From the point of view of significance for society and for the individual, individual social attitudes occupy an “unequal” position in the system and form a kind of hierarchy. This fact is reflected in the well-known dispositional concept of the regulation of the social behavior of a person by V.A. Yadova (1975). It identifies four levels of dispositions as formations that regulate the behavior and activities of the individual. The first level includes simply attitudes (in the understanding of D.N. Uznadze) that regulate behavior at the simplest, mostly everyday level; to the second - social attitudes, which, according to V. A. Yadov, come into effect at the level of small groups; the third level includes the general orientation of the interests of the individual (or basic social attitudes), reflecting the attitude of the individual to his main spheres of life (profession, social activity, hobbies, etc.); on the fourth, highest level, there is a system of value orientations of the individual.

Despite the fact that V. A. Yadov uses such concepts as disposition, orientation of the interests of the individual and value orientations, his concept does not conflict with the theory of social attitude. It is only the restriction of the role of the social attitude to the second and third levels that raises doubts. The fact is that in terms of their psychological functions and structure, value orientations are also social attitudes. They include knowledge and appreciation of the values ​​of a particular society and the behavior corresponding to them. They really differ from other social attitudes, but only by the highest social and personal significance of their objects, and by their psychological nature they do not stand out in any way from common system social settings.

Each individual also has his own, subjective hierarchy of social attitudes according to the criterion of their psychological significance only for him, which does not always coincide with the socially recognized hierarchy.

For some person, the meaning of life and highest value is the creation of a family and the upbringing of children; and for the other in the foreground - building a career at any cost, which is for him the main value orientation in life.

According to the concept of V. A. Yadov, such dispositions rightly belong to the second and third levels, and according to subjective personal criteria, they turn out to be the highest in their value for the individual. An explanation and confirmation of this approach to the problem of the hierarchy of social attitudes can be found in the concept common values and personal meanings of social objects A.N. Leontiev (1972).

This concept shows that the same social object (event, process, phenomenon, etc.), which has an unambiguous interpretation from the standpoint of the values ​​and norms of society, acquires a different personal meaning for individual individuals.

Consequently, in addition to the dispositional concept of V. A. Yadov, the criterion of which is the social significance of objects of social attitudes of various levels, one can recognize the existence of subjective hierarchies of social attitudes built according to the criterion of their psychological and personal significance for each specific individual.

Thus, the social attitude, being itself a systemic formation, is included in other, more complex systems that are formed according to different criteria, and the interaction of these complex systems is the ultimate regulator of the behavior and activity of the individual.

Formation social attitudes Personality answers the question: how is the acquired social experience refracted by the Personality and concretely manifests itself in its actions and deeds?

The concept that to a certain extent explains the choice of motive is the concept of social attitude.

There is a concept of installation and attitude - social installation.

The setting is considered general psychologically - the readiness of consciousness for a certain reaction, an unconscious phenomenon (Uznadze).

attitude in the twentieth century (1918) suggested Thomas And Znaniecki. Psychological experience by a person of values, meaning, meaning of social objects. The ability to generalize to assess the world around.

The tradition of studying social attitudes has developed in Western social psychology and sociology. In Western social psychology, the term "attitude" is used to denote social attitudes.

The concept of attitude was defined as " psychological experience by an individual of the value, meaning, meaning of a social object", or how " the state of consciousness of an individual with respect to some social value».

attitude understood by all as:

A certain state of consciousness and NS;

Expressing readiness for a reaction;

Organized;

Based on prior experience;

Having a guiding and dynamic influence on behavior.

Thus, the dependence of attitude on previous experience and its important regulatory role in behavior were established.

Attitude functions:

adaptive(utilitarian, adaptive) - the attitude directs the subject to those objects that serve to achieve his goals.

Knowledge function- Attitude gives simplified indications of the way of behavior in relation to a particular object.

expression function(values, self-regulation) - the attitude acts as a means of releasing the subject from internal tension, expressing oneself as a person.

Protection function- Attitude contributes to the resolution of internal conflicts of the Personality.

Through the assimilation of attitudes occurs socialization.

Allocate:

Basic- system of beliefs (the core of the Personality). It is formed in childhood, systematized in adolescence, and ends in 20-30 years, and then does not change and performs a regulatory function.

Peripheral- situational, can change from the social situation.

Installation system is a system basic And peripheral installations. It is individual for each person.

In 1942 M. Smith was determined three-component installation structure:

cognitive component- awareness of the object of the social attitude (what the attitude is aimed at).

Emotional. component(affective) - assessment of the installation object at the level of sympathy and antipathy.

Behavioral Component- the sequence of behavior in relation to the installation object.

If these components are coordinated with each other, then the installation will perform a regulatory function.

And in case of mismatch of the installation system, a person behaves differently, the installation will not perform a regulatory function.

Types of social attitudes:

1. Social installation on the object - the willingness of the individual to behave in a specific way. 2. Situational attitude - the willingness to behave in a certain way in relation to the same object in different ways in different situations. 3. Perceptual attitude - willingness to see what a person wants to see.4. Partial or particular installations and general or generalized installations. Installation on the object - always private installation, a perceptual attitude becomes common when a large number of objects become objects of social attitudes. The process from particular to general goes as it increases. Types of attitudes according to their modality: 1. positive or positive,

2.negative or negative,

3.neutral,

4.ambivalent social attitudes (ready to behave both positively and negatively) - marital relations, managerial relations.

