General adaptation syndrome and psychological adaptation to stressful environmental conditions are a nonspecific protective and adaptive mechanism and at the same time a human condition in which the body adapts to new, unusual and often aggressive conditions. Adaptation syndrome occurs quite often and is inherent in any person when certain conditions arise.
Protective coloration
Allows you to be invisible among the surrounding background. Thanks to the protective coloration, the organism becomes difficult to distinguish and, therefore, protected from predators. Bird eggs laid on sand or ground are gray and brown with spots, similar to the color of the surrounding soil. In cases where eggs are inaccessible to predators, they are usually colorless. Butterfly caterpillars are often green, the color of the leaves, or dark, the color of the bark or earth. Bottom fish are usually colored to match the color of the sandy bottom (rays and flounder). Moreover, flounders also have the ability to change color depending on the color of the surrounding background. The ability to change color by redistributing pigment in the integument of the body is also known in terrestrial animals (chameleon). Desert animals, as a rule, have a yellow-brown or sandy-yellow color. A monochromatic protective color is characteristic of both insects (locusts) and small lizards, as well as large ungulates (antelope) and predators (lion).
Alternative view
In this article, I first expressed the idea of conditionally dividing the levels of psychological maturity into three stages. So this article can be considered the forerunner of my most “programmatic” articles: “Mature Personality”, “The Illusion of the Ego.
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Stages of adaptation to another culture and stages of personality development
When a person enters a different cultural environment (of course, this refers only to cases of voluntary relocation/visit, i.e. the person initially does not perceive the other cultural environment as hostile), he goes through three stages of adaptation to it.
At the first stage, a person sees primarily the advantages. This stage can be called euphoric. It manifests itself especially clearly in cases of a person’s initial sympathy for the culture into which he has found himself. For example, a person who has sympathy and admiration for the Chinese and Chinese culture will see the best human qualities in the Chinese as a manifestation of the norm, and the worst as a manifestation of the exception. When visiting China, the advantages and advantages of everyday life, life and nature will catch your eye. The disadvantages will not be noticed, and if they are discovered, they will be skillfully justified. These necessary manipulations of consciousness are necessary to protect one’s own opinion, to protect self-esteem and preserve an established picture of the world. Very strong, very compelling arguments are needed for a person to reconsider his views in a short time. The picture of the world in the human mind changes slowly and, as a rule, unnoticed by the person himself. A sharp, rapid revision of views is possible only in the event of a powerful shock that roughly brings down previous idealistic ideas.
In the case of a standard tourist visit, usually the first stage is where everything is limited. A person receives confirmation of his initial ideas primarily because he wants to receive these confirmations. How much these ideas will be corrected - whether a person will finally establish themselves in them and his ideas will become beliefs or will doubt certain aspects and begin to look for additional information - will depend on the psychological flexibility and maturity of the individual. As a rule, if a person is personally interested in his ideas (for example, if a person identifies himself taking into account certain ideas), then he remains unconvinced even in the absence of positive reinforcements for his ideas and an abundance of negative ones. After all, the same phenomenon can be interpreted in positive and negative aspects. Naturalness - rudeness, charm - arrogance, seriousness - constraint, friendliness - sycophancy, smiling - insincerity, good manners - hypocrisy, frugality - stinginess - any of these pairs of words describes almost the same meaning, the difference is mainly in interpretation.
It should be legitimate to talk about the second and third stages of adaptation only in cases where a person moves for permanent residence to a different cultural environment.
The second stage of adaptation is the stage of disappointment.
This inevitable stage occurs when a person gets used to the new and no longer perceives the advantages of the new environment as something surprising and delightful, when they become commonplace and not noticeable. At the same time, a person gets to know the new life closer and more deeply, learns not only the facade (what is perceived immediately), but also the backside of life in a different culture. Previously, a person could only know that it exists speculatively (and this is not necessary), but now he saw it with his own eyes, felt it on his own skin. This inevitably gives rise to disappointment, complete or partial - depending on how much the first rosy impression was damaged, how many illusions were broken, how much the former idea and the revealed truth did not coincide. Promotional video:
During this painful stage, there are two types of psychological defenses. Conventionally, they can be designated as patriotic and apatriotic.
During the first defense, the emigrant begins to surround himself with things that remind him of his homeland, joins the national diaspora and maintains close relationships with it, and limits contacts with representatives of the new dominant culture. From time to time he thinks about returning, closely follows the political life of the country he left. Begins to acutely feel the absence of those positive qualities and aspects of life in the abandoned country that were previously not noticed or to which special importance was not given. In many ways, everything happens according to the proverb “what we have we don’t keep, what we lose we cry.” If this process continues at an increasing rate, then a return is almost inevitable. But most likely the wisdom of another famous proverb will work: “it’s good to love from a distance.” Connections with the national diaspora, trips to the homeland to visit friends and relatives, and modern communication capabilities allow a person to live in an alien culture quite comfortably, having a number of advantages of the new position, but without breaking ties with the native culture.
With the second type of protection, the following happens: a person endows the abandoned home country with a number of disadvantages, against the background of which the discovered and realized disadvantages of the new cultural environment become insignificant. The more difficult it is for a person to adapt, the more significant the shortcomings of the former homeland must be, and over time it becomes, in the emigrant’s perception, a branch of hell on earth. He looks for confirmation of his attitude and, of course, finds it. The attitude towards the abandoned country becomes a belief, a personally significant indicator of self-identification. It is possible that the phrase “all normal people left this country” was born in the circle of emigrants with this type of protection from disappointment in the new cultural environment.
As you can see, both the first and second variants of psychological defense are based on a comparison of the native and new cultural environment. The first is based on love for the native cultural environment, the second on hatred. One can tortuously compare these two types of protection, deciding which one is better, more productive, and more conducive to happiness. Love seems to be a much more constructive feeling for a person and others than hatred, so the author’s choice is obvious. At the same time, it should be remembered that with a strong manifestation of these defensive reactions (especially of a patriotic nature), adaptation to the new cultural environment suffers and the third stage becomes unattainable.
The third stage is the stage of complete adaptation. A person fully identifies with his new environment and feels like a citizen of the country in which he lives. This does not mean that a person breaks all ties with his homeland and native culture, but his attitude towards them is deprived of both positive and negative idealization. This also applies to the new cultural environment. A person finds his place in society, arranges his personal life, and this occupies him much more than questions of comparing the former and current cultural environment. The stage of complete adaptation can be called the stage of maturity, because psychological maturity is, first of all, the absence of illusions and egocentric tendencies, the absence of pronounced psychological defense mechanisms (after all, the latter needs primarily to maintain illusions), taking full responsibility for oneself and one’s life. A mature person no longer wastes time and energy on egocentric self-examination, because a mature person is, first of all, one who has found himself. Complete adaptation to a different cultural environment is a state when a person has found his place in it.
In this regard, I want to draw parallels between these stages of adaptation with the stages of personality development. If we are to coarse and generalize as much as possible, then human life can be divided into three stages: childhood, adolescence (transitional) and maturity. Of course, adaptation to life in society in general and adaptation to another culture are incommensurable phenomena in their scale, but they have much in common in their general principles.
