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sensitivity |
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Sensitivity (from Latin sensus - feeling, sensation) is a characterological feature of a person, manifested by increased sensitivity to events happening to him, usually accompanied by increased anxiety, fear of new situations, people, all kinds of trials, etc. Sensitive people are characterized by shyness, shyness, impressionability, a tendency to a prolonged experience of past or future events, a sense of one's own insufficiency (see. inferiority complex), a tendency to develop increased moral exactingness towards oneself and an underestimated level of claims (see. character accentuation). With age, sensitivity can be smoothed out, in particular due to the formation in the process of education and self-education of the ability to cope with situations that cause anxiety. Sensitivity can be due to both organic causes (heredity, brain damage, etc.) and specifics of upbringing (for example, emotional rejection of the child in the family). Extremely pronounced sensitivity is one of the forms of constitutional relations |
SENSITIVITY TRAINING
Plan
General concept of sensitivity training.
Sensitivity training as an integral part of partner communication training.
Exercises for the development of sensitivity.
The concept of "sensitivity training" is used very widely and ambiguously. Sensitivity training (or interpersonal sensitivity training) in the practice of foreign social psychology was formed by the end of the 50s. 20th century The roots of the training lie in the practice of T-groups. Many foreign experts use these two concepts as equivalent. K. Rogers, offering one of the well-known classifications of group forms of work, identifies two of their main categories, or two main types: “sensitivity training” groups and “organizational development groups”. The term "sensitivity training" is usually used to refer to both Roger's "encounter groups" and the so-called T-groups, or human relations training groups that arose in line with the school of group dynamics by K. Lewin. T-groups are defined as a collection of heterogeneous individuals who meet to explore interpersonal relationships and the group dynamics they themselves generate through their interactions. A distinctive feature of this method is the desire for maximum independence of participants in the organization and functioning of the T-group. The main means of stimulating group interaction is the lack of structure. Participants, finding themselves in a social vacuum, are forced to organize their own relationships within the group and develop procedures for communicative activity. Learning is more the result of the trial and error of group members than the assimilation of objective principles that explain interpersonal behavior. In addition, T-groups, by developing interpersonal sensitivity, improve their perception of themselves, awareness of group processes and the ability to constructively engage in group activities.
G. Smith was interested in whether the T-group develops the accuracy of predicting the behavior of other people. Referring to the results of four studies that used objective measurements in participants of T-groups of the accuracy of predicting the behavior of 1) the leader, 2) individual members of the group, 3) the group as a whole, 4) individuals outside the group, G. Smith notes the lack of improvement in accuracy predictions. Although he notes that, subjectively, the participants perceived their experience in T-groups as very developing.
There are at least two approaches to the definition of the concept of “sensitivity”. Many authors consider it as a holistic, general property, as the ability to predict (predict) the feelings, thoughts and behavior of another person. Other authors prefer the multicomponent theory. The American psychologist G. Smith believes that the answer to the question of which point of view should be taken depends on what we want: to select sensitive people or to train them. When selecting, preference should be given to the view of sensitivity as a general ability, a multi-component theory is more suitable for training, since it is it that gives the key to where to start training, why to train, how to do it, and, let's add for ourselves - what to train.
In particular, G. Smith distinguishes four components of sensitivity: observational, theoretical, nomothetic and ideographic.
The basis for this classification was the analysis of the theories and practices of specialists in the field of sensitive training, as well as the author's own experience.
So, observational sensitivity is the ability to observe (see and hear) another person and at the same time remember how he looked and what he said.
The following are subject to observation:
a) speech acts, their content, sequence, intensity, direction, frequency, duration, expression level, features of vocabulary, grammar, phonetics, intonation and voice qualities of the speaker, speech-motor synchronization, graphic manifestations (handwriting, drawing);
b) expressive movements (face and body);
c) movements and postures of people, distance between them, speed and direction of movements, arrangement in interpersonal space;
d) tactile impact (touches, supporting gestures, pushes), transfer and removal of objects, retention;
e) smells and localization of their sources;
e) a combination of the listed actions, signs and characteristics.
Self-observation (introspection) also refers to observational sensitivity.
G. Smith considers observation not as a passive act of imprinting, while noting that everything that we see and hear passes through the prism of our consciousness and we get what we want to get as a result.
The influence of attitudes, stereotypes, experience leads to subjective distortions of the image of "I" and other people. Desires, assumptions, habitual ways of perceiving can “program” observation, focusing attention on limited fragments of human behavior. Therefore, developing the skills to distinguish what we hear and see from feelings and thoughts about it is one of the important tasks of sensitivity training.
Next view - theoretical senhitativeness- seen as the ability to select and apply theories to more accurately interpret and predict the feelings, thoughts and actions of other people; in other words, studying various theories of personality can improve our understanding of the behavior of others and ourselves.
Orientation in various theoretical concepts of personality, each of which has its own area of adequacy, can certainly enhance sensitive capabilities, in particular, by reducing “invisibility” errors and various options for structuring observed manifestations. However, the presence of only theoretical sensitivity without a well-developed and underlying observational sensitivity leads to errors “out of blindness”, to the fact that people begin to readily apply various theories to explain the actions of others, without fixing those manifestations of an individual or group that are not match their preconceived notions.
Nomothetic senhitativeness defined as the ability to understand a typical member of a particular social group and use this understanding to predict the behavior of other people belonging to this group. This ability to capture patterns and go from the general to the particular is determined by the amount of knowledge a person has about a group and his experience in dealing with it.
Ideographic senhitativeness- the ability to understand the uniqueness of each person.
Commenting on this type of sensitivity, G. Smith draws attention to the fact that its essential difference from observational and theoretical sensitivity is its dependence on the time of observation, the degree of acquaintance of people. Therefore, he defines ideographic sensitivity as the ability to use continued familiarity and an increasing amount of information about a person to make more accurate predictions of his behavior. In our opinion, the opposition of ideographic sensitivity to its other types is unreasonable, for example, the opposition of ideographic and nomothetic sensitivity can lead to extreme forms of development of the ideas of the uniqueness of each person, to the refusal to create statistically generalized models. It seems more expedient, apparently, to proceed from the fact that ideographic sensitivity allows one to deepen, expand and give originality to those ideas about another person that have developed on the basis of observational, theoretical and nomothetic sensitivity.
