Mechanisms of perception and development of social skills. social perception

Perception (this word means "perception" in Latin) is cognitive process active direct display by a person of various objects, phenomena, events and situations. If such knowledge is directed to social objects and effects, then such a phenomenon is called social perception. Various mechanisms of social perception can be observed daily in Everyday life.

Description

Mentions of such a psychological phenomenon as perception met even in the ancient world. A great contribution to the development of this concept was made by philosophers, physicists, physiologists and even artists. But highest value This concept is given in psychology.

Perception is the most important mental function of cognition, manifested in the form complex process receiving and transforming sensory information. Thanks to perception, the individual makes up an integral image of the object that affects the analyzers. In other words, perception is a form of sensory display. This phenomenon includes such characteristics as the identification of individual features, the correct selection of information, the formation and accuracy of a sensory image.

Perception is always associated with attention, logical thinking, memory. It always depends on motivation and has a certain emotional coloring. The properties of any kind of perception include structure, objectivity, apperception, contextuality and meaningfulness.

The study of this phenomenon is intensively carried out not only by representatives of various branches of psychology, but also by physiologists, cybernetics, and other scientists. In their differential studies, they widely use methods such as experiment, modeling, observation, and empirical analysis.

Understanding what the functions, structure, and mechanisms of social perception are is not only of general, but also of practical importance for psychology. This phenomenon plays an important role in the creation of information systems, in artistic design, in sports, pedagogical activity and many other areas of human activity.

Factors

Perceptual factors are both internal and external. External factors include intensity, size, novelty, contrast, repetition, movement, and recognition.

Internal factors include:

Interaction with society through perception

Another concept widely used in psychology and related sciences is such a variety of our perception as social perception. This is the name given to the evaluation and understanding by a person of other people and himself, as well as other social objects. Such objects may include various groups, social communities. This term appeared in 1947, and was introduced by psychologist D. Bruner. The appearance of this concept in psychology allowed scientists to look at the tasks and problems of human perception in a completely different way.

People are social beings. Throughout life, any person contacts with other people a huge number of times, forming a variety of interpersonal relationships. Separate groups of people also form close bonds. Therefore, each person is the subject of a huge number of very different relationships.

A positive or negative attitude towards other people directly depends on our perception, as well as on how we evaluate our communication partners. Usually, during communication, we first evaluate the appearance, and then the behavior of the partner. As a result of this assessment, a certain attitude is formed in us, preliminary assumptions are made about the psychological qualities of the interlocutor.

Social perception can manifest itself in several forms. So, in most cases, social perception is called the perception by the person himself. Any individual perceives himself, as well as his or someone else's grouping. There is also perception by group members. This includes perception within the boundaries of one's community or members of a foreign group. The third type of social perception is group perception. The group can perceive both its own person and members of a foreign community. The last type of social perception considers the perception of one group of another group.

The very process of such perception can be represented as an evaluation activity. We value psychological features person, his appearance, actions and deeds. As a result, we form a certain opinion about the observed, form a clear idea of ​​its possible behavioral reactions.

Mechanisms

Perception is always a process of predicting the feelings and actions of people around. For a complete understanding of this process, knowledge of the features of the functioning of its mechanisms is required.

The mechanisms of social perception are shown in the following table:

Name	Definition	Examples
Stereotyping	A persistent image or idea of ​​people, phenomena, which is characteristic of all representatives of one social group	Many believe that the Germans are terrible pedants, the military are straightforward, and beautiful people are often narcissistic.
Identification	Intuitive identification and cognition of a person or group in situations of direct or indirect communication. In this case, there is a comparison or comparison of the internal states of the partners	People make assumptions about the state of the psyche of a partner, trying to mentally become him
Empathy	Emotional empathy with others, the ability to understand another person through the provision of emotional support and getting used to his experiences	This mechanism is considered a necessary condition for the successful work of psychotherapists, doctors and teachers.
Reflection	Self-knowledge through interaction with another person. It becomes possible due to the ability of the individual to imagine how the communication partner sees him.	Imagine a dialogue between hypothetical Sasha and Petya. At least 6 "roles" participate in such communication: Sasha, as he is; Sasha, as he sees himself; Sasha as Petya sees him. And these same roles from Petya
attraction	Knowledge of another person, based on a persistent positive feeling. Thanks to attraction, people not only learn to understand a communication partner, but also form rich emotional relationships.	Psychologists distinguish such types of this perceptual mechanism: love, sympathy and friendship.
Causal attribution	This is the process of predicting the actions and feelings of the people around. Without understanding something, a person begins to attribute his behavior,	Not understanding something, a person begins to attribute his behavior, feelings, personality traits, motives to other people.