Childhood can be compared to the first, euphoric stage of adaptation. For a child, an adult is an unconditional authority, a role model, a protector, and the world around is the world of adults. The world for a child (if we do not take examples of dysfunctional families) is, first of all, an interesting, fairly benevolent, bright place. On average, people often define childhood as the happiest time of their lives. In childhood, a person has not yet felt disconnected from the world, people and himself. He makes many bright, exciting discoveries, and his faith is not poisoned by doubt. The child has magical thinking and the fear of death (conscious or unconscious) has not yet touched the soul. The child feels that the whole world lies in front of him and is just waiting for him to grow up so that he can take it as the most interesting, the best toy that will never get boring.
The surrounding world for a person is, first of all, the world of people, i.e. society Nature/climate also plays an important role. Finding himself in a different society - climate, and even having an initially positive attitude, a person to some extent recreates the conditions of childhood, conditions when the world was still unknown, interesting and friendly. The euphoria of the first stage can be justified by this very thing - a virtual immersion in childhood. Of course, a person does not become a child again and does not lose his professional skills, but in a different cultural environment his emotional perception of the world approaches that of a child. A person is forever imprinted with those sensations that constitute the sensations of childhood, imprinted in those layers of the psyche that were formed at that time at the dawn of life. In a different cultural environment, at the initial stage of adaptation, an associative series appears, which seems to raise these layers to the surface. During a tourist visit, a person is often fully provided for, in conditions where he does not need to worry about food and other needs, which further strengthens the associative series that leads back to childhood.
In this regard, I cannot help but point out the undeveloped sense of danger of children, their increased victimization. There are quite a lot of accidents due to negligence and recklessness in tourist travel. It can be assumed that this is not least due to the fact that a number of tourists, having fallen into the “euphoria of childhood,” lose caution and do things that they would never do in their homeland. The child needs supervision.
Adolescence is in many ways an age of disappointment and cynicism. During adolescence, all previous dogmas and authorities are subject to criticism and rethinking. The authority of adults is called into question, everything in life becomes clear and banal, the world ceases to be affectionate and safe, now there is death in it. The bright colors of childhood fade and crumble when a person becomes not a continuation of his mother and father, but a separate person who must find himself and his place in society. Many new responsibilities and new obligations are appearing; the era of full provision is already ending.
The main difference between the world of a teenager and the world of a child is that it is uncomfortable. Likewise, for an emigrant, the world of another country becomes uncomfortable and something needs to be done, something must be done in order to make life bearable in it again. Someone begins to extort benefits - and how this offended position of an emigrant, full of pretension and egocentrism, resembles the position of a teenager who, through manipulation, extorts various benefits and indulgences from his parents!
This is an example of a person with unconstructive behavior who resists learning and adapting to the conditions of society, developing himself and his professional skills, and becoming established as a person and as a professional. A mature person is an accomplished person. More precisely, this is someone who has the experience of being successful, of completing his goals, which he independently set for himself. A person who is able to fully adapt to another culture must be mature (or become mature during the course of adaptation). A person in the third stage of adaptation does not perceive a new culture through either rose-colored or black glasses; his attitude to the surrounding reality is calm and quite emotionally neutral. It is far from cynicism, but there are no overtly idealistic sentiments in it either, rather calm goodwill. Such a person no longer contrasts the old and new cultural environment. Likewise, a mature person is no longer worried about the question “who is to blame for the fact that I am unhappy,” and is no longer looking for an “object of service” or the promised land. If mature, accomplished people move to other countries, it is usually for the sole purpose of developing their professional activities.
Finally, a few words about why it is often emotionally difficult to come back to your homeland after a tourist visit to another country. Some people, returning from such a trip, fall into a depressed state of mind and see first of all the disadvantages in the environment, finding their compatriots inferior in a number of human and professional qualities to foreigners, residents of the visited country. The author has repeatedly heard statements that returning to his homeland was like “returning to Mordor”, “going from heaven to hell” and stuff like that. Is there a hidden resentment towards the world in these statements for the lost joy of being that was in childhood? After all, if you compare a trip to a different cultural environment with a symbolic return to childhood, then returning to your homeland should be compared with a sharp return to the uncomfortable, gray world of a teenager. Does a mature person, with grievances, disappointments, and dissatisfaction lived and left behind, experience something similar? A person who is in his place and who has something to do and live? I'm sure not. Maturity does not strive to return to the euphoria of childhood. In this regard, the very presence of a “depressive return” may indicate that a person has unresolved problems, internal dissatisfaction with his life, that it is time for a person to change something in his life and finally get out of the gray period of immaturity.
B. Medinsky
Mimicry
The imitative resemblance of some animals, mainly insects, to other species, providing protection from enemies.
It is difficult to draw a clear boundary between it and a protective color or form. In its narrowest sense, mimicry is the imitation by a species, defenseless against some predators, of the appearance of a species avoided by these potential enemies due to inedibility or the presence of special defenses. Mimicry is the result of homologous (identical) mutations in different species that help unprotected animals survive. For imitating species, it is important that their numbers are small compared to the model they are imitating, otherwise the enemies will not develop a stable negative reflex to the warning coloration. The low abundance of mimicking species is supported by a high concentration of lethal genes in the gene pool. When homozygous, these genes cause lethal mutations, resulting in a high percentage of individuals not surviving to adulthood.
Morphological adaptations involve changes in the shape or structure of an organism. An example of such an adaptation is a hard shell, which provides protection from predatory animals. Physiological adaptations are associated with chemical processes in the body. Thus, the smell of a flower can serve to attract insects and thereby contribute to pollination of the plant. Behavioral adaptation is associated with a certain aspect of an animal’s life. A typical example is a bear's winter sleep. Most adaptations are a combination of these types. For example, blood sucking in mosquitoes is ensured by a complex combination of such adaptations as the development of specialized parts of the oral apparatus adapted to sucking, the formation of search behavior to find a prey animal, and the production of special secretions by the salivary glands that prevent the coagulation of sucked blood.
All plants and animals constantly adapt to their environment. To understand how this happens, it is necessary to consider not only the animal or plant as a whole, but also the genetic basis of adaptation.
Stages of social adaptation according to J. Szczepanski
Remark 1
Since the adaptation process cannot be primitive, and is an action occurring over time, different researchers in the field of sociology have a question about its stages, or, more correctly, about stages.
For example, the 20th century Polish sociologist Jan Szczepanski identified four stages in the process of social adaptation.
The first stage is the initial stage . It is characterized by the fact that a person at this stage is able to learn only the rules of behavior in a new environment, but the system of values and traditions is not yet familiar to him, or his internal attitude is not ready to recognize them (alienation, rejection or denial of the host party’s value system).
The second stage is the so-called “tolerance stage”. At this stage, both the individual and his environment recognize the equal value of each other. This stage can hardly be called the stage of complete adaptation or acceptance, but entry into the new environment has already been partially completed.
The third stage is the stage of adaptation or so-called accommodation. This stage is associated with concessions. For example, not only does the new individual recognize the value system of the host environment and reproduce it, but also representatives of the host party recognize some of these individual values. This process can also be called the term “diffusion”, known in physicochemical circles—the penetration of the values of one side into the value system of the other.
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The fourth stage is the stage of complete adaptation , or assimilation. In this case, the individual completely abandons previous patterns of behavior, his usual way of life and worldview, and accepts new ones that dominate the new social environment.
Genetic basis.
