The perception of man by man. List of used literature

Perception is a holistic reflection of objects and phenomena of objective reality that directly affects the senses. Perception is characterized by objectivity (selection of an object from the background); activity; selectivity; apperception; constancy; meaningfulness and generality.

In the process of perception as a set of sensations, concrete images of objects and phenomena are recreated. But the perceptions that are the result of the work of various sense organs require the synthesis of the sensations received with their help. At the same time, in order to finally recreate images that would fully correspond to objective reality, it is also necessary to establish links with past experience, compare, contrast and evaluate the results of this comparison. In other words, in the process of perception, the concrete "current" material, the reality acting at the moment, is constantly synthesized both in its individual parts and with images of the past.

The need for a systematic awareness of the individual details of what is perceived and enters the human mind, and what was perceived earlier, practically disappears, since this process is carried out automatically.

The work of the brain during periods of sensation and perception is extremely complex. Illustrating this fact, I.M. Sechenov said that during the day, "counting it at 12 hours and putting an average of 5 seconds for each new phase of visual sensation, more than 8,000 sensations will enter through the eyes, no less through the ear, but incomparably more through muscle movements. And all this mass of psychic acts is connected with each other every day in a new way. It is now estimated that an input signal enters the human brain every millisecond. At the same time, there are about 3 million channels through which impulses move. The output pulse also gives 1 million channels every millisecond, i.e. in just 0.001 seconds, there are up to 4 million impulses that the brain must receive and send. A multitude of stimuli constantly arising from outside and inside evokes extremely complex reflex reactions of an unconditional and conditional nature. In relation to each act of perception, in the end, a corresponding associated group of successive sensory and motor reactions is created, individual parts of which were born as a result of the work of a group of analyzers that functioned in the process of perception. There are an infinite number of such associated groups.

It should be emphasized once again that the synthesis of a complex process of perception from separate acts of elementary sensations is observed only at the very beginning of our cognitive activity, i.e. at an early age, in a child who first begins to get acquainted with the outside world. In the future, in the process of repeated acts of perception, automation mechanisms come into play. But in an adult, activity and selectivity come to the fore, which are inherent in a given personality and are determined by its previous attitudes and experience, individual interest, and individual properties of the nervous system.

Past experience, for example, clearly appears in the fact that a person, perceiving something, inevitably recognizes in it a completely definite, "necessary" and familiar object from past perceptions. For example, the patient goes to the clinic. Corridors, doors, separate groups of people appeared before his eyes, he sees various announcements, posters, etc. However, his attention will be directed primarily to very specific objects: the inscription "registration", probably, some stands, showcases, one way or another connected with his illness, i.e. a necessary object for a patient visiting a polyclinic appears with particular clarity. The main role is played by interest, which determines the selectivity of perception.

A dual image showing both 6 and 7 dice, depending on the perception setting.

In other cases, a certain effort is required in order to single out from the whole mass of heterogeneous objects of the external world exactly the one that corresponds to the attitudes of a person.

The dependence of the perception of objects and phenomena on the previous experience of a given subject, on his individual personality characteristics is called apperception.

A clear awareness of the future helps to highlight the objects of the external world. Others can help you out. For example, the white and black rhombuses shown in the figure make up a regular geometric figure. Depending on the attitude of the perceiving this figure, he can see both 7 and 6 cubes.

In addition, each person brings to perception something peculiar only to him. In this regard, it should be emphasized that individual characteristics are manifested in the speed, depth, completeness, accuracy, degree of subtlety of individual perceptions, their emotional richness, etc. Nevertheless, such an individual nature of the act of perception still does not deprive a person of the opportunity to reflect the world objectively - in form and size, color and aroma, in space and time, etc.

Space is an objective form of the existence of matter. The perception of space can be defined as the process of reflecting the extent of the world of objective reality. When perceiving objects relative to their distance, an indispensable condition is the pairing of the sense organs, for example, binocularity.

The object is, as it were, covered from several sides and "felt". The results of this work on the "examination" of an object, phenomena are "estimated" from different points of view: the time that has passed when moving the gaze from one point of the object to another, and the length of the path that the gaze "had to go through", and the relationships, spatial and others, with surrounding objects, etc. The assessment of the extent of space is carried out with the active and obligatory participation of other sense organs - hearing, smell, touch, muscular-articular feeling.

Depending on the individual characteristics of a person, perception and observation (study, study of an object) can be analytical (details, particulars are perceived), synthetic, analytical-synthetic and emotional.

In the process of formation and differentiation of conditioned reflexes to spatial signals, complex analytic-synthetic relationships arise between analyzers.

Time perception refers to the process of reflecting the duration and sequence of events occurring in the real world. Based on organic sensations (rhythmic breathing and blood circulation, correctly alternating sleep and wakefulness, etc.), the perception of time, to a greater extent than other types of perception, is formed and develops in the process of accumulating a person's life experience, in the process of activity. And as with any act, our feelings play a significant role in the perception of time. It is well known that time filled with useful or pleasant work, emotionally rich play, exciting intellectual activity, flows unnoticed. A low-content, uninteresting lecture, read moreover in a monotonous voice, drags on "indefinitely".

Thus, the process of perception is not an isolated act of mirroring. Of the numerous stimuli, we actively select and perceive only a few. Perception is not passive, the process of perception is always active in its content and direction. At all stages, it is inextricably linked with other types of mental activity and constantly depends on them: on emotional-volitional, mnestic processes, thinking, etc.

There are many factors that affect the perception and understanding of other people. Among them: age, gender, profession, individual personality traits, such as "I" - the image and level of self-acceptance.

There is a widespread notion that the older a person is, the better they understand others. This opinion, however, was not confirmed in the experimental study. Research has also not confirmed that women are more perceptive than men. True, in the latter case, the question has not yet been fully clarified.

We think that a number of features associated with individual traits and personality traits are more important than gender and age. An important role is played, for example, by the image of "I" and self-esteem - they are, as it were, the psychological foundation on which various factors that affect relationships with people are based. Here we have in mind those thoughts, assessments, judgments and beliefs about oneself, which are related, as it were, to those external, visible manifestations of the personality, about which a person can calmly talk. It also implies the assessments that a person makes with his own, hidden from others, but accessible to himself, features, and those sensations that he is not fully aware of, but which disturb and excite him. Often it is these elements of the image of "I" that he wants to get rid of, to displace them

or completely forget, become a source of difficulties and problems in the perception and understanding of people around.

One of the most serious obstacles on the way to adequate and deep self-knowledge is the system of psychological defense "I". Most often, it is a set of unconscious means developed by each of us in order to ensure the safety of our personality in the face of a real or imagined threat. The effectiveness of these means is based mainly on the fact that with their help the subject alters the picture of external or internal reality in such a way that stimuli that cause feelings of anxiety or fear are repressed. Each of us uses such “protective” distortions when perceiving ourselves and other people, as if forgetting some information, not noticing something, exaggerating or minimizing something, attributing our features to others, and vice versa.

This will often help us cope with everyday difficulties, avoid painful collisions with reality, and so on.

Among the many factors influencing the perception and cognition of people, the rooted stereotypes of thinking, assessments and actions based on dogmatic attitudes play a special role. Since dogmatism manifests itself in our everyday communication quite often, we should dwell on this phenomenon in more detail. To do this, we will use the provisions of the outstanding Polish psychologist Andrzej Malevsky, who worked a lot on this problem.

Dogmatism usually coexists with such psychological phenomena as hostility towards members of other groups, the desire for a clearly structured hierarchy of power and influence, the need for conformity and submission to authorities recognized in a particular group, distrust of people, unwillingness to analyze oneself, a tendency to attribute blame for certain misdeeds not to themselves, but to others, the willingness to severely punish the guilty, the tendency to see the world in black and white colors. If all these qualities are inherent in one person, we can talk about an authoritarian personality.

However, the final result of the perception and cognition of others is influenced not only by factors that are somehow related to the characteristics of the subject of perception, but also by the characteristics of perceived individuals and situations of communication.

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As an object of perception, a person is distinguished by a special social significance.

When perceiving a new person for himself, the subject distinguishes in him i.e. features of his appearance, which provide information about his mental and social qualities. Posture, gait, gestures, facial expressions, voice, speech, behavioral habits, manners stand out in particular. One of the first places is occupied by the professional characteristics of a person, his social status, basic moral and communicative qualities: evil, kind, cheerful, reserved, sociable, etc. Individual features of his face are also selected selectively (Fig. 71, 72).

Personality features are interpreted by her appearance in various ways.
1. Emotional way. Social qualities are attributed to the individual depending on the aesthetic appeal of his appearance. (An outwardly beautiful person is interpreted as a good person.)
2. Analytical method. Each of the elements of appearance is associated with a specific mental property of a person (compressed lips, furrowed eyebrows - an evil person, etc.).
3. Perceptual-associative method. A person is credited with the qualities of another person outwardly similar to him.
4. Socially-associative way. A person is given the qualities of a certain social type according to individual characteristic external features. (In glasses and a hat - an intellectual; in an overcoat - a military man.)

The generalized image of a person that has arisen from external signs affects the interaction with this person.

The perception of a person by a person is subject to certain socially formed stereotypes, standards, standards. The general impression of a person, the idea of his social status are transferred to all private manifestations of this personality ("halo effect"). Initially perceived information about a person may have a dominant value ("primacy effect").

Significant differences in the social status of those communicating give rise to the "effect of social distance". The extreme manifestation of this effect is expressed in neglect and hatred towards representatives of other social groups.

Estimates and feelings of people in their perception of each other are multifaceted. But basically they are divided into conjunctive - unifying and disjunctive - separating. Disjunctive feelings are caused by what is condemned in the given environment.

A. A. Bodalev carried out the following experiment. Two groups of people were shown the same photograph and asked to describe the person in the photograph. One group was told that they would see a portrait of the hero, while others were warned that they would be shown a picture of the criminal.

It turned out that the subjects in their assessments were in the grip of a stereotype, an attitude. Here is a verbal portrait given by a person who believed that he was facing the image of a hero: “A young man of 25–30 years old. A strong-willed, courageous face, with regular features. The look is very expressive. , this is the hero of some fight, although he does not have a military uniform.

The subject, who believed that before him was a portrait of a criminal, gave such a verbal description. "This beast wants to understand something. He looks smart and without a break. A standard chin, bags under his eyes, a massive, aging figure, thrown forward."

Depending on the importance people attach to various features of the external appearance of a person, they relate to each other in different ways.

Speech perception. From a physical point of view, speech is a combination of sounds that varies in frequency and intensity.

The maximum intelligibility of speech occurs at a speech intensity of 40 decibels. At a speech intensity of 10 decibels, speech sounds are not perceived as related words. For satisfactory transmission of speech messages in noisy conditions, the sound intensity of speech must be 10 decibels higher than the noise level. Speech is especially muffled by low-frequency noise. A person distinguishes one voice among two or three simultaneously sounding voices. When four or more voices sound together, the speech of an individual cannot be distinguished.

Speech intelligibility increases with visual control of speakers, the vocabulary of speech familiar to listeners, significant intensity of speech, repetition of complex phrases in their original form.

The optimal speech rate is 70 words per minute, the upper limit is 120 words per minute.

Long words are understood and recognized better than short ones. The length of the phrase should not exceed 7 ± 2 words.

The most significant words should be placed in the first third of the phrase. The monotony of sound frequencies, long pauses, as well as the absence of poses, make it difficult to perceive speech. (The psychology of communication will be discussed below.)

Causal Attribution G. Kelly
3. Mechanisms of interpersonal perception
4. Effects of interpersonal perception
Conclusion
Bibliography

Introduction
Perception is a visual-figurative reflection of objects and phenomena of reality acting at the moment on the senses in the aggregate of their various properties and parts. Perception as a mental process "is understood as the subjective experience of obtaining sensory information about the world of people, things and events, and those psychological processes due to which this is done." The process of perception of so-called social objects, which means other people, social groups, large social communities, is called "social perception". If we talk about the problem of mutual understanding of communication partners, then the term “interpersonal perception”, or interpersonal perception, would be more appropriate.
In the control work, the phenomenon of interpersonal perception, its features and mechanisms will be considered.

1. The concept of interpersonal perception
Speaking about interpersonal perception (interpersonal perception), S.L. Rubinstein noted that people, perceiving, as it were, "read" another person, decipher the meaning of his external data. The impressions that arise in this case play an important regulatory role in the process of people's communication. The process of perception by one person (observer) of another (observed) unfolds as follows. In the observed, only external signs are available to the observer, among which the most informative are the appearance (physical qualities plus the appearance of appearance) and behavior (actions performed and expressive reactions). Perceiving these qualities, the observer evaluates them in a certain way and makes some conclusions (often unconsciously) about the internal psychological properties of the communication partner. The sum of properties attributed to the observed, in turn, gives a person the opportunity to form a certain attitude towards him. This attitude is most often emotional in nature and is located within the "like - dislike" continuum.
There are four main functions of interpersonal perception:
self-knowledge
Knowing your partner in communication
Organization of joint activities
Establishing emotional relationships
Interpersonal perception is usually described as a three-component structure. It includes:
o subject of interpersonal perception
o object of interpersonal perception
o the very process of interpersonal perception.
Regarding the subject and object of interpersonal perception, traditional studies have established more or less complete agreement in terms of what characteristics of them should be taken into account in studies of interpersonal perception. For the subject of perception, all characteristics are divided into two classes: physical and social. In turn, social characteristics include external (formal role characteristics and interpersonal role characteristics) and internal (system of personality dispositions, structure of motives, etc.). Accordingly, the same characteristics are fixed in the object of interpersonal perception. The content of interpersonal perception depends on the characteristics of both the subject and the object of perception because they are included in a certain interaction that has two sides: evaluating each other and changing some characteristics of each other due to the very fact of their presence. Interpretation of another person's behavior may be based on knowledge of the causes of that behavior. But in everyday life, people do not always know the real reasons for the behavior of another person. Then, in conditions of lack of information, they begin to attribute to each other both the causes of behavior and some characteristics of the communities. Thus, the process of this attribution, i.e., causal attribution, becomes the content of the process of knowing another person. Studies have shown that the degree of conformity of the conclusion of the observed with respect to someone's behavior also depends on the different type of attribution: "personal" or "impersonal". In the first case, we mean the prevailing desire to attribute the causes of any events to the actions of certain individuals, while in the second case, the causes are attributed mainly to the actions of circumstances.

2. The theory of causal attribution G. Kelly
An attempt to construct a theory of causal attribution was undertaken by Harold Kelly. In his opinion, when trying to understand the reason for the behavior of another person, we use three criteria:
1. Criterion of constancy
2. The criterion of exclusivity;
3. Consensus criterion.
If under similar conditions the behavior of the observed is of the same type, then it is considered constant. It will be different if in other cases it manifests itself differently, and, finally, behavior is considered normal if, in similar circumstances, it is characteristic of the majority of people. If in similar circumstances a person always behaves in the same way (constant behavior), if he behaves in the same way in other situations (non-different behavior), and if only a few people behave in similar situations in the same way (unusual behavior), then we tend to attribute behavior to internal factors. On the contrary, if a person in similar situations behaves in the same way (constant behavior), if in other cases he behaves differently (different behavior), and if in similar situations the same behavior is similar to most people (usual behavior). We explain its action by external causes.
In general, the theory is understood as follows: every person has certain a priori causal ideas and causal expectations. In other words, each person has a system of schemes of causality, and every time the search for reasons explaining "alien" behavior, one way or another, fits into one of these existing schemes. The repertoire of causal schemes that each person owns is quite extensive. The question is which of the causal schemes is included in each particular case.
The variation analysis model describes the structure of each act of causal attribution. The elements of this structure are the same elements that are usually described as elements of the process of interpersonal perception: subject, object, and situation.
Kelly talked about errors in interpersonal perception, summarized them as follows:
o 1st class - motivational errors (various kinds of “defenses”: addictions, asymmetry of positive and negative results (success - to oneself, failure - to circumstances));
o 2nd class - fundamental mistakes (common to all people), including cases of overestimation of personal factors and underestimation of situational ones. More specifically, fundamental errors manifest themselves in "false agreement" errors, when the "normal" interpretation is considered to be one that coincides with and is adjusted to "my" opinion); errors associated with unequal opportunities for role-playing behavior (when in certain roles it is much “easier” to show your own positive qualities, and interpretation is carried out by appealing to them); errors arising from greater confidence in specific facts than in general judgments, etc.
In order to justify the selection of precisely this kind of error, Kelly puts forward four principles:
1. The principle of covariance is valid when there is one cause. The essence of the principle of covariance lies in the fact that the effect is attributed to the cause that coincides with it in time (naturally, in the variety of causal relationships between phenomena, the cause is not necessarily the one that coincides with the effect in time).
2. The principle of depreciation, when, in the presence of alternatives, one of the reasons is discarded due to the fact that there are competing reasons
3. The principle of amplification. If there is more than one reason, then the person in the interpretation is guided either by the principle of amplification, when priority is given to the reason that encounters an obstacle: it is strengthened in the mind of the perceiver by the very fact of the presence of such an obstacle.
4. The principle of systematic distortion, when in a special case of judgments about people, the factors of the situation are underestimated and, on the contrary, the factors of personal characteristics are overestimated.
Which of the principles will be included in the construction of a conclusion about the behavior of another person depends on many circumstances, in particular on the so-called “causal expectations” of the individual, which are based on the fact that “normal” behavior is typical and socially desirable behavior. When such a pattern of behavior is demonstrated, there is no need for a special search for its causes. In cases of deviation, the mechanism of causal attribution is activated.
3. Mechanisms of interpersonal perception
The study of perception shows that a number of universal psychological mechanisms can be identified that ensure the very process of perceiving another person and allow the transition from externally perceived to assessment, attitude and forecast.
The mechanisms of interpersonal perception include mechanisms:
Identification, empathy - mechanisms of knowledge and understanding by people of each other
reflection - self-knowledge
attraction - the formation of an emotional attitude towards a person
Identification is the simplest way of understanding another person, i.e. likening yourself to him. In real situations of interaction, partners use this law, when an assumption about the internal state of a partner is based on an attempt to put oneself in his place.
A close relationship has been established between identification and another phenomenon close in content - empathy.
“Empathy is usually understood as the compassionate experience by one person of the feelings, perceptions and thoughts of another. Some early European and American psychologists and philosophers, such as M. Scheler and W. McDougall, viewed empathy as the basis of all positive social relationships. Here we have in mind not so much a rational understanding of the problems of a partner as the desire to emotionally respond to his difficulties. At the same time, emotions, feelings of the perceiver are not identical to those experienced by the perceived, i.e. if one of the communication partners shows empathy for the other, he simply understands his feelings and behavior, but he can build his own in a completely different way. This is the difference between empathy and identification, in which one partner completely identifies himself with the other and, accordingly, experiences the same feelings as the other, and behaves like the other.
The mechanism of reflection is inherently more complicated. It implies awareness of how a communication partner is perceived by his other partner. This is no longer just knowledge or understanding of the first by the second, but knowledge of how he understands the first, a kind of doubled process of mirror reflections of each other, a deep, consistent mutual reflection, the content of which is the reproduction of the inner world of one partner, and in this inner world, in turn, is reflected the inner world of the other partner.
Communication partners do not just perceive each other, they form a certain attitude towards each other. The mechanism of formation of various emotional relations to the perceived is called attraction.
attraction(from lat. attrahere - to attract, to attract) - a concept denoting the appearance, when a person is perceived by a person, of the attractiveness of one of them for another. The formation of attachment occurs in the subject as a result of his specific emotional attitude, the evaluation of which gives rise to a diverse range of feelings (from hostility to sympathy and even love) and manifests itself in the form of a special social attitude towards another person.
All these mechanisms of perception, one way or another, govern the process of interpersonal perception.
4. Effects of interpersonal perception
Perception effects are some features that interfere with adequate perception of each other by partners:
halo effect. The absence of changes in the perception and assessment of partners that occur over time for natural reasons. This refers to the case when the once formed opinion of one partner about the other does not change, despite the fact that new experience appears and new information about it accumulates.
The halo effect is manifested in the formation of the first impression of a person in that a general favorable impression leads to positive assessments and unknown qualities of the perceived and, conversely, a general unfavorable impression contributes to the predominance of negative assessments.
When it comes to a positive reassessment of qualities, this effect is also called the "Polyanna effect", and when it comes to a negative assessment - the "devil" effect. For example, very often in life there are situations when a husband remembers his wife as young and beautiful and cannot perceive age-related changes in her. Another example: a wife remembers her husband's pre-marital courtship and expects him to court her in the same way. Closely related to this effect are the effects of “primacy” (or “order”) and “novelty”. The primacy effect prevails in situations where a stranger is perceived. The essence of this effect is that in case of contradictory data about this person after the first meeting, the information that was received earlier is perceived as more significant and has a greater influence on the overall impression of the person.
The opposite of the primacy effect is the novelty effect, which consists in the fact that the latest, that is, newer information, turns out to be more significant, operates in situations of perception of a familiar person. The projection effect is also known - when we tend to attribute our own merits to a pleasant interlocutor, and our shortcomings to an unpleasant one, that is, to most clearly identify in others precisely those features that are vividly represented in our country. Another effect - the effect of the average error - is the tendency to soften the estimates of the most striking features of the other towards the average. These effects can be considered as manifestations of a special process that accompanies the perception of a person by a person, namely the process of stereotyping, which can lead to two consequences.
On the one hand, to a certain simplification of the process of knowing another person. In this case, the stereotype acts when there is a shortage of time, fatigue, emotional excitement, too young age, when a person has not yet learned to distinguish between diversity, and the process of stereotyping performs an objectively necessary function, allowing you to quickly, simply and reliably simplify the social environment of the individual.
In the second case, the judgment is based on past limited experience, and the experience was negative, any new perception of a representative of the same group is colored with a negative attitude. Ethnic stereotypes are especially common - images of typical representatives of a certain nation, which are endowed with fixed features of appearance and character traits (for example, stereotypical ideas about the stiffness of the British, the frivolity of the French, the eccentricity of Italians, the punctuality of the Germans, etc.).

Conclusion
So, an adequate perception of each other is one of the most important factors for successful communication.

I think that a number of features associated with individual traits and personality traits are more important than gender and age. An important role is played, for example, by the image of "I" and self-esteem - they are, as it were, the psychological foundation on which various factors that affect relationships with people are based. I mean those thoughts, assessments, judgments and beliefs about oneself that are related, as it were, to those external, visible manifestations of personality, about which a person can calmly talk. I also mean the assessments that a person makes with his own, hidden from others, but accessible to him, features, and those sensations that he is not fully aware of, but which disturb and excite him. Often it is these elements of the image of "I", from which a person wants to get rid of, oust them or completely forget them, become a source of difficulties and problems in the perception and understanding of the surrounding people.

I do not mean pathological perceptual disturbances associated with mental illness. The soul of each of us has its own special nooks and crannies into which we do not want and do not like to look; each of us has ill-conceived reasons for worrying more or less, reasons that will not disappear if we try not to think about them or forget them. Most often, these are various internal conflicts, which have not yet been resolved. These may be conflicts associated with some desires that cannot be satisfied and are evaluated negatively. We try to overcome these desires, but to no avail, and when they once again declare themselves in full voice, we experience anxiety and fear. That is why the perception of similar desires and related experiences in other people can be significantly impaired. Often the existence of "dark spots" in the soul is explained by the presence of some feelings in a person that he does not want or cannot recognize for himself. These are not necessarily so-called negative feelings; people sometimes do not recognize tenderness, cordiality, excitement, etc. in themselves.

Such internal conflicts and unresolved problems take away attention and energy that could be directed to a more complete and comprehensive knowledge and understanding of other people. This is the meaning of the often used expression "a person who is too focused on himself." Usually this means that such a person is burdened with conflicts, problems, issues that constantly require care and attention from him. If this state is prolonged, then it can be assumed that the way in which a person wants to solve his problems is unsuccessful and, in order to cope with his own difficulties, he does not perceive and realize himself clearly enough. Naturally, this state interferes with the adequate perception of the people with whom he communicates, however, it is impossible to overcome this obstacle only by "willpower", as some suggest. It is clear that self-knowledge, as a way to search for the causes of internal problems and ways to solve them, requires serious efforts, time, certain skills and help from other people.

Very useful in this direction can be awareness of one's own limitations and difficulties in knowing others. Awareness of typical and purely individual features that interfere at times in the process of perception and cognition of people and distort it, allows us to get closer to understanding the world around us. Knowing these features, it is easier to make appropriate corrections to your ideas, it is easier to avoid inaccuracies and errors. Anyone who claims, without a moment's doubt, that he is all right, that he "takes everything as it really is," is unlikely to be able to go far in understanding other people. A sober look at oneself is a very difficult task, and self-analysis is by no means limited to intellectual activity. You can be highly educated and quite intelligent person, but have very limited opportunities for introspection.

One of the most serious obstacles on the way to adequate and deep self-knowledge is the system of psychological defense "I". Most often, it is a set of unconscious means developed by each of us in order to ensure the safety of our personality in the face of a real or imagined threat. The effectiveness of these means is based mainly on the fact that with their help the subject alters the picture of external or internal reality in such a way that stimuli that cause feelings of anxiety or fear are repressed. Each of us uses such "protective" distortions when perceiving ourselves and other people, as if forgetting some information, not noticing something, exaggerating or minimizing something, attributing our traits to others, and vice versa, etc.

This often helps us cope with everyday difficulties, avoid painful collisions with reality, and so on.

So, a girl suffering from the fact that her lover left her will try her best to forget about him, to erase from her memory the image of this charming, cheerful and carefree person. However, if she fails to achieve this, then every time she meets carefree men of attractive appearance, she will consider them cunning and unreliable.

She will try to stay away from anyone who reminds her of her lost lover, and prefer those who will not be at all like him, people who are gloomy, squeezed. However, over time, when the past is forgotten, she will suddenly clearly understand what was obvious from the very beginning: her new chosen one does not have a sense of humor, a gloomy and gloomy person, does not like to extract and joke, and it turns out to be very difficult to endure all this, because she loves to laugh and have fun.

Another person, who harbors evil in relation to someone close to him and is no longer aware of his feelings, begins to imagine that this other is hostile towards him. Ascribing his own feelings to him, he seems to be convinced that he is right. In fact, the reasons for his anger are completely different, but he does not want to be aware of them, feeling that they reduce the value of his "I". Various means of psychological self-defense in the face of unpleasant or threatening information about us and the world around us make life easier for us, but make us pay dearly for it. The price we pay is an inadequate, distorted or incomplete perception and understanding of reality.

Dogmatism usually coexists with such psychological phenomena as hostility towards members of other groups, the desire for a clearly structured hierarchy of power and influence, the need for conformity and submission to authorities recognized in a particular group, distrust of people, unwillingness to analyze oneself, a tendency to attribute blame for certain misdeeds not to themselves, but to others, the readiness to severely punish the guilty, the tendency to see the world in black and white colors. If all these qualities are inherent in one person, we can talk about an authoritarian personality.

Dogmatism primarily manifests itself in the way others are perceived and understood. There are several forms of manifestation of dogmatism:

The various judgments and beliefs of the dogmatist are not connected with each other, but, on the contrary, are isolated from each other. Because of this circumstance, he holds conflicting views; for example, condemning the use of brute force in general, he may recognize and even approve of violence in specific situations, or, on the contrary, proclaiming that he believes in a person and his capabilities, at the same time assert that a person is inherently weak and needs constant monitoring from the outside.
Dogmatists tend to exaggerate the differences and downplay the similarities between propositions which they believe to be true and those which seem to them to be false. For example, they may argue that there is nothing in common between Catholicism and other religions, or believe that raising children in an atmosphere of trust and safety has nothing to do with strengthening their sense of responsibility and conscience, but does just the opposite.
One and the same person can know very much and in detail about some things that he approves and accepts, and very little and completely inaccurate about something that he does not like. For example, people who, due to their characteristics, received a negative assessment from such subjects, they know very superficially. Dogmatists do not want to learn something that they are negative about.
People or views that the dogmatist does not accept seem to him similar to each other, even if in reality there is a fundamental difference between them. They are suspicious and hostile towards those whose points of view differ from theirs.
The world around them and the relationships that dogmatists enter into with others seem to them to be a source of real or potential threat.

The signs of a dogmatic position listed above can be expressed with varying degrees of intensity. Researchers argue that dogmatism is often the result of a sense of external threat, protection from which the dogmatist seeks in blind obedience to authorities who preach irrational and at the same time simplistic views and assessments.

Do not forget, however, that protest and rebellion against certain authorities does not mean a complete absence of dogmatism, because it can get along well with a willingness to obey and follow the authority of others in everything. Sometimes a whole group can act as such an authority, and if its members are dogmatic, intolerant and hostile towards all who are not part of the same group, anyone who wants to join such a company will inevitably become dogmatic as well.

Another manifestation of dogmatism in relation to others is the inability to differentiate truly valuable information from dubious information, supported by the prestige of the one who transmitted it. For a dogmatist, it is more important who transmitted the information than whether it is objective, reliable and logical. The value of information is determined by the status and position of the person who is the source of this information.

Since the dogmatism of thinking is expressed in the presence of ingrained stereotypes, difficulties in the perception and assimilation of new information, it is clear that it prevents a deep and versatile understanding of others, and contributes to the consolidation of simplified patterns of perception and evaluation. In addition, dogmatists find it difficult to enrich their life experience with new information. Such people are reluctant to innovate in the nature of relationships with others, to make any changes in the style of their lives.

However, if you wish, you can still overcome the limitations of the dogmatic attitude, make it more flexible, if, on the one hand, you provide people or groups that are characterized by such qualities with greater independence, and on the other hand, provide them with a sense of psychological security. The likelihood of such changes can especially increase if they are initiated by truly authoritative people who are recognized and respected not due to their status or position on the hierarchical ladder, but for the real value of thoughts and the true meaning of actions.

In my reflections on the perception and understanding of others, I have repeatedly recalled the role of certain schemas and stereotypes influencing the process of social perception. In most cases, I have said that these schemas distort or limit the nature of perception. However, it is important not to forget that the various stereotypes and categories that we use when communicating with others carry, as it were, a double burden. On the one hand, they can be the cause of oversimplification and even distortion of perception, and on the other hand, they help us streamline the information that we constantly receive from the outside. We use certain categories to better distinguish important information from less important, to quickly understand the essence of what we perceive, so that with the help of our past experience we can deeper and better know others.

Through such schemes, we can sometimes, on the basis of subtle signs, draw very serious conclusions about complex and important phenomena occurring within others. Therefore, it is extremely useful to constantly take care of increasing and enriching your repertoire of schemes and categories that serve for the perception and knowledge of others and yourself. If the repertoire of such means is rich and varied, and we know how to use them flexibly, then it is easy for us to extract the maximum benefit from their advantages and minimize their disadvantages. Otherwise, we may find ourselves at the mercy of stereotypes formed on the basis of a limited number of categories and schemas.