The peculiarity of interpersonal cognition is that it takes into account not only a variety of physical features, but also behavioral features. If the subject of such perception actively participates in communication, then he establishes a coordinated interaction with the partner. Therefore, social perception is highly dependent on the motives, emotions, opinions, prejudices, attitudes and preferences of both partners. In social perception, there is necessarily also a subjective evaluation of another person.

Does our perception depend on society?

In interpersonal perception, there are various gender, class, age, professional, individual differences. It is known that young children perceive a person by appearance, paying special attention to his clothes, as well as to the presence of special paraphernalia. Students also first evaluate teachers by their appearance, but teachers perceive students by their inner qualities. Similar differences are found between leaders and subordinates.

Professional affiliation is also important for perception. For example, teachers perceive people by their ability to conduct a conversation, but, say, a coach pays attention to a person’s anatomy, as well as how he moves.

Social perception is highly dependent on the previous assessment of our object of perception. IN interesting experiment the teaching grades of 2 groups of students were recorded. The first group consisted of "favorite", and the second - of "unloved" students. Moreover, the “favorite” children deliberately made mistakes when completing the task, while the “unloved” children solved it correctly. However, the teacher, despite this, positively assessed the "favorite" and negatively - "unloved" children. The attribution of any characteristics is always carried out according to this model: people with negative characteristic negative actions are attributed, and positive people- good ones.

First impression

Psychologists have found out which factors make the strongest impression in the process of the emergence of social perception. It turned out that usually people pay attention first to the hairstyle, then to the eyes, and then to the facial expression of a stranger. Therefore, if you smile cordially at your interlocutors when meeting, they will perceive you in a friendly way and will be more positively disposed.

There are 3 main factors influencing how the first opinion of each person is formed: they are attitude, attractiveness and superiority.

“Superiority” is observed when a person who is superior in some way to a particular person is rated much higher in terms of other characteristics. There is a global revision of the assessed personality. Moreover, this factor is most strongly influenced by the uncertain behavior of the observer. Therefore, in extreme
almost all people are able to trust those whom they would not have come close to before.

"Attractiveness" explains the features of perception for a partner who is attractive in terms of his external data. The error of perception here is that the externally attractive personality is often greatly overestimated by the surrounding people in terms of its social and psychological properties.

“Attitude” considers the perception of a partner depending on our attitude towards him. The perceptual error in this case is that we tend to overestimate those who treat us well or share our opinion.

How to develop perceptual skills

D. Carnegie believes that mutual strong sympathy and effective friendly communication arise due to an ordinary smile. Therefore, for the development of perceptual skills, he suggests, first of all, to learn how to smile correctly. To do this, you need to perform daily exercises specially developed by this psychologist in front of the mirror. Facial expressions give us real information about a person's experiences, so by learning to control our facial expressions, we improve our social perception skills.

To learn to distinguish emotional manifestations and develop skills social perception, you can also use the Ekman method. This method consists in selecting 3 zones on the human face (nose with the area around it, forehead with eyes, mouth with chin). The manifestation of 6 leading emotional states (they include joy, anger, surprise, fear, disgust and sadness) is noted in these zones, which allows each person to recognize and decipher the mimic manifestations of another person. This perceptual technique has become widespread not only in ordinary situations of communication, but also in the psychotherapeutic practice of interaction with pathological personalities.

So, perception is the most complex mechanism of psychological interaction between a person and an object perceived by him. This interaction occurs under the influence of a huge number of factors. The characteristics of perception are age features, life experience of a person, specific effects, as well as a variety of personal properties.

Man cannot live in isolation. Throughout our lives, we come into contact with the people around us, form interpersonal relationships, entire groups of people form bonds with each other, and thus each of us becomes the subject of countless and diverse relationships. The way we treat the interlocutor, what kind of relationship we form with him, most often depends on how we perceive and evaluate the communication partner. A person, making contact, evaluates each interlocutor, both in appearance and in behavior. As a result of the assessment made, a certain attitude towards the interlocutor is formed, and separate conclusions are made about his internal psychological properties. This mechanism of perception by one person of another is an indispensable part of communication and refers to social perception. The concept of social perception was first introduced by J. Bruner in 1947, when a new view of the perception of a person by a person was developed.