In each species, the program for the development of traits is embedded in the genetic material. The material and the program encoded in it are passed on from one generation to the next, remaining relatively unchanged, so that representatives of a given species look and behave almost the same. However, in a population of organisms of any species there are always small changes in the genetic material and, therefore, variations in the characteristics of individual individuals. It is from these diverse genetic variations that the process of adaptation selects those traits or favors the development of those traits that most increase the chances of survival and thereby the preservation of genetic material. Adaptation can thus be thought of as the process by which genetic material increases its chances of persistence in subsequent generations. From this point of view, each species represents a successful way of preserving certain genetic material.
To pass on genetic material, an individual of any species must be able to feed, survive until the breeding season, leave offspring, and then spread them over as wide an area as possible.
Nutrition.
All plants and animals must receive energy and various substances from the environment, primarily oxygen, water and inorganic compounds. Almost all plants use the energy of the Sun, transforming it through the process of photosynthesis. Animals get energy by eating plants or other animals.
Each species is adapted in a certain way to provide itself with food. Hawks have sharp talons for capturing prey, and the location of the eyes in the front of the head allows them to judge the depth of space, which is necessary for hunting while flying at high speed. Other birds, such as herons, have evolved long necks and legs. They obtain food by carefully wandering through shallow water and lying in wait for unwary aquatic animals. Darwin's finches, a group of closely related bird species from the Galapagos Islands, provide a classic example of highly specialized adaptation to different feeding patterns. Thanks to one or another adaptive morphological changes, primarily in the structure of the beak, some species became granivorous, others became insectivorous.
Turning to fish, predators such as sharks and barracudas have sharp teeth to catch prey. Others, such as small anchovies and herring, obtain small food particles by filtering seawater through comb-like gill rakers.
In mammals, an excellent example of adaptation to the type of nutrition is the structural features of teeth. The canines and molars of leopards and other felines are exceptionally sharp, which allows these animals to hold and tear the body of their prey. Deer, horses, antelopes and other grazing animals have large molars with wide, ribbed surfaces adapted for chewing grass and other plant foods.
A variety of ways to obtain nutrients can be observed not only in animals, but also in plants. Many of them, primarily legumes - peas, clover and others - have developed symbiotic, i.e. mutually beneficial relationship with bacteria: bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen into a chemical form available to plants, and plants provide energy to bacteria. Carnivorous plants such as sarracenia and sundew obtain nitrogen from the bodies of insects captured by trapping leaves.
Adaptation of the child to new social conditions
Diana Berseneva
Adaptation of the child to new social conditions
Adaptation of the child to new social conditions
Adaptation of a child to new social conditions is sometimes very painful. When he first comes to kindergarten, a serious restructuring of all his relationships with people occurs, a breakdown of the usual forms of life. This sudden change conditions can be accompanied by difficult experiences, a decrease in speech and play activity, and often affects the child’s health.
For a child who has not attended a childcare center, everything is unusual: the absence of loved ones, the presence of unfamiliar adults, a large number of children, a , etc. n. The treatment of children by staff is also very different from what they are used to at home. The new environment throws the child off balance and often causes violent reactions in him.
An analysis of the behavior of children in the first days of their stay in a children's institution shows that this process of adaptation, i.e. adaptation to new social conditions, is not always easy and quick for all children. In many children, the adaptation is accompanied by a number of, albeit temporary, serious disturbances in behavior and general condition. Such disturbances include:
• loss of appetite (refusal to eat or malnutrition)
• sleep disturbance (children cannot fall asleep, sleep is short-term, intermittent)
• emotional state changes (children cry a lot, get irritated)
.
Sometimes deeper disorders can be noted:
• increased body temperature
• changes in stool character
• violation of some acquired skills ( the child stops asking to go to the potty, his speech is inhibited, etc.)
The duration of adaptation to new social conditions , as well as the nature of children’s behavior in the first days of their stay in a children’s institution depend on individual characteristics. Children of the same age behave differently: some cry on the first day, refuse to eat, sleep, at every suggestion the adult responds with a stormy protest, but the next day they watch the children’s play with interest, eat well and go to bed calmly; others, on the contrary, on the first day are outwardly calm, somewhat inhibited, fulfill the demands of the teachers without objection, and the next day they part with their mother crying, eat poorly in the following days, do not take part in the game, and begin to feel good only after 6- 8 days or even later.
Below is information that parents and educators can follow to make the adaptation period easier and more painless. So, what parents and educators should know:
1. The more often a child communicates with adults, children in the apartment, in the yard, on the playground, near the house, i.e. in different environments, the faster and more confidently he will be able to transfer the acquired skills and abilities to the kindergarten setting.
2. An informal visit to the kindergarten, i.e. walks around the territory and an accompanying story about the kindergarten, and the story should be very colorful and, undoubtedly, positive. In your story, try to show your child how fun and good it is for other children in kindergarten.
3. Since each admitted child requires a careful individual approach, children should be admitted gradually, 2-3 people at a time, with short breaks (2-3 days)
.
4. In the first days the child should stay in the group for no more than 2-3 hours.
5. For the first visits, it is recommended to spend hours allotted for walks (where the conditions resemble the conditions of a home yard , games: here it is easier for the child to navigate, easier to get to know the teacher and other children. This also allows you to quickly determine the child’s , outline the right approach and relieve emotional stress from first contacts.
6. Parents usually focus their attention on the child’s timely arrival at kindergarten, forgetting that at the same time children witness tears and negative emotions of other children when parting with their parents. There is no need to explain how this affects their mood. Parents should be advised to bring newcomers later not only for a morning walk, but also for an evening walk, when you can draw the child’s attention to how the parents come to pick up their children, how they joyfully meet, how they take the children home, how the children say goodbye to each other. This will help children cope with separation more calmly in the morning, and get used to the fact that a short daily separation does not mean a breakup or rejection from home.
7. Establishing emotional contact between the child and the teacher should be carried out in a familiar environment in the presence of a loved one. On the first day, a short acquaintance with the teacher, aimed at developing interest in kindergarten and establishing contact between the child and the teacher in a new situation.
8. Group excursions in which the teacher, parents and child . Parents can be invited to join the group with the child: the presence of a loved one in the group, even if only temporarily, gives the child the opportunity to calmly navigate new conditions . Support, warmth, confidence that the mother is nearby (playing with the children or just looking at toys with them, helping them get comfortable in a new environment, establish relationships with teachers and peers.
9. In getting used to new conditions, “homely” plays an important role.
: Bring your own toys, familiar and familiar objects with you - all this creates a background of confidence for the child and provides psychological comfort. A favorite, familiar toy captures the child’s attention and helps him take his mind off separation from loved ones.
10. If a newcomer manages to experience at least once, at least in a small way, the joy of success, become confident in obtaining some result and feel needed in the group, then the child will be open and prepared for further life in kindergarten.
11. If a child is lost and clings to his mother, there is no need to insist that he immediately approach a stranger: let him get used to it a little. It is better to find an opportunity to talk together (with the participation of the mother), look at some toy, watch other children play.
12. The lack of unity of the education system in the family and in the child care institution has a negative impact on the course of adaptation , as well as on the behavior of children upon admission to a child care institution.
NECESSARY:
• before admission, find out the regime used in the family, the individual characteristics of the incoming child (questionnaire)
.
• in the first days, do not break the child’s existing habits ; you need to gradually change the regime and accustom the child to a new way of life.
• bring home conditions to the features of kindergarten: introduce elements of the regime, train the child in independence so that he can take care of himself, etc.
