Social behavior social science. Forms of abnormal behavior in society. Social roles of the individual

The concept of "behavior" came to sociology from psychology. The meaning of the term "behavior" is different from the meaning of such traditionally philosophical concepts as action and activity. If action is understood as a rationally justified act that has a clear goal, a strategy that is carried out with the involvement of specific conscious methods and means, then behavior is just a reaction of a living being to external and internal changes. This reaction can be both conscious and unconscious. So, purely emotional reactions - laughter, crying - are also behavior.

Social behavior is a set of human behavioral processes associated with the satisfaction of physical and social needs and arising as a reaction to the surrounding social environment. The subject of social behavior can be an individual or a group.

If we abstract from purely psychological factors and reason at the social level, then the individual's behavior is determined primarily by socialization. The minimum of innate instincts that a person possesses as a biological being is the same for all people. Behavioral differences depend on the qualities acquired in the process of socialization and, to some extent, on congenital and acquired psychological individual characteristics.

In addition, the social behavior of individuals is regulated by the social structure, in particular the role structure of society.

the individual - to coordinate his behavior with the ideal model or model accepted by society. The American sociologist R. Linton defines social behavior that corresponds to status expectations as a social role. This interpretation of social behavior is closest to functionalism, since it explains behavior as a phenomenon determined by social structure. R. Merton introduced the category of "role complex" - a system of role expectations determined by a given status, as well as the concept of a role conflict that occurs when the role expectations of the statuses occupied by the subject are incompatible and cannot be realized in some single socially acceptable behavior.

The functionalist understanding of social behavior was subjected to fierce criticism from, first of all, representatives of social behaviorism, who believed that it was necessary to build a study of behavioral processes on the basis of the achievements of modern psychology. The extent to which psychological moments were really overlooked by the role-based interpretation of behavior follows from the fact that N. Cameron tried to substantiate the idea of the role-based determinism of mental disorders, believing that mental illness is the incorrect performance of one's social roles and the result of the patient's inability to perform them in the way that society needs. Behaviorists argued that in the time of E. Durkheim, the successes of psychology were insignificant and therefore the functionalist paradigm met the requirements of the time, but in the 20th century, when psychology reached a high level of development, its data cannot be ignored when considering human behavior.

13.1. Concepts of human behavior

Human behavior is studied by many areas of psychology - in behaviorism, psychoanalysis, cognitive psychology, etc. The term "behavior" is one of the key in existential philosophy and is used in the study of a person's relationship to the world. The methodological possibilities of this concept are due to the fact that it allows you to identify the unconscious stable structures of the personality or the existence of a person in the world. Among the psychological concepts of human behavior that have had a great influence on sociology and social psychology, we should first of all name the psychoanalytic trends developed by 3. Freud, K.G. Jung, A. Adler.

Freud's ideas are based on the fact that the behavior of an individual is formed as a result of a complex interaction of levels of his personality. Freud distinguishes three such levels: the lowest level is formed by unconscious impulses and urges determined by innate biological needs and complexes formed under the influence of the subject's individual history. Freud calls this level It (Id) to show its separation from the conscious Self of the individual, which forms the second level of his psyche. The Conscious Self includes rational goal setting and responsibility for one's actions. The highest level is the Super-I - what we would call the result of socialization. This is a set of social norms and values internalized by an individual, which exerts internal pressure on him in order to force out of consciousness undesirable (forbidden) impulses and inclinations for society and prevent them from being realized. According to Freud, the personality of any person is an ongoing struggle between the id and the superego, which loosens the psyche and leads to neuroses. Individual behavior is wholly conditioned by this struggle and fully explained by it, since it is only a symbolic reflection of it. Such symbols can be images of dreams, slips of the tongue, slips of the tongue, obsessions, and fears.

CG concept. Jung expands and modifies Freud's teaching, including in the sphere of the unconscious not only individual complexes and drives, but also the collective unconscious - the level of key images common to all people and peoples - archetypes. Archaic fears and value representations are fixed in archetypes, the interaction of which determines the behavior and attitude of the individual. Archetypal images appear in the basic narratives - folk tales and legends, mythology, epic - historically specific societies. The socially regulating role of such narratives in traditional societies is very great. They contain ideal behaviors that shape role expectations. For example, a male warrior should act like Achilles or Hector, a wife should act like Penelope, and so on. Regular recitations (ritual reproductions) of archetypal narratives constantly remind the members of society of these ideal patterns of behavior.

Adler's psychoanalytic concept is based on the unconscious will to power, which, in his opinion, is an innate personality structure and determines behavior. It is especially strong in those who, for one reason or another, suffer from an inferiority complex. In an effort to compensate for their inferiority, they are able to achieve great success.

Further splitting of the psychoanalytic direction led to the emergence of many schools, in disciplinary terms occupying a border position between psychology, social philosophy, and sociology. Let us dwell in detail on the work of E. Fromm.

