Using this data, it is possible to quite correctly formulate the image characteristics of the leader in accordance with the expectations of the public.
The components of a leader's image are divided into the following groups of characteristics: 1) physical - age, gender, type of constitution, health, racial or national characteristics; 2) psychological – character traits, the course of mental processes, mental states; 3) social – the status of the leader, role behavior models (these characteristics of the leader’s image are quite flexible, as they depend on the current social situation and social norms); 4) characteristics of the leader’s image as a symbol of ideology, an image of the expected future (these features are stable, as they are associated with a cultural archetype, the “leader-father” archetype, aggressive, altruistic).
Taken together, they represent a holistic image associated with a specific individuality. Each of these groups of characteristics makes a different contribution to the formation of a leader’s personal power and can be constructed to varying degrees.
External manifestations of leadership qualities are associated with appearance (clothes, shoes, hairstyle, cosmetics), appearance features (beauty or charm, physical strength, health, age), speech features (expressiveness, smoothness, loudness, ease of speech, correct grammatical constructions, lexical peculiarities). Nonverbal signals are included in a special group of external image signs. They are always situational, spontaneous and involuntary. The most significant for “reading” are the leader’s facial expressions, posture, and gestures. The leader's face carries the maximum information load: mouth, eyebrows, face as a whole, spatial orientation of the head, direction of gaze. What is important is the leader’s position in space and the distance between the leader and the audience. These characteristics are closely related to the culture of a particular society. More often, leaders are positioned apart from the public, at the top or in front, which is typical, in particular, of European culture. The distance and spatial location of the leader indicate the attitude towards a specific person. With the help of these features, rituals of leadership behavior are formed. Speech features make it possible to judge the leader’s decisiveness, confidence, importance and accessibility. According to research results, it has been established that most often men become leaders. The choice by age depends on the nature of the political situation in society - stable or unstable. In an unstable situation, as a rule, a young leader is chosen, which indicates the influence of the leadership archetype on the choice: strong, energetic, capable of leading, active, healthy. In stable societies, older leaders have a chance of being elected. Factors that ensure the effectiveness of power include charisma or personal charm. M. Weber described charismatic leaders as gifted with supernatural powers and properties. Le Bon interpreted charisma based on the concept of “charm”, “magnetic charm”. Such leaders are able to instill their ideas, feelings, and infect the public with their own energy and emotions. The main weapon of charisma is the power of emotional expression. The emergence of charismatic leaders is usually associated with a crisis situation that requires change. Researchers include high energy potential, self-confidence, conviction in the significance of goals and accomplishments, expressiveness, external expressiveness, brilliant oratorical skills, beauty, and modeling of role behavior as the main features of a charismatic leader.
Existing image developments are mainly based on a specific situation, i.e., the reflected situation. Image is understood as the directed formation of a person’s image, which is specially organized and structured. For this purpose, mass communications are used. Technologists associate image with everyday consciousness. It acts as a symbol in the form of visual and sound signals, which are perceived on an emotional level, without reaching the level of logical constructions (meanings). This way the image becomes accessible to the broad masses, as it affects the lower levels of the psyche. It is schematic and simplified. When creating an image, only certain aspects of the leader’s personality are used. In the field of political activity, due to the indirect nature of communication between the leader and the public, it is much easier to create the required image.
A complete realistic image is an ideal time capacitor, a multi-valued phenomenon for the recipient, and represents only objective information. The image is filled with ethical (humanistic) and aesthetic (realistic) content. This is proven by studies of images in journalism and art.
To construct an image, a stereotype is used, which, like the image, is a product of a specific situation. The lifetime of a stereotype is limited by the lifetime of the situation. Technological image makers usually use a stereotype to stimulate the primitive needs of people, thereby causing a simplified vision of the situation. TV channels especially use stereotypes. A stereotype is associated with a specific idea about a person. The leader is identified as “friend” or “stranger.” The exploitation of a stereotype leads to stimulation of primitive forms of perception: eroticization of advertising, cinema, and variety shows.
Image and stereotype can only be effective in specific situations. A change in the situation destroys them, and suddenly it turns out that “the king is naked.” Disappointment and disgust towards the leader sets in. Such examples can be observed after the end of the election campaign, if the leader does not care about developing his own image, loses charm, and then power. In the practice of consulting leaders, a system of stereotypes has been developed:
1) individual-personal (“weaker sex”, “real man”);
2) family (“the man is the head of the family”);
3) production (“real boss”);
4) social, class (“elite”, “strong man”);
5) state (Russia is a great power, the USA is a stronghold of democracy);
6) national (“lazy Russian”, “pedantic German”, “frivolous Frenchman”);
7) formational (information society, post-industrial society).
It must be remembered that a stereotype and image simplify real ideas and have maximum social results. In this case, a prerequisite is the preservation of the ethical principle of working with the image, non-compliance with which also leads to the defeat of the leader.
§ 18.5. COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCECommunicative competence usually refers to the ability to establish and maintain necessary contacts with other people. Competencies include a set of knowledge, skills and abilities that ensure effective communication. This kind of competence presupposes the ability to change the depth and range of communication, to understand and be understood by communication partners. Communicative competence is a developing and largely conscious experience of communication between people, which is formed in conditions of direct interaction. The process of improving communicative competence is associated with personality development. The means of regulating communicative acts are part of human culture, and their appropriation and enrichment occurs according to the same laws as the development and enhancement of cultural heritage as a whole. In many ways, the acquisition of communicative experience occurs not only during direct interaction. From literature, theater, and cinema, a person also receives information about the nature of communicative situations, problems of interpersonal interaction and ways to solve them. In the process of mastering the communicative sphere, a person borrows from the cultural environment the means of analyzing communicative situations in the form of verbal and visual forms.
Communicative competence is directly related to the characteristics of the social roles performed by a person.
Communicative competence presupposes adaptability and freedom of use of verbal and non-verbal means of communication and can be considered as a category that regulates the system of a person’s relationships with himself, the natural and social world.
Thus, both individual personal qualities and socio-cultural and historical experience contribute to the formation of competence in communication.
One of the tasks of communicative competence is the assessment of cognitive resources that provide adequate analysis and interpretation of situations. To diagnose this assessment, there is currently a large block of techniques based on the analysis of “free descriptions” of various communicative situations. Another method of studying communicative competence is observation in natural or specially organized game situations with the use of technical means and meaningful analysis of the information received. Depending on the goals of the study, one can take into account the rate of speech, intonation, pauses, non-verbal techniques, facial expressions and pantomime, and the organization of communicative space. One of the diagnostic parameters may be the number of techniques used, another may be the adequacy of their application. Of course, such a diagnostic system is quite labor-intensive and high-quality implementation requires a lot of time and high qualifications of the observer. The difficulty of assessing communicative competence also lies in the fact that in the process of communication people are guided by a complex system of rules for regulating joint actions. And if the situation of interaction can be analyzed, then the rules by which people enter this situation are not always realized.
