Hyperbolization, imagination in psychology - what is it?

Definition of socialization

Before discussing this topic, it is necessary to understand what socialization as such is.

Psychological science says that socialization

is the process of an individual’s entry into a social system, mastering its norms, rules of behavior, values, knowledge and skills, and psychological attitudes.

Another, “unofficial” definition says that socialization is what allows a person to live in harmony with the world around him. How is this harmony achieved?

Man is the only creature who, let’s say, is not born by himself. Any animal at birth belongs to a certain species - the same one to which its parents belonged. And only a person, in order to obtain the characteristics inherent to his species, is obliged to undergo a long and complex process of socialization, individual forms of which occur throughout his entire life. In fact, if a newborn is left in the forest and there he randomly survives, then he will not learn to speak, or build, or even hunt. Certain forms of learning, of course, exist in many animals, but they take place only for a short time; an animal that has not undergone “socialization” still has a great chance of surviving and producing offspring, since the basic skills are embedded in its instincts. Long and complex socialization is observed only in higher primates, which proves that this phenomenon did not arise suddenly, but was inherited from our animal ancestors and evolved over thousands of years.

The connection between education and socialization

Both socialization and education are aimed at mastering moral standards. But there are differences. The first is aimed at the development of spiritual qualities, the spiritual health of society, the second is the development of personal qualities. One cannot exist without the other. If society does not strive for spiritual healing, socialization becomes a standard adaptation. A society striving for sustainable formation and development of personality ensures harmony of freedoms, rights, and responsibilities of all citizens. If the social system is maintained by coercive methods, the society cannot be called healthy.

Organization of social education at school

Socialization is influenced by upbringing and other factors. It is impossible to form a personality from scratch only through the educational influence of school; before entering an educational institution, the child is already influenced by the family and microenvironment.

Unlike socialization, which always takes place spontaneously, education is a directed process; it is considered as a mechanism, a means of controlling normal entry into social life. Its main function is to regulate the influence of the social environment and create conditions for successful development.

Socialization is a continuous process; a person interacts with its factors throughout his life. Education is discrete. It is systematic, but carried out by special organizations limited in time and space.

Types of socialization

Socialization is a difficult, even contradictory process. In the process of his development, an individual becomes acquainted with both humanity as a whole and individual groups of people who have their own rules, goals and guidelines.

Therefore, experts distinguish several types of this phenomenon:

• Primary socialization
  begins at the birth of a child and ends with the formation of a mature personality. It lays the foundations for all subsequent development of a person, and to some extent determines the scenario of his future life. The family is of greatest importance, because it is the first thing a child sees in his life. It is necessary to keep in mind that children perceive what they see around them uncritically, therefore they regard the behavior of adults in the family as basic, standard. Alcoholism and sloppiness, unsanitary conditions in the house - all this is “imprinted” in the child’s mind and can remain with him for life if he does not go through the subsequent stages of socialization. And vice versa - intelligence and cleanliness learned in the family will also accompany him in the future. In the future, kindergarten, school, a group of friends and peers become new social environments, where the child has to get accustomed to a new environment and act in accordance with new rules.
• Secondary socialization, or resocialization
  , is the process of eliminating previous patterns of behavior and learning new ones. This process continues throughout the individual's life. During resocialization, a person experiences a complete break with his past and feels the need to assimilate new values ​​that are strikingly different from those that he previously adhered to. Typically, the changes that occur during secondary socialization are less than during primary socialization.
• Group socialization
  is a process that takes place within a social group. So, if a child spends more time with his peers than in the family, then he more actively adopts the norms and rules inherent in the peer group.
• Gender socialization
  is a process that involves learning the role of a man or woman in society. At the same time, boys learn to be men, and girls learn to be women. In the past, gender socialization was an important and necessary part of a person's entry into society, but nowadays gender has largely ceased to have any meaning. Equality of rights and opportunities eliminates the need to “command” and “obey”, and representatives of both sexes have the opportunity to master the same professions, occupy the same positions and take on the same social roles (for example, in a family, both parents can take turns working and raising children, either the wife works, and the husband looks after the household and raises the children, or “the old fashioned way” - the husband works, and the wife takes care of the household and children). The principles of gender socialization are still strong in traditional, backward societies (in the countries of Asia and Africa), but even there they are gradually losing their position.
• Organizational socialization
  is a process in which an individual who is part of an organization learns its norms and rules and masters the skills of his work within its framework.
• Early socialization
  is the process of mastering norms, rules and skills that do not correspond to the current level of physical, psychological and social development. First of all, this type of socialization is understood as a game - a kind of “rehearsal” for future social activity.