social perception- a process that occurs in the relationship of people with each other and includes the perception, study, understanding and evaluation of social objects by people: other people, themselves, groups or social communities. The process of social perception is a complex and branched system of formation in the mind of a person of images of social objects as a result of such methods of understanding each other by people as perception, knowledge, understanding and study. The term "perception" is not the most accurate in defining the formation of the observer's idea of ​​his interlocutor, as this is a more specific process. In social psychology, such a formulation as “knowledge of another person” (A.A. Bodalev) is sometimes used as a more accurate concept to characterize the process of perceiving a person by a person. The specificity of a person’s knowledge of another person lies in the fact that the subject and object of perception perceive not only the physical characteristics of each other, but also behavioral, and in the process of interaction, judgments are formed about the intentions, abilities, emotions and thoughts of the interlocutor. In addition, an idea is created about the relationships that connect the subject and the object of perception. This gives even more significant meaning to the sequence of additional factors that do not play such an important role in the perception of physical objects. If the subject of perception is actively involved in communication, then this means the intention of the person to establish coordinated actions with a partner, taking into account his desires, intentions, expectations and past experience. Thus, social perception depends on emotions, intentions, opinions, attitudes, preferences and prejudices.

Social perception is defined as the perception external signs of a person, comparing them with his personal characteristics, interpreting and predicting his actions and deeds on this basis. Thus, in social perception there is certainly an assessment of another person, and the development, depending on this assessment and the impression made by the object, of a certain attitude in the emotional and behavioral aspect. This process of learning by one person of another, evaluating it and forming a certain attitude is an integral part of human communication and can be conditionally called the perceptual side of communication.

There are basic functions of social perception, namely: self-knowledge, knowledge of a communication partner, organization joint activities on the basis of mutual understanding and the establishment of certain emotional relationships. Mutual understanding is a socio-psychological phenomenon, the center of which is empathy. Empathy is the ability to empathize, the desire to put oneself in the place of another person and accurately determine his emotional state based on actions, facial reactions, gestures.

The process of social perception includes the relationship between the subject of perception and the object of perception. The subject of perception is an individual or a group that carries out the cognition and transformation of reality. When the subject of perception is an individual, he can perceive and cognize his own group, an outside group, another individual who is a member of either his or another group. When the group is the subject of perception, then the process of social perception becomes even more intricate and complex, since the group carries out knowledge of both itself and its members, and can also evaluate members of another group and the other group itself as a whole.

There are the following social - perceptual mechanisms, that is, the ways in which people understand, interpret and evaluate other people:

Perception of the external appearance and behavioral reactions of the object

Perception of the internal appearance of an object, that is, a set of its socio-psychological characteristics. This is done through the mechanisms of empathy, reflection, attribution, identification and stereotyping.

Cognition of other people also depends on the level of development of a person's idea of ​​himself (I - concept), about a communication partner (You - concept) and about the group to which the individual belongs or thinks that he belongs (We - concept). Knowing oneself through another is possible through comparison of oneself with another individual or through reflection. Reflection is the process of becoming aware of how the interlocutor understands himself. As a result, a certain level of understanding is achieved between the participants in communication.

Social perception is engaged in the study of the content and procedural components of the communication process. In the first case, attributions (attributions) of various characteristics to the subject and object of perception are studied. In the second, the analysis of the mechanisms and effects of perception (the halo effect, primacy, projection, and others) is carried out.

In general, the process of social perception is complex mechanism interaction of social objects in an interpersonal context and is influenced by many factors and characteristics, such as age characteristics, perception effects, past experience and personality traits.

Structure and mechanisms of social perception.

"Identification"(from late Latin identifico - to identify), is the process of intuitive identification, comparison by the subject of himself with another person (group of people), in the process of interpersonal perception. The term “identification” is a way of recognizing an object of perception, in the process of assimilation to it. This, of course, is not the only way of perception, but in real situations of communication and interaction, people often use this technique when, in the process of communication, the assumption of an internal psychological state partner is built on the basis of an attempt to put oneself in his place. There are many results of experimental studies of identification - as a mechanism of social perception, based on which, the relationship between identification and another phenomenon that is similar in content - empathy has been revealed.

"Empathy"- this is an understanding of another person by emotionally feeling his experience. This is a way of understanding another person, based not on a real perception of the problems of another person, but on the desire for emotional support for the object of perception. Empathy is an affective "understanding" based on the feelings and emotions of the subject of perception. The process of empathy in general terms similar to the mechanism of identification, in both cases there is the ability to put oneself in the place of another, to look at problems from his point of view. It is known that empathy is higher than more people able to imagine the same situation from the point of view of different people and therefore understand the behavior of each of these people.