G. V. Allport described eight personality traits needed to be good at reading people:
"1. Experience. In order to understand people well, first of all, maturity is necessary. This implies not only reaching a certain age (30 years or so), but also a rich store of experience in dealing with human nature in its most diverse and intricate manifestations. Adolescence sees people in the narrow perspective of their limited experience, and when young people are forced to judge those whose lives are vastly different from their own, they often resort to immature and incongruent clichés such as "the old man is behind the times", "the normal guy" or "eccentric".
The experienced person already has a rich apperceptive chain of carefully tested interpretations for each of the myriad human manifestations. Even if associations and inferences are not the only mental processes that help to understand other people, even if - which is possible - we need to pay tribute to theories of intuitive understanding, then strong empirical foundations are needed for intuitive understanding.
2. Similarity. This is the requirement that the person who tries to judge people should be similar in nature to the person he wants to understand. Experimental studies have shown that those who more accurately assess some trait in another person have that trait themselves to a high degree. But the correlation here is not absolute, and things are not so simple: the mobility of the imagination of one evaluator may be more valuable than the vast reserves of untapped experience of another.
It should be noted that "similarity" is a special case of "experience". The more another person is like me, the more experience I have with him. It is for this reason that members of the same national, religious, or occupational group tend to be more accurate than others in judging each other.
3. Intelligence. Experimental research confirms again and again the fact that there is some connection between high intelligence and the ability to accurately judge other people. Vernon found that high intelligence is especially characteristic of those who accurately evaluate themselves and strangers, but if the raters are well acquainted with those they are assessing, then experience can to a certain extent replace exceptional intelligence. In general, however, a good intellect is necessary, and the reason for this is quite simple. Understanding people is largely a task of understanding the connections between past and present actions, between expressive behavior and internal properties, between cause and effect, and intelligence is the ability to establish such relationships.
4. Deep understanding of yourself. A correct understanding of our own anti-social tendencies, our pretense and inconsistency, our own complex motives usually keeps us from making too superficial and simple judgments about people. Blindness and error in understanding our own nature will be automatically transferred to our judgments of others. A compulsive neurosis or any other quirk that we ourselves do not understand will necessarily be superimposed as a projection or value judgment on our assessments of other people. In the practice of psychoanalysis, the need for preliminary knowledge of oneself has long been recognized. Before the analyst can untie other people's knots, he must unravel his own.
5. Complexity. As a rule, people cannot deeply understand those who are more complex and subtle than themselves. A straightforward mind does not sympathize with the disturbances of a cultured and diversified mind... Two souls lived in Faust's chest, and only one in his assistant Vanger; and it was Faust who finally proved able to comprehend the meaning of human life.
It follows from this that if a psychiatrist has a complex nature, he can derive certain advantages from this, since he has to deal with exceptionally complex mental states, and even if he has his own neurotic difficulties with which he copes well, this will only improve his qualifications.
6. Detachment. Experiments have shown that those who are good with others are less sociable. They tend to be more introverted than extraverted, and the best raters tend to be cryptic and difficult to evaluate. On average, they do not place very high social values. Those who are preoccupied with social values do not have enough time for an impartial study of other people. They experience empathy, pity, love, or admiration and cannot withdraw from these emotional relationships enough to gain an open mind. A person who does not try to be a participant in some events all the time, but remains aloof and observes them without missing anything, is most likely to be able to make more valuable judgments. It often happens that a good connoisseur of people (for example, a writer) devotes himself almost entirely to participating in certain events for some time, but then leaves them and begins to retrospectively examine people and the removal that happened to him.
7. Aesthetic inclinations. Often associated with less sociability are aesthetic inclinations. This quality stands above all others, especially if we take the most gifted connoisseurs of people ... The aesthetic mind is always trying to penetrate the inherent harmony of the object, whether it be something as trivial as some kind of ornament, or something as significant as a human being. The uniqueness and balance of the structure is what interests the aesthetic personality in all cases. Such a mindset is necessary for a novelist or biographer. When highly developed, the aesthetic mindset can, to a certain extent, compensate for the limitations of "experience", "intelligence", "deep understanding of oneself", "similarity" and "complexity". If the aesthetic mindset is combined with these qualities, then it raises extremely high the art of judging...
8. Social intelligence. This quality is optional. Novelists or artists often do not have it. On the other hand, let's say the interviewer should have such a "solid gift", since his function is more complex: he should listen calmly and at the same time explore, encourage frankness, but never seem shocked, be friendly but restrained. , patient and at the same time stimulating - and yet never show boredom. Such a delicate balance in behavior requires a high level of development of various qualities that ensure smoothness in relations with people.
In order to speak and act tactfully, it is necessary to predict the most likely reactions of the other person. Therefore, social intelligence is associated with the ability to make quick, almost automatic, judgments about people. At the same time, social intelligence has more to do with behavior than with the operation of concepts: its product is social adaptation, and not the depth of understanding.
Close in content to the concept of sensitivity is the concept of social-perceptual ability used by V. A. Labunskaya, which is understood as an ability that is formed in communication and provides the ability to adequately reflect the mental states of a person, his properties and qualities, the ability to foresee his impact on this person.
According to the author, this ability is a complex system, a set of abilities. At the same time, V.A. Labunskaya distinguishes between the social-perceptual abilities of an individual and their functional side, which includes the ability to predict the behavior of another person, to foresee their impact on him. She considers the ability to adequately understand the properties and qualities of a person, as well as evaluate the relationships of other people, as “supporting” social-perceptual abilities. The level of development of these abilities determines the level of development of other abilities and generally organizes the functional links between them.
Thus, sensitivity can be considered as an ability that provides reflection and understanding, memorization and structuring of the socio-psychological characteristics of a person and a group and predicting their behavior and activities.
The development of sensitivity can be carried out in the process of a person's awareness of its structure and individual characteristics of the course of social-perceptual processes by including it in problem situations that require its actualization.