One of the main problems that arise in the study of social attitudes is the problem of changing them. Routine observations show that any of the dispositions that a particular subject has can change. The degree of their variability and mobility depends, of course, on the level of a particular disposition: the more complex the social object, in relation to which a person has a certain disposition, the more stable it is. If we take attitudes as a relatively low (compared to value orientations, for example) level of dispositions, then it becomes clear that the problem of changing them is especially relevant. Even if social psychology learns to recognize in which case a person will demonstrate a divergence of attitude and real behavior, and in which he will not, the forecast of this real behavior will also depend on whether or not the attitude changes to one or another during the period of interest to us. an object. If the attitude changes, the behavior cannot be predicted until the direction in which the attitude change will occur is known. The study of the factors that cause changes in social attitudes becomes a task of fundamental importance for social psychology (Magun, 1983).

Nominated a lot various models explaining the process of changing social attitudes. These explanatory models are built in accordance with the principles that are applied in a particular study. Since most studies of attitudes are carried out in line with two main theoretical orientations - behaviorist and cognitivist, explanations based on the principles of these two directions have received the greatest distribution.

In behavioristically oriented social psychology (studies of K. Hovland's social attitudes), the principle of learning is used as an explanatory principle for understanding the fact of changing attitudes: a person's attitudes change depending on how the reinforcement of one or another social attitude is organized. By changing the system of rewards and punishments, it is possible to influence the nature of the social attitude, to change it.

However, if the attitude is formed on the basis of the previous life experience, social in its content, then change is also possible only under the condition<включения> social factors. Reinforcement in the behavioral tradition does not involve these kinds of factors. The subordination of the social attitude itself to higher levels of dispositions once again justifies the need to address the entire system of social factors, and not just the direct one, when studying the problem of changing attitudes.<подкреплению>.

In the cognitivist tradition, the change in social attitudes is explained in terms of the so-called correspondence theories: F. Haider, T. Newcomb, L. Festinger, C. Osgood, P. Tannenbaum (Andreeva, Bogomolova, Petrovskaya, 1978). This means that a change in attitude occurs every time a discrepancy arises in the cognitive structure of an individual, for example, a negative attitude towards an object and a positive attitude towards a person who gives this object a positive characteristic collide. Inconsistencies can also occur for various other reasons. It is important that the incentive for changing the attitude is the need of the individual to restore cognitive conformity, i.e. orderly,<однозначного>perception of the outside world. When such an explanatory model is adopted, all social determinants of changes in social attitudes are eliminated, so key issues again remain unresolved.

In order to find an adequate approach to the problem of changing social attitudes, it is necessary to imagine very clearly the specific socio-psychological content of this concept, which lies in the fact that this phenomenon is due to<как фактом его функционирования в социальной системе, так и свойством регуляции поведения человека как существа, способного к активной, сознательной, преобразующей производственной деятельности, включенного в сложное переплетение связей с другими людьми>(Shikhirev, 1976, p. 282). Therefore, in contrast to the sociological description of the change in social attitudes, it is not enough to identify only the totality of social changes that precede the change in attitudes and explain them. At the same time, in contrast to the general psychological approach, it is also not enough to analyze only the changed conditions<встречи>needs with the situation of its satisfaction.

A change in the social attitude should be analyzed both in terms of the content of objective social changes affecting a given level of dispositions, and in terms of changes in the active position of the individual, caused not simply by<в ответ>on the situation, but due to circumstances generated by the development of the personality itself. It is possible to fulfill the indicated requirements of the analysis under one condition: when considering the installation in the context of activity. If a social attitude arises in a certain sphere of human activity, then its change can be understood by analyzing changes in the activity itself. Among them, in this case, the most important change in the relationship between the motive and the purpose of the activity, because only in this case the personal meaning of the activity changes for the subject, and hence the social attitude (Asmolov, 1979). This approach makes it possible to build a forecast of changes in social attitudes in accordance with the change in the ratio of the motive and purpose of the activity, the nature of the process of goal formation.

This perspective requires the solution of a number of other issues related to the problem of social attitudes, interpreted in the context of activity. Only the solution of the totality of these problems, the combination of sociological and general psychological approaches, will make it possible to answer the question posed at the beginning of the chapter: what is the role of social attitudes in choosing the motive of behavior.

38. Stages of formation of social attitudes according to J. Godefroy:

1) up to 12 years of age, attitudes that develop during this period correspond to parental models;

2) from 12 to 20 years of age, attitudes acquire a more concrete form, which is associated with the assimilation of social roles;

3) from 20 to 30 years - there is a crystallization of social attitudes, the formation of a system of beliefs on their basis, which is a very stable mental neoplasm;

4) from 30 years - installations are characterized by significant stability, fixity, and are difficult to change.

Changing attitudes aims to add knowledge, change attitudes, views. It depends on the novelty of information, the individual characteristics of the subject, the order of receipt of information and the system of attitudes that the subject already has. Attitudes are more successfully changed through a change in attitude, which can be achieved by suggestion, persuasion of parents, authoritative personalities, and the media.

Cognitivists believe that changing attitudes is influenced by the appearance of inconsistencies in the cognitive structure of the individual. Behaviorists are of the opinion that changing attitudes depends on reinforcement.

To describe and explain the behavior of a person, the term "attitudes" is often used, the totality of which is considered as an integral part of the inner essence of the personality. Attitudes dictate guidelines to a person in the world around him, contribute to the direction of the process of cognition of the world to improve adaptation to its conditions, the optimal organization of behavior and actions in it. They provide a link between cognition and emotions, between cognition and behavior, “explain” to a person what to “expect”, and expectations are an important guideline in obtaining information. Settings help predict human behavior in the workplace and help the worker adapt to the work environment. Thus, they play an important role in the creation of an organizational model of behavior.