"Attraction"(from Latin attrahere - to attract, attract), is considered as a special form of perception of one person by another, based on a stable positive attitude towards a person. In the process of attraction, people not only understand each other, but form certain emotional relationships with each other. On the basis of various emotional assessments, a diverse range of feelings is formed: from rejection, a feeling of disgust, to a particular person, to sympathy, and even love for him. Attraction also appears to be a mechanism for the formation of sympathy between people in the process of communication. The presence of attraction in the process of interpersonal perception indicates the fact that communication is always the realization of certain relations (both social and interpersonal), and basically attraction is more manifested in interpersonal relations. Psychologists have identified different levels of attraction: sympathy, friendship, love. Friendship is presented as a kind of sustainable, interpersonal relationships, characterized by a stable mutual attachment of their participants, in the process of friendship, affiliation (the desire to be in society, together with a friend, friends) and the expectation of mutual sympathy increase.

Sympathy(from the Greek. Sympatheia - attraction, internal arrangement) is a stable, positive, emotional attitude of a person towards other people or groups of people, manifested in goodwill, friendliness, attention, admiration. Sympathy encourages people to a simplified mutual understanding, to the desire to know the interlocutor in the process of communication. Love, the highest degree of emotionally positive attitude, affecting the subject of perception, love displaces all other interests of the subject, and the attitude towards the object of perception comes to the fore, the object becomes the center of attention of the subject.

social reflection is understanding another person by thinking for him. This internal representation another in the inner world of man. The idea of ​​what others think of me - important point social cognition. This is the knowledge of the other through what he (as I think) thinks about me, and the knowledge of himself through the hypothetical eyes of the other. The wider the circle of communication, the more diverse ideas about how it is perceived by others, the more ultimately a person knows about himself and others. The inclusion of a partner in your inner world is the most effective source of self-knowledge in the process of communication.

Causal attribution- this is an interpretation of the behavior of a partner in interaction through hypotheses about his emotions, motives, intentions, personality traits, causes of behavior with their further attribution to this partner. Causal attribution determines social perception the more, the greater the lack of information about the partner in the interaction. The most daring and interesting theory of the construction of the process causal attribution put forward by the psychologist G. Kelly, he revealed how a person searches for reasons to explain the behavior of another person. The results of attribution can become the basis for creating social stereotypes.

"Stereotyping". A stereotype is a stable image or psychological perception of a phenomenon or person, characteristic of members of a particular social group. Stereotyping is the perception and evaluation of another person by extending to him the characteristics of a social group. This is the process of forming an impression of a perceived person based on the stereotypes developed by the group. The most common are ethnic stereotypes, in other words, images of typical representatives of a certain nation, endowed with national features of appearance and character traits. For example, there are stereotypical ideas about the pedantry of the British, the punctuality of the Germans, the eccentricity of the Italians, and the industriousness of the Japanese. Stereotypes are pre-perception tools that allow a person to facilitate the process of perception, and each stereotype has its own social scope. Stereotypes are actively used to evaluate a person according to social, national, or professional characteristics.

Stereotypical perception arises on the basis of insufficient experience in recognizing a person, as a result of which conclusions are based on limited information. The stereotype is about group affiliation a person, for example, according to his profession, then the pronounced professional features of the representatives of this profession encountered in the past are considered as features inherent in any representative of this profession (all accountants are pedantic, all politicians are charismatic). In these cases, there is a predisposition to extract information from previous experience, to build conclusions on the similarity with this experience, not paying attention to its limitations. Stereotyping in the process of social perception can lead to two different consequences: to the simplification of the process of cognition by one person of another, and to the emergence of prejudice.

Under the influence of social perception, we divide people into good and bad, smart and stupid, wise and ignorant. It helps to build relationships, friendships, create business and, in the end, just enjoy life. However, there are many pitfalls in the phenomenon of social perception, which we will discuss in this article.

According to Wikipedia, social perception (social perception) is a perception aimed at creating an idea about oneself, other people, social groups and social phenomena. It is also the science of how people form impressions and draw conclusions about other people as independent individuals.

We learn about other people's feelings and emotions by taking into account the information we collect from:

• the physical (outward) appearance of other people;
• verbal communication;
• non-verbal communication (facial expressions, tone of voice, hand gestures, body position and movement).