Sensitivity training is a private form (component) of socio-psychological training of communication, based on the training of interpersonal sensitivity in the process of social interaction and aimed at developing the abilities of adequate and complete knowledge of oneself, other people and relationships that develop in the course of communication.
According to G. Smith, the developing influence of T-groups on sensitivity depends on the goals of sensitivity. In particular, the goal may be the development of a speculative understanding based on achieving a subjective impression of closeness, sympathy for another person. This is exactly what happens, according to G. Smith, in T-groups. At the same time, the development of an empirical understanding of the other, which is manifested in the extent to which a person can predict his feelings, thoughts and behavior, does not occur. One of the significant reasons for this is the lack of feedback adequate to the task of developing sensitivity. Starting the training of their sensitive abilities, a person must know their state at the time of the start of training, which determines the goal and readiness to achieve it. Conscious progress towards the goal requires intensive and immediate feedback on the results of the training received through various channels.
The main goals of sensitivity training:
The development of psychological observation as the ability to record and remember the entire set of signals received from another person or group;
Awareness and overcoming of interpretive limitations imposed by theoretical knowledge and stereotyped fragments of consciousness;
Formation and development of the ability to predict the behavior of another, to anticipate its impact on him.
Psychotechnical exercises aimed at developing observational sensitivity.
These exercises develop the ability to capture and remember a wide range of signals that come from other people, which allows you to get a holistic and at the same time detailed image of a person and a group.
To train observation in relation to non-verbal aspects of communication, tasks are used, the implementation of which requires fixing the features of appearance, facial expressions, gestures, postures, vegetative changes, eye microexpression, paralinguistic components of sounding speech, etc.
Exercises aimed at fixing the verbal aspects of the behavior of another include tasks related to memorizing the content, changing it, establishing the “authorship” of a thought, idea, originality of the composition of statements and argumentation.
To develop sensitivity to the spatio-temporal characteristics of human interaction, tasks are proposed that require fixing the distance of interaction, spatial arrangement, movements, rhythm of movements.
Sensitivity training refers mainly to group forms of work, although some of its elements can be used individually.
There are many different goals that can be achieved in sensitivity training groups.
Yu. N. Emelyanov, summing up the data of a number of sources, lists the following tasks of sensitive training:
1. Increasing self-understanding and understanding of others.
2. Sensual understanding of group processes, knowledge of the local structure.
3. Development of a range of behavioral skills.
L. A. Petrovskaya, with reference to foreign literature, distinguishes two levels of goals: immediate and so-called meta goals, or goals of a higher level of generality. Among the immediate goals, the sharpening of sensitivity to the group process, the behavior of others, associated primarily with the perception of a more complete range of communicative stimuli received from partners (voice intonation, facial expression, body posture and other contextual factors that complement words) is most consistent with our idea of sensitivity training. .
These goals can be achieved through individual and group sensitive training programs of varying duration. It should be noted that in comparison with other programs, for example, partner communication training or negotiation training, the main methodological means of sensitive training are psycho-gymnastic exercises that allow you to get extensive and at the same time detailed material necessary for understanding the process and results of social-perceptual activity, as well as form an environment that enables each participant to develop their sensitive abilities.
Psychotechnical exercises and role-playing games in the training of interpersonal communication are divided into three sections.
1. Exercises and games that mainly affect the state of the group as a whole and / or each of its members individually (exercises to create working capacity at the beginning of the training group, at the beginning of the day, to maintain and restore working capacity).
2. Exercises and games aimed primarily at the content side of the work (exercises of a meaningful plan for establishing contact, perception and understanding of the emotional states of partners, for receiving and transmitting information, developing observational intuitiveness, developing the ability to understand the states, properties, qualities and relationships of people and groups and etc.).
3. Exercises and games to get feedback. Regardless of the type of training, work in a group begins with the stage of working capacity formation, the main purpose of which is to create such a group atmosphere, such relationships that allow you to move on to the content of the work. This stage corresponds to the stage of establishing contact at the beginning of any interaction, communication. The main characteristics of the "climate of relations" necessary for the work of the training group are the emotional freedom of the participants, openness, friendliness, trust in each other and the leader.
Along with the fairly traditional actions that are performed at this stage of the work of the training group (introducing the participants or introducing them to the group if they are already familiar with each other, expressing expectations in connection with the upcoming work, doubts and fears that may be people who came to class, discussion of the form of address), various psychotechnical exercises can be used.
The task of creating the efficiency of a group is specific to the beginning of classes and a certain amount of time is spent on its solution. However, this task is not removed at the subsequent stages of work: at the beginning of the day and after long breaks in work, exercises are performed to restore lost working capacity, inclusion in the group, increase the level of attention, emotional relaxation, reduce fatigue, etc.
Conducted at the beginning of classes psychotechnical exercises allow you to create such a level of openness, trust, emotional freedom, cohesion in the group and such a state of each participant that allow them to work successfully and advance in a meaningful way. In addition, the exercises carried out at this stage can provide material, the discussion of which will serve as a "bridge" for the transition to the meaningful stages of the work of the training group.
Psychotechnical exercises can also be successfully used to create an atmosphere of trust and openness in the group, psychotechnical exercises of a meaningful plan to establish contact, perception and understanding of the emotional state. These exercises allow the members of the training group to become aware of various verbal and non-verbal means of establishing contact, to test them in a safe environment, to test their ability to establish contact in various situations, to understand that there are no universal means and rules, but first of all, it is necessary to focus on a person, with which you interact, on the state in which it is located.
Psychotechnical exercises that form a feedback personal relationship. The nature and forms of feedback depend on the state, the level of maturity of the group. In the early stages of the development of group dynamics, the very first, initial phases of training, it is appropriate to offer exercises where feedback is formalized, anonymous and indirect. In other words, the group's impressions of a particular participant are formalized, for example, in the form of a ten-point rating scale for some particular parameter. The participant receives these points from the members of the group, for example, on sheets of paper without a signature. This is how anonymity and mediation are maintained.
