Collective opinion. Characterization of collective opinion. The influence of public opinion on the formation of habits and traditions

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Collective ego

Collective Ego How difficult is it to live with yourself? One way for the ego to get rid of what it doesn't like about itself is to expand and strengthen its sense of self through identification with a group - a nation, political party, corporation, society, sect,

In the system of means of moral education, an important place belongs to public opinion. Being a value judgment of classes and other social communities of people on issues of public life, it affects their interests, expresses the attitude of the public to various events, facts, phenomena, to the activities and behavior of people. Public opinion as a value judgment expressing public attitudes is organically linked to morality. The norms of morality are based on the strength of public opinion, are established and supported by it, just as public opinion, in turn, is based on the norms of morality. It is clear that education in the spirit of morality cannot but rely on it.

Public opinion, embodied in collective opinion, is the most important spiritual force of the collective. However, the opinions of the collective and society do not always completely coincide. If public opinion is the state of consciousness of society as a whole, then collective opinion is the state of consciousness of the collective, a set of value judgments shared by the majority or all members of the collective, the general position of the collective, its attitude to certain events and facts of life.

This or that collective has its own moods, views, judgments, that is, its own consciousness, which often does not completely coincide with the mood, views and judgments of each individual member, as well as with similar manifestations in other collectives. The collective opinion expresses what most fully expresses common interests. But it does not capture all the shades of views, judgments of each member of the team.

The opinion of the collective is embodied in the decisions it makes (of course, the imperative force of the decision depends on the nature of the collective), in the norms, social attitudes and other formations of collective consciousness operating in it. Through collective opinion, control over the actions of people is carried out, their psychological preparation for solving the goals and tasks facing the collective. It acts as the real force that sometimes has a decisive impact on human behavior. Under its influence, the process of transformation of external requirements into internal ones takes place, persistence, dedication, consistency arises, the ability to mobilize one's capabilities and energy is formed.

The educational role of collective opinion is that the individual judges the opinion of society as a whole by it and perceives the requirements of the collective as the requirements of society. Moreover, she looks at the world, evaluates events, facts, largely under the influence of the collective. The level, nature of collective opinion leaves a deep imprint on the individual consciousness of a person. Under his influence, a person learns what actions the team approves and what it condemns. For him, opinion becomes a measure of expediency, reasonableness of behavior from the standpoint of the collective.

Public opinion carries out its educational role mainly through moral control of the activities and behavior of people. The function of moral control is determined by the fact that the most important aspect of all relations existing in society are moral relations. In socialist collectives, they are formed in accordance with the norms of communist morality, act as the relationship of a person to a collective, a person to a person, a collective to other collectives, a collective to a person, a collective to society and are subject to the control of public opinion.

In our society, perhaps, there is no such collective, no matter how small or large it may be, that would not exert its influence through opinion on relations between people and their behavior. A variety of relationships, connections that arise in the process of a person's participation in the life of such, for example, collectives as work, study, family, sports, contributes to the harmonious development of the individual. At the same time, the purposeful formation of a moral personality is impossible without the coherence, consistency of such collectives in their requirements for human behavior, without proper moral control. Lack of consistency in moral control can create a split in consciousness and behavior. So, it is noticed that not all people still have firm convictions in the need to comply with moral standards. One of the reasons for this is the difference in moral requirements that are presented to a person by different groups. Moreover, if such convictions have developed, then during the transition, for example, from a labor collective with high demands to a labor collective with low requirements, convictions in the need to comply with moral standards lose their support and may lose the nature of their obligation.

A person's attitude to general opinion, that is, to the public and the collective, depends to a certain extent on the person's position in the collective, in society. Let's say the director of a plant is a member of the production team and at the same time acts as a leader in relation to him. The position of the leader obliges to listen to the opinion of the collective sensitively, but at the same time it opens up the opportunity to put one's own opinion above the collective one, not to reckon with it. And in life there are often cases when a team criticizes its leader, and he abuses his official position, hinders the expression of a collective opinion. For such leaders, the collective opinion is not an authority, and not because it is unfair, but because these leaders misunderstand their place in the team.

Psychologically, this is explained (but by no means justified) by the fact that not all managers understand and feel their responsibility to the team in which they work.For some of them, the team is only subordinates, and they expect flattery, admiration from them, but not censure, condemnation and not even praise. Praise implies the superiority of the one who praises, and they do not recognize the superiority of the collective.

The positive role of collective opinion and social impact is increasingly evident in the life of our society. At the same time, the enormous advantages of educational influence on the part of collective opinion in comparison with administrative measures become more obvious.

Under administrative influence, a person acts as an object of education. When referring to him as a member of the team, who bears responsibility not only for himself, but also for the team, a higher type of responsibility for his behavior is carried out - moral responsibility. Collective opinion is addressed to the conscience and duty of a person, that is, to the consciousness of responsibility for their behavior to the collective.