One of the means of developing communicative competence is socio-psychological training (SPT). This relatively new scientific and practical direction of psychology is currently undergoing intensive development as an integral and important part of the psychological service system. With all the variety of specific forms of SPT, they all have a unifying feature - it is a means of influence aimed at developing certain knowledge, skills and experience in the field of interpersonal communication. We can say that psychologically this means the following:
– development of a system of communication skills and abilities;
– correction of the existing system of interpersonal communication;
– creating personal prerequisites for successful communication.
An analysis of the possible impacts of socio-psychological training reveals that in the process of group work, the deep personal formations of the training participants are also affected. After all, a person receives new specific information about himself. And this information affects such personal variables as values, motives, and attitudes. All this speaks in favor of the fact that SPT can also be associated with the process of personality development, or rather, with the beginning of this process. Indeed, the new information about oneself and others obtained in the training, which, as a rule, is acutely emotionally mediated, encourages one to rethink the existing self-concept and the concept of the “other.”
Mastering deep communication is both a means and a result of exposure within the framework of SPT.
Personal development consists not only in building higher levels of its structure, but in weakening existing and ineffective ones.
Thus, we can say that the development of competence in communication presupposes an adequate choice and use of the entire set of tools focused on the development of personal subject-subject aspects of communication and the subject-object components of this process.
In the broadest sense, a person's communication competence can be defined as his competence in interpersonal perception, interpersonal communication and interpersonal interaction.
Communication in interpersonal communication is not identical to simply the exchange of information, because:
– certain interpersonal relationships arise between people;
– these relationships are changeable;
- “a thought is not equal to the direct meaning of the word.”
A special feature of human communication is the presence of barriers that prevent the penetration of information. The appearance of barriers, however, is quite logical, because communication is impact. If the influence is successful, a person may experience some changes in his understanding of the world. Not everyone is ready for this and wants it, because such changes violate his stability, opinion about himself and other people, so a person will protect himself from the influence.
It is quite clear that not every influence in communication is threatening. On the contrary, there are a large number of situations in which the information received is positive, strengthens a person’s position, and gives him emotional satisfaction. Thus, a person must be able to recognize useful and harmful information. How can this be done?
Let's monitor the emergence of barriers. Speech in human communication is the main method of influence. If the listener trusts the speaker as much as possible, then he completely accepts the speaker’s thoughts, while protecting himself from the influences of the speaker, the listener “releases” trust to him very carefully. Consequently, not every speaker inspires and influences when faced with counter psychological activity, which is the basis for the emergence of barriers to communication. These barriers include: avoidance, authority, misunderstanding. Thus, methods of protection against exposure are:
– avoiding contact with sources of exposure;
– orientation towards one’s own culture, logic, style, language and misunderstanding of someone else’s language, semantic field, style and logic.
Accordingly, to overcome barriers it is necessary:
– attract and retain the attention of a communication partner;
– use a universal feedback mechanism to clarify the understanding of the situation, words, feelings and logic of the interlocutor;
Considering the interactive side, researchers study various types of interaction situations during communication. In the most general form, we can distinguish the dichotomous division into competition and cooperation proposed by Deutsch. Various types of interactions can be captured through observation. In one of the most famous observation schemes, developed by R. Bales, the following categories are identified with which interaction can be described: the area of problem formulation, the area of problem solving, the area of positive emotions, the area of negative emotions. When considering the interactive side of communication, it is necessary to take into account the parameters and characteristics of the situation in which the interaction occurs. Currently, the situational approach, in which the starting point for analyzing communication is the parameters of the situation, is becoming increasingly developed.
§ 18.6. CHOOSING A SUBJECTIVE-OPTIMAL LIFE PATHA person’s awareness of his subjectively optimal life path is an important element of his personal maturity. This is clearly recorded in definitions indicating the absence of such awareness - a “unlucky” or even “dissolute” person. The social experience of many generations of people, reflected in these expressions, shows that each person, with all the variety of possible directions of movement in life, has one direction intended specifically for him, i.e., “his own” path.
A person is born with an individual set of intellectual and emotional inclinations, which are subsequently transformed into abilities, interests, motives for behavior and activity. By engaging precisely in those areas of life for which he has the necessary inclinations, a person turns out to be the most learnable. He develops faster and demonstrates success that certainly exceeds the average level. We will designate this hypothetical set of inclinations as development potential.
At the pragmatic level, a life path that, in its conditions and requirements for a person, fully corresponds to his development potential can be interpreted as subjectively optimal. At the metaphorical level, it is nothing more than a deep psychological preparedness for some purely individual mission, for the implementation of which a given person came into this world for the benefit of others and for his own pleasure.
The pre-preparedness of life's path, unfortunately, does not mean its obvious destiny. The path is chosen by a person based on rational grounds or by the will of circumstances, that is, for reasons that have practically nothing to do with his real inclinations. Therefore, selection errors are highly probable. In youth, they are inevitable, since the experience of testing oneself in various activities is still small, and the accuracy of self-understanding is minimal. The flexibility of the developing psyche, in principle, allows young people to adapt to any type of activity, even the most unsuitable for them.
The wrongness of the chosen direction of life becomes pronounced in adulthood. Long-term following a path that is not one’s own leads to a gap between conscious behavior and the needs inherent in development potential. This gap is subjectively expressed in the appearance of dysphoric experiences and increased neuropsychic tension.
The most striking manifestations of adult “unsuccessfulness” are the so-called “burnout syndrome” in professions related to public activity, as well as the “midlife crisis”, attributed by various authors to the age range from 35 to 45 years. The peculiarity of this crisis is that it develops gradually among socially and psychologically prosperous people. The psychological discomfort that grows as the crisis develops for a long time has no logical basis for them: in a subjective sense, everything in life is good individually, but as a whole, everything is bad. The camouflage of the internal cause of discomfort makes it impossible to purposefully combat it and ultimately leads to extraordinary actions and behavior.
In the evolution of the animal world, some differences have developed in the mental makeup of male and female individuals, which are significant for the problem we are discussing. In particular, we are talking about less, on average, pliability to learning, rigidity in the methods of mental activity and behavior, and a narrow focus of the inclinations of development potential in a male individual. Because of this, men are much more likely to not discover “their” path and are not able to fully adapt to the path they have already taken.
The first step out of the crisis towards “your” path is the awareness of the experienced dysphoric states as a consequence of the systemic crisis of your life as such, and not as a situationally developed set of particular difficulties. Despite the relativity of subjective self-assessment, we can recommend for self-diagnosis several sensory (i.e., formed by the subconscious) indicators that reveal the fact of following a “not your own” path in life:
1. A feeling of persistent bad luck, “everything is going against...”. The experience of failure is due to the fact that a “not one’s” goal, a goal that lies outside “one’s” path, does not trigger the work of subconscious thinking. Thus, the results of the work of conscious thinking are not supplemented by generalized data (across the entire amount of information available in a person’s experience on the problem being solved) in the form of intuition. Limiting the information basis of a decision to only its conscious part sharply reduces the adequacy of planning and causes the resulting low success of action.