At the next stages of group development, feedback should be modified. It is better to start the change with a gradual complication, and then the rejection of formalization, regulation and other restrictions that narrow the freedom of expression. For example, refusing mutual assessments in points, you can first replace them with an associative form of feedback, and then refuse associations and use the form of feedback in the form of expressing opinions.
It would be more correct to implement the rejection of feedback anonymity not totally, but situationally, periodically returning to it, remembering that each participant has the right to refuse.
Excessive sensitivity, impressionability, high moral requirements, first of all, to oneself, low self-esteem, timidity and shyness. Under the blows of fate, they easily become extremely cautious, suspicious and withdrawn. Tastefully dressed, moderately. Good-natured and attentive facial expression. Precautionary, monitors the reactions of others. Executive and dedicated. Able to show kindness and mutual assistance. Very sociable, sociable. Social recognition is important. Interests in the intellectual and aesthetic sphere.
Detailed description according to A.E. Lichko
A fragment from the book "Psychopathies and Accentuations of Character in a Teenager"
Even Kretschmer, describing one of the forms of reactive psychosis, called sensitive delusions, noted that this psychosis develops in individuals of a special type: they combine excessive sensitivity and impressionability with high moral requirements for themselves, with "ethical scrupulousness." Under the blows of fate, they easily become extremely cautious, suspicious and withdrawn. P.B. Gannushkin noticed that behind all this lies a pronounced sense of "one's own insufficiency." Later, trying to divide humanity into schizoids and cycloids, Kretschmer attributed sensitive subjects to the former. Since then, three tendencies have been preserved in relation to the sensitive type: to consider it as a variation of the schizoid type, to include it in the group of asthenics, even considering it inappropriate and artificial to isolate it in a special variant, and, finally, to consider the sensitive type of character as completely special. Kretschmer also subsequently changed his view: the sensitive type is singled out as one of the main ones. As will be seen from the following presentation, sensitive personalities are significantly different from schizoids and rather belong to a wide range of asthenics, still constituting a special subgroup among them.
In the well-known manuals on child psychiatry, there is no description of the sensitive type at all, and this is not accidental. Sensitive psychopathy is formed relatively late. Its formation most often falls at the age of 16-19 years, that is, in the post-puberty period, at the time of independent entry into social life.
However, from childhood, fearfulness and timidity are manifested. Such children are often afraid of the dark, shun animals, afraid to be alone. They shun too lively and noisy peers, do not like overly mobile and mischievous games, risky pranks, avoid large children's companies, feel timidity and shyness among strangers, in a new environment, and are generally not inclined to easy communication with strangers. All this sometimes gives the impression of isolation, isolation from the environment and makes one suspect autistic tendencies inherent in schizoids. However, with those to whom these children are accustomed, they are quite sociable. They often prefer games with kids to their peers, feeling more confident and calmer among them. The early interest in abstract knowledge, "children's encyclopedia", characteristic of schizoids, also does not appear. Many willingly prefer quiet games, drawing, modeling to reading. To relatives, they sometimes show extreme affection, even with a cold attitude or harsh treatment on their part. They are distinguished by obedience, often reputed to be a "home child".
The school scares them with a crowd of peers, noise, fuss, fuss and fights at recess, but getting used to one class and even suffering from some fellow students, they are reluctant to move to another team. They usually study hard. They are afraid of all kinds of control, checks, exams. Often they are embarrassed to answer in front of the class, afraid to stumble, cause laughter, or, conversely, they answer much less than they know, so as not to be considered an upstart or an overly diligent student among classmates. Often in adolescence they become objects of ridicule.
The onset of puberty usually passes without any complications. Difficulties in adaptation often occur at the age of 16-19. It is at this age that both main qualities of the sensitive type, noted by P.B. Gannushkin - "extreme impressionability" and "a pronounced sense of one's own insufficiency."
The reaction of emancipation in sensitive adolescents is rather weakly expressed. Children's attachment to relatives remains. The guardianship of elders is not only tolerated, but even willingly obeyed. Reproaches, lectures and punishments from relatives are more likely to cause tears, remorse and even despair than the protest usually characteristic of adolescents. Moreover, there is no desire to reject the spiritual values, interests and customs of the older generation. Sometimes there is even an accentuated adherence to the ideals and mode of life of adults. Consonant with this, a sense of duty, responsibility, high moral and ethical requirements are formed early on both to others and to oneself. Peers are horrified by rudeness, cruelty, cynicism. In itself, many shortcomings are seen, especially in the field of moral, ethical and volitional qualities. The source of remorse in male adolescents is often the onanism so frequent at this age. There are self-accusations of “vileness” and “lechery”, cruel reproaches of oneself for the inability to resist the addiction. Masturbation is also attributed to its own weakness in all areas, timidity and shyness, failure in studies due to supposedly weakening memory or thinness, sometimes characteristic of a period of growth, disproportionate physique, etc.
The feeling of inferiority in sensitive adolescents makes the reaction of hypercompensation especially pronounced. They seek self-affirmation not away from the weak points of their nature, not in areas where their abilities can be revealed, but precisely there; where they especially feel their inferiority. Girls tend to show their cheerfulness. Timid and shy boys pull on the guise of swagger and even deliberate arrogance, trying to show their energy and will. But as soon as the situation unexpectedly requires bold determination, they immediately give up. If it is possible to establish trusting contact with them, and they feel sympathy and support from the interlocutor, then behind the sleeping mask of “nothing at all” turns out to be a life full of reproaches and self-flagellation, subtle sensitivity and exorbitantly high demands on oneself. Unexpected participation and sympathy can change arrogance and bravado into violent tears.
Due to the same reaction of hypercompensation, sensitive adolescents find themselves in public positions (headmen, etc.). They are put forward by educators attracted by obedience and diligence. However, they are only enough to fulfill the formal side of the function entrusted to them with great personal responsibility, but informal leadership in such teams goes to others. The intention to get rid of timidity and weak will pushes the boys to engage in strength sports - wrestling, dumbbell gymnastics, etc. So, for example, a 16-year-old sensitive young man, quiet and indecisive, spent almost all his free time on a parachute tower, jumping several times a day and doing various gymnastic exercises in the air in order to “suppress all fear forever.” Perhaps playing sports brings them some benefit, but they do not achieve noticeable success here.