A real example of social perception would be the understanding that people do not agree with how they appear in the eyes of others. This speaks of the overwhelming subjectivity of our image in our own eyes. To better understand the phenomenon of social perception, let's look at exactly how we decide what kind of person is in front of us.

Mechanisms of social perception

There are six main components of social perception: observation, attribution, integration, confirmation, reflection and identification. Let's look at each component separately.

Observation

Social perception processes begin with the observation of people, situations, and behaviors in order to gather evidence to support the initial impression.

Faces - physical influence

While society teaches us not to judge others by their physical features, we can't help but form an opinion about people based on their hair and skin color, height, weight, clothing style, tone of voice, and more when they first meet.

We tend to judge others by associating certain facial features with specific personality types. For example, research shows that people are perceived as stronger, more assertive, and more competent if they have small eyes, low eyebrows, an angled chin, wrinkled skin, and a small forehead.

Situations - the context of previous experiences

People can easily predict the sequences or outcomes of an event based on the extent and depth of their past experience with a similar event. The ability to anticipate the outcome of a situation is also highly dependent on the cultural background of the individual, as this inevitably shapes the types of experiences.

Behavior - non-verbal communication

Non-verbal communication helps people express their emotions, feelings and attitudes. Dominant form non-verbal communication- faces. Other non-verbal signals:, eye contact, intonation. We try to “read” such signals in order to understand for ourselves what kind of person this is, how to treat him and how to behave.

Attribution

After we have observed a person by reading signals, it is time to draw conclusions to determine his internal dispositions.

Attribution theory

A significant component of social perception is attribution. Attribution is the use of information gathered through observation in order to understand and rationalize the reasons for one's behavior and the behavior of others. People create attributes to understand the world around them.

Related to this phenomenon is the fundamental tendency of people to explain the actions or behavior of other people by their internal features, and not by external circumstances. For example, if a person is poor, we tend to believe that he himself is to blame for this, although in many cases this is not the case. But what is more curious - what happens to us, we explain external factors. This attitude towards others can prevent the appearance.

Integration

Unless harsh judgment has been made from observations of people, situations, or behavior, people integrate dispositions to form impressions.

Information Integration Theory

Norman H. Anderson, an American social psychologist, developed information integration theory in 1981. He argues that a person's impressions are formed using personal perceptual dispositions and a weighted average of the target individual's characteristics.

People use themselves as a standard or frame of reference for judging others. These impressions formed about others may also depend on the current, temporary mood of the perceiver.

This theory is also called priming. Priming is the tendency to change your opinion or impression of a person depending on what words and images you have recently heard and perceived.

Implicit personality theory

An implicit personality theory is a type of model that people use to combine different personality traits. People pay attention to a variety of cues, including visual, auditory, and verbal, to predict and understand other people's personalities in order to fill the gap of unknown information about a person that helps in social interactions.

Certain traits are seen as particularly influential in shaping a person's overall impression; they are called central features. Other features have less influence on the formation of impressions and are called peripheral.

Confirmation

Once the attributes are created and integrated, people form impressions that are reinforced by confirmations and self-fulfilling prophecies.

Competence as social perception

Despite the fact that people are often exposed, they can judge correctly.

1. Can perceive social impact more accurately if they have sufficient experience. The more you communicate, the more you understand.
2. Knowledge in the field of social perception can be improved by learning the rules of probability and logic.
3. People can draw more accurate conclusions about others when they are motivated by the desire to be open-minded and accurate.

Reflection

- this is the drawing of a person's attention to himself and his consciousness, in particular, to the products of his own activity, as well as any rethinking of them.

It seems that reflection is related exclusively to understanding oneself, but this is not so. When interacting with another person, prejudices, beliefs, impressions and cognitive distortions are formed in our psyche. To get rid of them and begin to perceive information more objectively, you need to learn to reflect.

For example, ask yourself questions like:

• Am I good to the person? Why? What in my experience, judgments and impressions can distort my perception?
• Am I treating the person badly? Why? What inside me allows me to make such a judgment?

Thanks to reflection, you can understand, for example, that you treat a person badly because you spoiled your mood earlier. Or that you idealize the interlocutor too much, because you just learned the good news, and he met you first.

Remember that your perception can be influenced by: thinking, perceptual mechanisms, behavioral patterns, emotional responses, cognitive distortions, and more.

Identification

Identification is a partially conscious mental process of likening oneself to another person or group of people. Appears as defense mechanism or an adaptive process, for example, in parents, when they perceive children as an extension of their "I".