2. Tiring of achievements, unpleasant fatigue as a constant experience. The tediousness of “not your own” action is explained by the fact that the subconscious denies immediate interest in it as the most effective stimulant of performance, and activity, performed primarily due to volitional tension, is highly energy-consuming and therefore tiring.
3. Lack of full satisfaction (joy, pride, jubilation) upon achieving success, joylessness of long-awaited events or victories. The subjective bleakness of success can be considered the most accurate indication of the fallacy of the actions taken. It can be understood as a message from the subconscious that the goal achieved was not truly “yours.” Consequently, in the sense of progress along the individual life path, there is no achievement, and therefore the emotional reinforcement of the work performed is not included.
The deep meaning of the listed indicators is that they unobtrusively create such subjective conditions that push a person to abandon activities that, in terms of their requirements and probable results, are “not theirs.”
The mechanism of the crisis is the loss of dynamism in personality development. The uncertainty of one’s own “I” and one’s future is the leading problem of youth. It is solved by testing oneself in different matters and situations (hence the teenage “I want to know everything”, “I need to try everything in life”). As a result of such efforts, the young man gradually determines what he is. And thus he falls into a psychological trap with far-reaching consequences. His subjective “I” becomes a very local territory, reliably cut off from the “not-I” (from uncertainty) by prohibitions and self-prohibitions. The overdetermination of the present becomes over time the leading problem of adulthood. Stopping changes in yourself and in the world is the end of life.
Part of the general loss of psychological dynamism is the ossification of the picture of the surrounding world. In fact, as many people as there are, there are so many different pictures of the world, including those that are directly opposite in their fundamental positions, and ideas about each other’s personality. However, for every adult it seems self-evident and does not need any justification that his ideas about himself and the world around him are quite accurate and, most importantly, objective, and any deviations from them in his life partner are evidence of his poor knowledge of the “real” life, weakness of mind or dishonesty.
Under these circumstances, the situation of a person experiencing a midlife crisis is truly dramatic. All his attempts to logically correct his joyless life are fundamentally doomed to failure. The diffuse experience that “everything is not as it should”, the feeling of “loss of meaning in life” arises because, given the ideas about one’s capabilities in a given subjective world, the desire for a “correct” life (energetic, effective and joyful) in principle cannot be satisfied.
The specific forms in which an adult finds “his or her own” path in life can be infinitely varied. Therefore, let us outline at least the main stages of such acquisition. It seems that in its expanded form, finding the path consists of three successive stages: awareness of the crisis, self-identification, reorientation.
The realization that life has reached a dead end and further existence in its previous form is impossible requires considerable courage from a person. Moreover, the subconscious, fulfilling its protective function, exposes to the consciousness a set of “obvious” minor problems (I’m such an anxious person... relationships with employees don’t work out... children don’t listen to me... etc.). It is much easier for a consciousness that has ceased to change to delve endlessly into any set of petty pseudo-problems than to understand that it is impossible to live like this any longer. At the peak of experiencing the meaninglessness of their existence, every adult has the opportunity to choose from three decisions:
1. Fear the inevitable upheavals of the previous way of life, “pull yourself together” and pretend that everything is in order. To frantically engage in something: work, fishing, order in the house, reading, etc. In fact, this is the path of noble degradation of the soul, its death, followed by the destruction of the body (high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, ulcers, hormonal disorders) It won’t take too long to do it.
2. “Knock out a wedge with a wedge,” drown out the feeling of the meaninglessness of life with more intense experiences. The wretchedness of the goal itself gives rise to the wretchedness of the means used: alcohol, the desire for risk as such, a riotous lifestyle, and less often, drug use. Suicide is the most radical of this kind of means.
3. Begin to consistently destroy your old world. In the shell of familiar ideas, of course, it’s bad - it’s stuffy, musty, and cramped. But, on the other hand, it protects against the unknown and the dangers and hardships associated with it. Therefore, anyone who decides to free himself from it must be prepared for the fact that at first “in freedom” he will be met mainly only by new difficulties and problems. True, they will be qualitatively different than in his previous world.
Self-identification consists in a complete, active and, accordingly, not distorted external expression and awareness of one’s “I”. Everyone is probably familiar with bittersweet thoughts like: “Oh, if only I could... (some subjectively attractive action), but then... (motivation why this should not be done).” Until everything attractive is actually tried, illusions cannot be separated from the truth. Only by fully expressing yourself outwardly can you fully see whether it is you.
Communication with a professional psychologist (consultant, psychotherapist) can significantly help speed up self-identification. Not “voiced” judgments about oneself and the world can remain inconsistent and contradictory for as long as desired—the person himself may not notice this. As with solving many other problems, accurate self-understanding requires an external action (story) directed at the outside world (at the consultant). The consultant’s task in this case is to serve as a smart mirror in which the client can see his whole self without the usual distortions, retouching and “blind spots”.
Reorientation is understood as finding (discovering for oneself) a new orienting basis in the perception and assessment of circumstances and situations of the world. While a person looks around him with “old” eyes, he will be able to see only what he saw before: the old world, the old problems, the old inability to somehow resolve them. A person trying to get out of a life crisis always asks the consultant: “So what should I do?” But the difficulty of the answer lies precisely in the fact that the entire set of actions available to this person at the moment is an organic element of his former life, and their use can only lead to its temporary resuscitation. The only adequate action in a crisis is the rejection of self-stereotypical, “obvious” and “objectively conditioned” expectations, attitudes and reactions.
Errors in the choice and subsequent correction of a subjectively optimal life path are inevitable and in this sense normal. Overcoming a life crisis (with the help of its awareness, self-identification, reorientation) leads to a more complete and accurate understanding of “your” path, experiencing the meaning of your life and satisfaction with it.
§ 18.7. CONDITIONAL COMPENSATORY WAYS IN SELF-REALIZATIONOne of the most important is self-realization in the field of professional activity. For various reasons, self-realization may take the path of conditional compensation for the subjective complexity of professional activity.
In this area, the phenomenon of “emotional burnout” is known among psychotherapists involved in conducting socio-psychological training. It consists in the therapist’s gradual loss of the ability to be steadily and diversely involved with his emotions in the training process. Experienced doctors have a specific “detachment” from the patient’s experiences and suffering when they perform necessary but painful medical procedures. The same “detachment” may be characteristic of law enforcement officials who perform some standard actions in relation to violators.
We have most fully described professional-specific psychological defense mechanisms for major political figures and high-ranking civil servants. As a result of observing their behavior and public speaking, it was possible to identify at least three specific types of defense mechanisms. The following conventional names are used to denote them: “I am exceptional,” “Life is a game,” and “Everything is bad for you.”
