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Factors blocking activity and motivation. External and internal motivation: definition, features of formation and factors

Conditional, mobile, have a virtual character. The virtuality of needs lies in the fact that each of them contains its own other, a moment of self-negation. Due to the variety of conditions for implementation, age, environment, a biological need becomes material, social or spiritual, i.e. is transformed. In the parallelogram of needs (biological need-material-social-spiritual), the need that most corresponds to the personal meaning of human life, is better armed with the means of its satisfaction, becomes dominant. the one that is more motivated.

The transition from need to activity is the process of changing the direction of need from within to the external environment. At the heart of any activity is a motive that induces a person to it, but not every activity can satisfy the motive. The mechanism of this transition includes: I) the choice and motivation of the object of need (motivation is the substantiation of the object to satisfy the need); 2) in the transition from need to activity, the need is transformed into a goal and interest (a conscious need).

Thus, need and motivation are closely related: a need stimulates a person to activity, and a motive is always a component of activity.

The motive of man and personality

motive- this is what prompts a person to activity, directing him to satisfy a certain need. A motive is a reflection of a need that acts as an objective regularity, an objective necessity.

For example, the motive can be both hard work with enthusiasm and enthusiasm, and avoidance of burdens in protest.

Needs, thoughts, feelings and other mental formations can act as motives. However, internal motives are not enough to carry out activities. It is necessary to have an object of activity and correlate the motives with the goals that the individual wants to achieve as a result of the activity. In the motivational-targeted sphere, the social conditionality of activity comes out with particular clarity.

Under [[Motivational-need sphere of personality|need-motivational sphere Personality refers to the totality of motives that are formed and developed during a person's life. In general, this sphere is dynamic, but some motives are relatively stable and, subordinating other motives, form, as it were, the core of the entire sphere. In these motives, the orientation of the individual is manifested.

Motivation of a person and personality

Motivation - it is a set of internal and external driving forces that prompt a person to act in a specific, purposeful way; the process of motivating oneself and others to act in order to achieve the goals of the organization or personal goals.

The concept of "motivation" is broader than the concept of "motive". A motive, in contrast to motivation, is something that belongs to the subject of behavior, is its stable personal property, which induces certain actions from within. The concept of “motivation” has a double meaning: firstly, it is a system of factors that influence human behavior (needs, motives, goals, intentions, etc.), and secondly, it is a characteristic of a process that stimulates and maintains behavioral activity at a certain level. level.

In the area of ​​motivation stand out:

  • the motivational system of a personality is a general (holistic) organization of all the motivating forces of activity that underlie human behavior, which includes such components as needs, motives proper, interests, drives, beliefs, goals, attitudes, stereotypes, norms, values, etc. .;
  • achievement motivation - the need to achieve high results behavior and satisfaction of all other needs;
  • self-actualization motivation is the highest level in the hierarchy of personality motives, consisting in the personality's need for the fullest realization of one's potential, in the need for self-realization.

Worthy goals, long-term plans, good organization will be ineffective if the performers are not interested in their implementation, i.e. motivation. Motivation can compensate for many shortcomings of other functions, such as shortcomings in planning, but weak motivation is almost impossible to compensate for something.

Success in any activity depends not only on abilities and knowledge, but also on motivation (the desire to work and achieve high results). The higher the level of motivation and activity, the more factors (i.e. motives) induce a person to activity, the more effort he is inclined to apply.

Highly motivated individuals work harder and tend to achieve better results in their activities. Motivation is one of the most important factors (along with abilities, knowledge, skills) that ensures success in activities.

It would be wrong to consider the motivational sphere of a person only as a reflection of the totality of her own individual needs. The needs of the individual are connected with the needs of society, they are formed and developed in the context of their development. Some needs of the individual can be considered as individualized social needs. In the motivational sphere of the individual, one way or another, both his individual and social needs are reflected. The form of reflection depends on the position the individual occupies in the system of social relations.

motivation

Motivation - it is a process of influencing a person in order to induce him to certain actions by activating certain motives.