The reaction of grouping with peers, like the reaction of emancipation, receives little outward manifestation. Unlike schizoids, sensitive adolescents do not isolate themselves from comrades, do not live in imaginary fantastic groups, and are not able to be a "black sheep" in a normal adolescent environment. They are picky in the choice of friends, they prefer a close friend to a large company, they are very affectionate in friendship. Some of them like to have older friends. The usual teenage group terrifies them with the noise, swagger, rudeness that prevails there.
The hobbies of sensitive adolescents can be divided into true, in harmony with their character, and contrasting with their nature and caused by the reaction of hypercompensation. The first ones mainly belong to the type of intellectual and aesthetic hobbies. They are very diverse and are determined by the level of intelligence and general development, examples of elders, individual abilities and inclinations. There is also a passion for various types of art: music (usually classical), drawing, modeling, chess. Here you can also breed domestic flowers, songbirds, aquarium fish, and domesticate small animals. Satisfaction here comes from the very process of these activities: the opportunity to read an interesting book in the original in a foreign language, listen to your favorite music, draw, solve a difficult chess problem, admire the growing flowers, feed the fish, etc. These hobbies are completely devoid of the desire to attract the attention of others or achieve amazing results. Even real successes are estimated by teenagers very modestly.
Hobbies associated with hypercompensation often belong to the "leadership" or body-manual type of hobbies. Here the main thing is the goal and the result, and not the process itself. The nature of these hobbies has already been mentioned above.
The reactions associated with the emerging sexual attraction are densely colored by feelings of one's own inferiority. As indicated, adolescent masturbation sometimes becomes a source of painful remorse and torment. Shyness and shyness come out with particular force when first love flares up. Often, the object of love remains unaware of the feeling it caused. Or explanations and confessions are, perhaps due to the same hypercompensation, so decisive and unexpected that they frighten and repel. Rejected love plunges into despair and extremely exacerbates the feeling of one's own inferiority. Self-flagellation and self-reproaches lead to suicidal thoughts.
The suicidal behavior of sensitive adolescents is characterized by two qualities, First, repeated outbreaks of suicidal thoughts without making any attempts. These outbreaks are always caused by the situation - the blows of life on the weak points of sensitive subjects, warming up the idea of their own worthlessness. Secondly, true suicidal actions, devoid of any element of demonstrativeness. A suicidal act is usually committed under the influence of a chain of failures, disappointments (a long “pre-suicidal period”), and a rather insignificant reason can serve as the last straw. Because of this, suicidal actions can be completely unexpected for others.
Sensitive adolescents are not prone to alcoholism, drug use, or delinquent behavior. Sensitive young men, as a rule, do not even smoke, and alcoholic beverages can disgust them. In alcohol intoxication, one often sees not a euphoric, but a depressive reaction with an increase in feelings of inferiority. Unlike schizoids, alcohol is not able to play the role of a kind of communicative dope, i.e. does not facilitate contacts and does not inspire self-confidence.
False judgments of delinquency can occur when running away from home, skipping school, or even completely refusing to attend school, which are caused by mental trauma or an intolerable situation for sensitive adolescents. The ridicule, rudeness, resentment, painful situation experienced by a teenager may remain unknown to others. Unexpected desperate violent aggression against the offender is sometimes misinterpreted as banal pugnacity or hooliganism.
Self-assessment of sensitive adolescents is characterized by a rather high level of objectivity. Resentment and sensitivity inherent in childhood, shyness, which especially prevents you from making friends with anyone you want, inability to be a leader, a ringleader, the soul of a company, dislike for adventures and adventures, all kinds of risk and thrills, aversion to alcohol, dislike for flirting and courtship. They emphasize that they tend neither to quarrel easily nor to make up quickly. Many of them have problems to which they cannot determine their attitude or do not want to do so. Most often, these problems are the attitude towards friends, towards one's environment, towards criticism, towards money, towards alcoholic beverages. Apparently, all this is connected with hidden feelings colored by emotions. Disgusted by lies and disguises, sensitive teenagers prefer untruth to rejection.
The weak link of sensitive personalities is the attitude of others around them. Unbearable for them is the situation where they become the object of ridicule or suspicion of unseemly acts, when the slightest shadow falls on their reputation or when they are subjected to unfair accusations. The following examples can serve as an illustration of what has been said. A drunken man approached a 14-year-old sensitive teenager on the street, both were taken to the police, the teenager was immediately released, but “everyone saw how he was being led by a policeman” and this caused long painful experiences and refusal to go to school. From the device, which was used by another 17-year-old sensitive young man in the laboratory, a valuable part disappeared, one of his colleagues jokingly threw the phrase: “If you took it, then return it!” It was enough to come to the conclusion that everyone considered him a thief, and quit his job at the research institute, which this young man cherished very much. From the wardrobe, when a 15-year-old schoolgirl was on duty, a jacket disappeared; she began to be tormented by the thought that everyone should consider her a thief.
It is no coincidence that in the families of sensitive adolescents there were repeatedly delusional patients or paranoid psychopaths who made absurd accusations against these adolescents. The mother of a 16-year-old sensitive boy, who suffered from involutional paranoia, reproached him for allegedly cohabiting with an elderly woman, the former mistress of his long-dead father. Another mother, suspicious and stingy, scolded her son, a homebody, lover of birds and flowers, for allegedly being associated with a gang of bandits who were going to rob her. An elderly grandmother, her parents who left for the north, entrusted the upbringing of a 15-year-old sensitive girl. Seeing her granddaughter on the street with a classmate, she called her a public girl in front of her neighbors and demanded to go to the gynecologist for an examination. All the described situations caused reactive states. Naturally, becoming a laughing stock for others, due to any real shortcomings or unsuccessful actions of parents or educators, is more than enough to be plunged into a depressive state.