Protection.
The environment consists of living and nonliving components. The living environment of any species includes animals that feed on members of that species. Adaptations of predatory species are aimed at efficient food acquisition; Prey species adapt to avoid becoming prey to predators.
Many potential prey species have protective or camouflage colors that hide them from predators. Thus, in some species of deer, the spotted skin of young individuals is invisible against the background of alternating spots of light and shadow, and white hares are difficult to distinguish against the background of snow cover. The long, thin bodies of stick insects are also difficult to see because they resemble twigs or twigs from bushes and trees.
Deer, hares, kangaroos and many other animals have evolved long legs that allow them to escape from predators. Some animals, such as opossums and hog snakes, have even developed a unique behavior called death faking, which increases their chances of survival, since many predators do not eat carrion.
Some types of plants are covered with thorns or thorns that repel animals. Many plants have a disgusting taste to animals.
Environmental factors, in particular climate, often place living organisms in difficult conditions. For example, animals and plants often have to adapt to temperature extremes. Animals escape the cold by using insulating fur or feathers, migrating to warmer climates, or hibernating. Most plants survive the cold by entering a state of dormancy, equivalent to hibernation in animals.
In hot weather, the animal cools itself by sweating or frequent breathing, which increases evaporation. Some animals, especially reptiles and amphibians, are able to enter summer hibernation, which is essentially similar to winter hibernation, but is caused by heat rather than cold. Others are simply looking for a cool place.
Plants can maintain their temperature to some extent by regulating the rate of evaporation, which has the same cooling effect as sweating in animals.
Stages of adaptation in conditions of partial divergence of value systems
The previous stage of J. Szczepanski is relevant only if there is a cardinal discrepancy between the orientation of the individual and the orientations of the new surrounding reality. If there are certain coincidences, then the following stages of social adaptation will be relevant:
- Balancing – it is characterized by the least degree of involvement of the individual in the adaptation processes to the new social environment. More often than not, this stage is associated with recognizing a new situation. The newcomer gets acquainted with the new environment, takes a closer look at the team as a whole and each of its members in particular, establishes social contacts, and studies the specific features of the psychological atmosphere. This stage is completely built on the processes of establishing “equilibrium” between the individual and new conditions for him;
- Pseudo-adaptation. The most striking feature of this stage is the combination of external adaptation to the new environment with a negative attitude towards it. The individual seems to pretend that he is satisfied with the new rules, new conditions and value system, but his inner world completely rejects them. However, in order to avoid some attacks from the outside, as well as discrimination, he has to live in this image;
- Adaptation – this stage is based on recognition and further (primarily internal) acceptance of the basic value systems of the new situation. At this stage, mutual concessions are very important - both from the individual himself and from the host community or team. The individual finds the strength and desire to abandon some of his views and values, while still maintaining freedom of choice and decision;
- Assimilation - a feature of this stage is that there is a reorientation of the individual, an absolute transformation of his values, the previous system of norms and rules of behavior, his worldview. All this happens due to the influence of the environment to which the individual needed to adapt and adapt.
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Note 2
It is worth noting that these stages are individual for everyone, since someone needs to go through all the stages of social adaptation, while for others it will be enough to move from the first stage to the last (from balancing to assimilation) without additional stages.
Reproduction.
A critical step in ensuring the continuity of life is reproduction, the process by which genetic material is passed on to the next generation. Reproduction has two important aspects: the meeting of opposite-sex individuals to exchange genetic material and the raising of offspring.
Among the adaptations that ensure the meeting of individuals of different sexes is sound communication. In some species, the sense of smell plays an important role in this sense. For example, cats are strongly attracted to the smell of a cat in heat. Many insects secrete the so-called. Attractants are chemical substances that attract individuals of the opposite sex. Flower scents are an effective plant adaptation to attract pollinating insects. Some flowers smell sweet and attract nectar-feeding bees; others smell disgusting, attracting flies that feed on carrion.
Vision is also very important for meeting individuals of different sexes. In birds, the male's mating behavior, his lush feathers and bright colors attract the female and prepare her for copulation. Flower color in plants often indicates which animal is needed to pollinate that plant. For example, flowers pollinated by hummingbirds are colored red, which attracts these birds.
Many animals have developed ways to protect their offspring in the early stages of life. Most adaptations of this kind are behavioral and involve actions by one or both parents that increase the chances of survival of the young. Most birds build nests that are specific to each species. However, some species, such as the cowbird, lay eggs in the nests of other bird species and entrust the young to the parental care of the host species. In many birds and mammals, as well as some fish, there is a period when one of the parents takes great risks, taking on the function of protecting the offspring. Although this behavior sometimes threatens the death of the parent, it ensures the safety of the offspring and the preservation of genetic material.
A number of animal and plant species use a different reproductive strategy: they produce a huge number of offspring and leave them unprotected. In this case, the low chances of survival of an individual growing individual are balanced by the large number of offspring.
Settlement.
Most species have developed mechanisms to remove offspring from the places where they were born. This process, called dispersal, increases the likelihood that offspring will grow up in unoccupied territory.
Most animals simply avoid places where there is too much competition. However, evidence is accumulating that dispersal is driven by genetic mechanisms.
Many plants have adapted to dispersing seeds with the help of animals. Thus, the fruits of the cocklebur have hooks on the surface, with which they cling to the fur of passing animals. Other plants produce tasty, fleshy fruits, such as berries, that are eaten by animals; the seeds pass through the digestive tract and are “sown” intact elsewhere. Plants also use wind to spread. For example, the wind carries the “propellers” of maple seeds, as well as cottonweed seeds, which have tufts of fine hairs. Steppe plants such as tumbleweeds, which acquire a spherical shape by the time the seeds ripen, are driven by the wind over long distances, dispersing seeds along the way.
Above were just some of the most striking examples of adaptations. However, almost every trait of any species is the result of adaptation. All these signs form a harmonious combination, which allows the body to successfully lead its own special way of life. Man in all his features, from the structure of the brain to the shape of the big toe, is the result of adaptation. Adaptive traits contributed to the survival and reproduction of his ancestors, who had the same traits. In general, the concept of adaptation is of great importance for all areas of biology.
To survive in unfavorable climatic conditions, plants, animals and birds have some features. These features are called “physiological adaptations,” examples of which can be seen in almost every species of mammal, including humans.
Types of adaptation
There are two main types of child adaptation to school:
Socio-psychological adaptation
When a child goes to first grade, he acquires a new status - a school student. Along with the change in status, a reassessment of values occurs: everything related to educational activities becomes important. The child finds himself in a new team, he is surrounded by unfamiliar faces. At this point, the teacher and parent play an important role. They help set the child up for a positive emotional attitude towards school.
To go through the adaptation period harmoniously, it is important to pay special attention to the following skills:
Cognitive abilities
The development of cognitive abilities in most children is a natural process. But this does not mean that you should not pay attention to more successful development of this skill. In older preschool age, this skill develops in parallel with memory, attention, thinking and cognitive interests. If all of the above processes develop harmoniously, adaptation will occur faster and the student’s body will expend less energy.
Creative thinking
Nowadays it is important to think “not like everyone else.” The meaning of the concept of “black sheep” is now changing dramatically. The attitude towards people with bright creative thinking is also changing. Parents should not be scared if their child knows how to be “creative” and think outside the box. In the future, this may be a good help for getting out of some critical situations.