The adaptive process is formed from childhood. We want to absorb the behavior of other people, which is absolutely normal: first we accept primitive structures, then more complex ones. Problems arise when we want to adopt character traits, values, and norms.

In our case, this is what matters: when we are dealing with a person we want to be like, we tend to idealize him, even those features that we do not like.

Factors affecting social perception

There are two such factors: accuracy and inaccuracy.

Although the pursuit of precision is commendable, it requires experimentation. Of course, this is not possible in everyday life. And the inaccuracy is entirely influenced by the effects of social perception, which we will talk about now.

Effects of social perception

When in contact with another person, we tend to be subject to the effects of social perception, which are also called cognitive distortions. These are the effects that turn out to be thinking errors, as a result of which we make inaccurate decisions and perceive the person incorrectly.

• halo effect() - when the general unfavorable or favorable opinion of a person is transferred to his unknown features. An example is the delusion when a beautiful stranger is considered worthy as well.
• novelty effect- a phenomenon that manifests itself in the fact that an opinion about a familiar person is formed based on the latest information, and about an unfamiliar person - under the influence of the first impression. This can lead to a halo effect.
• Primacy effect- the first information about a stranger is dominant: all subsequent information is evaluated under the influence of the initial one.
• Presence effect- how better man owns any skill, the stronger and more effectively it manifests itself in the presence of other people.
• role effect- when the behavior due to role functions, we perceive as a personality trait. For example, if the boss gave a reprimand, we tend to believe that he has a bad temper.
• Advance effect- disappointment from the fact that we attributed any character traits to a person (for example, due to the halo effect), but in fact it turned out that they were not characteristic of him.
• Presumption of reciprocity- a person believes that the “other” relates to him as he relates to the “other”.

As you can see, our perception of people is influenced by a huge number of factors. There is only one conclusion that can be drawn: do not rush to issue a verdict - and certainly do not convince yourself that you definitely never judge people. Everyone does it to one degree or another. Therefore, be careful and first of all master the skill of reflection - so you can ask yourself the right questions about why you treat a person in this way and not otherwise.

We wish you good luck!

So he designated the social determination of perceptual processes. Soon this term acquired another meaning - the process of perception of social objects. Moreover, their circle was strictly limited: another person, social group, a wider social community. The complete framework for the study of social perception includes various options not only the object, but also the subject of perception.

When the subject is an individual, he can perceive:

1. Another individual belonging to his group,
2. Another individual belonging to a foreign group,
3. your group,
4. Another group. If a group acts as a subject, then it perceives:
5. Member of your group
6. Member of another group
7. The other group as a whole
8. Himself.

It is necessary to understand the differences between the term social perception and (includes reflections on the perceived, evaluation, emotions, motivation, the need for further interaction with the perceived, is a broader concept) In general psychology, the term is more appropriate , and in the social - knowledge. In this context, the term interpersonal perception is more appropriate, the perception of another person, to be more precise, the knowledge of another person, because. perception of another person includes perception not only physical characteristics object, but also its behavioral characteristics, the formation of ideas about its intentions, thoughts, abilities, emotions, attitudes, etc. In addition, the process of perception includes such character traits, for example, as selectivity of perception, which implies the significance of the goals of the knowing subject, his past experience, etc. Impressions that arise in the process of perception play an important regulatory role in the process of communication, because knowing the other, the knowing individual himself is formed; the success of interaction with him depends on the degree of accuracy of "reading" another.

Analysis of self-awareness through another

Such an analysis includes 2 sides: identification and reflection.

in general view. The participants in the interaction are designated as A and B. Communication occurs between them and backlash from B to A. A and B have a concept of themselves, as well as a concept of each other. The success of communication will be maximum with a minimum gap between the real A, his idea of ​​himself and B's idea of ​​him, and similarly.

Effects of interpersonal perception

When people perceive each other, various effects arise. Three of them are most studied: this is the halo effect or halo effect, the effect of novelty and primacy, and the effect or phenomenon of stereotyping.

halo effect

The formation of a specific attitude to the perceived through the attribution of certain qualities to it. The information received is superimposed on the image that has already been created in advance. This image, which previously existed, plays the role of a halo that makes it difficult to see the actual features and manifestations of the object of perception. The halo effect is manifested in the formation of the first impression of a person in that a general favorable impression leads to positive assessments and unknown qualities of the perceived and vice versa. The halo effect is most pronounced when the perceiver has minimal information about the object, and also when judgments concern moral qualities.

novelty effect

When perceiving a stranger, the previously presented information has more weight, and when perceiving a familiar person, the latest, newer information is most significant. The effect of the average error - there is a tendency to mitigate the errors of the extreme towards the average. Projection effect - we attribute our advantages to pleasant interlocutors, and our disadvantages to unpleasant interlocutors.