The positions of Fromm - a representative of neo-Freudianism in psychology and the Frankfurt School in sociology - can be more accurately defined as Freudo-Marxism, since along with the influence of Freud, he was no less strongly influenced by Marx's social philosophy. The peculiarity of neo-Freudianism in comparison with orthodox Freudianism is due to the fact that, strictly speaking, neo-Freudianism is more of a sociology, while Freud is, of course, a pure psychologist. If Freud explains the individual's behavior by complexes and impulses hidden in the individual unconscious, in short, by internal biopsychic factors, then for Fromm and Freudo-Marxism as a whole, the individual's behavior is determined by the surrounding social environment. This is his similarity with Marx, who explained the social behavior of individuals in the final analysis by their class origin. Nevertheless, Fromm seeks to find a place for the psychological in social processes. According to the Freudian tradition, referring to the unconscious, he introduces the term "social unconscious", meaning by it a mental experience that is common to all members of a given society, but for most of them it does not fall on the level of consciousness, because it is displaced by a special social mechanism in its nature, belonging not to an individual, but to society. Thanks to this mechanism of displacement, society maintains a stable existence. The mechanism of social repression includes language, the logic of everyday thinking, a system of social prohibitions and taboos. The structures of language and thinking are formed under the influence of society and act as an instrument of social pressure on the psyche of the individual. For example, coarse, anti-aesthetic, absurd abbreviations and abbreviations of "Newspeak" from the Orwellian dystopia actively disfigure the consciousness of people who use them. To one degree or another, the monstrous logic of formulas like: "The dictatorship of the proletariat is the most democratic form of power" became the property of everyone in Soviet society.

The main component of the mechanism of social repression is social taboos that act like Freudian censorship. That in the social experience of individuals that threatens the preservation of the existing society, if it is realized, is not allowed into consciousness with the help of a "social filter". Society manipulates the minds of its members by introducing ideological clichés that, due to frequent use, become inaccessible to critical analysis, withholding certain information, exerting direct pressure and causing fear of social exclusion. Therefore, everything that contradicts socially approved ideological clichés is excluded from consciousness.

Such taboos, ideologemes, logical and linguistic experiments form, according to Fromm, the "social character" of a person. People belonging to the same society, against their will, are, as it were, marked with the seal of a “common incubator”. For example, we unmistakably recognize foreigners on the street, even if we do not hear their speech, by their behavior, appearance, attitude towards each other; these are people from a different society, and, getting into a mass environment alien to them, they stand out sharply from it due to their similarities. Social character is a style of behavior brought up by society and unconscious by the individual - from social to everyday. For example, Soviet and former Soviet people are distinguished by collectivism and responsiveness, social passivity and undemandingness, obedience to the authorities, personified in the person of the "leader", a developed fear of being different from everyone else, and gullibility.

Fromm directed his criticism against modern capitalist society, although he paid much attention to the description of the social character generated by totalitarian societies. Like Freud, he developed a program to restore the undistorted social behavior of individuals through the awareness of what was repressed. “By transforming the unconscious into consciousness, we thereby transform the simple concept of the universality of man into the vital reality of such universality. This is nothing but the practical realization of humanism. The process of derepression - the liberation of socially oppressed consciousness is to eliminate the fear of the realization of the forbidden, to develop the ability to think critically, to humanize social life as a whole.

A different interpretation is offered by behaviorism (B. Skinner, J. Homane), who considers behavior as a system of reactions to various stimuli.

Skinner's concept is essentially a biological one, since it completely removes the differences between human and animal behavior. Skinner identifies three types of behavior: unconditioned reflex, conditioned reflex, and operant. The first two types of reactions are caused by the impact of appropriate stimuli, and operant reactions are a form of adaptation of the organism to the environment. They are active and spontaneous. The body, as it were by trial and error, finds the most acceptable way of adaptation, and if successful, the find is fixed in the form of a stable reaction. Thus, the main factor in the formation of behavior is reinforcement, and learning turns into "guiding to the desired reaction."

In Skinner's concept, a person appears as a being whose entire inner life is reduced to reactions to external circumstances. Reinforcement changes mechanically cause behavioral changes. Thinking, the higher mental functions of a person, the whole culture, morality, art turn into a complex system of reinforcements designed to evoke certain behavioral reactions. This leads to the conclusion about the possibility of manipulating people's behavior through a carefully developed "technology of behavior". With this term, Skinner denotes the purposeful manipulation control of some groups of people over others, associated with the establishment of an optimal reinforcement regime for certain social goals.

The ideas of behaviorism in sociology were developed by J. and J. Baldwin, J. Homane.

The concept of J. and J. Baldwin is based on the concept of reinforcement, borrowed from psychological behaviorism. Reinforcement in the social sense is a reward, the value of which is determined by subjective needs. For example, for a hungry person, food acts as a reinforcer, but if a person is full, it is not a reinforcer.

The effectiveness of the reward depends on the degree of deprivation in a given individual. Deprivation refers to the deprivation of something that an individual experiences a constant need for. As far as the subject is deprived in any respect, so much his behavior depends on this reinforcement. The so-called generalized reinforcers (for example, money), which act on all individuals without exception, do not depend on deprivation due to the fact that they concentrate access to many types of reinforcers at once.

Reinforcers are divided into positive and negative. Positive reinforcers are anything that the subject perceives as a reward. For example, if a certain exposure to the environment brought a reward, it is likely that the subject will seek to repeat this experience. Negative reinforcers are factors that determine behavior through the withdrawal of some experience. For example, if the subject denies himself some pleasure and saves money on it, and subsequently benefits from this saving, then this experience can serve as a negative reinforcer and the subject will always do this.

The effect of punishment is the opposite of reinforcement. Punishment is an experience that makes you want to never repeat it again. Punishment can also be positive or negative, but here everything is reversed compared to reinforcement. Positive punishment is punishment with a suppressive stimulus, such as a blow. Negative punishment affects behavior by depriving something of value. For example, depriving a child of sweets at dinner is a typical negative punishment.