Among 300 male adolescents hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital with psychopathy and character accentuations, 8% were assigned to the sensitive type, and only a fourth of them were diagnosed with psychopathy, and in the rest - reactive states against the background of the corresponding sensitive accentuation.
Sensitive-labile and schizoid-sensitive variants
Sensitive subjects, unlike schizoids, are very sensitive to how others treat them. Nevertheless, there are mixed types, where sensitivity and schizoidness are combined, then it is schizoidness that is the dominant feature.
More difficult is the distinction between sensitive and labile types. A sensitive teenager does not have bursts of joyful mood, there is a constant readiness for despondency, shyness, even in the most favorable environment - all this is usually not present in a representative of the labile type. Nevertheless, the combination of sensitivity with pronounced lability of emotions - a slight decline in spirit and tears, even with the recollection of old troubles, and a quick compliance with consolation and reassurance - makes some cases be considered as a mixed type ("sensitive-labile variant"). However, unlike sensitive schizoids, here it is sensitivity that forms the main basis of character.
sensitivity
(from lat. sensus - feeling, sensation) - characterological feature of a person, manifested by increased sensitivity to the events happening to him, usually accompanied by increased anxiety, fear of new situations, people, all kinds of trials, etc. Sensitive people are characterized by timidity, shyness, impressionability, a tendency to experience past or future events for a long time, a sense of their own insufficiency (see) , a tendency to develop increased moral exactingness towards oneself and an underestimated level of claims(cm. ). With age, S. can be smoothed out, in particular due to the formation in the process of education and self-education of the ability to cope with situations that cause anxiety. S. can be caused both by organic causes (heredity, brain damage, etc.) and by the peculiarities of upbringing (for example, emotional rejection of the child in the family). Extremely expressed S. is one of the forms of constitutional relations (see,).
Brief psychological dictionary. - Rostov-on-Don: PHOENIX. L.A. Karpenko, A.V. Petrovsky, M. G. Yaroshevsky. 1998 .
sensitivity
SENSITIVITY (With. 538) (from Latin sensus - feeling) - special sensitivity, susceptibility to external influences. The term was proposed by the Italian teacher M. Montessori, who considered preschool childhood to be a “protective age”, i.e. the stage of greatest susceptibility to educational influences. Subsequently, this view was refined and concretized. In the studies of a number of educators and psychologists, it was shown that during childhood special stages can be distinguished - the so-called sensitive periods, in which the child is especially sensitive to certain influences and susceptible to the acquisition of certain abilities. Thus, the sensitive period for the development of speech is 1-3 years. If a child at this age is brought up in a depleted speech environment, in conditions of insufficient speech communication, this leads to a noticeable lag in speech development; to compensate for this lag subsequently proves to be very difficult. It has also been established that at the age of about 5 years, children are especially sensitive to the development of phonemic hearing; after this period, this sensitivity decreases. The sensitive period for developing writing skills is 6-8 years.
Sensitive periods are the optimal terms for the development of certain mental abilities. Premature in relation to the sensitive period, the beginning of learning (for example, writing) is ineffective; it also causes a child's nervous and physical strain, fraught with emotional breakdowns. But even training started with a significant delay in relation to the sensitive period leads to low results; the normal level of the corresponding ability may not be reached at all. Thus, in training and education, it is necessary to coordinate pedagogical influences with the child's age capabilities.
Along with the described - age - sensitivity in psychology, there is also the so-called characterological sensitivity, which manifests itself in a heightened emotional susceptibility to external influences of a certain kind. Such sensitivity, manifested, in particular, in a special sensitivity to the moods and relationships of people around, is the basis of the ability to empathize, a deep understanding of personal manifestations. In this sense, it acts as a positive trait. But at the same time, characterological sensitivity makes a person more psychologically vulnerable; on its basis, painful vulnerability and resentment can develop, and in especially unfavorable cases, neurotic disorders.
Popular psychological encyclopedia. - M.: Eksmo. S.S. Stepanov. 2005 .
Synonyms:See what "sensitivity" is in other dictionaries:
sensitivity- noun, number of synonyms: 2 psychotype (15) sensitivity (62) ASIS synonym dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary
SENSITIVITY Encyclopedia of Sociology
sensitivity- a characterological feature of a person, manifested in increased sensitivity to events happening to him, usually accompanied by increased anxiety, fear of new situations, people, all kinds of trials, etc. * * *… … Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychology and Pedagogy
SENSITIVITY- (from lat. sesibilis sensitive) eng. sensitivity; German Sensitivity. The characterological feature of the individual, expressed in increased sensitivity and vulnerability, self-doubt, increased conscientiousness and a tendency to doubt, ... ... Explanatory Dictionary of Sociology
Hypersensitivity to various influences. Age-related sensitivity inherent in a certain age period, the optimal nature of the development of certain mental properties and processes ... Psychological and pedagogical dictionary of the officer of the educator of the ship unit
sensitivity- a characterological feature of a person, manifested in increased sensitivity to ongoing events, usually accompanied by increased anxiety, fear of new situations, people, all kinds of tests, etc. (3) ... Glossary of terms on general and social pedagogy
SENSITIVITY- (from lat. sensus feeling, sensation) a characterological feature of a person, manifested in increased sensitivity to ongoing events ... Pedagogical Dictionary
SENSITIVITY- characterological feature of a person, manifested in increased sensitivity to the events happening to him; usually accompanied by increased anxiety, fear of new situations, people, all kinds of trials, etc ... Dictionary of Career Guidance and Psychological Support
sensitivity-, social phobia is a close concept: an individual experiences fear, very great excitement in certain social situations: if you have to speak in public, enter into communication with a stranger, etc. This largely depends on ... ... Culture of speech communication: Ethics. Pragmatics. Psychology
The optimal combination of conditions inherent in a certain age period for the development of certain mental properties and processes. Premature or late in relation to S.'s period of century. training may not be effective enough, ... ... Great Psychological Encyclopedia
Sensitivity in psychology is a person's feeling of increased sensitivity, insecurity and vulnerability. This phenomenon is found at different levels of organization of living systems (from embryonic to social). In science stands out three levels of implementation this phenomenon: molecular, physiological and behavioral.