Defense mechanism "I"– exceptional". The difficulty of moving up the career ladder pushes people who have achieved certain success along this path to perceive themselves as not quite ordinary, especially gifted in some ways, different from ordinary people. The higher the rank a person occupies in any hierarchical system, the less inclined he is to identify himself with the “people”, with the “masses”. Senior officials in a large organization, as a rule, stop listening to advice from below, completely relying on their personal experience and intuition.
The reason for the appearance of this kind of experience is the discrepancy between the enormous difficulty of achieving high status and the real possibility of losing it instantly.
The emerging experience of one’s own exclusivity and therefore fundamental indispensability at the helm of power serves to reduce this kind of anxiety. A particular, but quite indicative example of the action of the mechanism under consideration is the excessive attention currently paid by the supreme authorities to the fate of the remains of the last Russian emperor and his family: only he, as the highest leader, alone (out of hundreds of thousands of people who died unknown during that period) is recognized as capable of becoming "a symbol of repentance and reconciliation."
Defense mechanism: “Everything is bad for you.” Its action is closely connected with the very essence of the phenomenon of leadership. A leader is a figure who emerges in a difficult situation in order for a group of people to overcome some problem that is significant to them. Therefore, it is much easier to lead when the group, the population, is clearly in bad shape, when the socio-psychological climate is dominated by anxiety and confusion, but there is still hope for a favorable outcome. A striking example of this can be some Russian leaders who act decisively and effectively in public only in extreme situations such as a putsch or an election campaign. Such situations are their element. It is here, on the verge of life and death, that they gain justifiable popularity among the masses. When ordinary, “sluggish” life comes, these leaders disappear from television screens, become socially passive, from time to time attracting public attention with unexpected and not always adequate actions.
A significant part of people in power are not true leaders by their psychological make-up. They “went into power” and found themselves in it in a sense situationally - such are the troubled times. It is precisely this kind of leaders who are characterized by an involuntary desire to create more comfortable operating conditions for themselves by intensifying, intensifying, and partly provoking neuropsychic tension in those around them. In a leader’s public speech, an obvious indicator of such a desire is a fixation on depicting, sometimes grotesquely, already existing problems, troubles and difficulties, but especially predictable additional hardships for the population.
Defense mechanism “Life is a game.” The well-being of very large groups of the population largely depends on the actions and decisions of the holders of power. Erroneous or insufficiently professional actions of the former may pose a threat to the integrity and stability of the state. Constantly being aware of this would be a powerful stressor for them. The psychological mechanism “Life is a game” serves as a defense against it: many leaders develop an attitude towards their activities as a specific game for a limited circle of people. And like any game, it can be played successfully or with mistakes and defeats. But in any case, it really affects the interests of only the players. For any active participant in the game, its rules and conditions, the behavior of other players, etc. are very important. And therefore, it is quite natural that in the speeches of political leaders of various ranks there is an exceptionally large proportion of statements on internal party issues, factional issues, political personalities, and regulations and procedures, removal and appointment of certain personalities, i.e., in fact, on technological (“game”) issues that are not directly related to the interests and needs of voters.
Psychological defense mechanisms, formed at the involuntary level, are an important component of a person’s systemic adaptation to the general and specific conditions of his life and activity. The conditional-compensatory nature of this form of psychological adaptation is given by its primary focus on maintaining the subjective comfort of the individual, rather than on the objective tasks of activity. Timely detection of the action of defense mechanisms and the establishment of the reasons for their activation serve as prerequisites for increasing the effectiveness of activities while maintaining the integrity and harmony of the “I”.
The definition of “self-realization” includes a whole sequence of processes, including, first of all, an individual’s awareness of opportunities in a particular area of life, his future goals and plans, as well as their further implementation through active work. In short, self-realization by an individual refers to his embodiment of his internal potentials in any sphere of life or several of them.
The desire to realize oneself and one’s individual potential is a natural psychological need of every person, which is inherent in him from birth. In Maslow's hierarchy of needs, fulfillment occupies the highest level. Finding yourself in society, making the most of the opportunities and talents inherent in nature - all these things are literally vital for each of us. Self-realization is the key to feeling satisfied with life and the environment.
Personal self-realization
The ability to realize one’s internal reserves is inherent in every person by nature from the very beginning. In essence, self-realization of an individual generally plays a fundamental role in determining her life, since it is she who contributes to the identification and full disclosure of even the most unobvious capabilities and talents of a person, which, as a rule, leads to the most stable and successful life in society.
At the same time, at the same time, in early childhood, multiple symptoms appear that accompany a person for the rest of his life. They also need to be identified and resolved, and this requires constant focused work. The biggest enemy to the realization of a person’s individuality lurks in the social environment – stereotypes. Stereotypical thinking is widespread in society and can often be imposed on any person in early childhood.
A person’s personality is always both a subject and an object for a social structure. So in the course of an individual’s adaptation to society and its specific groups, his determination, internal directions of activity, beliefs and motives play a very important role. As a rule, it is a purposeful person who directs his activities for the benefit of realizing his capabilities and potential who achieves the greatest success. At the same time, an individual who always goes with the flow of the circumstances that happen to him rarely achieves his personal goal.
Technically, the process of personality realization is a direction of an individual’s activity that will make it possible to make maximum use of the objective conditions of the environment and society, as well as his subjective capabilities, potential and talents, in order to translate any personal strategic plans into reality. When it comes to self-realization, it means only a long-term perspective, and not a one-time achievement for the current period of time.
Creative self-realization
The creative process is an activity that is considered integral for any individual, since it is an evolutionarily formed mechanism for the manifestation of human subjective capabilities. At the same time, a person’s mastery of the essence of creativity to the full is a basic criterion that also determines his spiritual development.
Why is creative realization so important? The fact is that the creativity of any individual is directly related to his skill and talent as a whole, which is reflected in his success in all other areas of life.
Experts note that to the greatest extent, the disclosure of a subject’s capabilities occurs when he performs socially useful and necessary activities. At the same time, however, a comparison occurs not only with external motives, but also with the internal ideas about this activity of the individual himself. That is, this type of activity must correspond to the interests of this person; it is then that it will turn into “amateur activity,” that is, the individual’s implementation in a certain area turns into self-realization. Personal motivation is an integral factor. It is on this basis that we can affirm the fact that the creative process itself is initially a process of self-realization, as it is in its “pure” form.
Professional self-realization
Another relevant type of realization for any person in a progressive society is professional self-realization. In this case, the key mechanisms are also the processes of self-actualization, which are something like a trigger mechanism that determines the further direction of the individual’s activities. As already mentioned, it is in socially useful and relevant activities that the full potential and abilities of each individual can be fully revealed. So professional activity, especially in combination with personal motives and goals, provides the most fertile soil for the development of self-realization.
The activity itself in the field of the chosen profession occupies almost a dominant position in life. Many of us devote almost all our free time to our work. It is in working conditions that certain experience, skills, abilities and knowledge are formed, growth and career advancement occur. It also has a significant impact on the social status of the individual. The ability to choose a profession, the opportunity to use one’s acquired skills and talents in it, and achieve some success is one of the main life goals for many people.