The formation of operant reactions has a probabilistic character. Unambiguity is characteristic of reactions of the simplest level, for example, a child cries, demanding the attention of his parents, because parents always come to him in such cases. Adult reactions are much more complex. For example, a person who sells newspapers in train cars does not find a buyer in every car, but knows from experience that a buyer will eventually be found, and this makes him persistently walk from car to car. In the last decade, the same probabilistic nature has assumed the receipt of wages in some

Russian enterprises, but nevertheless people continue to go to work, hoping to get it.

The behaviorist concept of Homans' exchange appeared in the middle of the 20th century. Arguing with representatives of many areas of sociology, Homane argued that a sociological explanation of behavior must necessarily be based on a psychological approach. The interpretation of historical facts should also be based on a psychological approach. Homane motivates this by the fact that behavior is always individual, while sociology operates with categories applicable to groups and societies, therefore the study of behavior is the prerogative of psychology, and sociology in this matter should follow it.

According to Homans, when studying behavioral reactions, one should abstract from the nature of the factors that caused these reactions: they are caused by the influence of the surrounding physical environment or other people. Social behavior is just an exchange of activity between people that has some social value. Homane believes that social behavior can be interpreted using Skinner's behavioral paradigm, if supplemented with the idea of the mutual nature of stimulation in relationships between people. The relationship of individuals among themselves is always a mutually beneficial exchange of activities, services, in short, it is the mutual use of reinforcements.

Homane's theory of exchange was succinctly formulated in several postulates:

the postulate of success - those actions that most often meet social approval are most likely to be reproduced; incentive postulate - similar reward-related stimuli are highly likely to cause similar behavior;

postulate of value - the probability of reproducing an action depends on how valuable the result of this action seems to a person;

the postulate of deprivation - the more regularly a person's act was rewarded, the less he appreciates the subsequent reward; the double postulate of aggression-approval - the absence of an expected reward or an unexpected punishment makes aggressive behavior likely, and an unexpected reward or the absence of an expected punishment leads to an increase in value.

the nature of the rewarded act and contributes to its more likely reproduction.

The most important concepts of the theory of exchange are: the price of behavior - what this or that act costs an individual, - the negative consequences caused by past actions. In worldly terms, this is retribution for the past; benefit - occurs when the quality and size of the reward exceed the price that this act costs.

Thus, the theory of exchange depicts human social behavior as a rational search for benefits. This concept looks simplistic, and it is not surprising that it has attracted criticism from a variety of sociological schools. For example, Parsons, who defended the fundamental difference between the mechanisms of human and animal behavior, criticized Homans for the inability of his theory to provide an explanation of social facts on the basis of psychological mechanisms.

In his theory of exchange, P. Blau attempted a kind of synthesis of social behaviorism and sociologism. Understanding the limitations of a purely behaviorist interpretation of social behavior, he set the goal of moving from the level of psychology to explaining on this basis the existence of social structures as a special reality that cannot be reduced to psychology. Blau's concept is an enriched theory of exchange, in which four successive stages of transition from individual exchange to social structures are singled out: 1) the stage of interpersonal exchange; 2) the stage of power-status differentiation; 3) the stage of legitimation and organization; 4) the stage of opposition and change.

Blau shows that, starting from the level of interpersonal exchange, exchange may not always be equal. In those cases where individuals cannot offer each other sufficient rewards, the social ties formed between them tend to disintegrate. In such situations, there are attempts to strengthen disintegrating ties in other ways - through coercion, through the search for another source of reward, through subordination of oneself to an exchange partner in the form of a generalized loan. The latter path means a transition to a stage of status differentiation, when a group of persons who are able to give the required remuneration becomes more privileged in terms of status than other groups. In the future, legitimation and consolidation of the situation and the allocation of

opposition groups. In analyzing complex social structures, Blau goes far beyond the paradigm of behaviorism. He argues that the complex structures of society are organized around social values and norms, which serve as a kind of mediating link between individuals in the process of social exchange. Thanks to this link, the exchange of rewards is possible not only between individuals, but also between an individual and a group. For example, considering the phenomenon of organized charity, Blau determines what distinguishes charity as a social institution from the simple help of a rich individual to a poorer one. The difference is that organized charity is socially oriented behavior, which is based on the desire of a wealthy individual to conform to the norms of the wealthy class and share social values; through norms and values, a relationship of exchange is established between the sacrificing individual and the social group to which he belongs.

Blau identifies four categories of social values on the basis of which exchange is possible:

particularistic values that unite individuals on the basis of interpersonal relationships;

universalist values, acting as a measure for evaluating individual merits;

oppositional values - ideas about the need for social change, allowing the opposition to exist at the level of social facts, and not just at the level of interpersonal relations of individual oppositionists.

It can be said that Blau's exchange theory is a compromise, combining elements of Homans theory and sociologism in the treatment of reward exchange.

The role concept of J. Mead is an approach of symbolic interactionism to the study of social behavior. Its name is reminiscent of the functionalist approach: it is also called role-playing. Mead considers role behavior as the activity of individuals interacting with each other in freely accepted and played roles. According to Mead, the role interaction of individuals requires them to be able to put themselves in the place of another, to evaluate themselves from the position of another.

Synthesis of the exchange theory with symbolic interactionism was also attempted by P. Singelman. Symbolic interactionism has a number of points of intersection with social behaviorism and exchange theories. Both of these concepts emphasize the active interaction of individuals and consider their subject from a microsociological perspective. According to Singelman, relationships of interpersonal exchange require the ability to put oneself in the position of another in order to better understand his needs and desires. Therefore, he believes that there are grounds for merging both directions into one. However, social behaviorists were critical of the emergence of the new theory.