For translate English word attitude(“attitude”, sometimes they write “attitude”, - verbal evaluation a person of some object, object or phenomenon) in the OP use similar in meaning (but not synonyms) Russian terms: location, position, disposition, attitude, attitude, social attitude. For brevity, we will use the terms "social attitude" or "attitude". Installation - it is the constant readiness of a person to feel and behave in a certain way in relation to something or someone.

Most modern researchers distinguish the following installation components:

affective component(feelings, emotions: love and hate, sympathy and antipathy) forms an attitude towards the object, prejudice ( negative feelings), attractiveness (positive feelings) and neutral emotions. This is the core component of the installation. The emotional state precedes the organization of the cognitive component;

cognitive (informational, stereotypical) component(perception, knowledge, belief, opinion about the object) forms certain stereotype, model. It can be reflected, for example, by factors of strength, activity;

conative component(effective, behavioral, requiring the application of volitional efforts) determines the way in which behavior is included in the process of activity. This component includes the motives and goals of behavior, the propensity for certain actions. This is a directly observable component, which may not coincide with a verbally expressed readiness to behave in a certain way in relation to a particular object, subject or event.

The following can be distinguished settings properties.

Acquisitions. The vast majority of personality attitudes are not innate. They are formed (family, peers, society, work, culture, language, customs, media) and are acquired by a person on the basis of his own experience (family, work, etc.).

relative stability. The settings exist until something is done to change them.

Variations. Attitudes can range from very favorable to unfavorable.

Directions. Attitudes are aimed at a specific object, to which a person may experience certain feelings, emotions, or have certain beliefs.

Behavioral component - this is the intention to behave in a certain way in response to a feeling, the result of an attitude, a tendency to characteristic actions (Fig. 3.5.1).

Rice. 3.5.1. Communication between the components of the installation

Attitude is a variable that sits between pre-existing expectations, values, and the intention to behave in a certain way. It is important to understand that there may not be a consistent relationship between attitudes and behavior. Setting leads to the intention to behave in some way. This intention may or may not be fulfilled under the circumstances. Although attitude does not always define behavior unequivocally, the relationship between attitude and intention to behave in a certain way is very important for a manager. Think about your work experience or talking to other people about their work. It is not uncommon to hear complaints about someone's "bad attitude". These complaints are made out of dissatisfaction with the behavior that is associated with a bad attitude. Unfavorable attitudes in the form of job dissatisfaction lead to labor turnover (which is costly), absenteeism, lateness, poor productivity, and even poor physical or mental health. Therefore, one of the duties of a manager is to recognize the attitude as well as the antecedents (expectations and values) and predict the possible outcome.

Setting functions

What are the consequences of people having attitudes? This question is answered by the functional theories of the set, formulated by such researchers as V. Katz (1967), V. McGuire (1969), M. Smith, J. Bruner. These researchers formulated four functions of personality attitudes.

1. Ego-defensive function through the protective mechanisms of rationalization or projection, allows the subject: a) to cope with his internal conflict and protect his self-image, his self-concept; b) resist negative information about himself or objects significant to him (for example, a minority group); c) maintain high (low) self-esteem; d) defend against criticism (or use it against the critic). These attitudes come from the internal needs of the individual, and the object to which they are directed may be random. Such settings are not changeable through standard approaches, such as providing the individual with additional information about the object to which the setting is directed.

2. Value-expressive function and the function of self-realization includes emotional satisfaction and self-affirmation and is associated with the most comfortable identity for the individual, being also a means of subjective self-realization. This function allows a person to determine: a) their value orientations; b) what type of personality does he belong to; c) what it is; d) what he likes and what he dislikes; e) his attitude towards other people; e) attitude towards social phenomena. This kind of attitude expression is aimed mainly at asserting the validity of self-understanding and is less focused on other people's opinions. The individual adopts attitudes in order to support or justify their behavior. Researchers cognitive dissonance believe that a person himself forms attitudes in order to justify his behavior.

3. Instrumental, adaptive or utilitarian function helps a person: a) achieve desired goals (for example, rewards) and avoid undesirable results (for example, punishment); b) on the basis of previous experience, develop an idea of ​​the relationship between these goals and ways to achieve them; c) adapt to the environment, which is the basis for his behavior at work in the future. People express positive attitudes towards those objects that satisfy their desires, and negative attitudes towards those objects that are associated with frustration or negative reinforcement.

4. Function of systematization and organization of knowledge (cognition) or economy helps a person to find those norms and points of reference, in accordance with which he simplifies (schematizes), organizes, tries to understand and structure his subjective ideas about the surrounding chaotic world, i.e. constructs his own picture (image, his vision) of the environment.

Controlling the distribution of information seems to be the main function of almost all human attitudes and consists in formation of a simplified view and clear practical guide regarding behavior in relation to certain objects. There are too many complex and not entirely clear phenomena in life, it is impossible to take into account all their features. What a theory is for a scientist, the attitude is for a person in his social life. We can say that attitude is an adaptive simplification that emphasizes aspects of the social object that are important for shaping human behavior.

Attitudes render the individual a great service in expediently carrying out the planned behavior, in satisfying his needs. The installation creates the psychological basis for a person's adaptation to environment and transform it according to specific needs.

Changing settings

Attitudes of employees can sometimes be tried to change if the manager is very interested in such changes. It is necessary to take into account the obstacles along the way. Barriers to change installation: 1) escalation of commitment, the presence of a stable preference for a certain course of action without the desire to change anything. This applies, among other things, to the erroneous decision that the leader continues to insist on; 2) the employee's lack of sufficient information (including feedback in the form of an assessment of the consequences of his behavior by the manager), which could serve as a basis for changing the setting.