Personality is...?

Personality is a concept that is a social characteristic of a person.

The qualities that determine the uniqueness of a particular person are formed under the influence of relationships with surrounding people, under the influence of processes occurring in society. Each social system shapes a person’s personality through education - a process with clearly defined goals and thought out to the smallest detail.

Read further: Personal development in society

To become an individual, a person must learn social experience and, on the other hand, give his contribution to society within his means. At the same time, he reveals and demonstrates his qualities inherent in him by nature and formed by society through upbringing. In the process of human development, his spiritual, mental and physical characteristics move from quantitative changes to qualitative ones.

Stages of socialization

Socialization is a complex and gradual process that takes place in several stages. The first step should be social adaptation. This is the name given to the active adaptation of an individual to the conditions of the social environment in which he finds himself. It is believed that adaptation takes place at three levels - physiological, psychological and social.

On the physiological

stage, a person explores a new environment for himself, enters into new social connections and studies his capabilities, which will help him to realize himself in a given social group. At this time, the individual actively communicates and gets used to living by new rules, after which he tries to make his own efforts to achieve results that are relevant for the given team.

At the stage of individualization

a person is already firmly aware of himself as a unit of society. In fact, the formation of a personality takes place - an individual who has his own beliefs, abilities, skills, and his own assessment of what is happening. If at the first stage of socialization he learns to be like others in everything, then at the next stage he tries to become unlike others, having his own characteristics, which, however, are part of the general system of values ​​and are regulated by it.

However, individualization is a rather subjective process. The assimilation of general rules and common experience and self-realization in a social group occur differently for each person. Some, for example, decide to become as conformal as possible, that is, to follow the norms and rules in everything; Such pedantry in some individuals reaches the point of absurdity. Others, during socialization, overcome stereotypes, break certain rules and behave non-standardly, however, ensuring the overall development of the group. Finally, still others destroy the very foundations of a given social group, resulting in either its disintegration or the expulsion of a given individual from the group.

The next stage of socialization is integration

. This term came to social science from exact and natural disciplines - mathematics, biology, physics; and it means the process of acceptance of personality by other members of a social group. Society reaches some consensus - agrees to at least “tolerate” a newcomer who promises to live at least by basic general rules and not interfere with others. More successful integration occurs if the newcomer is useful in some way to a given social group; For this individual, society is even ready to forgive certain “weaknesses” and inconsistencies.

It should be noted that the complete absence of any discrepancies in socialization is undesirable, at least in developed societies. Absolute conformism is usually perceived as one of the forms of deviant behavior, because a conformist does not bring anything useful to society. The main part of a particular social group has a certain “degree of freedom,” but in such a way as not to violate the foundations of this group. However, in undeveloped, primitive societies, absolute conformism is encouraged; in such societies the slightest deviation from the norm, even if it is beneficial to the entire group, is persecuted and eliminated. In such societies, each person is obliged to hold a spoon in a strictly defined hand at dinner, get out of bed on a strictly defined leg, chew food at a strictly defined speed of jaw movement, etc. An example of such a society is the population of Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world. In developed societies, rules and norms are perceived only as a means to help organize all members of the group into a system; and in primitive societies, norms and rules are an end in themselves, and socialization comes down to memorizing them.

Types of education

There are mental, physical, and labor education. According to another classification - moral, physical, labor, aesthetic. Legal, gender, economic, and environmental are often added.

What qualities to cultivate? The basis can be considered the content proposed by the Russian teacher Karakovsky, who identified universal human values: Man, Family, Knowledge, Work, Culture, Earth, Fatherland, Peace. Acceptance of values ​​gives rise to positive traits, moral qualities, correct needs, and actions.

Personal education is divided into models that depend on the development of society at various historical stages, the ratio of social groups, and socio-political orientation. It is enough to recall the foundations of a totalitarian and democratic society, which differ in value systems and require the formation of different personality traits.

Education takes place in two ways:

• By communicating, explaining socially significant goals, principles, values, and norms of behavior. The method eliminates the possibility of searching and making mistakes. It is based on the processing of a person’s existing motivations for understanding his relationship to reality.
• With the help of special conditions created to form cognitive interest and stimulate active socially useful activities.