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The processes of social perception differ significantly from the perception of non-social objects. This difference also lies in the fact that social objects are not passive and indifferent in relation to the subject of perception. In addition, social images always have semantic and evaluative interpretations. In a sense, perception is interpretation. But the interpretation of another person or group always depends on the previous social experience of the perceiver, on the behavior of the object of perception in this moment, from the system value orientations perceiving and from many factors, both subjective and objective.

They highlight the mechanisms of social perception, the ways by which people interpret, understand and evaluate another person. The most common mechanisms are the following: empathy, attraction, causal attribution, identification, social reflection.

1. Empathy- comprehension of the emotional state of another person, understanding of his emotions, feelings and experiences. In many psychological sources, empathy is identified with sympathy, empathy, sympathy. This is not entirely true, since it is possible to understand the emotional state of another person, but not treat him with sympathy and sympathy. Understanding well the views and related feelings of other people that he does not like, a person often acts contrary to them. A student in a lesson, annoying an unloved teacher, can perfectly understand the emotional state of the latter and use the possibilities of his empathy against the teacher. The people we call manipulators very often have well-developed empathy and use it for their own, often selfish purposes.

It is believed that women are more empathetic than men. This is most clearly manifested in their tendency to more defiantly express outwardly their understanding of the other and empathy. Empathy can be learned. The experience of men working with people - psychotherapists, psychologists, etc. - shows that they, as a result of training and practice, achieve a high ability to empathize and express it. This can be achieved by anyone with the desire and training.

Great help in teaching empathic understanding can be provided by the ability to “read” facial expressions, gestures, postures, glances, handshakes, and the gait of the perceived. You should pay attention to the words he uses that reflect feelings: “unpleasant”, “insidious”, “unexpected”, etc. It is necessary to imagine as clearly as possible what we ourselves would feel if we were the speaker in such situations.

To comprehend the true meaning of the feelings of another, it is not enough to have cognitive representations. Necessary and personal experience. That's why empathy as the ability to understand the emotional state of another person develops in the process of life and may be more pronounced in older people. It is quite natural that among close people empathy towards each other is more developed than among people who have known each other relatively recently. People belonging to different cultures may have little empathy for each other. At the same time, there are people who have special insight and are able to understand the experiences of another person even if he tries to hide them carefully. There are some professional activities that require developed empathy, for example, medical practice, pedagogical, theatrical. Almost any professional activity in the sphere of "man - man" requires the development of this mechanism of perception.

2. Mechanism of causal attribution associated with attributing causes of behavior to a person. Each person has his own assumptions about why the perceived individual behaves in a certain way. When attributing certain causes of behavior to another, the observer does this either on the basis of the similarity of his behavior with some familiar person or a well-known image of a person, or on the basis of an analysis of his own motives assumed in such a situation. Here the principle of analogy, similarity with the already familiar or the same operates.

The mechanism of causal attribution is associated with some aspects of the self-perception of the individual who perceives and evaluates the other. So, if the subject attributed negative traits and the reasons for their manifestation to another, then he will most likely evaluate himself by contrast as a carrier. positive traits. Sometimes people with low self-esteem show excessive criticality towards others, thereby creating a kind of negative subjectively perceived social background, against which, as they think, they look quite decent.

3. Social perception includes and reflection . As a mechanism of social perception, social reflection means understanding by the subject of his own individual features and how they manifest themselves in outward behavior; awareness of how it is perceived by other people. It should not be thought that people are able to perceive themselves more adequately than those around them.. So, in a situation where there is an opportunity to look at oneself from the outside - in a photograph or a film, many remain very dissatisfied with the impression made in their own way. This is because people have a somewhat distorted image of themselves. Distorted ideas even concern the appearance of the perceiving person, not to mention the social manifestations of the internal state.

It is possible to optimize the process of reflective understanding of another person through effective listening techniques:

Clarifications - an appeal to the speaker for clarifications ("Explain again ...");

Paraphrasing - repeating the interlocutor's thoughts in your own words ("In other words, do you think that ...");

Summing up - summarizing the main thoughts of the partner (“If you summarize what you said ...”);

Reflections of feelings - the desire to reflect in your own words the feelings of the speaker ("It seems to me that you feel ....").

It is always desirable to understand a partner, but it is not always useful to say it out loud. If we let's understand a person deeper than he wanted, and let's say it directly, the result may be the opposite - the person will "close". Sometimes it is more valuable to understand and remain silent than to “get into the soul” with your “understanding”.

4. Social perception is accompanied attraction (attraction) - a special form of knowing another person, which is based on the formation of a stable positive feeling towards him. A communication partner is better understood if the perceiver feels sympathy, affection, friendship or intimate-personal attitude towards him.

Emotional attachment can arise on the basis of common views, interests, value orientations, or as a selective attitude to a person’s special appearance, behavior, character traits, etc. It is curious that such relationships allow you to better understand the other person. With a certain degree of conventionality, we can say that the more we like a person, the more we know him and better understand his actions (unless, of course, we are talking about pathological forms attachments).

Attraction is also significant in business relations. Therefore, most psychologists working in business recommend that interpersonal professionals express the most positive attitude towards clients, even if they do not really like them.

However, it should be remembered that excessive and artificial expression of joy does not so much form an attraction as it destroys people's trust. A friendly attitude cannot always be expressed through a smile, especially if it looks fake and too stable. So, a TV presenter who smiles for an hour and a half is unlikely to attract the sympathy of viewers.

5. The perception of a person also depends on his ability to put himself in the place of another, to identify himself with him. In this case, the process of cognition of the other will go more successfully (if there are substantial grounds for the corresponding identification). The process and result of such an identification is called identification. Identification as a socio-psychological phenomenon is considered by modern science very often and in such different contexts that it is necessary to specifically stipulate the features of this phenomenon as a mechanism of social perception. In this aspect, identification is similar to empathy, however, empathy can be considered as an emotional identification of the subject of observation, which is possible on the basis of past or present experience of such experiences. As far as identification is concerned, there is more intellectual identification, the results of which are the more successful, the more accurately the observer has determined the intellectual level of the one he perceives. In one of E.Po's stories main character, a certain Dupin, in a conversation with his friend, analyzes the course of reasoning little boy which he has been watching for some time. The conversation is just about the understanding of one person by another on the basis of the mechanism of intellectual identification.

“... I know an eight-year-old boy whose ability to correctly guess in the game "even and odd" won him universal admiration. This is a very simple game: one of the players holds a few pebbles in his fist and asks the other if he is holding an even number or an odd number. If the second player guesses correctly, then he wins a pebble, if incorrectly, then he loses a pebble. The boy I mentioned beat all his schoolmates. Of course, he built his guesses on some principles, and these latter consisted only in the fact that he carefully watched his opponent and correctly assessed the degree of his cunning. For example, his notoriously stupid opponent raises his fist and asks, "Odd or even?" Our student answers "odd" and loses. However, on the next attempt, he wins, because he says to himself: “This fool took an even number of pebbles last time and, of course, thinks that he will cheat very well if he takes an odd number now. So I will say “odd” again!” He says “odd !" and wins. With a slightly smarter opponent, he would argue like this: "This boy noticed that I just said "odd", and now he will first want to change the even number of pebbles to an odd one, but then he will realize that it is too simple, and leave them the same. So I'll say "cheat!" He says "chet!" and wins. Here is the logical reasoning of a little boy whom his comrades dubbed "lucky". But, in essence, what is it? Just, - I answered, - the ability to completely identify your intellect with the intellect of the enemy.

Exactly, said Dupin. - And when I asked the boy how he achieves such complete identification, which ensures his constant success, he answered the following: "" When I want to know how smart, or stupid, or angry this boy is, or what he is thinking right now, I try to give my face exactly the same expression that I see in his face, and then I wait to find out what thoughts or feelings will arise in me in accordance with this expression ... "(According to E. Stories. - M., 1980 .-S. 334). As we can see, this passage illustrates the operation of the mechanisms of identification and empathy in the boy's knowledge of his peer in order to win the game. The identification mechanism in this case clearly prevails over empathy, which also takes place here.

The professional activity of some specialists is associated with the need for identification, such as the work of an investigator or a teacher, which has been repeatedly described in legal and educational psychology. Identification error with an incorrect assessment of the intellectual level of another person can lead to negative professional results. So, a teacher who overestimates or underestimates the intellectual level of his students will not be able to correctly assess the relationship between the real and potential abilities of students in the learning process.