How can a manager change the attitudes of his employees? Let us assume that employees are sharply dissatisfied with the level of their wages and it is likely that these settings need to be changed to avoid mass layoffs employees. One approach is to inform employees that the organization is paying them all it can, but is hoping to raise wages in the near future. Another method is to demonstrate that no other similar organization pays its employees more. And, finally, the third way is to accept the attitudes, that is, directly raise the level of wages and thus eliminate the very cause of such discontent. Changing employee attitudes is the goal of many organizational changes and development methods.

Many factors influence the change in personality attitudes, among which are three groups of common factors: 1) faith in the speaker(depends on his prestige and disposition, respect, trust in him); 2) faith in the message itself(his persuasiveness and adherence to the publicly expressed position of the individual); 3) situation(distraction and pleasant environment).

Most Effective ways to change personality settings:

providing new information. In some cases, information about other aspects or goals of the activity will change the person's beliefs, and, as a result, his attitudes;

the impact of fear. Fear can make people change their attitudes. However, for the final result great importance It has average level experienced fear;

resolving the mismatch between attitude and behavior. The theory of cognitive dissonance states that a person tries to actively eliminate dissonance by changing attitudes or behavior;

the influence of friends or colleagues. If a person is personally interested in something specific, he will try to avoid extreme discrepancies between his own behavior and the behavior of other people. On the other hand, if a person is influenced by friends, colleagues, then he will easily change his attitudes;

attraction to cooperation. People who are dissatisfied with the status quo are involved in active work to change the situation;

appropriate compensation, compensating and drowning out the state of discomfort caused by cognitive dissonance.

Changing employee attitudes is challenging, but the potential benefits outweigh the costs.

The cognitive dissonance

All components of the installation must be in a certain correspondence, otherwise the person will experience a state of psychological discomfort (tension), which L. Festinger called cognitive dissonance and from which a person seeks to get rid of different ways, reaching the agreement of the components - cognitive consonance. The cognitive dissonance there is a negative incentive state that occurs in a situation where the subject simultaneously has two psychologically contradictory "knowledge" (cognitions - opinions, concepts) about one object. The state of dissonance is subjectively experienced as a discomfort, from which one seeks to get rid of either by changing one of the elements of dissonant knowledge, or by introducing a new element.

Sources of cognitive dissonance can be: a) logical inconsistency; b) inconsistency of cognitive elements with cultural patterns; c) inconsistency of the given cognitive element with any wider system of representations; d) inconsistency with past experience.

Ways to reduce the amount of dissonance are as follows: changing the behavioral elements of the cognitive structure; change in cognitive elements related to the environment, including the refusal to perceive part of the information about the external environment (the so-called perceptual protection); adding new elements to the cognitive structure and, above all, an updated representation of old elements.

L. Festinger defined dissonance as a consequence of insufficient justification of choice. In an effort to strengthen the justification of an act, a person changes his attitude or his behavior, or changes his attitude towards the objects with which the act is associated, or devalues ​​the value of the act for himself and others. When applying the theory of dissonance, usually no distinction is made between beliefs, attitudes, intentions, behavior and their cognitive representation.

Cognitive dissonance affects people in different ways. We are often faced with situations where our attitudes and views come into conflict with our behavior. Reducing dissonance is the way we deal with feelings of discomfort and tension. When applied to an organization, people who are about to find another job are wondering why they stay here and still work hard. And as a result of the dissonance, they can draw various conclusions: for example, the company is not so bad, that at the moment they have no other alternatives, or that they will quickly find another job and leave.

job satisfaction

The most important attitudes at work are: job satisfaction, commitment to the organization, involvement in work, orientation towards joint activities (on oneself, on others, on rivalry, on cooperation, on confrontation). Let us dwell in more detail on job satisfaction, on the attitude of employees to their work.

job satisfaction is a pleasant positive emotional state arising from the assessment of their work or work experience, which is the result of the perception of the employees themselves of how well the work provides important, from their point of view, needs. In the OP, job satisfaction is considered the most important and often researched installation. Job satisfaction is more inherent in people who feel motivated to work, whose psychological contract is fulfilled and the effort expended corresponds to the reward received.

Obviously, managers should be concerned about the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of their employees with work in this organization. Satisfaction is influenced by organizational factors, group factors (especially the social environment at work), personal factors (traits and inclinations). The two main consequences of satisfaction or dissatisfaction are absenteeism and employee turnover.

The perception of work by an individual is influenced by the internal organizational environment: the style of the leader, the nature of communications and domestic politics firms, technological processes, work planning, working conditions and additional payments, group rates and also the state of the market as a whole. Positive installation determines the constructive behavior of a person at work, a negative attitude towards work with a high degree of probability predicts undesirable actions of an employee (irresponsibility, a decrease in the level of involvement in work, absenteeism, dismissal, theft, etc.).

A significant part of the factors that determine the degree of satisfaction of an employee with work is beyond the control of management, since already established personalities come to the organization with a set of individual characteristics, with an initial predisposition to life satisfaction (people with positive affectation- PA, i.e. an optimistic view of the world) or dissatisfaction (people with negative affectation - ON, i.e., a pessimistic outlook on life). A person's predisposition to PA manifests itself in high self-efficacy, in a sense of inner comfort, in a positive perception of people and a kind attitude towards them. A person's predisposition to ON expressed in nervousness, self-doubt, internal tension, restlessness, anxiety, irritability and a bad attitude towards others, low self-esteem.