There are two main types of motivation:

  • external influence on a person in order to induce him to perform certain actions leading to the desired result. This type is reminiscent of a trade deal: "I give you what you want, and you satisfy my desire";
  • the formation of a certain motivational structure of a person as a type of motivation has an educational and educational character. Its implementation requires great efforts, knowledge, abilities, but the results are superior to the results of the first type of motivation.

Basic human motives

The emerging needs force a person to actively look for ways to satisfy them, become internal incentives for activity, or motives. The motive (from Latin movero - set in motion, push) is what moves a living being, for which it spends its vital energy. Being an indispensable "fuse" of any actions and their "combustible material", the motive has always acted at the level of worldly wisdom in various ideas about feelings (pleasure or displeasure, etc.) - motives, inclinations, aspirations, desires, passions, willpower, etc. d.

Motives can be different: interest in the content and process of activity, duty to society, self-affirmation, etc. So, the scientist scientific activity the following motives can induce: self-realization, cognitive interest, self-affirmation, material incentives (monetary reward), social motives (responsibility, desire to benefit society).

If a person strives to perform a certain activity, we can say that he has motivation. For example, if a student is diligent in his studies, he is motivated to study; for an athlete who strives to achieve high results - high level achievement motivation; the desire of the leader to subordinate everyone indicates the presence of a high level of motivation for power.

Motives are relatively stable manifestations, attributes of a person. For example, arguing that a cognitive motive is inherent in a certain person, we mean that in many situations he manifests cognitive motivation.

The motive cannot be explained by itself. It can be understood in the system of those factors—images, relationships, and actions of the individual—that constitute the general structure of mental life. Its role is to give impulse and direction to the behavior towards the goal.

Motivating factors can be divided into two relatively independent classes:

  • needs and instincts as sources of activity;
  • motives as reasons that determine the direction of behavior or activity.

The need is necessary condition any activity, but the need itself is not yet able to set a clear direction for the activity. For example, the presence of an aesthetic need in a person creates a corresponding selectivity, but this does not yet indicate what exactly a person will do to satisfy this need. Perhaps he will listen to music, or perhaps he will try to compose a poem or paint a picture.

How are the concepts different? When analyzing the question of why an individual enters a state of activity at all, manifestations of needs are considered as sources of activity. If the question is studied, what is the activity aimed at, for the sake of which these actions, deeds are chosen, then, first of all, the manifestations of motives are studied (as motivating factors that determine the direction of activity or behavior). Thus, the need induces to activity, and the motive - to directed activity. It can be said that a motive is an incentive to activity associated with the satisfaction of the needs of the subject. The study of the motives of educational activity among schoolchildren revealed a system of various motives. Some motives are basic, leading, others are secondary, secondary, they do not have independent significance and are always subordinate to the leaders. For one student, the leading motive for learning may be the desire to gain authority in the class, for another - the desire to get a higher education, for the third - an interest in knowledge itself.

How do new needs arise and develop? As a rule, each need is objectified (and concretized) on one or more objects that are able to satisfy this need, for example, an aesthetic need can be objectified in music, and in the process of its development it can also be objectified in poetry, i.e. already more items can satisfy her. Consequently, the need develops in the direction of increasing the number of objects that are able to satisfy it; the change and development of needs occurs through the change and development of objects that correspond to them and in which they are objectified and concretized.

To motivate a person means to affect his important interests, to create conditions for him to realize himself in the process of life. To do this, a person must at least: be familiar with success (success is the realization of a goal); to be able to see oneself in the results of one's work, to realize oneself in work, to feel one's significance.

But the meaning of human activity lies not only in obtaining a result. The activity itself can be attractive. A person may like the process of performing an activity, for example, the manifestation of physical and intellectual activity. Like physical activity, mental activity in itself brings a person pleasure and is a specific need. When the subject is motivated by the process of activity itself, and not by its result, this indicates the presence of a procedural component of motivation. The procedural component plays a very important role in the learning process. The desire to overcome difficulties in learning activities, to test one's strengths and abilities can become a personally significant motive for learning.