As an individual realizes himself in this area, he develops certain qualities and skills, and his view of the situation around him changes. In particular, it is possible to identify aspects that are noted in the course of professional self-realization.
Based on their level of relevance for the individual, we can also talk about his level of implementation:
The individual is aware that he or she belongs to a social group of a certain professional occupation.
There is also an understanding and assessment of one’s own compliance with the criteria of the chosen professional activity. The individual is aware of his place in work, its hierarchical structure, and development opportunities.
Understanding and assessing recognition in the profession by others. Their personal assessment of his level of professionalism.
Self-esteem develops in this area. A person learns to accept and adequately evaluate his position, work opportunities, desires for promotion and real potential in this direction, his pros and cons.
Vision of the place of work in your future life.
Social self-realization
Unlike other areas of life, it is based on the purely personal goals of the individual. It lies in his achieving that level of social status and satisfaction with life in society that seems ideal for him.
The individual’s implementation in this area of life is largely connected with social roles, which include any of the possible social activities, for example, pedagogical, political, humanitarian.
Realization of oneself in life as a whole also largely relies on the individual’s ability to empathize, that is, sensuality. This is not only about attitude towards others, although this often plays a role. The greatest results in self-realization in life are achieved by people who, for example, are inherently responsible for the decisions and actions they make.
The direction of any person’s activity within the framework of self-realization in society is determined by the position of his inner “I for others.” That is, the motivation of an individual’s actions and life position are related to how he would like to appear in the eyes of the people around him.
Conditions for personal self-realization
There are a number of factors, in the absence of which this process is impossible in principle, that is, we mean the conditions for self-realization of the individual. These include the upbringing and culture of the individual. In addition, each society and each individual social group, which includes the family system, develops its own standards and levels of personal development. This is also reflected in the educational processes, since each individual community will have a certain influence on the child, that is, the future full-fledged individual, instilling in him its culture, lines of behavior, isolating character traits, principles, and even motivation for behavior. Also, traditions, foundations, and even stereotypes accepted in the social environment have a separate influence, which often turns out to be the strongest.
Self-realization goals
Since this activity is aimed at achieving certain external positions, the goals of self-realization are, for the most part, not in self-knowledge and internal analytics, but in demonstrating one’s individuality, existing opportunities and potential among people. When we say that a person has achieved success in life, we mean the full use of all his internal resources, aimed at realizing the plans he has conceived. The primary problem of self-realization is that there can be a complete discrepancy between internal energy reserves, desired achievements and real successes. Thus, a person’s true potential, that is, his talents and internal reserves, may not be fully revealed due to certain external circumstances, which leads to dissatisfaction.
Problems of self-realization
Despite the great attention to this issue from specialists, the problems of self-realization are still poorly understood. By and large, this is due to the fact that the processes of realization of the subject themselves are quite capacious and complex, so that there is not even any single theory of its definition in psychology.
As teenagers, many of us dream of seeing ourselves in a certain role in the future, for example, a successful businessman or actor. But life, in particular society itself and even people close to us, makes its own adjustments, because society does not need hundreds and thousands of people of the same type in their professional and social calling. There is a discrepancy between desire and real possibilities, which can already lead to dissatisfaction, and the teenager himself is faced with a difficult choice.
To solve such a problem of self-realization, it is worth unlearning how to live with teenage dreams, and not aiming at the distant future at such a young age. In addition, when faced with difficulties, you should not give up on your goals, but look for ways to achieve them.
It is known that the fullest development of a person’s abilities is possible only in socially significant activities. Moreover, it is important that the implementation of this activity is determined not only from the outside (by society), but also by the internal need of the individual himself. The activity of the individual in this case becomes amateur activity, and the realization of his abilities in this activity acquires the character of self-realization. Z. Freud was one of the first who tried to see the need for self-realization in the dominant human instincts. Self-realization, according to S. Freud, is localized in the unconscious layer of the human psyche and manifests itself in the “striving for pleasure” inherent in a person from birth. This instinctive need for self-realization is opposed by the imperative demands of culture imposed by society (norms, traditions, rules, etc.), the main function of which is to censor the unconscious, to suppress such instinctual needs.
E. Fromm devotes many pages to characterizing the need for self-realization. He connects it with human needs for identification and integrity. A person, Freud notes, differs from an animal in that he strives to go beyond immediate utilitarian needs, wants to know not only what he needs to survive, but also strives to know the meaning of life and the essence of his “I”. This self-realization is achieved by the individual with the help of the system of orientations he develops in communicating with other people. Identification is that “feeling” that allows an individual to rightly speak of himself as “I,” and the social environment actively influences this need. The need for self-realization, according to Fromm, is an existential need - a mental state that is eternal and unchangeable at its core. Social conditions can only change the ways of its satisfaction: it can find a way out in creativity and destruction, in love and in crime, etc.
For materialist thinkers, there is no doubt that the human desire for self-realization is not instinctive, but phylogenetic in origin and owes its existence to the “second human nature,” which includes:
a) working way of existence;
b) presence of consciousness;
c) a specific human type of relationship between people - communication using a second signaling system. Thanks to this, man became a “social animal.” But the social development of man was accompanied by the formation of such a fundamental, purely human need, which was the desire for isolation. It was the desire for isolation, which became possible at a certain historical stage in the development of society, that was a prerequisite for the development of human individuality, and, consequently, the need for self-realization. Thus, it follows that the need, the desire for self-realization is a generic human need.
The peculiarity of the need for self-realization is that by satisfying it in single acts of activity (for example, writing a novel, creating a work of art), a person can never satisfy it completely.
Satisfying the basic need for self-realization in various types of activities, a person pursues his life goals and finds his place in the system of social connections and relationships. It would be a crude utopia to construct a single model of self-realization “in general.”
That is why, when speaking about a comprehensive and harmoniously developed personality, it is necessary to emphasize not only the richness and comprehensiveness of its abilities, but also (and no less important) the richness and diversity of needs, in the satisfaction of which a person’s comprehensive self-realization is achieved.
Creativity is a derivative of an individual’s realization of unique potentials in a certain area. Therefore, there is a direct connection between the process of creativity and the realization of human abilities in socially significant activities, which acquire the character of self-realization.
It is known that the fullest development of a person’s abilities is possible only in socially significant activities. Moreover, it is important that the implementation of this activity is determined not only from the outside (by society), but also by the internal need of the individual himself. The activity of the individual in this case becomes amateur activity, and the realization of his abilities in this activity acquires the character of self-realization. Thus, creative activity is an amateur activity that embraces a change in reality and self-realization of the individual in the process of creating material and spiritual values, which contributes to expanding the limits of human capabilities.
It should also be noted that it is not so important in what exactly the creative approach is manifested, in the ability to “play” on a loom, as on a musical instrument, or in opera singing, in the ability to solve inventive or organizational problems. No type of human activity is alien to a creative approach.