Of greatest interest is the knowledge of situational factors in the organization that determine the attitudes of the individual. Let's bring the main factors influencing the feeling of job satisfaction.

1. Salary. Sum monetary reward(wages and benefits) for work that is perceived to be socially fair (compared to other workers' compensation) and consistent with personal expectations.

2. Actually work. The extent to which work tasks are perceived as interesting, intellectual and provide an opportunity for successful learning and acceptance of responsibility, give a certain status and do not lead to excessive psychophysical fatigue.

3. Personal interest in work as such. Labor as a conscious and desired form of human existence (for example, industrious and lazy people, the "syndrome" of a workaholic or types of morbid predilection for work).

4. Opportunities for promotion. Opportunity for growth and various forms career advancement, taking into account the subjective value of remuneration.

5. Leadership style. The ability of a manager to show interest and concern for a subordinate, provide technical and moral support, help reduce role conflict and ambiguity of the situation, create an atmosphere of employee involvement in the decision-making process.

6. Colleagues, co-workers. The degree of competence of colleagues, the level of their readiness to provide social support(goodwill, help, advice, comfort, cooperation, morale), the degree of proximity of basic values.

7. Working conditions, comparable to individual physical needs, which facilitate the solution of tasks. Good conditions(clean, bright, ergonomic) to a certain extent contribute to job satisfaction.

Levels of human satisfaction with each of these factors are different. An employee may feel underpaid (dissatisfaction with the amount of wages), but at the same time his attitude towards others organizational factors may be positive. The satisfaction of people with work within the framework of the working group can be influenced by both colleagues and the leader, manager. The leader can also be considered as one of the organizational factors.

Satisfaction with work can also be considered as a single attitude in relation to various components of the work process (results, vacation time, work schedule, relationships with superiors, career, etc.). Attitudes are formed over a long period of time, and therefore the feeling of satisfaction develops dynamically as information about the workplace becomes available; they can suddenly change the sign "plus" to "minus". It is impossible to create conditions in the organization that once and for all guarantee a high sense of job satisfaction, since it depends on the overall satisfaction of the individual with life.

Research has shown that most workers are not completely satisfied with their jobs, nor are they highly dissatisfied. However, the opinions of different groups of people (youth and older people, men and women, workers and employees) on job satisfaction vary significantly (see sidebar “Interesting experience”).

Job satisfaction is positively correlated with age, length of service, job level, and satisfaction with pay. An employee can only be satisfied with such payment for his work, which he perceives as fair and reflecting the effectiveness of labor. Data on the effect of gender on job satisfaction are conflicting. Provided that the job provides the performer with enough opportunities to test himself, satisfaction with it does not depend on cognitive abilities. Job satisfaction is influenced by job congruence, organizational fairness, ability to use skills and personal qualities person. Losing a job has a detrimental effect on a person's self-esteem and his health. Large-scale layoffs have a negative impact on those who remain in work.

Job satisfaction is a key management concept and is associated with factors such as employee turnover and absenteeism.

Interesting experience

social attitude- orientation of the individual to a certain social object, expressing a predisposition to act in a certain way in relation to this object. A social attitude turns into an active activity under the influence of a motive.

Social attitude (D.N. Uznadze) - an integral dynamic state of the subject, a state of readiness for a certain activity, a state that is determined by two factors: the need of the subject and the corresponding objective situation.

The main position of the social attitude is as follows: the emergence of conscious mental processes is preceded by a state that cannot be considered in any way a non-mental, only a physiological state. We call this state a set - readiness for a certain activity, the occurrence of which depends on the presence of the following conditions:

From the need actually operating in the given organism;

From the objective situation of satisfying this need.

These are two necessary and quite sufficient conditions for the emergence of an attitude - outside the need and the objective situation of its satisfaction, no attitude can be actualized, and there is no case that some other new condition would be necessary for the emergence of any attitude.

The installation is a primary, integral, undifferentiated state. This is not a local process - it is rather characterized by a state of irradiation and generalization. Despite this, based on the data pilot study installation, we are able to characterize it with various points vision.

First of all, it turns out that the set in the initial phase usually appears in the form of a diffuse, undifferentiated state and, in order to obtain a definitely differentiated form, it becomes necessary to resort to repeated exposure of the situation. At one stage or another of this kind of influence, the attitude is fixed, and from now on we are dealing with a certain form of a fixed attitude. The set is developed as a result of the impact on the subject of situations that are quantitatively or qualitatively different, and there is no significant difference between them, and the regularity of the activity of the set in both cases remains essentially the same. This regularity manifests itself in various directions, and it characterizes the state of the subject's attitude from different angles. We have seen that the fixation of the set, as well as its differentiation, is not realized equally quickly (the degree of excitability of the set). We have also seen that the process of damping proceeds with a certain regularity, it goes through a series of stages and only as a result of this reaches the state of liquidation. However, in this case, the fact of individual variations is also revealed: from the point of view of the completeness of liquidation, a static and dynamic attitude is distinguished, and from the point of view of its gradualness, a plastic and rough attitude. It should be noted that the constancy of a fixed attitude is not always the same: it is predominantly labile or, conversely, stable.

In 1942 M. Smith was determined three-component installation structure:

1. cognitive component- awareness of the object of the social attitude (what the attitude is aimed at).
2. Emotional. component(affective) - assessment of the installation object at the level of sympathy and antipathy.
3. Behavioral Component- the sequence of behavior in relation to the installation object.

If these components are coordinated with each other, then the installation will perform a regulatory function.