QUESTIONS AND TASKS

1. What is the difference between the content of the concepts of "social action" and "social behavior"?

2. In your opinion, are the representatives of social behaviorism right or not that human behavior in society can be controlled? Should a society govern the behavior of its members? Does it have the right to do so? Justify your answer.

3. What is a taboo? Is it taboo, say, forbidding outsiders to enter the territory of a military unit? Justify your answer.

4. How do you feel about social prohibitions? Should there be any prohibitions in an ideal society, or is it better to abolish them altogether?

5. Give your assessment of the fact that in some Western countries same-sex marriages are legalized. Is this a progressive move? Justify your answer.

6. What, in your opinion, causes aggressive social behavior, for example, extremism of various directions?

ABOUT TOPICS

1. Psychoanalytic directions in the study of social behavior.

2. 3. Freud and his doctrine of human behavior.

3. Collective unconscious and social behavior in the teachings of C. Jung.

4. Behavioral concepts in sociology.

5. Social behavior within the framework of the theory of exchange.

6. The study of social behavior in the framework of the theory of symbolic interactionism.

In addition, the social behavior of individuals is regulated by the social structure, in particular the role structure of society.

The social norm of behavior is such behavior that fully corresponds to status expectations. Due to the existence of status expectations, society can predict the actions of an individual in advance with sufficient probability, and the individual himself can coordinate his behavior with the ideal model or model accepted by society. The American sociologist R. Linton defines social behavior that corresponds to status expectations as a social role. This interpretation of social behavior is closest to functionalism, since it explains behavior as a phenomenon determined by social structure. R. Merton introduced the category of "role complex" - a system of role expectations determined by a given status, as well as the concept of a role conflict that occurs when the role expectations of the statuses occupied by the subject are incompatible and cannot be realized in some single socially acceptable behavior.

The functionalist understanding of social behavior was subjected to fierce criticism from, first of all, representatives of social behaviorism, who believed that it was necessary to build a study of behavioral processes on the basis of the achievements of modern psychology. The extent to which psychological moments were really overlooked by the role-based interpretation of the command follows from the fact that N. Cameron tried to substantiate the idea of the role-based determinism of mental disorders, believing that mental illness is the incorrect performance of one's social roles and the result of the patient's inability to perform them in the way that society needs. Behaviorists argued that at the time of E. Durkheim, the successes of psychology were insignificant and therefore the functionality of the expiring paradigm met the requirements of the time, but in the 20th century, when psychology reached a high level of development, its data cannot be ignored when considering human behavior.

Forms of human social behavior

People behave differently in this or that social situation, in this or that social environment. For example, some demonstrators peacefully march along the declared route, others seek to organize riots, and others provoke mass clashes. These various actions of the actors of social interaction can be defined as social behavior. Consequently, social behavior is the form and way in which social actors manifest their preferences and attitudes, capabilities and abilities in social action or interaction. Therefore, social behavior can be considered as a qualitative characteristic of social action and interaction.

In sociology, social behavior is interpreted as: o behavior, expressed in the totality of actions and actions of an individual or group in society and depending on socio-economic factors and prevailing norms; o external manifestation of activity, a form of transformation of activity into real actions in relation to socially significant objects; about the adaptation of a person to the social conditions of his existence.

To achieve life goals and in the implementation of individual tasks, a person can use two types of social behavior - natural and ritual, the differences between which are of a fundamental nature.

"Natural" behavior, individually meaningful and egocentric, is always aimed at achieving individual goals and is adequate to these goals. Therefore, the individual does not face the question of the correspondence between the goals and means of social behavior: the goal can and must be achieved by any means. The "natural" behavior of the individual is not socially regulated, therefore, as a rule, it is immoral or "cavalier". Such social behavior has a "natural", natural character, since it is directed to the provision of organic needs. In society, "natural" egocentric behavior is "forbidden", therefore it is always based on social conventions and mutual concessions on the part of all individuals.

Ritual behavior ("ceremonial") - individually unnatural behavior; It is precisely through such behavior that society exists and reproduces itself. Ritual in all its variety of forms - from etiquette to ceremony - permeates all social life so deeply that people do not notice that they live in a field of ritual interactions. Ritual social behavior is a means of ensuring the stability of the social system, and the individual who implements various forms of such behavior participates in ensuring the social stability of social structures and interactions. Thanks to ritual behavior, a person achieves social well-being, constantly being convinced of the inviolability of his social status and maintaining the usual set of social roles.

Society is interested in the social behavior of individuals to be of a ritual nature, but society cannot abolish the “natural” egocentric social behavior, which, being adequate in goals and unscrupulous in means, always turns out to be more beneficial for the individual than “ritual” behavior. Therefore, society seeks to transform the forms of "natural" social behavior into various forms of ritual social behavior, including through the mechanisms of socialization using social support, control and punishment.

Such forms of social behavior are aimed at the preservation and maintenance of social relations and, ultimately, the survival of a person as homo sapiens (a reasonable person), such as:

cooperative behavior, which includes all forms of altruistic behavior - helping each other during natural disasters and technological disasters, helping young children and the elderly, helping future generations through the transfer of knowledge and experience;

parental behavior - the behavior of parents in relation to offspring.