It is not necessary that all members of society write poetry or sing songs, be free artists or play a role in the theater. The type of activity in which creativity is best and most freely manifested, and the extent to which a person can demonstrate it, depends on the personality type, on habits, on the characteristics of the life path. The unification of all the essential forces of a person, the manifestation of all his personal characteristics in action contribute to the development of individuality, emphasizing, along with the characteristics common to many, his unique and inimitable features. If a person has mastered creativity to the fullest - both in the process of its flow and in its results - it means that he has reached the level of spiritual development. He can experience moments of unity of all internal forces. If a person has reached the level of spiritual development, no matter what activity he engages in, there is only one thing left to do - to wish him a happy journey. And take a closer look at him at least sometimes. After all, undoubtedly, he will teach something good.
Self-realization of the individual: a view from the perspective of Christian psychology Christian psychology is the doctrine of man in his spiritual dynamics, in “spiritual warfare,” in his relationship to the Lord.
At the center of personal self-realization, as humanistic psychology understands it, lie concepts that are somehow related to self-awareness. Self-awareness can be determined through knowledge of oneself, knowledge of one’s self. Self is a hypothetical concept introduced into psychology by C. Jung; it is “the center of a total, boundless and indefinable mental personality.” The conscious ego is subordinated to or included in the self, endowed with its own voice, sometimes heard in moments of intuition and dreams. Self-actualization in this concept is essentially the evolution of the self, occurring in the direction from the unconscious to moral ideals.
The need for self-realization is the highest in the hierarchy of needs. As a result of its satisfaction, the person becomes what he can and should become in this world; the main professional purpose, the work of a person is accomplished along with the creation of his personality. But how does a person learn about his destiny?
This happens when a person is open to internal and external experience, when he is aware of all its sides. From a multitude of half-formed possibilities, the body, like a powerful computer, selects the one that most accurately satisfies an internal need, or the one that establishes more effective relationships with the outside world, or another that opens up a simpler and more satisfying way of perceiving life. In this metaphorical representation, possibilities are not hierarchized; the emphasis is on free choice among potentially equivalent proposals, which are screened out by a wise organism based on its own subjective criteria.
The views of Ponamarev are close to the position of A. Maslow. However, the latter feels the insufficiency of the concepts of adaptability and adaptation in relation to the construction of personality; he writes in this regard about the autonomy of a self-realizing person, “the healthy individuals I observed outwardly agreed with the norms accepted in society, but in their souls they did not attach importance to them. In almost all of them I noticed a calm, good-natured perception of the imperfections of our civilization, combined with a more or less active desire to correct them. Now I want to emphasize the detachment, independence, independence of character of these people, their tendency to live in accordance with the values and rules established by themselves" there is even recognition of the importance not only of detachment from the world, but also of spiritual contemplation in this solitude. However, the purpose of this contemplation without God is again penetration into the self, listening to the “true voice of the self.” It is assumed that the basis in the “primary processes of cognition”, close to the “healthy unconscious” (A. Maslow), is normal, healthy human nature. Awareness of her needs, awareness of her biological individuality is the key to healthy development. Again, the concept of a wise body knowing better what the soul needs.
The self, the self-esteem of a person, is the realization of his sovereign right to choose, to choose the direction of development, life goals and values. The very realization of this human prerogative, with the awareness of all possibilities, listening to voices sounding in different ways, according to the ideas of humanistic psychology, is the key to creative realization. During life, free choice is the basic essential relationship of a person to the world.
The accumulation of soul values occurs in the spirit of steadily progressive development, transferred to the sphere of the individual psyche, although the possibility of retreat - negative spiritual movement - is also provided for. The weak point of the humanistic concept of human creative self-realization, obviously, lies in the assumption of the hidden wisdom of the body and personality, which determines a person’s optimal choice when consciousness is open to all layers of experience. A person, like a powerful computer, chooses opportunities that precisely satisfy internal needs. It is assumed that accurate satisfaction of needs is a benefit for the individual and his social environment. The source of goodness, immanent in human nature, prompts the right choice. If the self, the highest and final authority of the psyche, is intelligent, then its voice is unmistakable. It is important to be able to hear his prompt among other voices.
Personal self-realization is a special process of interaction with the world, which is carried out through creative self-disclosure. Every person feels the presence within himself of a comprehensive power that can lift him to the heights of great achievements and make every day incredibly fulfilling and meaningful. Personal self-realization is something that cannot be avoided when it comes to forming a deep and holistic view of the world and current events. If we do not use the enormous potential that exists within us, it will be wasted. And how many people never use the knowledge that they actually have! Most people get used to living simply by inertia and do not strive for anything significant.
Currently, the topic of “personal self-realization” has become extremely fashionable. This is a direction in psychology that is currently developing rapidly. The consciousness of some people is awakening from many years of “hibernation”. They begin to see the truth little by little and become aware of their personal perspectives.
Need for self-realization
Even if a person seems quite indecisive, he still has some desires that ask to be released. Everyone has personal ambitions to one degree or another. It’s just that not everyone has the courage to express them openly, without concealment. Many are afraid of being ridiculed by others, so they hide their true intentions under the guise of indifferent friendliness. Personal self-realization is the need to be heard, understood and accepted by society. Social interaction is also very important for humans. We all strive to find our place in life, express ourselves as much as possible, and achieve significant success.
The need for self-actualization can be seen most clearly in young children. They have not yet found a reason to doubt themselves and do not reject their plans. Children do not know how to lie, but behave naturally in any situation. It would not occur to them to feign joy when their souls are sad and gloomy. Self-realization of an individual is its primary need, without which no development will be possible.
Having a goal
To achieve something significant, you need to understand where to go. Everyone sets their own direction. First, an image of a big and bright dream appears in your head. You can see how much children and teenagers believe in it. Having a goal helps develop character and personal qualities such as ambition, perseverance, self-confidence, and initiative. Thoughts about bringing what you want into life do not allow you to stand still and passively contemplate the phenomena that are happening. A dream always leads one, makes a person develop and improve comprehensively. If he does not know where and what to direct his efforts to, he will never be able to feel truly happy.
How are self-determination and personal self-realization related to each other? Before you begin any movement forward, you need to be able to clearly understand what you are really interested in and what your strengths are. Everyone has a different nature, so it is not surprising that people have different aspirations. The ability to set a goal correctly is the greatest blessing.
Belief in your own capabilities
Without this component nothing will happen. Only faith makes us move forward even when other guidelines are lost. Before starting to act in the direction of a planned goal, a person needs to know that he is capable of achieving it. This is why people so often give up on implementing their plans without even taking the first step. They simply do not believe in themselves, they consider them unworthy of all sorts of rewards and gifts from fate! Self-determination and self-realization of the individual occupy a leading position in the process of effective advancement.
When there is no faith in success, nothing can happen. A person draws inner strength from his own source of inspiration. When it is empty, no bright ideas enter your head, life seems gray and meaningless.