And in case of mismatch of the installation system, a person behaves differently, the installation will not perform a regulatory function.

In Western social psychology, the term "attitude" was introduced, it was given the definition of "the state of consciousness of an individual with respect to some value social character". The new concept of social attitude "attitude" provoked a boom in research. Scientists (Turnstone) managed to scientifically determine the functions of attitudes:

1) adaptive (adaptive)- attitude directs the subject to those objects that serve to achieve his goals;

2) knowledge function- attitude gives simplified indications of the way of behavior in relation to a particular object;

3) expression function (self-regulation function)-attitude acts as a means of freeing the subject from internal tension, expressing oneself as a person;

4) protection function- Attitude contributes to the resolution of internal conflicts of the individual.
Source: Uznadze D.N., Psychology of installation, St. Petersburg, 2001, "Piter", p. 131-132.
13.Theory of cognitive dissonance

The theory of cognitive dissonance was proposed by Leon Festinger in 1957. It explains conflict situations, which often arise "in the cognitive structure of one person." The theory of cognitive dissonance is one of the "correspondence theories" based on attributing to the individual the desire for a coherent and orderly perception of his attitude to the world. concept "the cognitive dissonance" first introduced to explain changes in opinions, beliefs as a way to eliminate semantic conflict situations.

In the theory of cognitive dissonance, logically contradictory knowledge about the same subject is assigned the status motivation, designed to ensure the elimination of the feeling of discomfort that arises when confronted with contradictions by changing existing knowledge or social attitudes. It is believed that there is a complex of knowledge about objects and people, called the cognitive system, which can be of varying degrees of complexity, consistency and interconnectedness. At the same time, the complexity of a cognitive system depends on the quantity and variety of knowledge included in it. According to the classical definition of L. Festinger, the cognitive dissonance- this is a discrepancy between two cognitive elements (cognitions) - thoughts, experience, information, etc. - in which the denial of one element follows from the existence of the other, and the feeling of discomfort associated with this discrepancy, in other words, the feeling of discomfort arises from a collision in consciousness logically contradictory knowledge about the same phenomenon, event, object. The theory of cognitive dissonance characterizes ways to eliminate or smooth out these contradictions and describes how a person does it in typical cases.

Festinger himself begins the exposition of his theory with the following reasoning: it is noticed that people strive for some consistency as a desired internal state. If there is a conflict between what a person knows and the fact that he does, then they try to somehow explain this contradiction and, most likely, present it as non-contradiction in order to regain a state of internal cognitive coherence. Further, Festinger proposes to replace the terms - "contradiction" with "dissonance", and "consistency" with "consonance", since this last pair of terms seems to him more "neutral", and now formulate the main provisions of the theory.

Leon Festinger formulates two main hypotheses of his theory:

1. In the event of a dissonance, the individual will do his best to reduce the degree of discrepancy between his two attitudes, trying to achieve consonance (correspondence). This is due to the fact that dissonance gives rise to "psychological discomfort".

2. The second hypothesis, emphasizing the first one, says that, in an effort to reduce the discomfort that has arisen, the individual will try to avoid such situations in which the discomfort may increase.

Dissonance may appear various reasons:

1. Dissonance can arise for a reason logical incompatibility. If an individual believes that in the near future man will land on Mars, but at the same time believes that people are still not able to make a spacecraft suitable for this purpose, then these two knowledges are dissonant with respect to each other. The negation of the content of one element follows from the content of another element on the basis of elementary logic.

2. Dissonance can occur due to cultural practices. If a person at a formal banquet holds a chicken leg in his hand, the knowledge of what he is doing is dissonant with respect to the knowledge that determines the rules of formal etiquette during a formal banquet. Dissonance arises for the simple reason that it is this culture that determines what is decent and what is not. In another culture, these two elements may not be dissonant.

3. Dissonance can occur when when one specific opinion is part of a more general opinion. Thus, if a person is a Democrat but votes for a Republican candidate in a given presidential election, the cognitive elements corresponding to these two sets of opinions are dissonant with each other, because the phrase "to be a Democrat" includes, by definition, the need to maintain Democratic candidates.

4. Dissonance can occur based on past experience. If a person gets caught in the rain and yet hopes to stay dry (without an umbrella), then the two knowledges will be dissonant with each other, because he knows from past experience that one cannot stay dry standing in the rain. If one could imagine a person who has never been exposed to rain, then said knowledge would not be dissonant.

There are three ways to reduce dissonance.

1. Changing the behavioral elements of the cognitive structure. Example: a person was going to a picnic, but it started to rain. There is a dissonance - a discrepancy between the "idea of ​​a picnic" and "the knowledge that the weather is bad." Dissonance can be reduced or even prevented by not taking part in the picnic. This is where the ambiguity discussed above comes into play. IN general form this way dissonance reduction is defined as a change in a cognitive element related to behavior (i.e., some judgment, for example: "I'm going to a picnic"), when presenting an example, it is no longer just a change in an element of a cognitive structure, but a change in real behavior, a recommendation of a certain action - To stay home. One gets the impression that dissonance acts here as a motivating factor in behavior, but, strictly speaking, the argument for behavior here is not entirely legitimate: after all, in theoretical terms, we are constantly talking about inconsistencies between two elements of knowledge (or opinions, or beliefs), i.e. e. two cognitive elements. Therefore, from the point of view of the general principles of the theory, a more accurate formulation is that it is possible to reduce dissonance by changing one of the cognitive elements, therefore, excluding the statement “I am going to a picnic” from the cognitive structure, replacing it with another judgment - “I am not going to a picnic”. picnic". It simply says nothing about actual behavior, which is quite "legitimate" if you stay within the proposed theoretical scheme. Of course, it must be assumed that a change in cognition will be followed by a change in behavior, but the relationship between these two stages remains to be explored. In accordance with the strict definition of the essence of dissonance, it must be recognized that it does not act at all as a factor motivating behavior, but only as a factor motivating changes in the cognitive structure. This is especially evident when the second way to reduce dissonance is considered.