At the same time, a productive motivational attitude plays an organizing role in the determination of activity, especially if its procedural component (i.e., the process of activity) causes negative emotions. In this case, goals, intentions that mobilize a person's energy come to the fore. Setting goals, intermediate tasks is a significant motivational factor that should be used.

To understand the essence of the motivational sphere (its composition, structure, which has a multidimensional and multilevel character, dynamics), it is necessary first of all to consider the connections and relationships of a person with other people, given that this sphere is also formed under the influence of the life of society - its norms, rules, ideology, politicians and others.

One of the most important factors determining the motivational sphere of a personality is the person's belonging to a group. For example, teenagers who are interested in sports are different from their peers who are fond of music. Since any person is included in a number of groups and in the process of his development the number of such groups grows, naturally, his motivational sphere also changes. Therefore, the emergence of motives should be considered not as a process arising from the inner sphere of the individual, but as a phenomenon associated with the development of his relations with other people. In other words, the change in motives is determined not by the laws of spontaneous development of the individual, but by the development of his relations and ties with people, with society as a whole.

Personality motives

Personality motives - this is the need (or system of needs) of the individual in the function of motivation. Internal mental urges to activity, behavior are due to the actualization of certain needs of the individual. Activity motives can be very different:

  • organic - aimed at meeting the natural needs of the body and are associated with the growth, self-preservation and development of the body;
  • functional - satisfied with the help different kind cultural forms of activity, such as playing sports;
  • material - encourage a person to activities aimed at creating household items, various things and tools;
  • social - give rise to various activities aimed at taking a certain place in society, gaining recognition and respect;
  • spiritual - underlie those activities that are associated with self-improvement of a person.

Organic and functional motives together constitute the motivation for the behavior and activities of the individual in certain circumstances and can not only influence, but change each other.

They appear in specific forms. People may perceive their needs in different ways. Depending on this, motives are divided into emotional ones - desires, desires, inclinations, etc. and rational - aspirations, interests, ideals, beliefs.

There are two groups of interconnected motives of life, behavior and activity of the individual:

  • generalized, the content of which expresses the subject of needs and, accordingly, the direction of the aspirations of the individual. The strength of this motive is due to the importance for a person of the object of his needs;
  • instrumental - motives for choosing ways, means, ways to achieve or realize the goal, due not only to the need state of the individual, but also to its readiness, the availability of opportunities to successfully act to achieve the goals set in these conditions.

There are other approaches to the classification of motives. For example, according to the degree of social significance, motives of a broad social plan (ideological, ethnic, professional, religious, etc.), group plan and individual-personal nature are distinguished. There are also motives for achieving the goal, avoiding failures, motives for approval, affiliation (cooperation, partnership, love).

Motives not only encourage a person to act, but also give his actions and actions a personal, subjective meaning. In practice, it is important to take into account that people, performing actions that are identical in form and objective results, are often guided by different, sometimes opposite motives, attach different personal meanings to their behavior and actions. In accordance with this, the assessment of actions should be different: both moral and legal.

Types of personality motives

To consciously justified motives should include values, beliefs, intentions.

Value

Value is a concept used in philosophy to indicate the personal, socio-cultural significance of certain objects and phenomena. Personal values ​​form a system of its value orientations, elements of the internal structure of the personality, which are especially significant for it. These value orientations form the basis of the consciousness and activity of the individual. Value is a personally colored attitude to the world that arises not only on the basis of knowledge and information, but also on one's own life experience. Values ​​give meaning to human life. Faith, will, doubt, ideal are of lasting importance in the world of human value orientations. Values ​​are part of the culture, received from parents, family, religion, organizations, school and environment. Cultural values ​​are widely held beliefs that define what is desirable and what is right. Values ​​can be:

  • self-oriented, which concern the individual, reflect his goals and general approach to life;
  • oriented by others, which reflect the desires of society regarding the relationship between the individual and groups;
  • environmentally oriented, which embody society's ideas about the desired relationship of the individual with his economic and natural environment.