Aggressive behavior is presented in all its manifestations, both group and individual - from verbal insults to another person and ending with mass extermination during wars.

Conclusion.

Deviant behavior is understood as a social phenomenon expressed in mass forms of human activity that do not correspond to officially established or actually established norms (standards, patterns) in a given society.

There is no consensus among researchers about the causes of deviant behavior. Some researchers believe that the cause of deviant behavior is the inconsistency between the goals put forward by society and the means that it offers to achieve them. Another opinion has developed within the framework of the theory of conflict. According to this view, cultural patterns of behavior are deviant if they are based on the norms of another culture. In modern domestic sociology, of interest is the position that considers the source of deviation to be the presence of social inequality in society, a high degree of differences in the ability to meet the needs of different social groups. There is also a dependence of all forms of manifestation of deviation on economic, social, demographic, cultural and many other factors. There is an opinion that the cause of deviant behavior is changes in the social relations of society, which are reflected in the concept of "marginalization", i.e. its instability, "intermediateness".

Crime is a reflection vices humanity. And so far, no society has been able to eradicate it. In Russia, the state of crime is greatly influenced by the transition to market relations and the emergence of such phenomena as competition, unemployment, and inflation. Experts note that the nature of crime in our country can still be defined as “patriarchal”, but processes that speak of the “industrialization” of deviance are already noticeable.

All attempts to limit alcohol consumption (limiting the availability of alcoholic beverages, reducing their sale and production, raising prices, tightening punitive measures for violating prohibitions and restrictions) have not achieved their goal, because the presence of alcohol is not the only and not the main reason for the existence of alcoholism. The problem of overcoming drunkenness and alcoholism is the most difficult, it includes economic, social, cultural, psychological, demographic, legal and medical aspects. Only taking into account all these aspects is it possible to successfully solve it.

For many years in our country, drug addiction was considered a phenomenon belonging exclusively to the Western way of life. Today, no one denies that drug addiction exists in our country, everyone understands the severity of its consequences for the individual and for society as a whole, but the problem of the effectiveness of the fight against it remains just as acute. The fight against drug addiction can be facilitated by measures of a social, economic, cultural nature, including those that are used to eradicate alcoholism. But, given the specifics of the development of drug addiction, in the fight against this form of deviant behavior, special measures should also be used - medical, legal, etc.

Suicide is more typical for highly developed countries, and today there is a tendency to increase their number. World statistics show that suicidal behavior is more often manifested in cities, among lonely people and at the extreme poles of the social hierarchy. On the face of the relationship of suicidal behavior with other forms of social deviations, such as drunkenness. Also tracing the connection of suicides with belonging to certain social groups.

Society has always been looking for ways and means to combat prostitution. Today, among the prostitutes are students of schools, vocational schools, technical schools, universities. It is not hunger that pushes the “girls from the bar” into the arms of clients, but the desire for speedy material well-being and a “beautiful life.” In history, there were three main forms of policy in relation to prostitution: prohibitionism, regulation, abolitionism. As historical experience has shown, neither legal nor medical regulation directed against representatives of this ancient profession can completely solve the problem. We need to find other ways to fight.

The deviant behavior of adolescents does not correspond to the patterns of "adult" deviant behavior. At the basis of all deviations of adolescent behavior lies the underdevelopment of socio-cultural needs, the poverty of the spiritual world, and alienation. But youth deviation is a cast from social relations in society.

In domestic sociology, the problem of addiction (addiction is a pernicious inclination to something) remains little studied so far. The essence of addictive behavior is the desire to change one's mental state by taking certain substances or fixing attention on certain objects or activities. The problem of addictive behavior includes not only the analysis of such well-known phenomena as drug addiction and alcoholism, but also much less studied ones - "workaholism", the problem of adult children of alcoholics, the problem of "dry alcoholism". The study of the mechanism of the emergence and development of these phenomena will make it possible to understand their real place in the structure of social relations and predict the consequences of their spread.

List of used sources and literature.

Radugin A. A., Radugin K. A. Sociology: a course of lectures. – M.: Center, 2000.

Volkov Yu. G., Dobrenkov V. I., Nechipurenko V. N., Popov A. V. Sociology: Textbook. – M.: Gardariki, 2000.

Gilinsky Ya.I. Sociology of deviant behavior and social control // Sociology in Russia / Ed. V.A. Yadov. 2nd ed. M., 1998.

Lantsova L.A., Shurupova M.F. Sociological theory of deviant behavior // Socio-political journal. - 1993. - No. 4.

I know how flies land on honey
I know death that prowls, ruining everything,
I know books, truths and rumors
I know everything but myself.
François Villon

Sometimes we can cross the line that, it would seem, is impossible to cross. Sometimes we behave in such a way that we even condemn ourselves for our wrongdoings. Why?

We cannot explain many questions about our behavior. Do other people influence him, and in what way? What do we know about ourselves and our psychology? Are we independent in our narrowings? Who decides how to behave in society?

Behavior is an image of the interaction of a living being with its environment that has developed in the process of life.

Our behavior looks complicated and inexplicable. It is believed that the essence of man is incomprehensible, and indeed it is. No one knows how even a very close person can behave in a stressful or dangerous situation, since each of us has an instinct for self-preservation. And this is not the main thing. Human behavior depends on many factors.

Under normal conditions, the loading of a person's culture or behavior begins from birth. The child, like all living things, is trying to save his life.