2. Changing cognitive elements related to the environment. Example: a person has bought a car, but it is yellow and his friends call it "lemon" disparagingly. In the cognitive structure of the buyer, a dissonance arises between the realization of the fact of acquiring an expensive thing and the lack of satisfaction caused by ridicule. "Opinion of friends" in this case - "element of the environment." How to change this cognitive element? The recommendation is formulated as follows: you need to convince (highlighted by us. - Auth.) friends that the car is perfection. As you can see, this is not a change in the environment as such (in fact, the cognitivist position is already present here at the very definition of the "environment" as a kind of cognitive formation - a set of opinions, beliefs, etc.), i.e. by no means behavioral activity, but the opposition of an opinion to an opinion, the alteration of an opinion, i.e. known activity only in the area of ​​the cognitive sphere.

3. Adding new elements to the cognitive structure, only those that contribute to the reduction of dissonance. The usual example here is again of the smoker who does not quit smoking (does not change behavioral cognitions), cannot change environmental cognitions (cannot silence anti-smoking scientific papers, "terrible" eyewitness accounts), and then begins to collect specific information: for example, about the benefits of a filter in cigarettes, about the fact that such and such has been smoking for twenty years, and what a big guy over there, etc. The phenomenon described here by Festinger is generally known in psychology under the name "selective exposure" and can be considered as a factor motivating only certain "cognitive" activity. Therefore, one cannot overestimate the mention of the motivating role of dissonance that we find in Festinger's theory.

social attitude- the state of the psychological readiness of the individual to behave in a certain way, based on past social experience and regulating the social behavior of the individual. (Allport). In Western social psychology, the term "attitude" is used to refer to social attitudes.

social attitude has 3 components:

1. Cognitive, involving rational activity;
2. Affective (emotional assessment of the object, manifestation of feelings of sympathy or antipathy);
3. Conative (behavioral) implies consistent behavior in relation to the object.

1. Instrumental (adaptive, utilitarian) function: expresses the adaptive tendencies of human behavior, helps to increase rewards and reduce losses. Attitude directs the subject to those objects that serve to achieve his goals. In addition, social attitude helps a person evaluate how other people relate to a social object. Supporting certain social attitudes makes it possible for a person to earn approval and be accepted by other people, since they are more likely to be attracted to someone who has attitudes similar to their own. Thus, an attitude can help identify a person with a group (allows him to interact with people, accepting their attitudes) or leads him to oppose himself to a group (in case of disagreement with the social attitudes of other members of the group).
2. Ego-protective function: social attitude contributes to the solution of internal conflicts of the individual, protects people from unpleasant information about themselves or about social objects that are significant to them. People often act and think in ways that protect themselves from unpleasant information. So, for example, in order to increase their own importance or the importance of their group, a person often resorts to the formation of a negative attitude towards members of the outgroup.
3. Value expression function (self-actualization function): Attitudes enable a person to express what is important to him and organize his behavior accordingly. Carrying out certain actions in accordance with his attitudes, the individual realizes himself in relation to social objects. This function helps a person to self-determine, to understand what he is.
4. Knowledge organization function: based on a person's desire for semantic ordering of the surrounding world. With the help of the attitude, it is possible to evaluate the information coming from the outside world and correlate it with the motives, goals, values ​​and interests that a person has. Installation simplifies the task of learning new information. Through the performance of this function, the attitude is included in the process of social cognition.

Types of social attitudes:

1. Social attitude to the object - the willingness of the individual to behave in a particular way. 2. Situational attitude - the willingness to behave in a certain way in relation to the same object in different ways in different situations. 3. Perceptual attitude - willingness to see what a person wants to see.4. Partial or particular installations and general or generalized installations. An attitude toward an object is always a private attitude; a perceptual attitude becomes general when a large number of objects become objects of social attitudes. The process from particular to general goes as it increases. Types of attitudes according to their modality: 1. positive or positive,
2. negative or negative
3. neutral,
4. ambivalent social attitudes (ready to behave both positively and negatively) - marital relations, managerial relations.

Stereotype- a well-established attitude to ongoing events, developed on the basis of comparing them with internal ideals. The system of stereotypes constitutes the worldview.

The concept of "stereotype" entered the socio-political Western discourse at the suggestion of Walter Lippmann, which he applied in describing his original concept of public opinion in 1922.

According to Lippman, it is possible to derive the following definition: a stereotype is a pattern of perception, filtering, interpretation of information accepted in the historical community when recognizing and recognizing the world around, based on previous social experience. The system of stereotypes is a social reality. Dynamics of Stereotypes: The stereotype starts to operate even before the mind turns on. This leaves a specific imprint on the data that is perceived by our senses even before these data reach the mind. Nothing is more resistant to education or criticism than a stereotype, since it leaves its mark on the actual data at the moment of their perception.

To a certain extent, external stimuli, especially spoken or printed ones, activate some part of the stereotype system, so that the immediate impression and the previously formed opinion appear in consciousness simultaneously.