Self-organization
When starting school, the child finds himself in a system where strict time limits work: lessons, breaks, additional tasks - all at a certain time. The ability to manage and distribute your time is a very important skill for a first grader.
In addition, the development of logic, imagination, and communication is important.
Physiological adaptation
A huge physical load falls on the shoulders of a schoolchild: mental in the form of mastering new knowledge and physical - a static position during the educational process. The greater the load, the more energy the body expends. It is important not to miss the moment of fatigue.
Why is physiological adaptation necessary?
Living conditions in some parts of the planet are not entirely comfortable, nevertheless, there are various representatives of wildlife there. There are several reasons why these animals did not leave the unfavorable environment.
First of all, climatic conditions may have changed when a certain species already existed in a given area. Some animals are not adapted to migration. It is also possible that territorial features do not allow migration (islands, mountain plateaus, etc.). For a certain species, changed habitat conditions still remain more suitable than in any other place. And physiological adaptation is the best option to solve the problem.
What is adaptation?
Adaptation means adaptability or habituation. This is the process of gradual degeneration of the physiological, morphological or psychological functions of a creature in a changed environment. Both individuals and entire populations are subject to change.
A striking example of direct and indirect adaptation is the survival of flora and fauna in the zone of increased radiation around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Direct adaptability is characteristic of those individuals that managed to survive, get used to it and begin to reproduce; some did not survive the test and died (indirect adaptation).
Since the conditions of existence on Earth are constantly changing, the processes of evolution and adaptation in living nature are also a continuous process.
A recent example of adaptation is a change in the habitat of a colony of green Mexican aratinga parrots. Recently, they changed their usual habitat and settled in the very mouth of the Masaya volcano, in an environment constantly saturated with highly concentrated sulfur gas. Scientists have not yet provided an explanation for this phenomenon.
What do you mean by adaptation?
Physiological adaptation is the harmony of organisms with a specific habitat. For example, the comfortable stay of its inhabitants in the desert is due to their adaptation to high temperatures and lack of access to water. Adaptation is the appearance of certain characteristics in organisms that allow them to get along with some elements of the environment. They arise during the process of certain mutations in the body. Physiological adaptations, examples of which are well known in the world, are, for example, the ability to echolocation in some animals (bats, dolphins, owls). This ability helps them navigate in a space with limited lighting (in the dark, in water).
Physiological adaptation is a set of reactions of the body to certain pathogenic factors in the environment. It provides organisms with a greater likelihood of survival and is one of the methods of natural selection for strong and resilient organisms in a population.
Physiology of adaptation
The word adaptation comes from the Latin adaptacio - adaptation. The entire life of a person, both healthy and sick, is accompanied by adaptation. Adaptation takes place to the change of day and night, seasons, changes in atmospheric pressure, physical activity, long flights, new conditions when changing place of residence..
In 1975, at a symposium in Moscow, the following formulation was adopted: physiological adaptation is the process of achieving stability in the level of activity of control mechanisms of functional systems, organs and tissues, which ensures the possibility of long-term active life of the animal and human body in altered conditions of existence and the ability to reproduce healthy offspring .
The entire sum of various effects on the human and animal body is usually divided into two categories. Extreme factors are incompatible with life; adaptation to them is impossible. In conditions of extreme factors, life is possible only if there are special means of life support. For example, flight into space is possible only in special spacecraft, which maintain the required pressure, temperature, etc. Man cannot adapt to the conditions of space. Subextreme factors - life under the influence of these factors is possible due to the restructuring of the physiologically adaptive mechanisms that the organism itself has. With excessive strength and duration of action of the stimulus, a subextreme factor can turn into an extreme one.
The process of adaptation at all times of human existence plays a decisive role in the preservation of humanity and the development of civilization. Adaptation to lack of food and water, cold and heat, physical and intellectual stress, social adaptation to each other and, finally, adaptation to hopeless stressful situations, which runs like a red thread through the life of every person.
There is genotypic adaptation as a result when, on the basis of hereditary mutations and natural selection, the formation of modern species of animals and plants occurs. Genotypic adaptation has become the basis of evolution because its achievements are fixed genetically and are inherited.
The complex of species-specific hereditary characteristics—the genotype—becomes the point of the next stage of adaptation acquired in the process of individual life. This individual or phenotypic adaptation is formed during the interaction of an individual with the environment and is ensured by deep structural changes in the organism.
Phenotypic adaptation can be defined as a process that develops during an individual’s life, as a result of which the organism acquires previously absent resistance to a certain environmental factor and thus gains the opportunity to live in conditions previously incompatible with life and solve problems previously insoluble.
At the first meeting with a new environmental factor, the body does not have a ready-made, fully formed mechanism that ensures modern adaptation. There are only genetically determined prerequisites for the formation of such a mechanism. If the factor does not act, the mechanism remains unformed. In other words, the genetic program of an organism does not provide for a pre-formed adaptation, but the possibility of its implementation under the influence of the environment. This ensures the implementation of only those adaptive reactions that are vitally necessary. In accordance with this, the fact that the results of phenotypic adaptation are not inherited should be considered beneficial for the conservation of the species.
In a rapidly changing environment, the next generation of each species risks encountering completely new conditions, which will require not the specialized reactions of ancestors, but the potential, remaining, for the time being, untapped opportunity to adapt to a wide range of factors.
Urgent adaptation is the body's immediate response to the action of an external factor, carried out by avoiding the factor (avoidance) or by mobilizing functions that allow it to exist despite the action of the factor.
Long-term adaptation - a gradually developing factor response ensures the implementation of reactions that were previously impossible and existence in conditions that were previously incompatible with life.
The development of adaptation occurs through a number of phases.
1. Initial phase of adaptation - develops at the very beginning of the action of both physiological and pathogenic factors. First of all, under the influence of any factor, an indicative reflex arises, which is accompanied by inhibition of many types of activities that manifest themselves up to this moment. After inhibition, an excitation reaction is observed. Excitation of the central nervous system is accompanied by increased function of the endocrine system, especially the adrenal medulla. At the same time, the functions of blood circulation, respiration, and catabolic reactions are enhanced. However, all processes occur in this phase uncoordinated, insufficiently synchronized, uneconomical and are characterized by urgent reactions. The stronger the factors acting on the body, the more pronounced this adaptation phase is. Characteristic of the initial phase is the emotional component, and the strength of the emotional component determines the “triggering” of autonomic mechanisms that are ahead of somatic ones.
2. Phase - transitional from initial to stable adaptation. It is characterized by a decrease in the excitability of the central nervous system, a decrease in the intensity of hormonal changes, and the shutdown of a number of organs and systems initially included in the reaction. During this phase, the body's adaptive mechanisms seem to gradually switch to a deeper, tissue level. This phase and the processes accompanying it are relatively little studied.
3. Sustainable adaptation phase . It is actually an adaptation - an adaptation and is characterized by a new level of activity of tissue, membrane, cellular elements, organs and systems of the body, rebuilt under the cover of auxiliary systems. These shifts provide a new level of homeostasis, an adequate organism to other unfavorable factors - the so-called cross-adaptation develops. Switching the body’s reactivity to a new level of functioning is not given to the body “for free”, but occurs with tension in the control and other systems. This tension is usually called the cost of adaptation. Any activity of an adapted organism costs it much more than under normal conditions. For example, physical activity in mountainous conditions requires 25% more energy.
Since the phase of stable adaptation is associated with constant tension of physiological mechanisms, functional reserves in many cases can be depleted, the most depleted link being hormonal mechanisms.
Due to the depletion of physiological reserves and disruption of the interaction of neurohormonal and metabolic mechanisms of adaptation, a condition arises that is called maladaptation . The disadaptation phase is characterized by the same shifts that are observed in the initial adaptation phase - again, auxiliary systems - breathing and blood circulation - come into a state of increased activity, energy in the body is wasted uneconomically. Most often, maladaptation occurs in cases where functional activity in new conditions is excessive or the effect of adaptogenic factors increases and their strength approaches extreme ones.
If the factor that caused the adaptation process ceases, the body gradually begins to lose the acquired adaptations. With repeated exposure to a subextreme factor, the body's ability to adapt can be increased and adaptive shifts can be more perfect. Thus, we can say that adaptation mechanisms have the ability to train and therefore the intermittent action of adaptogenic factors is more favorable and determines the most stable adaptation.
The key link in the mechanism of phenotypic adaptation is the relationship between function and genotypic apparatus that exists in cells. Through this relationship, the functional load caused by the action of environmental factors, as well as the direct influence of hormones and mediators, lead to an increase in the synthesis of nucleic acids and proteins and, as a consequence, to the formation of a structural trace in the systems specifically responsible for the adaptation of the body to this particular environmental factor. In this case, the mass of membrane structures responsible for the cell’s perception of control signals, ion transport, energy supply, i.e., increases to the greatest extent. precisely those structures that imitate the function of the cell as a whole. The resulting system trace is a complex of structural changes that ensure the expansion of the link that imitates the function of cells and thereby increases the physiological power of the dominant functional system responsible for adaptation.
After the cessation of the effect of this environmental factor on the body, the activity of the genetic apparatus in the cells responsible for the adaptation of the system decreases quite sharply and the systemic structural trace disappears.
Stress.
When exposed to extreme or pathological stimuli leading to tension in the adaptation mechanisms, a condition called stress occurs.
The term stress was introduced into medical literature in 1936 by Hans Selye, who defined stress as a state of the body that occurs when any demands are placed on it. Various stimuli give stress their own characteristics due to the emergence of specific reactions to qualitatively different influences.
There are successively developing stages in the development of stress.
1. Reaction of anxiety, mobilization . This is an emergency phase, which is characterized by disruption of homeostasis, increased processes of tissue breakdown (catabolism). This is evidenced by a decrease in total weight, a reduction in fat depots, and a decrease in certain organs and tissues (muscle, thymus, etc.). Such a generalized mobile adaptive reaction is not economical, but only emergency.
The products of tissue breakdown apparently become building materials for the synthesis of new substances necessary for the formation of general nonspecific resistance to a damaging agent.
2. Resistance stage . It is characterized by the restoration and strengthening of anabolic processes aimed at the formation of organic substances. An increase in the level of resistance is observed not only to this irritant, but also to any other. This phenomenon, as already indicated, is called
cross resistance.
3. Stage of exhaustion with a sharp increase in tissue breakdown. With excessively strong impacts, the first emergency stage can immediately go into the depletion stage.
Later works by Selye (1979) and his followers established that the mechanism of stress response is triggered in the hypothalamus under the influence of nerve impulses coming from the cerebral cortex, reticular formation, and limbic system. The hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal cortex system is activated and the sympathetic nervous system is excited. The greatest role in the implementation of stress is taken by corticoliberin, ACTH, HST, corticosteroids, and adrenaline.
Hormones, as is known, play a leading role in the regulation of enzyme activity. This is important under stress conditions when there is a need to change the quality of an enzyme or increase its quantity, i.e. in adaptive changes in metabolism. It has been established, for example, that corticosteroids can influence all stages of the synthesis and breakdown of enzymes, thereby providing “tuning” of the body’s metabolic processes.
The main direction of action of these hormones is the urgent mobilization of the body’s energy and functional reserves, and there is a directed transfer of the body’s energy and structural reserves to the dominant functional system responsible for adaptation, where a systemic structural trace is formed. At the same time, the stress reaction, on the one hand, potentiates the formation of a new systemic structural trace and the formation of adaptation, and on the other, due to its catabolic effect, it contributes to the “erasure” of old structural traces that have lost their biological significance - therefore, this reaction is a necessary link in the integral mechanism adaptation of the organism in a changing environment (reprograms the adaptive capabilities of the organism to solve new problems).
Biological rhythms.
Fluctuations in the change and intensity of processes and physiological reactions, which are based on changes in the metabolism of biological systems, caused by the influence of external and internal factors. External factors include changes in illumination, temperature, magnetic field, intensity of cosmic radiation, seasonal and solar-lunar influences. Internal factors are neuro-humoral processes that occur in a certain, hereditarily fixed rhythm and pace. The frequency of biorhythms ranges from a few seconds to several years.
Biological rhythms caused by internal factors of changes in activity with a period of 20 to 28 hours are called circadian or circadian. If the period of rhythms coincides with the periods of geophysical cycles, and is also close or multiple to them, they are called adaptive or ecological. These include diurnal, tidal, lunar and seasonal rhythms. If the period of the rhythms does not coincide with periodic changes in geophysical factors, they are designated as functional (for example, the rhythm of heart contractions, breathing, cycles of motor activity - walking).
Based on the degree of dependence on external periodic processes, exogenous (acquired) rhythms and endogenous (habitual) rhythms are distinguished.
Exogenous rhythms are caused by changes in environmental factors and can disappear under certain conditions (for example, suspended animation when the external temperature decreases). Acquired rhythms arise in the process of individual development as a conditioned reflex and persist for a certain time under constant conditions (for example, changes in muscle performance at certain hours of the day).
Endogenous rhythms are innate, preserved under constant environmental conditions and are inherited (these include most functional and circadian rhythms).
The human body is characterized by an increase in the daytime and a decrease in the night hours of physiological functions that ensure its physiological activity of heart rate, minute blood volume, blood pressure, body temperature, oxygen consumption, blood sugar, physical and mental performance, etc.
Under the influence of factors that change with daily frequency, external coordination of circadian rhythms occurs. The primary synchronizer in animals and plants is, as a rule, sunlight; in humans it is also social factors.
The dynamics of circadian rhythms in humans are determined not only by innate mechanisms, but also by the daily pattern of activity developed during life. According to most researchers, the regulation of physiological rhythms in higher animals and humans is carried out mainly by the hypothalamic-pituitary system.
Adaptation to long flight conditions
In conditions of long flights and trips when crossing many time zones, the human body is forced to adapt to the new cycle of day and night. The body receives information about the intersection of time zones due to influences also associated with changes in the influence of both the magnetic and electric fields of the Earth.
Disorder in the system of interaction of biorhythms characterizing the course of various physiological processes in the organs and systems of the body is called desynchronosis. With desynchronosis, complaints of poor sleep, decreased appetite, irritability are typical, there is a decrease in performance and a phase mismatch with time sensors of contraction frequency, respiration, blood pressure, body temperature and other functions, the reactivity of the body changes. This condition has a significant adverse effect on the adaptation process.
The leading role in the process of adaptation in the conditions of the formation of new biorhythms is the function of the central nervous system. At the subcellular level in the central nervous system, destruction of mitochondria and other structures is noted.