For him, the only possible threat is the negative assessment of the parents. The kid is trying to figure out how to avoid such a threat, and even better - to get approval, he tries to adjust his behavior in such a way as to avoid any threat.

Unfortunately, many adults believe that only what was laid in him from the moment of birth will grow out of a child, without paying special attention to his upbringing. As a result, children do not collect information in the best places, hence the inappropriate behavior of children.

People are good at spotting jokes and sincerely believe in what is presented with emotion when the information looks genuine and serious. This is part of the basis of our behavior. But it is difficult for us to distinguish genuine emotions from the high-quality acting of actors.

If information comes as a priority in a certain activity, with grateful emotions, then a person will begin to strive to obtain this priority. This is easy to understand with the example of advertising. We all trust the advertised product, buy it and hope that we will get the same result that the advertisers so sincerely talked about.

Behaviors

From the point of view of observance of the rules and values of society, social and asocial behavior of a person is distinguished.

Social behavior is a set of human behavioral processes associated with the satisfaction of physical and social needs and arising as a reaction to the surrounding social environment.

Asocial behavior is actions that do not comply with the norms and rules of human behavior in society, public morality.

Basics for any culture

The species behavior of a person is a certain interaction with the outside world, but all parts of the world interact with each other.

Therefore, what we call behavior must be a certain class of reactions. When it comes to talking about it, it assumes an expedient interaction with the surrounding reality. So, if we see the goal towards which the person in question is striving, then we are talking about the actions of this person.

Consider the needs of all living beings, by virtue of which their behavior is formed:

Self-preservation. This instinct is manifested either in the search for food, or in order to avoid adverse effects.
Striving to reproduce your own species. The manner of human actions associated with reproduction is quite complex, and takes quite bizarre forms. Animals have peculiar mating rituals, and in humans, the desire to reproduce, and the behavior of the individual associated with it, is closely intertwined with the place in the hierarchy in the community in which it lives. The higher the position in the hierarchy, the more chances a person has to leave offspring and raise him.
The pursuit of security. This is the desire to ensure the conditions of their existence, which is manifested in the search or construction of a shelter, as well as in the accumulation of food and material wealth for the future. In this case, a person's actions are manifested depending on his desires acquired in the society in which he lived.
Another type of aspiration that is characteristic of a person is the actions of a person associated with caring for offspring and even for members of his society.
The behavior associated with the desire for cleanliness is characteristic of a more limited number of mankind. Purity is the creation of certain conditions for one's existence or the pursuit of a certain quality of life.
The behavior of the individual, which is associated with a complex mental organization. A person strives to ensure that the image of reality corresponds to the surrounding world in which a person finds himself.

The construction of the species behavior of the individual is based on the six main needs listed above. And culture is a supraspecific organization of human needs.

It is quite obvious that every culture must take into account and provide opportunities for the manifestation of all the natural needs inherent in man. Species needs are often controlled or suppressed by culture.

Our delusions

We believe that our assessments and our very behavior come from ourselves. But the principles of our assessments, actions and phenomena are external to us.

Let's take an example, the calculator performs complex mathematical calculations itself, but in order to get the result of the calculations, we performed some manipulations with it. So it is with us, the world around us introduces information, and we try to figure out our attitude to this modern world and create our own behavior.

No one wants to spend their energy on actions that will not be appreciated by at least one person. No, a person can try to do something, but if he does not find the support of at least one person, then all efforts will stop. We work if this work is appreciated, and we do not work if we do not find the support of others.

Our curiosity would also be meaningless if its results were not reported to someone else. We train in the hope that it will provide an opportunity to impress. The motives of the personality's actions are regulated by the acquired social norms and the environment of its upbringing.

Influence of emotions

Emotions have a great influence on the behavior of a person. Let's take a situation where one person from a small company sees a predator, he gets scared and screams, to which the whole company reacts in the same way, while someone might not even see that predator.

If such a situation had occurred in a crowd of people, then the scale of the consequences would have been more serious, panic would have begun. For such behavior, there is no need for explanation in words, everything happens at the level of automation.

In the communication of animals, the phenomenon that unites them in one group and keeps them there is interesting. Animals do not talk, so words do not spin in their heads, like people do, but emotional information is programmed by nature in the form of their peculiar behavior.

The emotional family dependence of certain animal species, thanks to evolution, has been transformed into a kind of social system. This suggests that the animals live in one family and are kept in it due to the amount of emotions that suits all members of the family, since the animals have nothing more to offer.

Hierarchy of Equality

In animal families, there is a hierarchy to varying degrees. An individual is looking for a specific reaction among his fellows in order to become a leader.

If it were not possible to achieve emotions of recognition from family members, then the individual would not strain. It turns out that if an individual seeks the attention of others, then by any means he tries to become a leader, that is, by militant behavior he achieves his goals.

The behavior of people is almost the same - as soon as those around them give their emotions of recognition, one of the members of the society becomes the leader. For example, emotions of recognition go to authoritative people who somehow attracted the attention of society. People brought up in the rigid conditions of a domestic hierarchy show aggressive behavior towards members of their family or towards weaker people.

Hierarchy of differences

What distinguishes people from animal people is that they can gain recognition in a variety of ways. A person can seek emotional support, that is, respect from others, by demonstrating his talents. This develops self-respect in the individual, since it is impossible without the recognition of the society that surrounds them.

It is on these principles that modern society lives. It only remains to add that a person who achieves emotional recognition of society begins to own the opinion of this society, which means that he becomes an authority, which, as a result, can influence the behavior of society as a whole.