In cases where experience conflicts with a stereotype, a twofold outcome is possible: if an individual has already lost a certain flexibility or, due to some significant interest, it is extremely inconvenient for him to change his stereotypes, he can ignore this contradiction and consider it an exception that confirms the rule, or find some error, and then forget about this event. But if he has not lost his curiosity or the ability to think, then the innovation integrates into the already existing picture of the world and changes it.

Socialization- the formation of personality - the process of assimilation by an individual of patterns of behavior, psychological attitudes, social norms and values, knowledge, skills that allow him to function successfully in society. Human socialization begins at birth and continues throughout life. In its process, he assimilates the social experience accumulated by mankind in various spheres of life, which allows him to fulfill certain vital social roles. Socialization is considered as a process, condition, manifestation and result of the social formation of personality. Like a process it means social formation and personal development depending on the nature of human interaction with the environment, adaptation to it, taking into account individual characteristics. As a condition, it indicates the presence of the society that a person needs for a natural social development as individuals. As a manifestation, it is a social reaction of a person, taking into account his age and social development in the system of specific social relations. It is used to judge the level of social development. As a result, it is a fundamental characteristic of a person and his characteristics as a social unit of society in accordance with his age.

In sociology, two levels of socialization are distinguished: the level of primary socialization and the level of secondary socialization. Primary socialization occurs in the sphere of interpersonal relations in small groups. The immediate environment of the individual acts as the primary agents of socialization: parents, close and distant relatives, family friends, peers, teachers, doctors, etc. Secondary socialization occurs at the level of large social groups and institutions. Secondary agents are formal organizations, official institutions: representatives of the administration and schools, the army, the state, etc. Mechanisms of socialization: Socialization of a person in interaction with various factors and agents occurs through a number of, relatively speaking, “mechanisms”. Agents + factors = mechanisms of socialization. Subdivided into:

1. Socio-psychological mechanisms
2. Socio-pedagogical mechanisms

TO socio-psychological mechanisms include the following: Imprinting (imprinting) - fixing by a person at the receptor and subconscious levels of the features of vital objects affecting him.

Imprinting occurs predominantly in infancy. However, even at later age stages, it is possible to capture any images, sensations, etc.

existential pressure- mastery of the language and unconscious assimilation of the norms of social behavior, mandatory in the process of interaction with significant persons.

Imitation- following an example, a model. In this case, it is one of the ways of arbitrary and most often involuntary assimilation of social experience by a person. Reflection is an internal dialogue in which a person considers, evaluates, accepts or rejects certain values ​​inherent in various institutions of society, family, peer society, significant persons, etc.

Reflection can be an internal dialogue of several types: between different selves of a person, with real or fictional persons, etc. With the help of reflection, a person can be formed and changed as a result of his awareness and experience of the reality in which he lives, his place in this reality and himself himself.

TO socio-pedagogical mechanisms socialization include the following:

traditional mechanism socialization (spontaneous) is the assimilation by a person of norms, standards of behavior, attitudes, stereotypes that are characteristic of his family and immediate environment (neighborly, friendly, etc.). This assimilation occurs, as a rule, at an unconscious level with the help of imprinting, uncritical perception of the prevailing stereotypes. The effectiveness of the traditional mechanism is very clearly manifested when a person knows “how to”, “what is necessary”, but this knowledge contradicts the traditions of the immediate environment. In this case, the French thinker of the 16th century turns out to be right. Michel Montaigne, who wrote: "... We can repeat our own as much as we like, and custom and generally accepted everyday rules drag us along." In addition, the effectiveness of the traditional mechanism is manifested in the fact that certain elements of social experience, learned, for example, in childhood, but subsequently unclaimed or blocked due to changed living conditions (for example, moving from a village to a big city), can “emerge” in human behavior at the next change in living conditions or at subsequent age stages.

Institutional mechanism socialization, as follows from the name itself, functions in the process of human interaction with the institutions of society and various organizations, both specially created for its socialization, and realizing socializing functions along the way, in parallel with their main functions (production, public, club and other structures, as well as mass media). In the process of human interaction with various institutions and organizations, there is an increasing accumulation of relevant knowledge and experience of socially approved behavior, as well as experience of imitation of socially approved behavior and conflict or non-conflict avoidance of social norms. It must be borne in mind that the media social institution(print, radio, cinema, television) influence the socialization of a person not only through the transmission of certain information, but also through the presentation of certain patterns of behavior of the heroes of books, films, television programs. The effectiveness of this influence is determined by the fact that, as subtly noted back in the 18th century. reformer of Western European ballet, French choreographer Jean Georges Nover, "since the passions experienced by the heroes are more powerful and definite than the passions of ordinary people, it is easier for them to imitate." People according to age and individual features tend to identify themselves with certain characters, while perceiving their characteristic patterns of behavior, lifestyle, etc.

Stylized mechanism socialization operates within a particular subculture. A subculture in general terms is understood as a complex of moral and psychological traits and behavioral manifestations typical of people of a certain age or a certain professional or cultural stratum, which in general creates a certain style of life and thinking of a particular age, professional or social group. But the subculture influences the socialization of a person insofar as and to the extent that the groups of people (peers, colleagues, etc.) who are its carriers are referents (significant) for him.

Interpersonal mechanism socialization functions in the process of human interaction with persons subjectively significant to him. It is based on the psychological mechanism of interpersonal transfer through empathy, identification, etc. Significant persons can be parents (at any age), any respected adult, peer friend of the same or opposite sex, etc. Naturally, significant persons can be members certain organizations and groups with which a person interacts, and if they are peers, then they can also be carriers of an age subculture. But there are often cases when communication with significant persons in groups and organizations can have an impact on a person that is not identical to that which the group or organization itself has on him.