Problems of self-realization
Despite the fairly strong popularity of this topic, not every person strives to find his own purpose. Most, unfortunately, prefer to simply go with the flow, not really trying to change anything in life, to bring new colors to it. We must always remember that we ourselves create bright moments for ourselves, and we need to be able to experience and let go of dark ones. Activity, personality, self-realization are things that are inextricably linked with each other. Without one there will be no other. If you have no idea what you should be doing, then you won’t appreciate the opportunity to express yourself, to reveal your true nature.
Another problem with self-realization is that when you act, you will inevitably have difficulties. Without this, the formation of a strong personality does not occur. Sometimes it seems that a person was specially decided to test a person’s strength by higher powers. The world must make sure that you are worthy of the best goods and therefore it seems to be testing your reaction. In the most difficult moments, it is worth remembering that they are temporary and, most likely, intended for something. By doing so, you are preparing to become self-sufficient and begin to value yourself more than ever before. Many people give up after going halfway. Some, after taking a few timid steps, turn back hesitantly. They perceive difficulties as something fatal and waste precious resources on worries. Remember that you should not allow sadness to deafen you at the moment when you are taking active steps to realize your cherished dream. Only a true winner is able to reach the end.
Conditions for self-realization
In order for a person to make the most of his abilities in life, it is necessary to observe some important points. It is worth noting that all components are closely related to each other. You cannot cultivate one thing and completely ignore the other. The conditions for personal self-realization are simple and complex at the same time. The most important thing, perhaps, is the inner attitude. If the goal is set clearly enough, then what you want will come into your life faster than you expect. This will happen so naturally and calmly that not everyone will be able to recognize happiness. Creating conditions for personal self-realization allows you to successfully achieve the desired activity and begin to develop it.
Intrapersonal search
It begins when an individual begins to ask himself questions regarding self-determination. Who am I and what should I do in life? How to start doing what you love if you don’t have the strength and opportunity to at least try and leave the job you don’t like? Such questions encourage action and push for a deep understanding of current events. An intrapersonal search can continue for several years until a person makes a final decision for himself. Here you can’t rush or limit yourself in choice. You need to be able to listen to your own voice, notice the slightest changes in consciousness.
Freedom as the main engine
Our whole life consists of constants as a condition for self-realization of the individual taking a leading position. After all, if a person does not have the opportunity to fully express himself, he will never become what he should be. Lack of will always appears as a result of refusal to take responsibility for what is happening. It's the same as committing betrayal towards the person closest to you, which is what you are.
Freedom as self-realization of the individual arises at the moment when a person begins to clearly realize that he belongs to something. He feels a great surge of strength and no longer wants to live as before. At this moment, it is important, having enlisted your own support, to begin taking the first steps. The more confidence you have, the easier it is to continue what you started.
Freedom as a condition for personal self-realization is extremely necessary for a successful start. If a person gets used to living in an exhausting environment, he begins to fear any changes. Monotony seems to him synonymous with stability. He is afraid of any movement, since any experiment may end in failure. Not everyone has the additional strength to be able to survive all the “tests” of fate.
Opportunity potential
Each of us has great potential hidden within us. Most people don't even know about it. Continuing to live an ordinary, unnoticed life, they do not have the opportunity to gain precious experience of getting to know their own inner world. If only we could somehow measure our rich potential, we would certainly be surprised. How many closed doors would open at once! So why is fear so restrictive that it prevents you from taking action, setting realistic daily goals, and striving to achieve a true state of happiness?
Think about what you are spending your life on. Do you spend many hours playing computer games? Are you striving to develop? Do you know what your top priority is? You should never give up on your dreams and exchange them for dubious pleasures.
Choice of profession
Sometimes we settle on one option only because our parents or friends advised us to do so. In rare cases, by the time he graduates from school, a person really has a clear idea of what he wants to do before retirement. To be responsible for the rest of your life, you need to take on great responsibility. Often we make this choice chaotically, succumbing to someone’s persuasion. And all because we don’t know how to listen to ourselves, we don’t value our own talents, we are constantly in self-criticism!
Meanwhile, choosing a profession is quite a serious decision to neglect. Before directing your efforts to the development of this or that activity, you need to think carefully. When a decision has not yet been finalized, it is easy to change it. Ask yourself several times a day whether the chosen profession is really suitable for you, do you dream of something more?
Creative focus
The creative principle lies in each of us. To find your only true path, pay attention to your creative abilities. The ability to write texts, music or pictures should inspire a career as a famous writer, artist, thinker. Any abilities need to be developed. No one else will take over your life.
Social self-realization
Man lives in society and can never achieve complete freedom from it. Social self-realization of an individual lies in being able to build strong, trusting relationships with people around him.
Spiritual practices
Activities such as meditation, yoga or relaxation will help maintain a state of inner balance. If something goes wrong in your life, support yourself. Strength for an active life will noticeably increase.
Instead of a conclusion
Thus, self-realization is the most important need of the individual. His entire future life depends on how productively an individual goes through the stage of self-determination. Only a person who has fully revealed his inner nature can become happy.
Professional and personal self-realization are among the most in demand both in psychological science and in society. The modern social situation has not only radically changed many social ideas and values, but has also given rise to an uncertain, often ambivalent attitude towards many values and norms, including the values of career and personal development, that existed before. Therefore, it is natural that quite a lot of research is devoted to these issues, both within the framework of psychology and sociology.
The socio-economic, cultural, and political changes currently taking place influence all aspects of personal development and the relationship of a person with the outside world and people. The radical nature of these changes is so great that it could not but affect the choice of profession and career orientations of people, their communication with their professional group and loved ones. The modern social situation requires the formation of not only activity, but also flexibility of behavior, resistance to social changes, combined with self-realization and socialization. Based on this, it seems relevant and significant for modern science to analyze personal factors that would contribute to the combination of professional and personal development in different spheres of social reality.
Professional self-realization of an individual can be viewed from two points of view. On the one hand, the professional development of an individual is determined by ideas about professional self-realization. On the other hand, when a person reaches a high professional level, she herself begins to embody the standard of professional self-realization, and her opinion on basic issues is considered the most correct and authoritative.
Self-actualization is to some extent a trigger for building self-realization. This is the essential difference between self-actualization and self-realization. Consequently, professional self-realization can be understood as a constant, multi-temporal process of forming an individual’s potential in creative activity throughout his entire life journey.
Since the most complete disclosure of an individual’s inclinations occurs only in socially useful activities, therefore it is in professional activities that particularly broad prospects for self-realization open up. Professional activity occupies an almost central place in the lives of individuals. In the course of their lives, people devote almost all of their time, all their potential and strength to professional activities. Within the chosen profession, abilities are formed, career advancement and personal growth occur, the material foundations of life are provided, and a certain social status is achieved. Following the chosen profession and applying professional teachings is one of the most significant criteria for achieving a certain level of success in life. In the course of professional self-realization, the subject develops professional thinking, which is characterized by the following characteristics:
- - awareness of one’s own belonging to the chosen professional community;
- - awareness of the degree of one’s own adequacy to professional standards, one’s place in the hierarchy of professional roles;
- - the individual’s awareness of the degree of recognition in the professional sphere;
- - awareness of one’s own strengths and weaknesses, opportunities for self-improvement, potential areas of success and failure;
- - understanding about your work in later life and about yourself.