This problem was dealt with by: P. Bateson, R. Hynd and J. Gotlieb in the modification of R. Eislin. In foreign psychology, the study of sensitivity is carried out mainly by ethologists (P. Bateson, J. Gotlieb, R. Hynd, K. Lorenz, R. Eislin, etc.). In Russian psychology, this phenomenon is considered from the point of view of L.S. Vygotsky on the nature of sensitive periods as periods of increased susceptibility to external influences. B.G. Ananiev, A.V. Zaporozhets, L.N. Leontiev, N.S. Leites wrote about sensitive periods.
Two periods age sensitivity, studied quite fully, is a period sensitive for the development of the properties of visual perception (T.G. Beteleva, L.P. Grigorieva, D. Hubel, T. Wiesel, etc.), and a period sensitive for the formation of speech ( M. Montessori, A.N. Leontiev, A.N. Gvozdev and others). Sensitivity is a characteristic of certain stages of ontogeny. SENSITIVE PERIOD OF SPEECH DEVELOPMENT, SENSITIVE PERIOD OF ORDER PERCEPTION,
SENSITIVE PERIOD OF SENSORY DEVELOPMENT, SENSITIVE PERIOD OF PERCEPTION OF SMALL OBJECTS,
SENSITIVE PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT OF MOVEMENTS AND ACTIONS, SENSITIVE PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL SKILLS
Sensitive periods last a certain time and pass irrevocably.
Age sensitivity is often observed in children. In their life there comes a moment when the mental maturation of a small person occurs, which contributes to the assimilation of certain functions by him. As a rule, the child's environment presents him with a variety of opportunities for exercise.
Sensitive periods have a few more basic characteristics.
They are UNIVERSAL, that is, they arise during the development of all children, regardless of race, nationality, pace of development, geopolitical, cultural differences, etc.
They are INDIVIDUAL when it comes to the time of their occurrence and duration in a particular child.
Susceptibility to external factors
Along with age-related psychology, the so-called characterological sensitivity. This is a phenomenon of exacerbation of emotional susceptibility to a certain kind of external influences. This state is manifested in relationships with other people.
Many scientists paid attention to the features of the sensitive period. So , C. Stockard believed that during the embryonic development of animals and humans there are periods of increased growth and increased sensitivity of individual organs and systems to external influences. And if, for some reason, development slows down, this leads to its slowdown in the future. According to this point of view, if some function does not develop during the sensitive period in childhood, then its correction in the future is impossible.
MM. Koltsova, D.B. Elkonin, B.G. Ananiev hold the opposite point of view. In their opinion, it is possible to catch up during the sensitive period at a later age, although this will have to face some difficulties. B.G. Ananiev in laboratory conditions established favorable periods for the development of attention, thinking, various types of memory and motor functions in children and adults. They have an undulating character, i.e., periods of active development are replaced by a slight decline.
L.S. Vygotsky introduced the concept of "critical period" into psychology. Under it, he understood global restructuring at the level of the individual and personality, occurring at a certain time. The critical period is calm in development (lysis) and critical (crisis).
Vygotsky singled out several such periods:
1. neonatal period- The neonatal crisis is the process of birth itself.
2. The period of one year - the crisis of the first year of life - is associated with an increase in the child's capabilities and the emergence of new needs.
3. a period of three years - a crisis of three years - a crisis of highlighting one's "I", increased independence
4. six or seven years old - a crisis associated with the discovery of the meaning of a new social position - the position of a student
5. Adolescence - Associated with the restructuring of the child's body - puberty.
6.crisis 30 years
7.retirement crisis
One of the mental spheres of a person's life is his emotions. Children are considered because over the years people begin to control and manage their emotions. Sensitivity implies an increased sensitivity to various external circumstances in a person who has not learned to control his emotions and sees the world in a slightly distorted light. Thus, age sensitivity is highlighted, which suggests that at each age the level of emotionality is different.
If we take adults, then we can say that women are more emotional than men. This is primarily an online magazine site associated with the effects of hormones that are produced monthly by the female body for the possible emergence of a new life. Men also have emotions that often arise in stressful situations, at the sight of beautiful women, at the moment of achieving success or facing failure.
Men and women often forget about one thing that affects why they sometimes do not understand each other: they are not alike. Women are very emotional beings, while men are rational. That is why women can “make a molehill out of a fly”, and men, on the contrary, make a nonsense situation out of any problem.
Women see the world the same way men do. But sometimes it happens that a woman is overwhelmed by emotions. Men can remember from their own experience how hard it is to control their emotions when they rage inside. And emotions in a woman can appear for any reason. That is why, when something happens, a woman begins to develop events, make them more tragic, exciting, which does not correspond to reality. It's hard to think rationally when emotions are raging. That is why a woman often attacks a man when he has done something, from her point of view, unpleasant.
Men are more rational beings. They know how to control their own emotions, although not always. But to a greater extent, they soberly assess the situation, without adding to it what is not there.
Men need to give women all the information they need so that they do not want to "saw" their brain. Women make "molehills out of molehills" because they are not sure of something, they do not know something, they do not have information. Give them whatever they need so they don't make a big deal out of it. After all, in fact, you get what you deserve when women start attacking you with accusations. You are not to blame for what women accuse you of, but you are to blame for not telling them what really happened. Your habit of silence causes women to fill in the empty space with the information that they are comfortable filling it with. You may not have really done anything. But you didn’t give the woman all the necessary information so that she wouldn’t think out the situation herself.
Women are emotional beings. And under the influence of emotions, they can come up with something that was not really there. Give women everything they need to know. And then even emotions will not make them think bad about you.
However, this behavior is not unique to women. There are categories of men who also exaggerate what happened. Adolescents and young children are the most emotional.
What is sensitivity?
Now let's move on to terminologies: what is sensitivity? It refers to increased sensitivity to external circumstances with further anxious expectation of something bad. In simple words, people call sensitivity "making an elephant out of a fly."
Sensitivity can be accompanied by such qualities of character:
- Timidity.
- categorical self-criticism.
- Tendency to long experiences.