People look for any opportunity to gain respect, and if they fail to gain recognition for their own abilities, then any means are used to achieve the goal.

Some try to gain respect in their religion or nationality name, while others demonstrate the level of their cars and clothing brands or socially unacceptable behavior.

These things do not say anything about the mental level of their owners, although they impress many members of society. There are people who conquer mountains or throw themselves into abysses, bask on the beaches or go on trips, if only someone would appreciate their actions as achievements.

Errors and Conditions

It is easy to observe the behavior of adolescents who, by their not always adequate actions, try to impress, show their peculiarity or attract the attention of others.

If a person is deprived of freedom of action, where a civilized way of achieving the recognition of society is not available to him, then he, like wild ancestors, tries to get the emotions of recognition by his aggressive behavior.

Scientists conducted many experiments with which they tried to explain the behavior of people in various situations. Psychologist Milgram proved that not only in extreme conditions, even the most principled person can behave inappropriately under the pressure of authority.

The system of society and its influence

The system of society looks quite simple, but in combination with a fabulous amount of information from the civilized world, against which the position of an individual in society is measured, it brings diversity to modern relations in society and to the behavior of an individual.

All the information that society receives is called a culture of behavior or morality. There is one imperceptible fact in this public information - we are guided by it, but we are convinced that the information is our own. But only society and the experience of generations dictate how we should behave in a given situation.

Twice science has noticed the fact that when a child is brought up not in human society, but in animals, then his behavior is strikingly different from human behavior.

Getting into human society, children acquired human behavior, but they also retained the culture of animals. From which it follows that the behavior of people determines what surrounded them before.

Every day we are among people, we perform some actions in accordance with this or that situation. We have to communicate with each other, using generally accepted norms. Together, all of this is our behavior. Let's try to go deeper

Behavior as a moral category

Behavior is a complex of human actions that an individual performs over a long period of time under given conditions. These are all actions, not individual ones. Whether actions are performed consciously or unintentionally, they are subject to moral evaluation. It is worth noting that behavior can reflect both the actions of one person and the whole team. At the same time, both personal characteristics of character and the specificity of interpersonal relationships have an influence. By his behavior, a person reflects his attitude to society, to specific people, to the objects surrounding him.

The concept of a line of conduct

The concept of behavior includes the definition of a line of behavior, which implies the presence of a certain system and consistency in the repetitive actions of an individual or the characteristics of the actions of a group of people over a long period of time. Behavior is perhaps the only indicator that objectively characterizes the moral qualities and driving motives of a person.

The concept of rules of conduct, etiquette

Etiquette is a set of norms and rules that regulate the relationship of a person with others. It is an integral part of social culture (culture of behavior). It is expressed in a complex system of relationships between people. This includes concepts such as:

polite, courteous and patronizing treatment of the fair sex;
a sense of respect and manifestation of deep respect for the older generation;
correct forms of everyday communication with others;
norms and rules of dialogue;
being at the dinner table;
treatment of guests;
compliance with the requirements for human clothing (dress code).

All these laws of decency embody the general ideas of human dignity, the simple requirements of convenience and ease in human relationships. In general, they coincide with the general requirements of courtesy. However, there are also strictly established ethical standards that have an unchanging character.

Respectful treatment of students and teachers.
- Observance of subordination in relation to subordinates to their leadership.
- Standards of conduct in public places, during seminars and conferences.

Psychology as a science of behavior

Psychology is a science that studies the characteristics of human behavior and motives. This area of knowledge studies how mental and behavioral processes proceed, specific personality traits, mechanisms that exist in the human mind and explain the deep subjective reasons for one or another of his actions. It also considers the distinctive features of a person's character, taking into account those significant factors that determine them (stereotypes, habits, inclinations, feelings, needs), which may be partly innate, and partly acquired, brought up in appropriate social conditions. Thus, the science of psychology helps us understand, as it reveals its mental nature and the moral conditions of its formation.

Behavior as a reflection of human actions

Depending on the nature of a person's actions, various ones can be defined.

A person by his actions may try to attract the attention of others. Such behavior is called demonstrative.
If a person assumes any obligations and fulfills them in good faith, then his behavior is called responsible.
Behavior that determines the actions of a person aimed at the benefit of others, and for which he does not require any reward, is called helping.
There is also internal behavior, which is characterized by the fact that a person decides for himself what to believe in, what to value.

There are others that are more complex.

Deviant behavior. It represents a negative deviation from the norms and patterns of behavior. As a rule, it entails the application of various types of punishment to the offender.
If a person demonstrates complete indifference to the environment, unwillingness to make decisions independently, mindlessly follows others in his actions, then his behavior is considered conformal.

Behavior characteristic

The behavior of an individual can be characterized by various categories.

Innate behavior - as a rule, these are instincts.
Acquired behavior is the actions performed by a person in accordance with his upbringing.
Intentional behavior - actions carried out by a person consciously.
Unintentional behavior is actions that occur spontaneously.
Behavior can also be conscious or unconscious.

Code of Conduct

Close attention is paid to the norms of human behavior in society. A norm is a primitive form of requirement regarding morality. On the one hand, it is a form of relationship, and on the other hand, it is a specific form of consciousness and thinking of an individual. The norm of behavior is constantly reproducible actions of the same type of many people, obligatory for each person individually. Society needs people to act according to a certain scenario in given situations, which is designed to maintain social balance. The binding force of the norms of behavior for each individual is based on examples from society, mentors and the immediate environment. In addition, habit plays an important role, as well as collective or individual coercion. At the same time, the norms of behavior should proceed from general, abstract ideas about morality and ethics (the definition of good, evil, and so on). One of the tasks of the correct education of a person in society is to ensure that the simplest norms of behavior become an internal need of a person, acquire the form of a habit and be carried out without external and internal coercion.