At the same time, regeneration processes develop in the central nervous system, which ensure restoration of function and structure by 12-15 days after the flight. The restructuring of the central nervous system function when adapting to changes in daily periods is accompanied by a restructuring of the functions of the endocrine glands (pituitary gland, adrenal glands, thyroid gland). This leads to changes in the dynamics of body temperature, the intensity of metabolism and energy, and the activity of systems, organs and tissues. The dynamics of the restructuring are such that if in the initial stage of adaptation these indicators are reduced during the daytime hours, then upon reaching a stable phase they move in accordance with the rhythm of day and night. In space conditions, habitual biorhythms are also disrupted and new biorhythms are formed. Various functions of the body are rebuilt to a new rhythm at different times: the dynamics of higher cortical functions within 1-2 days, heart rate and body temperature within 5-7 days, mental performance within 3-10 days. The new or partially changed rhythm remains fragile and can be destroyed quite quickly.
Adaptation to low temperature.
The conditions under which the body must adapt to cold may vary. One of the possible options for such conditions is working in cold shops or refrigerators. In this case, the cold acts intermittently. In connection with the accelerated pace of development of the Far North, the issue of adapting the human body to life in northern latitudes, where it is exposed not only to low temperatures, but also to changes in light conditions and radiation levels, is currently becoming relevant.
Cold adaptation is accompanied by major changes in the body. First of all, the cardiovascular system reacts to a decrease in ambient temperature by restructuring its activity: systolic output and heart rate increase. A spasm of peripheral vessels is observed, as a result of which the skin temperature decreases. This leads to a decrease in heat transfer. As adaptation to the cold factor changes in skin blood circulation become less pronounced, therefore, in acclimatized people, the skin temperature is 2-3″ higher than in non-acclimatized people. In addition, at
they observe a decrease in the temperature analyzer.
Reducing heat transfer during cold exposure is achieved by reducing moisture loss through breathing. Changes in vital capacity and diffusion capacity of the lungs are accompanied by an increase in the number of red blood cells and hemoglobin in the blood, i.e. an increase in oxygen capacity - everything is mobilized to sufficiently supply the body’s tissues with oxygen in conditions of increased metabolic activity.
Since, along with a decrease in heat loss, oxidative metabolism increases - the so-called chemical thermoregulation, in the first days of stay in the North, the basal metabolism increases, according to some authors, by 43% (subsequently, as adaptation is achieved, the basal metabolism decreases almost to normal).
It has been established that cooling causes a tension reaction - stress. The hormones of the pituitary gland (ACTH, TSH) and adrenal glands are primarily involved in its implementation. Catecholamines have a calorigenic effect due to the catabolic effect, glucocorticoids promote the synthesis of oxidative enzymes, thereby increasing heat production. Thyroxine ensures an increase in heat production, and also potentiates the calorigenic effect of norepinephrine and adrenaline, activates the mitochondrial system - the main energy stations of the cell, and uncouples oxidation and phosphorylation.
Stable adaptation is achieved due to the restructuring of RNA metabolism in neurons and neuroglia of the hypothalamic nuclei; lipid metabolism is intensified, which is beneficial for the body to intensify energy processes. People living in the North have increased levels of fatty acids in the blood, and glucose levels are slightly
decreases.
The formation of adaptation in northern latitudes is often associated with certain symptoms: shortness of breath, fatigue, hypoxic phenomena, etc. These symptoms are a manifestation of the so-called “polar tension syndrome.”
In some people in the North, the defense mechanisms and adaptive restructuring of the body can lead to a breakdown - disadaptation. In this case, a number of pathological symptoms called polar disease appear.
Human adaptation to the conditions of civilization
The factors that cause adaptation are largely common to animals and humans. However, the process of adaptation of animals is, in essence, mainly physiological in nature, while for humans the process of adaptation is closely connected, moreover, with the social aspects of his life and his personality qualities.
A person has at his disposal a variety of protective (protective) means that civilization gives him - clothing, houses with an artificial climate, etc., which free the body from the load on some adaptive systems. On the other hand, under the influence of protective technical and other measures in the human body, physical inactivity occurs in the activity of various systems and the person loses fitness and trainability. Adaptive mechanisms are detrained and become inactive - as a result, there is a decrease in the body's resistance.
Increasing overload with various types of information, production processes that require increased mental stress, are characteristic of people employed in any sector of the national economy. Factors that cause mental stress come to the fore among the numerous conditions that require adaptation of the human body. Along with factors that require the activation of physiological mechanisms of adaptation, purely social factors operate - relationships in a team, subordinate relationships, etc.
Emotions accompany a person when changing place and living conditions, during physical exertion and overexertion, and, conversely, when forced restriction of movements.
The reaction to emotional stress is nonspecific; it was developed during evolution and at the same time serves as an important link that “launches” the entire neurohumoral system of adaptation mechanisms. Adaptation to the effects of psychogenic factors proceeds differently in individuals with different types of GNI. In extreme types (cholerics and melancholics), such adaptation is often unstable; sooner or later, factors affecting the psyche can lead to a breakdown in the IRR and the development of neuroses.
Adaptation to information deficiency
Partial loss of information, for example, turning off one of the analyzers or artificially depriving a person of one of the types of external information leads to adaptive shifts of the type of compensation. Thus, in the blind, tactile and auditory sensitivity is activated.
Relatively complete isolation of a person from any irritation leads to disruption of sleep patterns, the appearance of visual and auditory hallucinations and other mental disorders that can become irreversible. Adaptation to complete deprivation of information is impossible.
Types of physiological adaptation
Adaptation of the organism is distinguished between genotypic and phenotypic. Genotypic is based on the conditions of natural selection and mutations that led to changes in organisms of an entire species or population. It was in the process of this type of adaptation that modern species of animals, birds and humans were formed. The genotypic form of adaptation is hereditary.
The phenotypic form of adaptation is due to individual changes in a particular organism for a comfortable stay in certain climatic conditions. It can also develop due to constant exposure to an aggressive environment. As a result, the body acquires resistance to its conditions.
Human coping mechanisms
There are three types of human adaptation:
- Physiological. The simplest examples are acclimatization and adaptation to changes in time zones or daily work patterns. In the process of evolution, different types of people were formed, depending on the territorial place of residence. Arctic, alpine, continental, desert, equatorial types differ significantly in physiological indicators.
- Psychological adaptation. This is a person’s ability to find moments of understanding with people of different psychotypes, in a country with a different level of mentality. Homo sapiens tend to change their established stereotypes under the influence of new information, special occasions, and stress.
- Social adaptation. A type of addiction that is unique to humans.
All adaptive types are closely related to each other; as a rule, any change in habitual existence causes in a person the need for social and psychological adaptation. Under their influence, mechanisms of physiological changes come into play, which also adapt to new conditions.
This mobilization of all body reactions is called adaptation syndrome. New reactions of the body appear in response to sudden changes in the environment. At the first stage - anxiety - there is a change in physiological functions, changes in the functioning of metabolism and systems. Next, protective functions and organs (including the brain) are activated and begin to turn on their protective functions and hidden capabilities. The third stage of adaptation depends on individual characteristics: a person either joins a new life and returns to normal (in medicine, recovery occurs during this period), or the body does not accept stress, and the consequences take a negative form.
Complex and cross adaptations
Complex adaptations occur in certain climatic conditions. For example, the body gets used to low temperatures during a long stay in the northern regions. This form of adaptation develops in every person when moving to a different climate zone. Depending on the characteristics of a particular organism and its health, this form of adaptation proceeds in different ways.
Cross adaptation is a form of habituation of the organism in which the development of resistance to one factor increases resistance to all factors of this group. A person's physiological adaptation to stress increases his resistance to some other factors, for example, to cold.
Based on positive cross-adaptations, a set of measures has been developed to strengthen the heart muscle and prevent heart attacks. Under natural conditions, those people who have more often encountered stressful situations in their lives are less susceptible to the consequences of myocardial infarction than those who led a calm lifestyle.
The concept of adaptation and its main characteristics
Features of psychological adaptation to preschool educational institutions in somatically weakened young children Read more: Psychological aspects of a child’s adaptation to a preschool institution
1.1 The concept of adaptation and its main characteristics
The concept of adaptation, in its broadest definition, means the correspondence between a living system and external conditions, and adaptation is both a process and a result, that is, a certain organization. From a physiological point of view, adaptation is the restructuring of an internal dynamic stereotype depending on changes in external conditions.
I.P. Pavlov believed that external living conditions, the external environment, are an external stereotype. “When changing the usual way of life,” noted I.P. Pavlov, “when habitual activities are stopped, violations of the old dynamic stereotype and difficulties in establishing a new one arise” [29, p.102].
Adaptation (adjustment) is the process of active interaction of an organism with its environment. Both animals and humans adapt to one or another habitat: fish - to water, birds - to air. Man - to exist in certain climatic and geographical conditions. This is a biological adaptation. But, unlike animals, a person must have the ability to adapt to social conditions, since any social environment requires adequate forms of behavior from him (work, leisure, family, etc.), i.e., in addition to the biological, a person is capable to social adaptation [41, p.231].
With all the existing differences in the interpretation of adaptation, the main thing invariably stands out - the universal nature of the tendency to establish equilibrium between the components of real systems. Therefore, it is no coincidence that over time the concept of adaptation moved into functional, and then into social psychology.
The most important contribution to the development of the concept of adaptation was made by Jean Piaget.
Adaptation (from the Latin adaptatio - adaptation), according to J. Piaget, ensures a balance between the influence of the organism on the environment and the reverse influence of the environment or, which is the same thing, balance in the interaction of subject and object.
It was J. Piaget, in his concept, who first began to consider the relationship between a person and the social microenvironment as a homeostatic balancing, transferring the concept of homeostasis from the body to the individual.
In the works of domestic psychologists, the theory of adaptation receives further development. So, A.N. Leontiev, turning to the concept of J. Piaget, objected to the “unconditional, without proper analysis” extension of the concept of homeostasis (in the meaning of “adaptation”) to human ontogenetic development. Indeed, human adaptation to living conditions is fundamentally different from the adaptive behavior of animals and is more flexible and inventive. The process of human adaptation to reality occurs under the control of consciousness.
Moreover, each person, due to his individual psychological characteristics (type of nervous system, life experience, etc.), has individual adaptive mechanisms, and, consequently, his own type of adaptation.
In understanding the essence of human adaptation to new conditions, several main approaches have been outlined in the domestic psychological and pedagogical literature. YES. Andreeva believes that “adaptation means adapting, adapting an individual to new conditions, getting used to them.”
B.G. Rubin, Yu.S. Kolesnikov defines this concept as “the process of active mastery of social roles.”
The concept of mental adaptation is considered as a result of the activity of an integral self-governing system (at the level of “operational rest”), while emphasizing its systemic organization. But with this consideration, the picture remains incomplete. It is necessary to include the concept of need in the formulation. The maximum possible satisfaction of current needs is therefore an important criterion for the effectiveness of the adaptation process. Consequently, mental adaptation can be defined as the process of establishing an optimal match between the individual and the environment during the implementation of human activity, which (the process) allows the individual to satisfy current needs and realize significant goals associated with them, while ensuring at the same time compliance with the maximum activity of a person, his behavior, environmental requirements.
The fate of a person is largely determined by the level of his adaptability - the innate and acquired ability to adapt to the entire diversity of life under any conditions. There are highly, moderately and lowly adaptive people. The innate foundations of adaptability are instincts, temperament, body constitution, emotions, innate intellect and abilities, external data and the physical state of the body. The level of adaptability increases or decreases under the influence of upbringing, training, conditions and lifestyle.
As a result of adaptation processes in childhood, the main motivational, instrumental and stylistic personality traits are formed. The first relate to a person’s interests, to the goals and objectives that he sets for himself, to his basic needs and motives of behavior. Instrumental traits include a person’s preferred means of achieving appropriate goals and satisfying current needs, while stylistic traits relate to temperament, character, modes of behavior, and manners [15, p.67].
Adaptation is the level of actual adaptation of a person, the level of his social status and sense of self, satisfaction or dissatisfaction with himself and his life. A person can be harmonious and adapted, or disharmonious and maladapted. Disadaptation is always psychosomatic (of both soul and body) and occurs in three forms; neurotic (neuroses), aggressive-protest and capitulative-depressive (psychosomatic diseases and behavioral disorders). Adaptability depends on the individual characteristics of the child. Individual characteristics include such psychological properties of a person as: abilities, temperament, emotionality.
At the same time, human adaptability is ensured by evolutionarily selected and appropriate innate abilities of his nature.
Features of psychological adaptation to preschool educational institutions in somatically weakened young children Read more: Psychological aspects of a child’s adaptation to a preschool institution
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Types of adaptive reactions
There are two types of adaptive reactions of the body. The first type is called “passive adaptations”. These reactions take place at the cellular level. They characterize the formation of the degree of resistance of the body to the effects of negative environmental factors. For example, a change in atmospheric pressure. Passive adaptation allows you to maintain the normal functionality of the body with small fluctuations in atmospheric pressure.
The most well-known physiological adaptations in animals of the passive type are the protective reactions of a living organism to the effects of cold. Hibernation, during which life processes slow down, is characteristic of some species of plants and animals.
The second type of adaptive reactions is called active and involves the body’s protective measures when exposed to pathogenic factors. In this case, the internal environment of the body remains constant. This type of adaptation is characteristic of highly developed mammals and humans.
Causes
Psychological adaptation is formed under the influence of a number of factors, i.e. this mechanism can be considered multifactorial. All causes of this syndrome can be divided into two large categories:
- Factors of exogenous nature;
- Factors of endogenous nature.
In most cases, exogenous mechanisms lead to the emergence or activation of adaptation mechanisms, i.e. external factors.
Exogenous include:
- Physical factors such as fluctuations in atmospheric pressure or ambient temperature;
- Chemical - increased or decreased concentration of oxygen, carbon dioxide in the environment, prolonged fasting, various types of intoxication with chemical agents;
- Biological – the addition of an infection with the formation of intoxication of the body with metabolic products of bacteria.
Endogenous causes include:
- Organ failure or a pronounced decrease in the functional activity of any organ;
- Excess or deficiency of biologically active substances in the body.
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Stress and general adaptation syndrome are inseparable from each other, and the relationship between the degree of stress and adaptation factors is formed due to the above reasons.
The reactivity of the body plays an important role in the formation of the adaptation syndrome. Without sufficient reactivity, the dynamics of the development of compensatory-adaptive reactions will not be observed.