The same requirements, but expressed not by an individual, but by a collective opinion, are perceived by a person in a different way: they are more quickly perceived as objective and fair. For example, a penalty imposed by the administration of an enterprise can be contested by a team of workmates. But if the public condemns, then a person has to think more seriously about his behavior. A person evaluates his actions in accordance with the judgments of the general opinion, which serves as a “measure of himself” for a person. Acting in such a role, the opinion of the collective thereby acquires tremendous importance in moral education.

In comparison with administrative influence, public opinion also has the feature that it has a constant influence on the individual. Therefore, by exercising constant moral control over human behavior, it can forestall the violation of social norms.

Public opinion, speaking out on the specific actions of people, invades the sphere of their moral convictions and feelings, influences them, assessing people's behavior, their actions from the standpoint of communist morality.

Moral feelings are a high and complex form of expression of a person's inner world. They arise when a person in his behavior begins to proceed not from private, but from public interests. This presupposes a high level of consciousness of the individual, his understanding of the need to combine his personal interests with public interests. When there is no such understanding, then the desires and aspirations of a person are not supported and not supported by high moral feelings and convictions. It is in such a situation that public opinion comes to the rescue, supporting and reinforcing moral convictions with its authority.

Strengthening and developing moral convictions and feelings depends on the constant demands of public opinion on the behavior of the individual. If an act of a person that does not correspond to the norms of morality is not condemned by the collective in all severity and justice, then the sense of conscience of this person is dulled. If the general opinion of the collective does not react at all to such actions, then this leads to the fact that when the norms of morality are violated, a person gradually ceases to feel remorse. On the contrary, a general collective condemnation of an immoral act evokes a heightened sense of shame in front of one's comrades.

The common opinion, constantly and timely reacting to immoral acts of a person, exerts its influence not only by expressing its judgments, but also by the very possibility of such a statement. Therefore, knowledge of the requirements of collective opinion on the behavior of an individual strengthens her consciousness and a sense of conscience and duty.

Under the influence of public opinion, a person develops self-esteem. What this feeling will be depends also on the exactingness of a person's behavior. A healthy general opinion will prevent this feeling from developing into conceit, arrogance, arrogant pride. By fostering moral convictions and feelings, it gives integrity to the moral character of a person, in whom knowledge, understanding of the principles of behavior and feelings are organically merged.

Performing the functions of moral control, public opinion fosters highly moral incentives for the activities and behavior of people. Thus, incentives for labor activity include both personal motives (material and spiritual) and social (ideological) motives. The personal incentives for a person's labor activity include material interest in the results of their labor and the desire to obtain public recognition. Public recognition of the labor merits of a person to the team, society causes uplifting, desire to work even better. Sensitivity to public praise, along with material interest, is one of the incentives for creative activity. Praise, recognition of a person's merits to the team, expresses a common opinion.

General opinion has a strong emotional impact both on the person to whom it is addressed and on those around them, calling for imitation of a worthy example.

A person's incentives to work are far from being exhausted by his personal material interest and desire to gain public recognition. They also include ideological motives due to the awareness of public interests. The value of ideological incentives to work is enormous. They help to overcome the difficulties encountered on the way, encourage selfless work. Ideological motives, such as Soviet patriotism and dedication to the cause of communism, were manifested in the scope of socialist competition for the successful implementation of the decisions of party congresses.

By supporting the patriotic undertakings of the Soviet people in the development of new forms of socialist competition, public opinion strengthens the ideological incentives for work, exalts and morally encourages work, and contributes to the formation and strengthening of positive traditions in the world of work. And by strengthening such traditions, it also directs the development of personal incentives to work. In all this, the huge role of collective opinion is reflected.

Work collectives have already accumulated a great deal of experience in material and moral incentives. However, not all issues related to the effective use of incentives have already been resolved. LI Brezhnev, speaking at the 16th Congress of Trade Unions of the USSR, said that while improving material incentives, it is necessary at the same time to seriously increase the role of moral incentives.

It is very important to reduce moral incentives not only to awards, but also to be able to create such an atmosphere, such an opinion so that at every enterprise, in every team, they know well who and how works, and everyone is given what he deserves. Everyone should be sure that good work and decent behavior in a team will always be recognized and appreciated.

Moral stimulation of labor activity by public opinion is the most important prerequisite for increasing social activity and an indicator of the growing role of public opinion in moral education in modern conditions.

Thus, public opinion, influencing the beliefs and feelings of a person, condemning immoral behavior and, on the contrary, giving praise to highly moral behavior, forms a moral personality.

The influence of public opinion on the formation of habits and traditions.

The exercise of moral control and the maintenance of moral incentives for the activities and behavior of people allows public opinion to form habits in the individual consciousness, and in the collective and public - traditions of moral behavior. The formation of habits and traditions can also be considered as one of the important functions of public opinion in moral education.

Habits of moral behavior are the needs, inclinations, and aspirations of a person for actions that have moral value, and methods for their implementation, which have relative stability.

VI Lenin repeatedly drew attention to the need to cultivate habits. But he did not limit the question of cultivating habits only to the sphere of simple norms of human society. In his work "From the destruction of the age-old order to the creation of a new one," Lenin wrote about the transformation into a habit of the necessity of labor for the common good.

The importance of cultivating the habits of proper behavior in our society is already well understood. The existing prejudice on this score stems from a lack of understanding of the nature of habits, especially moral habits, which are complex psychological formations. The bottom line is that habit excludes supposedly persuasion and leads to automatism, and since this is so, the emphasis should not be placed on cultivating habits.

There is no doubt in the habit an element of automatism in the performance of actions. Even Hegel said that in this concept, conscious activity is combined with the opposite unconscious mechanical flow of processes, in which the individual is more imperceptible, and only the general is brought to the fore. When a person, for example, learns to read or write, every letter and every feature makes up a very noticeable representation, but when, through prolonged exercises, he fully learns to read and write, he already notices only the whole, and not the individual. But automatism in no way exhausts the concept of habit. Arising through prolonged repetitions and exercises, the habit includes in its content the purposeful activity of consciousness.

Moral habits of action are associated with a person's thinking, understanding a specific situation, planning, etc. They are very flexible forms of behavior, for which, unlike elementary, say, hygienic habits, strictly defined actions and operations are not assigned. At the same time, the presence of moral habits helps to orient oneself in certain moral situations, since a person develops an attitude towards adhering to the moral code of the builder of communism in behavior.

Habit, therefore, does not and cannot exclude belief. It develops, as a rule, on its basis and becomes one of the forms of its implementation in human behavior. Conviction is strengthened by the presence of appropriate habits. There are many cases in life when a person who has committed an immoral act knows moral norms and understands that they cannot be violated. And this happens precisely because his conscious attitude to questions of behavior has not yet become a habit. Formed habits allow us to overcome the contradictions that arise between the awareness of proper behavior and the implementation of this awareness. Moral convictions and feelings become moral qualities as they begin to be embodied in practical behavior due to the organic need for a certain mode of action. That is why, when solving the problems of moral education, the question of habits inevitably arises.

The role of public opinion is also great in the formation of traditions, including moral ones. Traditions accumulate the social experience of people and through them is transmitted from one generation to another. Traditions ensure the continuity of the past, present and future.

In socialist society, a whole system of revolutionary, military-patriotic, labor and family-everyday traditions has developed. Moral traditions are included in their content, without losing their specificity due to the relative independence of moral relations. The moral experience of our society is concentrated in moral traditions.

Purposeful formation of traditions in the process of moral education presupposes knowledge of their specifics, principles of approach to their formation, as well as the conditions and sources of their formation and development. In the philosophical, sociological, ethical literature, when defining traditions, some of their common features are distinguished: relative stability, the ability to pass from generation to generation. However, researchers are faced with difficulties in determining the essence and nature of traditions. Some of them attribute traditions to public consciousness and consider them as norms of behavior (especially moral), norms of social relations. Others do not fully identify traditions with consciousness and include ideological relations in their content. Still others associate traditions with both ideological relations and material relations.

Traditions, apparently, should not be reduced to the sphere of consciousness and should be considered only as spiritual phenomena. First, they exist as a reality inherent in the social relations of people and their activities. Secondly, they exist as a reflection of reality in consciousness, enshrined in certain ideas and views, in symbols, in images, etc. The forms and methods of manifestation of real social relations of people and their activities, repeating regularly, take on a traditional character, become traditions As K. Marx noted, "if the form has existed for a certain time, it is consolidated as a custom and tradition ...".

The existence of traditions - as a reality, as a side of social relations and people's activities, as a reflection of this reality in consciousness - creates considerable difficulties in the process of overcoming old, obsolete traditions, when the relations that gave rise to them have already been eliminated, and the reflection in the form of ideas, views, rituals, etc. is preserved as relics of the past and interferes with the establishment of the new. This creates obstacles in the formation of new traditions. The difficulties are reflected in the fact that while the forms of manifestation of socialist social relations, for example, in everyday life, have not assumed a traditional character, the imposition of a new civil ritual requires considerable effort.

The understanding of the essence and nature of traditions in social science was influenced by the existence of traditions as real forms and methods of human activity and social relations (material and ideological), as a reflection of reality itself. This was expressed primarily in the interpretation of tradition only as a category of social psychology, in reducing its content to spiritual elements.

Due to the fact that traditions are realities that exist both in consciousness and outside consciousness, and are inherent not only in ideological, but also in material relations, they have great stability, vitality and play a significant role in all spheres of society (this role can be positive or negative, because both progressive and conservative traditions can take place in society). The content and role of traditions are determined by those social relations, the forms of manifestation of which they are.

Socialist traditions are associated with socialist social relations and in their content accumulate a huge social experience accumulated in the struggle to establish a new social system, in the process of socialist and communist construction. Socialist traditions are historically emerging, consolidated and passing from generation to generation forms of social relations, people's life, their way of life.

The source of the formation of socialist traditions is social practice. Social relations, repeating themselves in the life of several generations, lead to the emergence of traditions. For the formation of traditions, therefore, a historically defined period of time is necessary, during which the forms of social relations, the activities of people are passed from generation to generation, acquiring a stable, traditional character. The continuity of social relations and the forms of their manifestation becomes characteristic of the traditions themselves.

The formation of traditions is essentially a natural-historical process. At the same time, people can consciously strive to create new moral relations, to form appropriate traditions. In this sense, it is legitimate to talk about the conscious principles in the formation and development of tradition. And these principles are becoming more and more widespread under socialism. It is clear that the question of spontaneity in the formation of new traditions is not removed, but the conscious principles prevail under socialism. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to the role of purposefully organized public opinion in the formation and strengthening of traditions.

The role of public opinion is reflected in the fact that its requirements are embodied and consolidated in the ideological content of traditions. The differences between public opinion and traditions can be represented as differences between the present and the past in the consciousness of society. What worries people today, the issues that they are currently solving thunderously, are the subject of public opinion. A constantly repeated social practice, approved by public opinion, reinforces the forms of manifestation of certain social relations, activities, behavior of people in solid institutions, i.e. in tradition.

The ideological content of traditions has some independence in relation to the phenomena that gave rise to them and can lead to a weakening of the connection between them. At the same time, there is a need for the support of the latter from public opinion. In establishing new traditions, it is important to rely on the experience gained by party and other public organizations in their formation and use in ideological and educational work. As an example, we can refer to the experience of a number of regional party organizations; Odessa, Yaroslavl, Irkutsk, etc. Thus, the Odessa regional party organization has accumulated considerable experience in the work on patriotic education. Odessa Komsomol members were one of the initiators of the All-Union campaign of Komsomol members and youth in the places of revolutionary, military and labor glory of the party and people

Socialist labor traditions as a necessary feature of the socialist way of life have developed throughout the history of Soviet society and are now becoming widespread. For example, in the formation of new labor traditions in the Yaroslavl region, the communists pay great attention to their all-round strengthening and widespread use in the life of labor collectives. “Remarkable in this respect is the activities of the party organization and the administration of the Yaroslavl Motor Plant, where they skillfully use the best labor traditions to solve urgent problems ... the development of production ... »The Irkutsk party organization also pays close attention to the continuity and further development of labor traditions. In both areas, they attach great importance to the use of such new rituals and ceremonies in the education of working people as solemn initiation into workers, honoring the foremost workers of production, labor veterans, etc.

The experience of the Odessa, Yaroslavl and Irkutsk party organizations makes it possible to judge that the formation, strengthening and transmission of socialist traditions under the influence of public opinion is a constant concern of the communists.

Role public opinion in the fight against deviations from socialist moral norms.

The CPSU Program highly appreciates the role of public opinion in the struggle against the remnants of the past and points out its growing importance as our society moves towards communism. At the 25th Congress of our Party, attention was drawn to the need for widespread use of the opinion of the labor collective in the fight against deviations from socialist moral norms, along with other means.

The effectiveness of public opinion is revealed in the struggle for the establishment of socialist morality. The difficulties arising in this case are due to the fact that individual consciousness is formed not only under the influence of social life, it is also influenced by the specific conditions of a person's life, his environment. Therefore, under the influence of certain undesirable phenomena, he may develop misconceptions and views. First of all, the public must fight against misconceptions and attitudes, as well as with the reasons that caused them. Under its beneficial influence, a person assimilates the ideas and views contained in the public consciousness.

The daily life of our society provides numerous facts about the improvement of human behavior under the critical influence of general opinion. A person listens to the judgments of the collective opinion because he is faced with the need to answer for his actions before the collective, society. It is this need that has a strong influence on the criterion of his personal judgments. While holding an answer to the collective, he becomes especially clear about the grounds for his comrades' judgments about his behavior, and he himself begins to see himself as if from the outside. And the point is not that he did not previously know about the requirements of the collective for the behavior of its members. The condemnation of his behavior by his comrades shows that the demands of the collective also apply to him personally. A person begins to realize that the team is right, his opinions in assessing his misdeeds. The experience of collective condemnation of comrades gives rise to a feeling of shame and remorse.

But does the break in the consciousness and feelings of a person subjected to collective condemnation immediately take place or not? Of course, this does not always give a quick positive result. Sometimes such condemnation causes him an offensive annoyance, which does not turn into a feeling of shame and does not lead to repentance. And yet, in most cases, condemnation from the general opinion forces the violator of social norms to submit to the demands of the collective. At the first holes, this may be external, which is already a certain step on the path to correction. The acceptance of collective performance requirements under the control of common opinion leads to the accumulation of moral experience and further to an internal awareness of the fairness of the collective requirements.

Condemnation, expressed through general opinion, can cause a person to quickly restructure his desires, feelings and aspirations. Such a restructuring is accomplished if it is expressed unanimously and very persistently.

However, along with condemnation, general opinion also benefits from the promotion of exemplary behavior. In our society, progressive people are surrounded by honor and respect, others are brought up on their example. And yet for the upbringing and self-education of people it is very important to find and praise what acts as a positive beginning for each person.

A person who has lost his way in life becomes the subject of discussion in the team. This form of influence is positive and mostly justifies itself. At the same time, it is far from ideal, since coercion also appears here.

Many people experience moral censure in one form or another in their lives. The principle of criticism and self-criticism has become firmly established in our life. Moral coercion is often associated with more difficult emotional experiences and the expenditure of moral strength than administrative coercion. It affects not only the person to whom the criticism is directed, but also those who criticize.

In life, there are also such cases: a person, before committing an immoral act under the influence of some unfavorable circumstances, was a leader in production, an active social activist. The discussion at a meeting of the collective was reduced to a serious censure of his given act. It is clear that a bad deed must be properly assessed. But moral condemnation is perceived not just as condemnation of a wrong action, but as an assessment of the personality. And when all attention is focused on the perfect deed, then through it an assessment is given to a person as an immoral person. This is very difficult for a person.

A correct assessment of a person's behavior should, apparently, include both condemnation and support for the good, worthy that he had in life. A reminder of the best pages of a person's life, along with harsh judgment, makes him think about behavior in general. Praise from the team causes a surge of new strength. It elevates a person in his own eyes and generates a sense of gratitude to the team, society.

Collective opinion - is a set of value judgments, which expresses the attitude of the mass (majority) of the collective to various events in the life of society, to the actions, behavior and activities of both the entire collective and each person in it.

Thus, as can be seen from the definition, "collective opinion (KM) is a massive socio-psychological phenomenon that develops under the influence of ideology in the process of communication and interaction between people, their constantly vivid exchange of thoughts, views, beliefs, feelings.

KM is a specific form of reflection of public consciousness. That is, CM affects the upbringing of the personality of a serviceman and a military collective, since CM is a factor affecting consciousness.

Socio-psychological mechanism of CM influence on personality

In interaction with the collective, the personality is a self-regulating system in the social environment. CM in this case can be considered as a feedback channel and as the most important source of social and psychological information from the social environment for an individual.

The social environment informs a person about the reaction to his actions and deeds on the part of other people, and thereby contributes to the adoption of adequate decisions.

Social environment includes

system of norms

social sanctions

OK

Praise

Condemnation

Thus, CM combines persuasion, suggestion, psychological compulsion.

The strength of the team lies in its public opinion, but there is both conscious and unconscious in CM. Sometimes the opinion of the collective is perceived by the individual not critically, i.e. unconsciously, think like everyone else.

The peculiarity of the manifestation of CM to the personality

Systematic

Undeniable

Efficiency

Publicity

Also a feature of KM are stamps , which last for a long time (first impression, characteristics of a senior leader, etc.).

CM induces a person's conscious self-esteem through emotions and feelings.

Positive emotions - satisfaction, joy, dignity, duty, honor.

Negative emotions - shame, remorse, etc.

CM dynamics

Public opinion originates initially in the sphere of individual consciousness and in the form of an impression.

Steps of formation of CM

Stage I - people directly experience events, evaluate them

Stage II - they exchange feelings, assessments. At this stage, the opinion is as if across the border of the individual to the group assessment.

Stage III - public opinion is formed during the discussion.

Characteristic of collective mood (CN)

KN is a special case of joint experiences that have taken possession of the whole community and every person in it for a while.

KN is mainly the emotional side of the spiritual life of the collective.

Basic properties of Collective / Opinion / Mood

Mainly due to social factors, physiological (hunger ...), psychological level of emotional state), social factors affect the mood of the individual. Social factors act as the material and spiritual side of people's lives.

Particularly infectious - CN is the most mobile element in psychology. The infectiousness of the CN is determined by the fact of contact and direct communication in the conditions of the life of the military collective. At the heart of the infectiousness of CN is the socio-psychological law of imitation (fashion, behavior, etc.).

CN has great incentive power. KN is not just a mechanical sum of the moods of the team members, they seem to resonate and increase the emotional side of the mood.

The special dynamics of group mood - passes from one form to another - from unconscious to clearly recognized, from hidden to open.

Quickly develops into action

It is subject to fluctuations and in the most insignificant period can turn into its opposite.

KN acts as an emotional factor. So, under the influence of danger, a feeling of excitement arises in the form of fusion, organic unity or despondency, despair, fear, panic.

A person's reaction to the presence of others is manifested in the form of a fan of a wide variety of effects.

Group effects are the mechanisms of the functioning of the group, through which group processes are carried out and group states are achieved. They are the means to ensure the integration of individual actions in joint group activities and communication. The main group effects are as follows:

Social facilitation (inhibition) effect.

Group membership effect.

Ringelmann effect.

Synergy effect.

The effect of "group thinking".

The effect of "conformism".

Effect of "fashion" (imitation).

Halo effect.

The effect of "group favoritism".

The effect of "group egoism".

Pendulum effect.

Wave effect.

Pulsar effect.

Boomerang effect.

The "we are them" effect.

Social facilitation effect. The effect is associated with an increase in dominant reactions in the presence of others. This effect was discovered by Norman Triplet in 1897. Triplet's experiment was to study the effects of the competition situation on the change in the cyclist's speed and compare them with the results obtained in a single race. Triplet found that cyclists showed the best time when competing with each other, and not with a stopwatch, and concluded that the presence of others encourages people to take more vigorous action.

The effect of the presence of others can both increase and decrease a person's motivation. For example, the presence of others reduces the effectiveness of a person's activity when memorizing meaningless syllables, when passing a maze, and when solving complex multiplication examples.

Increased social arousal contributes to the dominant response. However, when a decision algorithm is known and a person does not see the correct answer, social arousal, that is, an unconscious reaction to the presence of others, complicates mental operations (analysis, synthesis, establishment of cause-and-effect relationships) and leads to a wrong decision. A person's attention switches from solving a problem to the people around him. When solving simple problems, the reaction is innate or well learned. The presence of other people turns out to be a powerful stimulant and contributes to the correct decision.

Social psychologist D. Myers believes that the determining factors of this kind of reactions are:

The number of people around. The impact of others increases as their number increases. A person is much more excited around a large number of people;

Relationships of likes and dislikes within the group;

The importance of the people around for a person;

The degree of spatial proximity between people. Social arousal is the stronger, the closer people are to each other.

The effect of belonging to a group. The English psychologist McDougall in 1908 in his book Social Psychology, among other instincts, singled out the feeling of belonging to a group of people.

English psychologists G. Tezhfel and J. Turner in the late 70s studied the process of an individual's awareness of belonging to a group, designating it with the term "group identification." They created a theory of social identity, the main provisions of which are as follows: a person, identifying himself with any group, seeks to evaluate it positively, thus raising the status of the group and his own self-esteem.

Group identity is an attitude toward belonging to a particular group. Like any attitude, it consists of three components - cognitive, emotional and behavioral - and regulates a person's behavior in a group.

Cognitive the component consists in a person's awareness of belonging to a group and is achieved by comparing his group with other groups by a number of significant signs. Thus, group identity is based on cognitive processes of cognition (categorization) of the surrounding social world.

Emotional the component is inextricably linked with the cognitive component. The emotional side of identity lies in the experience of belonging to a group in the form of various feelings - love or hate, pride or shame.

Behavioral the component manifests itself when a person begins to react to other people from the standpoint of his group membership, and not from the standpoint of an individual, from the moment when the differences between his own and other people's groups become noticeable and meaningful to him.

Ringelmann effect. As the number of members increases, the average individual contribution to group work decreases. This effect was discovered by V. Mede's student Max Ringelman. He found that the collective performance of a group does not exceed half of the total performance of its members, that is, the members of the group are actually less motivated and put less effort in performing joint actions than when performing individual actions.

M. Ringelman experimented with lifting weights in groups and individuals. It turned out that if the productivity of one person is taken as 100%, then the two together on average will lift a weight that is not twice as much, but only 93% of the total weight lifted by two separately working people. The "efficiency" of a group of three people will be equal to 85%, and of eight people - only 49%. Ringelman proposed a formula for determining the average individual contribution of participants in groups of different sizes:

C \u003d 100 - 7 * (K-1),

where C is the average individual contribution of the participants; K is the number of group members.

B. Lataine in 1979 described the phenomenon of the non-interfering witness. After conducting a series of various experiments, he proved that the very number of witnesses to a tragic accident prevents any of them from providing assistance. An accident victim is less likely to receive help if a large number of people watch over her suffering. The following pattern was found: the probability of receiving help is higher if a person is in a small group, and much lower if he is surrounded by a large number of people.

Factors of social laziness are:

The presence of individual responsibility for the results of their work. The higher the responsibility, the lower the social laziness;

Group cohesion and friendships. People in groups are less idle if they are friends rather than strangers to each other;

The size of the group. The larger the group, the higher the social laziness;

Cross-cultural differences. Members of collectivist cultures show less social laziness than members of individualist cultures;

Gender differences. Women are less socially lazy than men.

Synergy effect. This is additional intellectual energy that arises when people unite into an integral group and is expressed in a group result that exceeds the sum of individual results, that is, it meets the requirement 1 + 1\u003e 2. This group effect was studied by V.M.Bekhterev. In his works and in the works of M.V. Lange, it was established that the success group can really outperform the individual success of individuals. This is manifested not only in the intellectual sphere, but also in increasing the observation of people in a group, the accuracy of their perception and assessments, the amount of memory and attention, the effectiveness of solving relatively simple problems that do not require complex and coordinated interaction. However, when solving complex problems, when logic and consistency are needed, "especially gifted people", in the terminology of Bekhterev, can exceed the average group achievements.

The effect of "synergy" is most vividly manifested during "brainstorming" - "brainstorming", when a group needs to offer many new ideas without their critical analysis and logical comprehension.

Groupthink effect. It is a way of thinking that people acquire in a situation where the search for agreement becomes so dominant in a cohesive group that it begins to overpower a realistic assessment of possible alternative actions. The discovery of this phenomenon and the invention of the term "groupthink" (groupthink), or "grouping of thinking", belongs to the American psychologist Irving Janis. The effect of "group thinking" occurs in a situation where the criterion of truth is the cohesive opinion of the group, which is opposed to the opinion of an individual. In the event that group members are faced with the threat of disagreements, disputes and conflicts, they try to reduce the group's cognitive dissonance and eliminate the negative feelings that have arisen, trying to find a solution that suits everyone, even if this solution is not objective and reasonable from the point of view of everyone. an individual member of the group.

Usually, for a group involved in such a decision-making strategy, the search for consensus becomes so important that group members voluntarily give up any doubts and opportunities to look at the problem with a new, original, unconventional view. Individual members of the group can even turn into a kind of "guardians of thought", quickly fixing and severely punishing any dissent.

Thus, a person is dependent on the group in his contacts with the outside world, in the overwhelming majority of cases he is inclined to yield to the group. Even a person's sensory information can be distorted by social pressure.

Conformity effect. In 1956, Solomon Ash used the term "conformism" and described the results of his experiments with a dummy group and a naive test subject. A group of seven was asked to participate in an experiment to study the perception of the length of the segments. It was necessary to determine which of the three segments drawn on the poster corresponds to the reference one. At the first stage, the dummy subjects alone, as a rule, gave the correct answer. In the second stage, the group got together and the group members gave a false answer, which was unknown to the naive subject. With their categorical opinion, the members of the group put pressure on the opinion of the subject. According to Ash, 37% of his subjects listened to the group's opinion and showed conformity. The study of the effect of conformism is very popular in social psychology. There are several conditions for the emergence of conformism:

personality type: people with low self-esteem are more susceptible to group pressure than people with high self-esteem;

group size: people show the greatest degree of conformism when they are faced with the unanimous opinion of three or more people;

composition of the group: Conformity increases if, firstly, the group consists of experts, secondly, the members of the group are significant people for the person, thirdly, the members of the group belong to the same social environment;

groupthink trap among people;

cohesion: the greater the degree of cohesion of the group, the more power it has over its members;

presence of an ally: if at least one ally who gave the correct answer joins a person defending his opinion or doubting the unanimous opinion of the group, then the tendency to obey the pressure of the group decreases;

public response: people show a higher level of conformity when they have to speak to others, and not when they write down their answers in their notebooks. After expressing an opinion in public, people tend to stick to it.

The degree of conformity increases if the task is difficult or the subject feels incompetent.

D. Myers names three reasons for conformal behavior. First, the persistent and stubborn behavior of other people can convince a person that his initial opinion is wrong. Secondly, a member of the group, consciously or unconsciously, seeks to avoid punishment, censure, condemnation, ostracism from the group for disagreement and disobedience. Thirdly, the uncertainty of the situation and the lack of clarity of information contribute to the orientation of a person to the opinions of other people, they become definite and clear sources of information.

In group interaction, the effect of conformism plays an essential role, since it is one of the mechanisms for making a group decision.

Fashion effect (imitation). Imitation is one of the main mechanisms of group integration. In the process of group interaction, members of the group develop common standards, stereotypes of behavior, following which emphasizes and strengthens their membership in the group. In external terms, such stereotyping can even result in a uniform (for example, a military uniform, a business suit of a businessman, a white coat of a doctor), which shows others to which social group a particular person belongs, what norms, rules and stereotypes regulate his behavior. People are more likely to follow the example of someone who is similar to them than they do not.

The effect of imitation lies at the heart of any learning and contributes to the adaptation of people to each other, the consistency of their actions, and preparedness for solving a group problem. It is close to the conformism effect. However, if in conformity the group somehow exerts pressure on its member, then in imitation, adherence to the group requirements is voluntary.

Halo effect. it influence on the content of knowledge, opinions, assessments of the personality of a specific attitude that one person has in relation to another. The "halo" effect, or "halo effect", is a phenomenon that occurs when people perceive and evaluate each other in the process of communication.

The halo effect occurs under conditions:

lack of time. A person does not have time to thoroughly get to know another person and carefully consider his personal qualities or the situation in which he found himself;

information overload. A person is so overloaded with information about various people that he does not have the opportunity and time to think in detail about each separately;

the insignificance of another person. Accordingly, a vague, indefinite idea of \u200b\u200bthe other arises, its "halo";

stereotype of perception. It arises on the basis of a generalized idea of \u200b\u200ba large group of people to which a given person belongs according to one parameter or another;

brightness, originality of personality. One personality trait catches the eye of others and pushes into the background all its other qualities. Physical attractiveness is often just such a characteristic.

In a negative sense, this effect is manifested in the understatement of the merits of the object of perception, which leads to a prejudice towards it on the part of perceiving people. Prejudice is a specific attitude of subjects based on information about the negative qualities of an object. Such information, as a rule, is not checked for accuracy and reliability, but is taken on faith.

The effect of group favoritism. it a tendency to favor members of one's own group in some way as opposed to members of another group. The effect of group favoritism is based on the effect of “us and them” and, as it were, establishes a “demarcation line” between those people who, according to some criteria, are perceived as “ours”, and those who, according to the same criteria, are perceived as “aliens”.

Here are some patterns of the mechanism of group favoritism:

The effect of group favoritism is more pronounced in those cases when the criteria for comparison based on the performance results and the specifics of relationships with other groups are very significant for the group, that is, when the groups are in a situation of competition with each other;

Group favoritism manifests itself more strongly in relation to those groups, the criteria for comparison with the activities of which are not only significant for the group, but also correspond to its own criteria, that is, in this case there is a possibility of clear unambiguous comparability of groups;

Membership in a group turns out to be more important than interpersonal similarity: people more often prefer “their own”, although not similar to themselves in personal qualities, and refuse to prefer “aliens”, although similar to them in views, interests, personal characteristics;

Group members tend to explain the possible success of their group by intragroup factors, and its possible failure by external factors, i.e. if the group succeeds, then it attributes this result to itself (its professionalism, favorable socio-psychological climate, business qualities of leaders, etc. etc.), but if the group fails, then people look for the guilty outside the group, they try to shift the blame onto other groups.

The effect of group egoism. This is the orientation of group interests, goals and norms of behavior against the interests, goals and norms of behavior of individual members of the group or the entire society. The goals of the group are achieved by infringing on the interests of its individual members, to the detriment of the interests of society. Group egoism manifests itself in the case when the goals, values \u200b\u200bof the group, the stability of its existence become more important than the individual, more significant than the goals of society. Then the personality is usually sacrificed to the integrity of the group, completely obeying its requirements and standards of behavior. The effect of group egoism can play a very negative role in the further life of the group and the fate of its individual members.

Pendulum effect. it cyclical alternation of group emotional states sthenic and asthenic character. The intensity of manifestation and the length of time of emotional states are determined by the conditions and events of their joint activity that are significant for the members of the group.

The experimental emotional potentials of the group were studied by the Russian psychologist A. N. Lutoshkin. The mood depends on several factors:

time of day and day of the week: at the end of the working day and week, the mood of workers deteriorates as fatigue builds up;

features of the psychological structure group, leadership processes;

the level of labor discipline in the group: the higher the discipline of work, the better the mood and emotional state of the group members;

established system of relationships in a group, the level of conflict or cohesion: the higher the level of conflict, the worse the mood.

Wave effect. it spreading ideas, goals, norms and values \u200b\u200bin the group. A new idea arises in the head of one person, he shares it with his immediate environment, which discusses, corrects, supplements and develops the proposed idea. Then the idea is disseminated among other members of the group, its group scene and discussion are carried out. Like a pebble thrown into water, the idea spreads and embraces more and more people. True, a ripple effect is possible only when a new idea meets the needs and interests of people, and does not contradict them. In the first case, it is understood and developed by people, serves as a stimulus for their activity, and in the second, the ripple effect dies out.

Pulsar effect. it change in group activity depending on various stimuli. Group activity goes through the cycle "optimal activity necessary for the normal functioning of the group - increase in activity - decline in activity - return to the optimal level of activity." This cycle can depend both on external stimuli (for example, when the group receives an urgent task), and on internal subjective stimuli for activity (for example, the desire of group members to solve the problem that has arisen). The "pulsar" effect, as a manifestation of group activity, consists in a sharp increase in activity at the beginning of the process of activity, then, when the problem is solved, in a decline in activity, that is, people need rest. Then the group activity returns to the optimal level necessary for normal, coordinated, uninterrupted work of the group.

Boomerang effect. The "boomerang" effect was first recorded in the activities of the mass media. It consists in the following: the person who perceives the information does not recognize its content or conclusion as true and continues to adhere to a pre-existing attitude or develops a new value judgment in relation to the illuminated event, but this judgment or attitude, as a rule, turns out to be the opposite of the attitude that was tried to instill in him through the media. The "boomerang" effect can arise in case of inconsistency of information, mistrust of its source, methods of persuasion, etc.

This effect is also manifested in direct communication and interaction of people. Often, aggressive actions or words of one person directed against another, ultimately turn against the one who committed these actions or uttered these words. For example, in a conflict situation, it is more likely that group members will psychologically be on the side of a calm, balanced person than on the side of his aggressive opponent.

The "us and them" effect. This is a feeling of belonging to a certain group of people (the "we" effect) and, accordingly, a feeling of detachment from others, of separation from other groups (the "they" effect).

The group membership effect includes two more particular effects - involvement effect and emotional support effect... The first is expressed in the fact that a group member feels involved in the problems, affairs, successes and failures of the group to which he really belongs or subjectively considers himself. Based on the effect of ownership, a sense of responsibility for the results of the group's activities is formed. The effect of emotional support is manifested in the fact that a group member expects emotional support, sympathy, empathy, and help from the rest of the group. It also assumes not only emotional, but also real support by the actions of other members of the group. If such support is not provided to a group member, then the feeling of “we” is destroyed - belonging to the group, involvement in its affairs - and a feeling of “they” arises, that is, a group member who has not received emotional support is able to perceive his group as a group strangers who do not share his interests and concerns.

The "we" effect turns out to be an effective psychological mechanism for the functioning of the group. Exaggeration of the feeling of “we” can lead a group to overestimate its capabilities and merits, to break away from other groups, to “group egoism”. At the same time, insufficient development of the sense of "we" leads to the loss of value-oriented unity of the group.