The first method is traditional, the second is modern. Both of them are effective when used together and complement each other.

Stages of personality socialization

It has been noted that one of the main goals of socialization is to overcome one’s egocentrism. Entering any social group requires an understanding that “you are not alone.” This is considered one of the signs of growing up. It is known that a child up to a certain age perceives himself as the center of the universe, and this is his natural state. Subsequently, we observe what is called youthful maximalism: the teenager continues to consider himself “the very best,” the one and only, but is faced with an abundance of the same “one and only” around him. This leads to conflicts, often serious ones.

Individuals who have not undergone socialization for some reason retain for a long time the characteristics characteristic of children or “newcomers.” Those around them perceive them as infantile and narrow-minded people, but in reality everything is more complicated. If in adulthood the passion inherent in adolescents for learning new things, active communication, and mastering new skills and abilities remains, then this can only be welcomed. At the same time, egocentrism and difficult experiences of one’s failures are clearly undesirable signs for a mature personality.

An example of insufficient socialization in adulthood is belief in “alternative histories” - the writings of Nosovsky and Fomenko, Chudinov and other pseudoscientific freaks. The point here is not only about political, “patriotic” and selfish motives. It’s just that a child, just starting to explore the world and discovering something new, strives to share his discovery with others; parents and other older members of society, to play along with him, share his joy.

During his school years, a teenager is faced with the impossibility of being a pioneer in the modern world: everything he learns about has already been discovered by someone, and his “discovery” is no longer of great value to others. A mentally healthy person gradually gets used to this situation and finds unexplored areas where he can show his skills and give something new to society. And a mentally disabled person experiences rejection from this situation; Instead of searching for unexplored areas, he is eager to “rediscover” what has already been discovered, to create a sensation and receive the laurels of a discoverer, which, as he is sure, simply must belong to him.

The biography of Anatoly Fomenko, the author of the famous pseudoscientific “New Chronology,” very clearly presents us with just such a person - an unsocialized intellectual who, for the sake of the honor of being a discoverer, is ready to commit any lie and achieve his goal by any means. For a long time he eked out the life of a “lesser” mathematician, compiled standard textbooks on geometry for students and was content with a modest salary. In the end, he got tired of it, he realized that the modest and routine work of teaching did not bring happiness, and decided to do something loud and sensational. In his native field, geometry, it is very difficult to become a discoverer, but history is a different matter. Written in collaboration with the equally unsocialized intellectual Gleb Nosovsky, “New Chronology” instantly became a bestseller; Many uneducated readers of this work seriously call Fomenko a “prophet.”

It was said above that school becomes an important environment for primary socialization. Indeed, the task of school is not only to provide some knowledge on various subjects, but also to teach how to live in society. In many countries, special techniques are used for this purpose. For example, in the United States, schools do not have stable classrooms; When a student enrolls in school, he chooses which subjects he will study, and at each lesson he finds himself in a new classroom, in a completely new team. Such socialization is very useful, especially in the USA, because a significant part of the population of this country lives in very small settlements where “everyone knows each other,” but excessive attachment to “one’s own corner” can create problems in the future when it is necessary to change place of residence (in connections with study, work, etc.).

Most Russians live in cities and towns with significantly larger populations, so they do not feel an urgent need for this type of school in our country. At the same time, another type of socialization is required - the ability to work in a stable team, which a Russian-style school can handle quite well.

Social education as a process of personality development

Education is changing a person in a direction given by society, satisfying the needs of society through this process. With its help, the social and historical experience of society is transmitted to the new generation, the personality is purposefully formed in order to prepare it for life in society and for work for the benefit of this society.

Social education is the purposeful activity of society to form an individual who has a worldview, life aspirations, moral and aesthetic attitudes that fit into the framework accepted by this society.

The essence of social education:

• Introducing the individual to the values ​​of culture, art, literature, morality;
• Individualization of personality, development of one’s “I”, conscious traits and principles of behavior.

This process does not stop throughout human life. “Everything flows, everything changes,” said the classic, our world is constantly moving, and a person, in order to maintain his own comfort, has to adapt to the demands of society. The essence of a person cannot be frozen; it changes over the years. Since man is a social being, life in society requires constant adaptation and continuous change.

Phases of personality socialization:

• The individual internalizes social norms and values;
• The personality strives for self-actualization, to influence other members of society;
• The individual integrates into a social group, in which his capabilities are revealed.

The stages of social development of an individual in the modern interpretation may have several different options, depending on what parameters underlie qualifications. Stages of personality socialization depending on age:

• Childhood is where about 70% of the personality traits and qualities are laid, as well as the foundations of socialization. Here the understanding of one’s own “I” naturally occurs.
• Adolescence - the formation of personality is accompanied by rapid changes in physiology, the volume of responsibilities assigned to a person increases sharply.
• Early maturity (youth) - the individual faces a decisive choice, deciding which layer of society to join, because he chooses a social society for a long time.
• Maturity (the period lasts 30 years before the crisis) – the formation of such aspects of socialization as labor relations and personal life, love, friendship occurs. A person makes up his own opinion about himself based on the perception of the sexual aspects of life and labor relations.

Formation of social attitudes

Let us note that their formation is gradual and sometimes even imperceptible. After all, what we generalized today becomes a firm belief for us in a couple of weeks.

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Mental activity works according to a specific algorithm developed on generalizations and assessments. This program makes the functioning of the brain much easier. After all, every time a person encounters a phenomenon that is already familiar to him, he does not have to waste energy on analyzing it. Since he already has a scheme that leads to quick actions.

The main characteristic of this phenomenon is its versatility. After all, at the same time it represents skills and abilities, sensations and emotions, reactions and the desire to act in a certain way.

But attitude can not only help, but also create obstacles. Of course, with its help we focus on important things, but at the same time, such patterns can lead to the wrong path. I will help you understand what is good and what is not, and also get rid of interfering beliefs in my personal consultation.

I have already talked about how social attitudes are related to individual behavior and what it is in general. But such a complex concept categorically cannot be viewed from one angle. After all, the term exists in different areas of psychology. Which is worth mentioning.

Behaviorist approach

Behaviorism implies that an individual's actions depend on the influence of the external environment. An individual is just a complex of behavioral reactions (actions that help to avoid or, conversely, adapt to reality). And everything that does not belong to materiality - thoughts, emotions, consciousness - cannot be studied and used to correct behavior. Only how a person reacts to certain situations and motives is considered real.

In this regard, the attitude in this movement represents an intermediate category between an objective stimulus (any influence of reality on the body) and the surrounding world. People have virtually no influence on its formation. This happens thanks to:

1. Positive reinforcement - when actions are rewarded, an attitude appears.
2. Observation. The personality looks at others and analyzes the consequences of their actions.
3. Formation of a connection between stimulation and existing social factors.

Cognitive approach

It was formed on the basis of several theories (dissonance according to L. Festinger, congruence according to C. Osgood and P. Tannenbaum and communicative acts according to T. Newcome). But one thing generalizes them - this is a person’s desire to come to internal agreement.

In simpler terms, the emergence of such attitudes is based on the fact that the individual wants to resolve his personal contradictions that have arisen due to the inconsistency of values ​​among themselves.

Motivational

Followers of this method categorically reject the behaviorist method and believe that the individual is by no means a passive participant, but, on the contrary, an active participant. After all, she is capable of forming, changing and modifying her own views and actions. And this is done by weighing all the pros and cons.

I will highlight two theories for the implementation of attitudes:

1. Expected benefits - the individual estimates the maximum benefit from whether or not he accepts the new value.
2. Cognitive response - occurs in connection with a positive or negative reaction.

Genetic approach

Proponents of this category explain the formation of attitudes from a genetic point of view, namely:

• intelligence abilities;
• innate character traits and temperament;
• biochemical factors.

Plus, they assume the existence of acquired aspects of behavior, but innate ones, in their opinion, are much stronger.

Structural

Its “foundation” is based on the idea that attitude is a function of a system of interpersonal relationships. The individual compares his views with those of others and tries to understand how to change his own for more productive socialization.

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What are socialization mechanisms?

Human socialization begins at birth and continues throughout life. To better understand the issue, it is necessary to carefully study the essence of this phenomenon. It is also necessary to define the main mechanisms that take part in this process.

Socialization is the process of a person acquiring certain values, norms and knowledge that help him function in society as a full member.

Its actions are aimed at:

• social adaptation of the individual (adjustment) so that he can feel like “everyone”;
• individualization (isolation) of a person so that she can have and follow her own opinion;
• adaptation (adaptation) for searching and determining a place in life.

In the process of active activity, a person assimilates social experience and turns it into his own achievements, then reproduces it for the development of subsequent generations. The whole process takes place through interaction with peculiar “helpers”, which are called socialization mechanisms.