- Increased sensitivity, emotionality.
- Shyness.
- Inferiority complex.
With age, sensitivity may decrease if a person learns to control his emotions and experiences. And this process is inevitable. Although each adult has a different level of sensitivity, which also depends on his hereditary predispositions, nervous system, and other physiological data. Also, a person should make efforts to control their emotions. Sometimes this happens imperceptibly for a person, and with some emotions the individual is forced to fight consciously and with effort.
Synonyms for sensitivity are sensitivity and sensitivity. The opposite term is insensitivity, which manifests itself in indifference, inattention and tactlessness to people, the absence of any physical sensations.
Each person goes through periods of formation of his emotionality. Since it is difficult to observe oneself in childhood, the emotionality of children can be noted for other people. Children practically do not know how to control their emotions, sometimes completely surrendering to them. However, as a person develops, he gradually learns to control some of his experiences.
In adolescence, such a phenomenon as youthful maximalism arises, when adolescents react sharply to various external circumstances, exaggerating the significance of all events. They also exaggerate their own capabilities and desires.
As a person encounters real events and other circumstances when his desires are not satisfied, he either gets stuck in his emotional experiences (thus developing), or begins to change himself in order to learn how to adequately respond to what is happening and be flexible in taking actions that will achieve various goals.
The sages say that a person who knows how to control his emotions is able to achieve a lot and build life the way he wants to see it. Here it is necessary to be able to manage not only emotions, but also thoughts, which just form the emotions that a person experiences in a given situation. That is why there is even such a saying: "If you cannot change the situation, then change your attitude towards it."
Sensitivity in psychology
In psychology, sensitivity is understood as a quality when a person experiences self-doubt, vulnerability and hypersensitivity. Such a person has the following characteristics:
- Complains about the unfriendliness of others, which is why he is not able to establish ties with them.
- He complains that no one understands or perceives him.
- He considers himself bad, unworthy, worse than the rest.
- Due to shyness and stiffness, he is not able to cope with personal problems.
- Focuses on own experiences.
- He doubts his own decisions and thoughts.
- Feels vulnerable and conscientious.
These qualities can appear from time to time or constantly.
Sensitivity is manifested in the form of a person's attitude to the world as hostile. He avoids situations, especially if they are unknown to him and threaten him with something, because he is afraid and unable to cope with them. Such a person avoids new acquaintances, public speaking and other social contacts with people who can offend him with something.
Sensitivity differs in levels depending on the temperament and personal qualities of a person. It can be the result of depression, mental disorders. The level of sensitivity is determined by the force with which external circumstances must influence a person in order to cause feelings in him. So, some circumstances will not affect one individual in any way, while another will cause a storm of emotions.
To reduce your level of sensitivity, it is better to contact a psychologist who will identify the causes of high emotionality and help eliminate them.
Age sensitivity
Age sensitivity is understood as sensitivity to certain external manifestations of the world, to which a person reacts quite highly. In addition to emotionality, which affects human behavior, you should be aware that in each age period a person becomes more prone to the emergence of specific skills. This is due to brain activity, which at each specific age is directed to certain objects of the external environment. So, the age of 2-3 years is considered the most favorable for learning languages.
Undoubtedly, in other years a person can be engaged in training and development of skills, however, experts say that this will be accompanied by certain difficulties and difficulties that will require a lot of effort.
Age sensitivity is conditional. Each person is individual in the age at which he becomes more inclined to learn and acquire certain knowledge.
Sensitivity training
There are sensitivity trainings where people learn to perceive the emotions of others, understand the causes of their occurrence, observe cause-and-effect relationships and predict them. Sensitivity trainings are called "encounter groups".
There are two types of sensitivity:
- Observational - the ability to remember what the other person said and looked like.
- Nomothetic - highlighting the typical characteristics of people in a certain group in order to be able to predict their behavior.
- Theoretical - interpretation of other people's thoughts, emotions and behavior.
- Ideography is an understanding of the peculiarity of the behavior of other people.
Thus, the trainings are aimed at understanding the emotions of other people and being able to predict them, knowing the reasons for their occurrence.
If you understand the reasons that cause specific emotions in another person, then you can influence him, as well as easily eliminate the conflicts that are so frequent between people.
Notice how fears and worries arise in you. Something is happening, but not in the way you would like - it makes you excited. You begin to think, guess, fantasize, which corresponds to your excitement. You make yourself even more unsettled by believing in this more than in what you are experiencing over what has not happened and may not happen. And when a person (thing, situation) with whom this excitement is connected comes into view, you begin to quarrel, be dissatisfied, defend yourself, even if nothing bad has happened yet. In the real world, there was a certain incident that you can not pay any attention to at all. And you, based on your excitement, made a whole drama and blame another person or the world as a whole for something.
Notice when you have worries and. Return to the situation that happened in reality, not allowing yourself to invent, think out and guess about something. Look only at what actually happened, without thinking! After that, start concentrating on what state you were in before the current situation, on what you want, on what happened in reality without any fantasies.
Understand that many problematic situations arise not because something happened in the real world, but because you were experiencing it. Because of this, they made a whole catastrophe out of the slightest trouble, because they believed that a catastrophe should happen, and not that there was a small trouble that just needs to be ignored or solved.
Don't let fear and anxiety take over. Concentrate on what really happened and what you want to achieve at the end of the whole situation. After all, in the end you get what you think about, what you believe in, what you direct your efforts towards.
Turn off your emotions! Look at what is happening with indifference. Indifference is the absence of emotions, but this does not mean whether something is important to you or not. You just look at the world indifferently (unemotionally), allowing other people to do what they see fit. Turn off emotions. Just look at what is happening without emotions, the way it happens, and not the way your fantasy draws for you. It is better to see what is real, and not what is dictated by your fears, emotions and erroneous judgments.
Outcome
Sensitivity is a quality that changes over the years. However, some people get stuck at a certain stage of their development, when their body continues to grow and age, but the psyche remains at the same level of development. Here, a person needs to make efforts so that his level of sensitivity changes, and emotions are not at the level of a 5-year-old child's response.