However, not every professional activity will be an area of self-realization. For example, self-realization of a teacher is the process of a teacher achieving practical results of his teaching activities through the implementation of certain professional goals and strategies. An individual’s specific professional motivation does not always indicate active self-realization. Also, activities carried out mainly only as a result of volitional tension are quite energy-consuming and exhausting, which usually leads to emotional “burnout.” Therefore, a professional business for an individual seeking to realize himself should be entertaining and attractive. Along with this, it is very important that the basis of attractiveness is an understanding of the social value and individual significance of work. The predominance of the importance of work in the hierarchy of personal values is considered a guarantee of successful self-realization. Active self-improvement in the professional sphere prevents the occurrence of burnout syndrome.
Self-development and self-realization of the subject in professional activity is significant for personal adaptability and success in life. It is possible to identify factors of self-realization, including personal qualities, which will be general prognostic parameters for professional self-realization. Among the most significant personal factors contributing to professional fulfillment, the self-efficacy of the individual, the flexibility of his behavior and dissatisfaction with personal activities come to the fore. Self-efficacy is directly expressed in the ability to organize one’s professional activities and achieve success when interacting with society. Flexibility of behavior is responsible for effective interpersonal communications and professional interaction and stimulates the development of the need for further growth in the profession.
Ideas about the role of work in human life are gradually transforming. It became possible to arbitrarily choose an individual’s individual position regarding the form and degree of participation in the labor process. Despite the economic problems of society, professional work in modern conditions is not only a way to achieve material well-being, but also a source of spiritual growth, an area for realizing the need for self-actualization from the standpoint of its ideals and a high level of self-awareness of the individual. Identification of a person with a profession presupposes such a merging of a professional’s life with his activities, in which the typical traits acquired by him begin to manifest themselves in all other spheres of life and determine his attitude to reality. All the definitions discussed above do not sufficiently take into account the activity of the individual himself.
According to E. Fromm, the main psychological feature of a working person is his “identity” with his work. Speaking about alienated character, E. Fromm defines it as a loss of identity, as the separation (alienation) of a person from the business in which he is engaged, as a result of which “the value of the labor itself is lost” and “the value of the sale of labor” comes first. In such a situation, a person turns from a subject of labor into a “commodity” in the labor and services market.
A.K. Markova gives comprehensive psychological characteristics of high professionalism. The following characteristics of professional self-determination in the context of self-realization are of interest to us: motivational sphere and operational sphere.
Motivational sphere of professionalism: professional motives (not only external, but also internal - the desire for self-realization); professional goals; strong goal setting; professional interness; positive dynamics of the motivational sphere (emergence of new motives, goals, changes in their hierarchy), construction of one’s own scenario of professional life; individuality as the originality of a professional worldview, assessment system, relationships; position of a professional - recognition of oneself as a professional, desire for professional growth; readiness for flexible reorientation within the profession and outside it; job satisfaction as awareness of the compliance of one’s level of aspirations and achieved results with the requirements of the profession.
Operational scope of the profession: professional identity; achieving various kinds of results from work, “multiple peaks” in professional growth; individual style of professional activity; self-compensation of labor subjects (underdeveloped or deformed abilities and qualities by others); new ways of professional activity, creativity and innovation in professional work.
Smirnov I.P. offers a formula for self-realization: person - education - profession - personality. In his opinion, the decisive factor in realizing oneself and one’s potential is not the natural inclinations of a person in themselves, but the personal qualities formed by the external environment as a product of education and upbringing, labor training. A person can accidentally choose a profession (on the issue of professional self-realization), but it is not at all by chance that he becomes a master of his craft and achieves self-realization in it. Talent and abilities, of course, are associated with natural biological inclinations, but their development is impossible without appropriate social conditions. The latest psychological research traces an acmeological orientation and a person-oriented meaning of professional self-realization.
Based on the concept of social stratification, the main interpretations of careers are analyzed: changes in social and professional status (M. Weber); intensity of social mobility within a professional group (P. Sorokin).
A successful career in modern conditions creates conditions for increasing the level and quality of life, changing the social status and position of the individual. However, a career cannot be called an area of activity, a specific job, position, or place on the career ladder. It has deeper content. Career goals are manifested in the reason why a person would like to have this particular job, to occupy a certain step on the hierarchical ladder of positions.
M. Weber defines “social status” as actual claims to positive or negative privileges in relation to social prestige, if it is based on one or more of the following criteria: lifestyle; formal education, consisting of practical or theoretical training and the adoption of an appropriate lifestyle; prestige of birth or profession. It is also emphasized that usurpation is the natural source of almost all status honors. However, the path from this purely conventional situation to legal privileges, positive or negative, is easily paved as soon as a certain stratification of the social order becomes a real fact, as soon as stability is achieved through the orderly distribution of economic power.
The concept of social status is developed in the most detail in theories of social stratification, which are based on the idea of inequality of social status. Within the framework of these theories, one of the most developed is the structural-functionalist direction in the study of the stratification system of society, according to which inequality in society (which can be considered as the distribution of individuals according to various social statuses) has its roots in encouraging the most skilled members of society. One of the very first structural-functionalist explanations of inequality was proposed by E. Durkheim, who believed that in all societies some types of activities are more important than others, and all functions of society - law, religion, family, work can form a hierarchy in accordance with that how highly they are valued.
According to M. Weber, every rule over a large number of people requires, as a rule (but not always), a headquarters of people, i.e. in the reliable ability to ensure certain actions of obedient people to implement orders and specific orders. In this case, the control headquarters can obey the master (or masters) due to custom, or purely affectively, or due to material interest, or due to ideal motives (value-rational). To these, as a rule, is added a belief in the legitimacy of domination.
Professional goals and meanings of activity correlate with the goals and meanings of an individual’s life path. On the one hand, there is an expansion and deepening of the semantic field of activity, and on the other, new meanings of the life path are born, which are integrated into personal structures and enrich its basic values.
So, professional self-realization of an individual is a complex and lengthy process, covering a significant period of life and being an integral part of the individual’s life self-realization. This is a process that involves the mutual adaptation of personal needs and the interests of society to solve complex and multifaceted problems presented by modern socio-economic development.
Professional development is a process that includes certain stages, stages, each of which is characterized by specific psychophysiological and socio-psychological characteristics that ensure the successful implementation of professional activities. The main feature of the concept of professional development is something that has already emerged, but has not yet acquired a completed form or form. Close in meaning to the concept of “professional development” is the concept of “professional development”, the main essence of which is the natural change of the individual and personality in the course of professional activity. This is a process that is characterized by quantitative, qualitative and structural transformations that ensure the normal functioning of a person as a subject of labor.