Raising the next generation

One of the most crucial moments in the upbringing of the younger generation are. The purpose of such conversations should be to expand the knowledge of schoolchildren about the culture of behavior, explain to them the moral meaning of this concept, as well as educate them in the skills of correct behavior in society. First of all, the teacher should explain to the students that it is inextricably linked with the people around them, that it depends on how the teenager behaves, how easy and pleasant it will be for these people to live next to him. Teachers should also bring up positive character traits in children using the examples of books by various writers and poets. Students should also be taught the following rules:

how to behave at school;
how to behave on the street;
how to behave in a company;
how to behave in public transport;
how to behave when visiting.

It is important to pay special attention, especially in high school, to such an issue, both in the society of classmates, as well as in the society of guys outside of school.

Public opinion as a reaction to human behavior

Public opinion is a mechanism by which society regulates the behavior of each particular individual. Any form of social discipline falls under this category, including traditions and customs, because for a society it is something like a legislative norm of behavior that the vast majority of people follow. Moreover, such traditions form public opinion, which acts as a powerful mechanism for regulating behavior and human relationships in various spheres of life. From an ethical point of view, the defining moment in regulating the behavior of an individual is not his personal discretion, but public opinion, which is based on certain generally recognized moral principles and criteria. It must be admitted that an individual has the right to independently decide how to behave in a given situation, despite the fact that the norms adopted in society, as well as collective opinion, have a tremendous influence on the formation of self-consciousness. Under the influence of approval or censure, the character of a person can change dramatically.

Assessment of human behavior

Considering the question, one should not forget about such a concept as an assessment of the behavior of an individual. This assessment consists in the approval or condemnation by society of a particular act, as well as the behavior of the individual as a whole. People can express their positive or negative attitude towards the subject being evaluated in the form of praise or blame, agreement or criticism, manifestations of sympathy or dislike, that is, through various external actions and emotions. Unlike requirements expressed in the form of norms, which in the form of general rules prescribe how a person should act in a given situation, assessment compares these requirements with those specific phenomena and events that already take place in reality, establishing their compliance or non-compliance with existing norms of behavior.

golden rule of conduct

In addition to what we all know generally accepted, there is a golden rule. It originated in ancient times, when the first essential requirements for human morality were formed. Its essence is to treat others in the way you would like to see this attitude towards yourself. Similar ideas were found in such ancient works as the teachings of Confucius, the Bible, Homer's Iliad, and so on. It is worth noting that this is one of the few beliefs that has survived to our time in almost unchanged form and has not lost its relevance. The positive moral significance of the golden rule is determined by the fact that it practically orients the individual towards the development of an important element in the mechanism of moral behavior - the ability to put oneself in the place of others and emotionally experience their condition. In modern morality, the golden rule of behavior is an elementary universal prerequisite for relationships between people, expressing a successive connection with the moral experience of the past.

Social behavior is a property that characterizes the quality of relationships between individuals and the behavior of one particular subject in society.

Note that this behavior may vary. For example, a company has several hundred employees. Some of them work tirelessly, some just sit out their pants and get paid. The rest just come there to chat with others. Such actions of individuals fall under the principles that underlie social behavior.

Thus, all people are involved in this, only they behave differently. Based on the foregoing, it follows that social behavior is the way that members of society choose to express their desires, abilities, capabilities and attitudes.

In order to understand the reason why a person behaves in such a way, it is necessary to analyze the factors that influence it. The structure of social behavior can be influenced by:

Psychological and subject of social interaction. As an example, one can use the description of the characteristic qualities of many politicians and others. It is worth asking who the most outrageous and emotionally unbalanced politician is, and everyone will immediately remember Zhirinovsky. And among the scandalous, Otar Kushanashvili takes the first place.
Social behavior is also influenced by personal interest in what is happening or will happen. For example, any of us actively participates in the discussion of only those issues that cause an increased subjective interest. The rest of the activity is sharply reduced.
Behavior that comes down to the need to adapt to certain conditions of life or communication. For example, it is impossible to imagine that in the crowd of people who glorify some leader (Hitler, Mao Zedong), there is someone who will voice a diametrically opposite position.
Also, the social behavior of the individual is also determined by the situational aspect. That is, there are a number of factors that must be taken into account by the subject in the event of any situation.
There are also moral and which guides every person in life. History provides many examples of when people could not go against their own, for which they paid with their own lives (Giordano Bruno, Copernicus).
Remember that the social behavior of a person largely depends on how much he is aware of the situation, owns it, knows the "rules of the game" and can use them.
Behavior may be based on the goal of manipulating society. For this, lies, deceit can be used. Modern politicians serve as an excellent example of this: when conducting an election campaign, they promise total changes. And when they come to power, no one seeks to fulfill what they have said.

Social behavior is often determined, to a greater extent, by the motivation and degree of participation of the individual in a particular process or action. For example, for many, participation in the political life of the country is an accidental situation, but there are also those for whom this is their main job. As for mass social behavior, it can be dictated by the psychological and social characteristics of the crowd, when individual motivation is destroyed under the influence of the so-called mass instinct.

Social behavior has 4 levels: