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Psychological explanatory dictionary. Dictionary of basic psychological concepts

The problem of regulating emotional states is one of the most difficult in psychology and at the same time relates to both fundamental and applied problems. I know general psychology We will get acquainted with this problem only in general view, because when studying other disciplines you will return to it repeatedly.

It should be noted that there are many approaches to studying both the regulation of emotional states and mental mechanisms that cause stress. We will look at just a few approaches. The first of them, presented by the works of F.B. Berezin, is based on the following provisions: adaptation occurs at all levels of human organization, incl. in the mental sphere; mental adaptation is a central link in general adaptation person, since it is the nature of mental regulation that determines the nature of adaptation as a whole. Berezin also believes that the mechanisms of mental adaptation, and therefore regulation mental states, lie in the intrapsychic sphere.

Among the mechanisms that predetermine the success of adaptation, Berezin includes mechanisms to counter anxiety - various forms psychological protection and compensation. Psychological protection is a special regulatory system of personality stabilization, aimed at eliminating or minimizing the feeling of anxiety associated with the awareness of any conflict. Main function psychological protection is the “protection” of the sphere of consciousness from negative, traumatic experiences. In a broad sense this term used to refer to any behavior, incl. and inadequate, aimed at eliminating discomfort.

Berezin identifies four types of psychological defense: those that prevent the awareness of threat factors that cause anxiety; allowing you to record an alarm; reducing the level of motivation; eliminating anxiety. Conducted

Their research revealed a natural change in the mechanisms of intrapsychic adaptation and allowed us to say that various shapes psychological defenses have various capabilities to resist anxiety and other negative conditions. Moreover, it was found that there is a certain hierarchy of types of psychological defense. When one form of defense is unable to withstand anxiety, then another form of defense “turns on”. Berezin also discovered that a violation of the mechanisms of mental adaptation or the use of an inadequate form of defense can lead to the somatization of anxiety, i.e., the direction of anxiety towards the formation of pre-morbid states, or to the final failure of adaptation. This happens because anxiety, like any other emotional state, is associated with the vegetative and humoral regulation of the body, i.e. when this state certain physiological changes. It should be noted that the use by an individual of an inadequate form of psychological defense and the occurrence of hyperanxiety is always accompanied by supertension, more significant in its intensity than the usual motivational one. As a rule, in this situation a condition arises due to the blockade of motivational behavior, known as frustration.

Frustration is a mental state of a person caused by objectively insurmountable difficulties that arose in achieving a goal or solving a problem. It should be noted that the term “frustration” is used in modern scientific literature in different meanings. Very often, frustration is understood as a form of emotional stress. In some works, this term denotes frustrating situations, in others - a mental state, but it always means a discrepancy between the behavioral process and the result, i.e. the individual’s behavior does not correspond to the situation, and therefore, he does not achieve the goal he strives for , and even vice versa, can come to a completely opposite result.

Frustrating situations that are essential for adaptation are usually associated with a wide range of needs that are not satisfied in any given situation. As you already know, need is the state of an individual created by the need he feels for something. There are various classifications of the most significant of them. P.V. Simonov, for example, distinguishes biological, social and ideal. A. Maslow argues that there is a certain hierarchy of needs, where social needs are among the highest.

The inability to satisfy one or another need causes a certain mental stress. In the case of a reorganization of a whole set of needs or their mismatch, when a person tries to solve two or more mutually exclusive tasks, mental stress reaches its highest limits and as a result a state is formed that causes a violation of the adequacy of behavior, i.e. frustration. As a rule, this state arises as a result of a certain conflict, which is usually called an intrapsychic conflict, or a conflict of motives. The incompatibility and clash of opposing personality tendencies characteristic of intrapsychic conflict inevitably impede the construction of holistic integrative behavior and increase the risk of adaptation failure.

It is with the situation of intrapsychic conflict that emotional stress is directly related. The likelihood of an intrapsychic conflict is largely determined by the characteristics of the cognitive sphere. Numerous studies have shown the role of cognitive elements in the development of stress, and the discrepancy between cognitive elements (cognitive dissonance) entails an increase in tension, and the greater the discrepancy, the higher the tension, which leads to a violation of the integration of behavior.

Integration of behavior is a system of interrelation between the elements of the mental structure of the individual, which allows one to successfully solve problems in the interests of adaptation of the individual, and, first of all, to achieve consistency between his motives and the requirements of the environment. Integration of behavior is realized through such psychological formations as attitudes, attitudes, and role structures. Intrapsychic conflict of relationships, which are formed on the basis of role and personal attitudes, can lead to disorganization of behavior and disruption of existing personality structures - “self-image”, “self-concept”, self-esteem. In this case, disorganization of behavior will be accompanied by a negative emotional background, since emotions are associated with motives and ensure the implementation of certain regulatory functions, while the integration of emotions into unified system defines character emotional state.

Building integrated behavior is an essential part of the adaptation process. Violation of behavior at any level of integration is accompanied by a decrease in the quality of mental adaptation, an increase in frustration tension and corresponding physiological changes. Depending on how integrated our behavior is, i.e. holistically, consciously and subordinated to a specific goal, our threshold of frustration is so high, which can be considered as a measure of the potential stability of mental adaptation and the ability to withstand emerging tension.

One of the most important components of the personality structure, influencing the level of integration of behavior, and therefore the adaptation process as a whole, is the “self-concept”. “I-concept” is a relatively stable, more or less conscious and experienced system of ideas of an individual about himself, on the basis of which he builds his interaction with other people and relates to himself. As follows from this definition, “self-coinception” is a system of relationships of a person to himself and the objects, people and other phenomena around him. All the information that a person receives from external environment, he perceives in the context of a system of such relationships, and, based on the degree of compliance or non-compliance with his goals, from the fact that the received information carries a threat or approval, the person builds his behavior. It is no coincidence that it is generally accepted that the “self-concept” forms the core of the human self-regulation system. At the root of the self-concept are self-esteem and level of aspirations, reflecting general direction motivational sphere, focused on achieving success (achievement motivation) or avoiding failures (avoidance motivation). In turn, studies of motivation have shown a relationship between the nature of motivation and the choice of behavioral strategies, as well as the characteristics of adaptation to the conditions of a changing environment. When achievement motivation predominates, behavior differs in the absence of

the result of visible anxiety, and vice versa, the motivation to avoid failure is accompanied by the manifestation of anxiety.

Since we are talking about the system of personality relations, we cannot help but recall V.N. Myasishchev, the author of the concept of personality relations. According to Myasishchev, the system of relationships constitutes the core of personality. This system is formed under the influence of human consciousness reflecting the surrounding reality. This concept has found wide application in medical psychology, especially in the field of research and treatment of neuroses.

Neuroses are a group of neuropsychic disorders, psychogenic in nature, resulting from prolonged or excessively intense emotional stress. main reason neurosis - a violation of the regulatory system emotional connection, caused by a contradiction between the attitudes and views of the individual and external reality, i.e., the basis of such a violation is intrapsychic conflict.

Neurosis, being a neuropsychic disorder, is accompanied by vegetative manifestations: muscle tension, tremors, cardiac dysfunction, anxiety, feelings of depression, headaches, and weakness. Moreover, these vegetative changes do not occur immediately, but gradually. First of all, sleep changes. It becomes superficial, the person wakes up easily. A person's sensitivity to external stimuli gradually changes. Sound, light, and conversations are incredibly irritating to a person. Even normal-level noise can become unbearable. Increased sensitivity acts, on the one hand, as an adaptive mechanism to the lack of information, providing an influx of additional signals with which the situation can be resolved. On the other hand, increased sensitivity makes a person more susceptible to any irritants and manifests itself as excessive tearfulness, impatience, explosiveness, as well as pain in response to weak signals from internal environment, which were not previously perceived.

The main feature of neurosis is conflict. Conflict is found at the base of most neuroses and is always accompanied by extremely intense feelings. Experiences vary. For example, a feeling of guilt, of an omission, as a result of which a traumatic situation arose, etc.
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At the same time, it should be noted that experiences become a source of neurosis only if they are especially significant for a person. For this reason, most emotional or intrapsychic conflicts that cause illness are social in nature. For example, a person gets sick not because he has become a victim of injustice, but because the injustice shown to him (real or apparent) violated his ideas about justice, his belief in good and evil, in the meaning of human existence.

However, we have come to the point that emotional stress is most often associated with social phenomena, i.e. emotional stress is an inseparable part of human social adaptation. As a result of our many years of experimental research on this problem, we came to the conclusion that there are personality characteristics that determine

successful human adaptation in a wide variety of conditions. These characteristics are formed throughout a person’s entire life, and among them, first of all, should be attributed the level neuropsychic stability, self-esteem of the individual, feeling of importance for others (social reference), level of conflict, communication experience, moral orientation, orientation to the requirements of the immediate environment.

All these characteristics with detailed study turned out to be interconnected with each other. Moreover, they form one integral characteristic, which we called personal adaptive potential. This characteristic is considered by us as a systemic property of the individual, which consists in the ability of the individual to adapt to the conditions of the social environment. The higher the level of development of this property, the more rigid and harsh conditions social environment a person can adapt.

During experimental studies it was found that even in conditions real threat for life, people with higher adaptive potential not only have a better chance of surviving, but can successfully perform professional duties. It should also be noted that subsequently individuals with more high level development of the individual's adaptive potential have a greater chance than others to restore the functional state of the body and return to normal life.

There are other approaches to considering the problem of regulation of emotional states and emotional stress. We will not consider them, since in the process of studying other academic subjects you will become familiar with them in more detail. We will end this chapter by looking at practical aspects regulation of emotional states.

R. M. Granovskaya divides all strategies for getting out of a tense situation into three groups: change or eliminate the problem; reduce its intensity by shifting your point of view on it; alleviate its impact by incorporating a number of methods.

Key role Awareness of life goals and correlation of specific values with them plays a role in managing one’s condition. How faster man will determine its life values and goals, the more likely he is to avoid the negative consequences of suddenly arising excessive emotional stress, since the person who made the main life choice largely determined all further decisions and thereby saved himself from hesitation and fears. Getting into difficult situation, he correlates its meaning with his main life guidelines. The timeliness of such weighing normalizes his condition. At the same time, a critical situation is considered against the background of a general perspective, for example, a person’s entire life, due to which the significance of this situation can sharply decrease. There are many examples of people having accidents from which they could recover within a few hours. But the reaction to them was so inadequate, so incompatible with the personal scale of values, that significant life crises developed. For this reason, adverse consequences often arise not because of the events themselves, but because of the reaction to them.

Τᴀᴋᴎᴍ ᴏϬᴩᴀᴈᴏᴍ, one of basic methods avoiding excessive emotional stress is harmonious development human personality,

development of his independent ideological position. Moreover, this development begins from the first days of a person’s life, and its success largely depends on how skillfully the child’s parents, and then teachers at school, build the educational process, how much the state cares about the upbringing of the younger generation, and on much more.

The next way to regulate emotional states, according to Granovskaya, is making the right choice moment to make a decision or implement your plan. As is known, extreme situation leads to a narrowing of consciousness, which leads to disruption of orientation in the environment. Anxiety and excitement change the strategy of behavior. A person struck by confusion strives to avoid the slightest risk, is afraid to go in that direction, and is threatened with delusions and mistakes, in connection with this every new information he seeks to connect with a similar one already known to him. In this situation, a person very often makes mistakes, making the wrong decision. For this reason, it is extremely important to learn to choose the right moment to implement your plans in a difficult, emotionally tense situation.

Another way to reduce emotional stress is to reduce motivation. For example, give up for a while from achieving a goal or reduce emotional tension through voluntary transfer of attention, concentrating it not on the significance of the result of the activity being performed, but on analyzing the technical details of the task or tactical techniques.

It is important to note that in order to create an optimal emotional state, first of all, a correct assessment of the significance of the ongoing event is needed, since a person is affected not so much by the intensity and duration real events, how much is their individual value. When an event is perceived as an emergency, even a low-intensity factor can cause maladjustment. It is also necessary to keep in mind that with strong emotional arousal, a person’s personal characteristics play a very significant role in assessing the event. Thus, a good forecast becomes even more optimistic for an optimist, and a bad forecast becomes even more gloomy for a pessimist. At the same time, in order to correctly assess an event, full awareness of it is necessary. The more information a person has on an issue of concern, the less likely it is to have an emotional breakdown. It follows that by all means you need to increase the amount of information about the problem that worries you. At the same time, awareness should be diverse.

Granovskaya identifies another way to deal with emotional stress and emotional tension. This method consists of pre-prepared retreat strategies. Having a backup option for behavior in any situation reduces excessive arousal and makes it more likely that you will succeed in solving the problem in the general direction. Without preparing an alternative solution, a person is unreasonably pessimistic about the situation that may arise if the main option fails. Having a backup option, if the first one fails, it is easier for a person to come to terms with failure and at the same time maintain an optimistic mood. Consequently, backup strategies reduce fear of unfavorable developments and thereby help create an optimal background for solving a problem.

In addition to the listed methods of exiting stressful situation It should be borne in mind that it is pointless to fight against what is already an accomplished fact. In some circumstances, when continued efforts turn into fruitless attempts to “break through the wall with your forehead,” it is useful for a person to temporarily abandon efforts to immediately achieve the goal, to realize the real situation and his defeat. Then he can save his strength for a new attempt in a more favorable environment. In addition, in the event of a defeat, it is not harmful to make a general reassessment of the situation along the lines of “I didn’t really want to.” Reducing the subjective significance of the event helps to retreat to previously prepared positions and prepare for the next assault without wasting energy. It is no coincidence that in ancient times in the East, people asked in their prayer: “Lord, give me strength to cope with what I can do, give me courage to come to terms with what I cannot do, and give me wisdom to distinguish.” one from the other.

Control questions

1. Tell us about stress as a nonspecific reaction of the body.

2. Give a classification of types of mental stress.

3. Name the conditions for the occurrence of informational and emotional stress.

4. What are the individual characteristics in the manifestation of stress?

5. What mechanisms of regulation of mental states do you know?

6. What is intrapsychic conflict?

7. What ways do you know to avoid excessive emotional stress?

1. Berezin F. B. Mental and psychophysiological adaptation of a person. - L.: Science, 1988.

2. Granovskaya R. M. Elements of practical psychology. - St. Petersburg: Light, 1997.

3. Izard K. E. Psychology of emotions. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 1999.

4. Rubinshtein S. L. Fundamentals of general psychology. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 1999.

5. Selye G. Stress without distress. - Riga: Vieda, 1992.

6. Simonov P. V. Motivated brain: Higher nervous activity and natural scientific foundations of general psychology / Rep. ed. V. S. Rusinov. - M.: Nauka, 1987.

7. Simonov P. V. Emotional brain. Physiology. Neuroanatomy. Psychology of emotions. - M.: Nauka, 1981.

8. Fress P., Piaget J. Experimental psychology / Sat. articles. Per.
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from French: Issue. 6. - M.: Progress, 1978.

Regulation of emotional states - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Regulation of emotional states" 2017, 2018.

Being simultaneously an independent physiological, mental and social phenomenon, stress At its core, it is another type of emotional state. This condition is characterized by increased physiological and mental activity. Moreover, one of the main characteristics of stress is its extreme instability. Under favorable conditions, this state can be transformed into an optimal state, and under unfavorable conditions- into a state of neuro-emotional tension, which is characterized by a decrease in the performance and efficiency of functioning of systems and organs, and depletion of energy resources.

Stress is understood as a nonspecific response of the body to external or internal demands placed on it. It should be noted that not all exposure causes stress. Weak influences do not lead to stress; it occurs only when the influence of a stressor (an object, phenomenon, or any other environmental factor that is unusual for a person) exceeds the individual’s normal adaptive capabilities. When exposed to stress, certain hormones begin to be released into the blood. Under their influence, the mode of operation of organs and systems of the body changes.

Thus, stress occurs when the body is forced to adapt to new conditions, i.e. stress is inseparable from the adaptation process.

Currently, it is customary to divide stress into two main types: systemic(physiological) and mental. Since a person is a social being and the mental sphere plays a leading role in the activity of his integral systems, it is often mental stress that turns out to be the most significant for the regulation process.

Mental stress They are conventionally divided into two types: informational And emotional. This division of mental stress into informational and emotional is very arbitrary.

Information stress occurs in situations of significant information overload, when a person cannot cope with the task of processing incoming information and does not have time to accept right decisions at the required pace, especially with high responsibility for the consequences of decisions made.

The occurrence of emotional stress associated with situations of threat, danger, resentment, etc. From this point of view, it is customary to distinguish three forms of emotional stress: impulsive, inhibitory And generalized. With emotional stress, certain changes are noted in the mental sphere, including changes in the course of mental processes, emotional shifts, transformation of the motivational structure of activity, disorders of motor and speech behavior.

Emotional stress causes the same changes in the body as physiological stress.

The occurrence and course of stress primarily depends on the individual characteristics of a person. People react to the same stress differently. Among the personality traits that determine the likelihood of stress, the leading place is occupied by anxiety, which, under adaptation conditions, can manifest itself in a variety of mental reactions, known as reactions anxiety. Anxiety is understood as a feeling of an unconscious threat, a feeling of apprehension and anxious anticipation, or a feeling of vague anxiety. This sensation serves as a signal indicating excessive tension in regulatory mechanisms or disruption of adaptation processes.

The problem of regulating emotional states is one of the most difficult in psychology and at the same time relates to both fundamental and applied problems. It should be noted that there are many approaches to studying both the regulation of emotional states and the mental mechanisms that cause stress.

Mental adaptation is a central link in the general adaptation of a person, since it is the nature of mental regulation that determines the nature of adaptation as a whole.

The mechanisms that determine the success of adaptation include mechanisms to counter anxiety - various forms psychological protection And compensation.

Psychological protection- this is a special regulatory system of personality stabilization, aimed at eliminating or minimizing the feeling of anxiety associated with the awareness of any conflict. The main function of psychological defense is to “protect” the sphere of consciousness from negative, traumatic experiences. In a broad sense, this term is used to refer to any behavior, including inappropriate behavior, aimed at eliminating discomfort.

Four types of psychological defense: preventing awareness of threat factors that cause anxiety; allowing you to record an alarm; reducing the level of motivation; eliminating anxiety.

The use by an individual of an inadequate form of psychological defense and the occurrence of hyperanxiety is always accompanied by supertension, more significant in its intensity than the usual motivational one. As a rule, in this situation a condition arises due to the blockade of motivational behavior, known as frustration.

Frustration- this is a person’s mental state caused by objectively insurmountable difficulties that arose in achieving a goal or solving a problem.

Frustrating situations essential for adaptation are usually associated with a wide range needs, needs which cannot be satisfied in a given situation. As you already know, need is the state of an individual created by the need he feels for something.

The inability to satisfy one or another need causes a certain mental stress. In case of reorganization of a whole complex of needs or their mismatch, when a person tries to solve two or more mutually exclusive problems, mental stress reaches highest limits and as a result, a condition is formed that causes a violation of the adequacy of behavior, i.e. frustration. As a rule, this condition arises as a result of some kind of conflict, which is usually called intrapsychic conflict, or a conflict of motives. The incompatibility and clash of opposing personality tendencies characteristic of intrapsychic conflict inevitably impede the construction of holistic integrative behavior and increase the risk of adaptation failure.

Building integrated behavior is essential Part adaptation process. Violation of behavior at any level of integration is accompanied by a decrease in the quality of mental adaptation, an increase in frustration tension and corresponding physiological changes. Depending on how integrated our behavior is, i.e. holistically, consciously and subordinated to a specific goal, our threshold of frustration is so high, which can be considered as a measure of the potential stability of mental adaptation and the ability to withstand emerging tension.

Thus, we have come to the point that emotional stress is most often associated with social phenomena, that is, emotional stress is an inseparable part of a person’s social adaptation. There are personality characteristics that determine the success of a person’s adaptation in a wide variety of conditions. These characteristics are formed throughout a person’s life, and they include, first of all, the level of neuropsychic stability, personal self-esteem, a sense of one’s significance for others (social reference), the level of conflict, communication experience, moral orientation, orientation towards requirements of the immediate environment.

All these characteristics, upon detailed study, turned out to be interrelated with each other. Moreover, they form one integral characteristic, which we called personal adaptation potential. We consider this characteristic as a systemic property of the individual, which consists in the individual’s ability to adapt to the conditions of the social environment. The higher the level of development of this property, the more stringent and severe conditions of the social environment a person can adapt to.

There are other approaches to considering the problem of regulation of emotional states and emotional stress.

The next way to regulate emotional states is to choose the right moment to make a decision or implement your plan.

Another way to reduce emotional stress is to reduce motivation.

Another way to deal with emotional stress and emotional tension. This method consists of pre-prepared retreat strategies. The presence of a backup option for behavior in a given situation reduces excessive arousal and makes it more likely that the problem will be successfully solved in the general direction.

In addition to the listed ways to get out of a stressful situation, you should keep in mind that it is pointless to fight against what is already a fait accompli. In some circumstances, when continued efforts turn into fruitless attempts to “break through the wall with your forehead,” it is useful for a person to temporarily abandon efforts to immediately achieve the goal and realize the real situation and his defeat. Then he can save his strength for a new attempt in a more favorable environment. In addition, in the event of a defeat, it is not harmful to make a general reassessment of the situation along the lines of “I didn’t really want to.” Reducing the subjective significance of an event helps to retreat to previously prepared positions and prepare for the next assault without wasting energy. It is no coincidence that in ancient times in the East people asked in their prayer:

“Lord, give me the strength to handle the things I can do, give me the courage to deal with the things I cannot do, and give me the wisdom to know the difference.”

23. Definition and content of the concept of “personality”. The relationship between the concepts “individual”, “subject”, “personality”, “individuality”. The problem of the relationship between the biological and the social in personality.

Most often, personality is understood as a person in the totality of his social and vital important qualities, acquired by him in the process social development. Consequently, it is not customary to include human characteristics that are associated with the genotypic or physiological organization of a person as personal characteristics. To the number personal qualities It is also not customary to include the qualities of a person that characterize the peculiarities of the development of his cognitive mental processes or individual style of activity, with the exception of those that manifest themselves in relationships with people and society as a whole. Most often, the content of the concept of “personality” includes stable human properties that determine actions that are significant in relation to other people.

Thus, personality - this is a specific person, taken in the system of his stable socially conditioned psychological characteristics, which manifest themselves in social connections and relationships, determine his moral actions and are of significant importance for himself and those around him.

Along with the concepts of “person” and “personality”, the terms “individual” and “individuality” are often used in science (Fig. 56). Their difference from the concept of “personality” is as follows.

Rice. 56. The relationship between the scope of the concepts “person”, “personality”, “individual” and
"individuality"

Individuality- this is the narrowest concept of all discussed. It contains only those individual and personal properties of a person, such a combination of them that this person distinguishes from other people.

If the concept " Human"includes the totality of all human qualities characteristic of people, regardless of whether they are present or absent in a given particular person, then the concept " individual“characterizes him and additionally includes such psychological and biological properties that, along with personal ones, are also inherent in him. In addition, the concept of “individual” includes both qualities that distinguish a given person from other people, as well as properties common to him and many other people.

Affiliation of a particular person to to the human race fixed in the concept individual. Thus, the concept of “individual” characterizes a person as a bearer of certain biological properties.

Coming into the world as individual , a person is included in the system of social relationships and processes, as a result of which he acquires a special social quality- he becomes personality . This happens because a person, logging into the system public relations, acts as subject - the bearer of consciousness, which is formed and developed in the process of activity.

In turn, the developmental features of all these three levels characterize the uniqueness and originality of a particular person and determine his individuality. Thus, the concept of “personality” characterizes one of the most significant levels of human organization, namely the features of its development as a social being.

By revising personality structures it usually includes ability, temperament, character, motivation and social attitudes. Capabilities- these are individually stable properties of a person that determine his success in various types activities. Temperament is a dynamic characteristic of human mental processes. Character contains qualities that determine a person’s attitude towards other people. Motivation- is a set of motivations for activity, and social attitudes- these are people's beliefs.

In addition, some authors include in the personality structure such concepts as will And emotions. The fact is that in the structure of mental phenomena it is customary to distinguish mental processes, mental states and mental properties. In turn, mental processes are divided into cognitive, volitional and emotional. Thus, will and emotions have every reason to be considered within the framework of mental processes as independent phenomena.

Concepts " personality" And " individuality", from point of view domestic psychology, do not match. Moreover, in Russian psychological science there are quite a lot of disagreements about the relationship between these concepts. What these approaches have in common is that the concept of “personality” includes, first of all, the qualities of a person that manifest themselves at the social level during the formation social relations and human connections.

At the same time, there are a number of psychological concepts in which the individual is not considered as a subject of the system public relations, but is presented as a holistic integrative formation that includes all human characteristics, including biological, mental And social. Therefore, it is believed that with the help of special personality questionnaires can describe a person as a whole. This difference of opinion is caused by differences in approaches to consideration the relationship between the biological and the social in the structure of a person’s personality.

The problem of the relationship between the biological and the social in a person’s personality is one of central problems modern psychology. In the process of formation and development psychological science Almost all possible connections between the concepts of “mental”, “social” and “biological” were considered. Several groups of concepts can be distinguished that differently consider the relationship between the social, mental and biological.

In the group of concepts in which it is proved spontaneity of mental development, the mental is considered as a phenomenon completely subordinate to its internal laws, in no way connected with either the biological or the social. At best, the human body, within the framework of these concepts, is assigned the role of a kind of “container” mental activity. Most often we come across this position among authors who prove the divine origin of psychic phenomena.

IN biologization concepts mental is seen as linear function development of the organism, as something that definitely follows this development. From the perspective of these concepts, all features of mental processes, states and properties of a person are determined by the features of the biological structure, and their development is subject exclusively to biological laws. In this case, laws discovered in the study of animals are often used, which do not take into account the specifics of development human body. Often in these concepts, to explain mental development, the basic biogenetic law is invoked - the law of recapitulation, according to which in the development of an individual the evolution of the species to which this individual belongs is reproduced in its main features.

There are a number sociological concepts, which also proceed from the idea of recapitulation, but only here it is presented somewhat differently. Within the framework of these concepts, it is argued that the mental development of an individual in a summary form reproduces the main stages of the process historical development society, primarily the development of its spiritual life and culture.

The results of numerous studies of the patterns of human mental development suggest that the initial prerequisite for the mental development of an individual is his biological development. An individual is born with a certain set of biological properties and physiological mechanisms, which act as the basis of his mental development. But these prerequisites are realized only when a person is in the conditions of human society.

Considering the problem of interaction and mutual influence of biological and social mental development person, we highlight three levels of human organization: level biological organization, social level and level of mental organization. Thus, it is necessary to keep in mind that we're talking about about interaction in the triad “biological-mental-social”. Moreover, the approach to studying the relationship between the components of this triad is formed from an understanding of the psychological essence of the concept of “personality”.

The problem of regulating emotional states is one of the most difficult in psychology and at the same time relates to both fundamental and applied problems. In the course of general psychology, we will get acquainted with this problem only in a general form, since when studying other disciplines you will repeatedly return to it.

It should be noted that there are many approaches to studying both the regulation of emotional states and the mental mechanisms that cause stress. We will look at just a few approaches. The first of them, presented by the works of F.B. Berezin, is based on the following provisions: adaptation occurs at all levels of human organization, including in the mental sphere; mental adaptation is a central link in the general adaptation of a person, since it is the nature of mental regulation that determines the nature of adaptation as a whole. Berezin also believes that the mechanisms of mental adaptation, and therefore the regulation of mental states, lie in the intrapsychic sphere.

Among the mechanisms that determine the success of adaptation, Berezin includes mechanisms to counter anxiety - various forms of psychological defense and compensation. Psychological protection is a special regulatory system of personality stabilization, aimed at eliminating or minimizing the feeling of anxiety associated with the awareness of any conflict. The main function of psychological defense is to “protect” the sphere of consciousness from negative, traumatic experiences. In a broad sense, this term is used to refer to any behavior, including inappropriate behavior, aimed at eliminating discomfort.

Their studies revealed a natural change in the mechanisms of intrapsychic adaptation and allowed us to say that different forms of psychological defense have different capabilities to resist anxiety and other negative conditions. Moreover, it was found that there is a certain hierarchy of types of psychological defense. When one form of defense is unable to withstand anxiety, another form of defense “turns on.” Berezin also discovered that a violation of the mechanisms of mental adaptation or the use of an inadequate form of defense can lead to the somatization of anxiety, i.e., the direction of anxiety towards the formation of pre-morbid states, or to the final failure of adaptation. This happens because anxiety, like any other emotional state, is associated with the autonomic and humoral regulation of the body, i.e., when this condition occurs, certain physiological changes occur. It should be noted that the use by an individual of an inadequate form of psychological defense and the occurrence of hyperanxiety is always accompanied by supertension, more significant in intensity than the usual motivational one. As a rule, in this situation a condition arises due to the blockade of motivational behavior, known as frustration.

Frustration is a mental state of a person caused by objectively insurmountable difficulties that arose in achieving a goal or solving a problem. It should be noted that the term “frustration” is used in modern scientific literature in different meanings. Very often, frustration is understood as a form of emotional stress. In some works, this term denotes frustrating situations, in others - a mental state, but it always means a discrepancy between the behavioral process and the result, i.e. the individual’s behavior does not correspond to the situation, and therefore, he does not achieve the goal he strives for, but on the contrary, it can come to a completely opposite result.

Frustrating situations that are essential for adaptation are usually associated with a wide range of needs that cannot be satisfied in a given situation. As you already know, need is the state of an individual created by the need he feels for something. There are various classifications of the most significant of them. P.V. Simonov, for example, distinguishes biological, social and ideal. A. Maslow argues that there is a certain hierarchy of needs, where social needs are among the highest.

One of the most important components of the personality structure, influencing the level of integration of behavior, and therefore the adaptation process as a whole, is the “self-concept”. “I-concept” is a relatively stable, more or less conscious and experienced system of ideas of an individual about himself, on the basis of which he builds his interaction with other people and relates to himself. As follows from this definition, “self-coiception” is a system of a person’s relationships to himself and the objects, people and other phenomena around him. All the information that a person receives from the external environment, he perceives in the context of a system of such relationships, and, based on the degree of compliance or non-compliance with his goals, from the fact that the received information carries a threat or approval, the person builds his behavior. It is no coincidence that it is generally accepted that the “self-concept” forms the core of the human self-regulation system. The “self-concept” is based on self-esteem and the level of aspirations, reflecting the general orientation of the motivational sphere, focused on achieving success (achievement motivation) or avoiding failures (avoidance motivation). In turn, studies of motivation have shown a relationship between the nature of motivation and the choice of behavioral strategies, as well as the characteristics of adaptation to the conditions of a changing environment. When achievement motivation predominates, behavior differs in the absence of

the result of visible anxiety, and vice versa, the motivation to avoid failure is accompanied by the manifestation of anxiety.

Neuroses are a group of neuropsychic disorders, psychogenic in nature, resulting from prolonged or excessively intense emotional stress. The main cause of neurosis is a violation of the system of regulation of emotional communication, caused by a contradiction between the attitudes and views of the individual and external reality, i.e., the basis of such a violation is intrapsychic conflict.

Neurosis, being a neuropsychic disorder, is accompanied by vegetative manifestations: muscle tension, tremors, cardiac dysfunction, anxiety, feelings of depression, headaches, and weakness. Moreover, these vegetative changes do not occur immediately, but gradually. First of all, sleep changes. It becomes superficial, the person wakes up easily. A person's sensitivity to external stimuli gradually changes. Sound, light, and conversations are incredibly irritating to a person. Even normal-level noise can become unbearable. Increased sensitivity acts, on the one hand, as an adaptive mechanism to the lack of information, providing an influx of additional signals with which the situation can be resolved. On the other hand, increased sensitivity makes a person more susceptible to any irritants and manifests itself as excessive tearfulness, impatience, explosiveness, and also in the form of pain in response to weak signals from the internal environment that were not previously perceived.

However, the main feature of neurosis is conflict. Conflict is found at the root of most neuroses and is always accompanied by extremely intense feelings. Experiences may vary. For example, a feeling of one’s guilt, one’s omission, as a result of which a traumatic situation arose, etc. At the same time, it should be noted that experiences become a source of neurosis only if they are especially significant for a person. Therefore, most emotional, or intrapsychic, conflicts that cause the disease are social in nature. For example, a person falls ill not because he has become a victim of injustice, but because the injustice shown to him (real or apparent) violated his ideas about justice, his belief in good and evil, in the meaning of human existence.

Thus, we have come to the point that emotional stress is most often associated with social phenomena, that is, emotional stress is an inseparable part of a person’s social adaptation. As a result of our many years of experimental research on this problem, we came to the conclusion that there are personality characteristics that determine

successful human adaptation in a wide variety of conditions. These characteristics are formed throughout a person’s life, and they include, first of all, the level of neuropsychic stability, personal self-esteem, a sense of one’s significance for others (social reference), the level of conflict, communication experience, moral orientation, orientation to the requirements of the immediate environment.

All these characteristics, upon detailed study, turned out to be interrelated with each other. Moreover, they form one integral characteristic, which we called personal adaptive potential. We consider this characteristic as a systemic property of the individual, which consists in the individual’s ability to adapt to the conditions of the social environment. The higher the level of development of this property, the more stringent and severe conditions of the social environment a person can adapt to.

In the course of experimental studies, it was found that even in conditions of a real threat to life, people with higher adaptive potential not only have a greater chance of surviving, but can successfully perform professional duties. It should also be noted that subsequently, persons with a higher level of development of the individual’s adaptive potential have a greater chance than others to restore the functional state of the body and return to normal life.

There are other approaches to considering the problem of regulation of emotional states and emotional stress. We will not consider them, since in the process of studying other academic subjects you will become familiar with them in more detail. We will end this chapter by considering the practical aspects of regulating emotional states.

A key role in managing your condition is played by awareness of life goals and correlation of specific values with them. The faster a person determines his life values and goals, the more likely he is to avoid the negative consequences of sudden excessive emotional stress, since the person who made the main life choice largely determined all future decisions and thereby saved himself from hesitation and fears. Finding himself in a difficult situation, he correlates its meaning with his main life guidelines. The timeliness of such weighing normalizes his condition. In this case, a critical situation is considered against the background of a general perspective, for example, a person’s entire life, as a result of which the significance of this situation can sharply decrease. There are many examples of people having accidents from which they could recover within a few hours. But the reaction to them was so inadequate, so incompatible with the personal scale of values, that significant life crises developed. Therefore, adverse consequences often arise not because of the events themselves, but because of the reaction to them.

Thus, one of the main ways to avoid excessive emotional stress is the harmonious development of a person’s personality,

The next way to regulate emotional states, according to Granovskaya, is to choose the right moment to make a decision or implement your plan. As is known, an extreme situation leads to a narrowing of consciousness, which leads to a disruption of orientation in the environment. Anxiety and excitement change the strategy of behavior. A person stricken with confusion strives to avoid the slightest risk, is afraid to go in a direction that threatens delusions and mistakes, so he strives to connect each new information with similar information already known to him. In this situation, a person very often makes mistakes, making the wrong decision. Therefore, it is necessary to learn to choose the right moment to implement your plans in a difficult, emotionally tense situation.

Another way to reduce emotional stress is to reduce motivation. For example, give up for a while from achieving a set goal or reduce emotional tension through voluntary transfer of attention, concentrating it not on the significance of the result of the activity being performed, but on analyzing the technical details of the task or tactical techniques.

To create an optimal emotional state, first of all, a correct assessment of the significance of the ongoing event is necessary, since a person is influenced not so much by the intensity and duration of real events, but by their individual value. When an event is considered an emergency, even a low-intensity factor can cause maladjustment. It is also necessary to keep in mind that with strong emotional arousal, a person’s personal characteristics play a very significant role in assessing the event. Thus, a good forecast becomes even more optimistic for an optimist, and a bad forecast becomes even more gloomy for a pessimist. However, in order to correctly assess an event, full awareness of it is necessary. The more information a person has on an issue of concern, the less likely it is to have an emotional breakdown. It follows that by all means you need to increase the amount of information about the problem that worries you. At the same time, awareness should be diverse.

Granovskaya identifies another way to deal with emotional stress and emotional tension. This method consists of pre-prepared retreat strategies. The presence of a backup option for behavior in a given situation reduces excessive arousal and makes it more likely that the problem will be successfully solved in the general direction. Without preparing an alternative solution, a person is unreasonably pessimistic about the situation that may arise if the main option fails. Having a backup option, if the first one fails, it is easier for a person to come to terms with failure and at the same time maintain an optimistic mood. Consequently, backup strategies reduce fear of unfavorable developments and thereby help create an optimal background for solving a problem.

In addition to the listed ways to get out of a stressful situation, you should keep in mind that it is pointless to fight against what is already a fait accompli. In some circumstances, when continued efforts turn into fruitless attempts to “break through the wall with your forehead,” it is useful for a person to temporarily abandon efforts to immediately achieve the goal, to realize the real situation and his defeat. Then he can save his strength for a new attempt in a more favorable environment. In addition, in the event of a defeat, it is not harmful to make a general reassessment of the situation along the lines of “I didn’t really want to.” Reducing the subjective significance of the event helps to retreat to previously prepared positions and prepare for the next assault without wasting energy. It is no coincidence that in ancient times in the East people asked in their prayer: “Lord, give me strength to cope with what I can do, give me courage to come to terms with what I cannot do, and give me wisdom to distinguish one from the other."

Control questions

Talk about stress as a nonspecific reaction of the body.

Give a classification of types of mental stress.

Name the conditions for the occurrence of informational and emotional stress.

What are the individual characteristics in the manifestation of stress?

What mechanisms of regulation of mental states do you know?

What is intrapsychic conflict?

What ways do you know to avoid excessive emotional stress?

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Simonov P.V. Emotional brain. Physiology. Neuroanatomy. Psychology of emotions. - M.: Nauka, 1981.

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