Beliefs

Beliefs - these are the motives of practical and theoretical activity, justified by theoretical knowledge and the whole worldview of a person. For example, a person becomes a teacher not only because he is interested in passing on knowledge to children, not only because he loves working with children, but also because he knows very well how much in the creation of society depends on the education of consciousness. This means that he chose his profession not only out of interest and inclination to it, but also because of his convictions. Deeply grounded beliefs persist throughout a person's life. Beliefs are the most generalized motives. However, if generalization and stability are characteristic features of personality traits, then beliefs can no longer be called motives in the accepted sense of the word. The more generalized the motive becomes, the closer it is to a personality property.

Intention

Intention- a consciously made decision to achieve a certain goal with a clear idea of ​​the means and methods of action. This is where motivation and planning come together. Intention organizes human behavior.

The considered types of motives cover only the main manifestations of the motivational sphere. In reality, there are as many different motives as there are possible human-environment relationships.


  1. The concept of motive and motivation.
In human behavior, two functionally interrelated aspects can be distinguished: incentive and regulation.

  1. Regulatory side provides flexibility and stability of behavior in various conditions. The regulation of behavior is realized through various mental manifestations, such as sensations, perception, attention, thinking, memory, speech, abilities, temperament, character, emotions.

  2. Incentive- provides activity and direction of behavior. The description of this side of behavior is connected with the concept of motivation.
The concept of motivation is used in two senses:

1) motivation- this is a system of external (situational) and internal (personal) factors that cause the activity of the organism and determine the direction of human behavior. It includes such formations as needs, motives, intentions, goals, interests, aspirations.

2) motivation is a characteristic of a process that provides behavioral activity at a certain level.

The most important of the motivational concepts is the concept of "needs".

Need- this is a state of need for something, they activate the body, direct it to search for what the body needs at the moment. The main characteristics of needs are: strength, frequency of occurrence, methods of satisfaction, subject content of needs (i.e., the totality of those objects with which this need can be satisfied).

Another concept that describes the motivational sphere of a person is a motive. motive- this is an object that acts as a means of satisfying a need (A.N. Leontiev).

Human motives differ in the degree of awareness, dynamism, content.


  • With the same need, different objects can act as motives.

  • The need itself cannot be a motive for behavior, because it is capable of generating only undirected activity of the organism. BUT purposefulness of behavior is provided the object of this need (motive).
Motives of human behavior

1) theoRia mfromwillowsatsandi, ndriven na achievementesuccessexovand andhrunningnbad luck in various types activities. The relationship between motivation and achievement is not linear, which is especially pronounced when it comes to the relationship with the quality of work. It is best when the level of motivation is moderate and tends to get worse when it is too low or too high.

Magainst achievementathaste- the desire of a person to achieve success in various activities and communication.

Motandinandrun awayI don'tdachi- a relatively stable desire of a person to avoid failures in life situations related to the assessment by other people of the results of his activities and communication.

2) Motiveaffiliations(motive of desire to communicate)

actualized and satisfied only in the communication of people. Affiliation motive usually manifests itself as a person's desire to establish good, emotionally positive relationships with people. Internally, or psychologically, it acts as a feeling of attachment, fidelity, and externally - in sociability, in an effort to cooperate with other people, to be constantly with them.

3) The opposite of the affiliation motive is mochiinanswerRzheniya, manifested in the fear of being rejected, rejected by people significant to the individual. The dominance of the motive of affiliation in a person gives rise to a style of communication with people, characterized by confidence, ease, openness and courage. On the contrary, the predominance of the rejection motive leads to uncertainty, constraint, awkwardness, and tension.

4) Another very significant motive for the activity of the individual is power motive. It is defined as a person's persistent and distinct desire to have power over other people.

5) Altruism motive (help motive, caring motive for other people)- the desire of a person to selflessly help other people. This motive underlies prosocial behavior.

6) The motive of selfishness- the desire to satisfy selfish personal needs and interests, regardless of the needs and interests of other people and social groups; the opposite of altruism

7) In the course of studying aggressive behavior, it was suggested that behind this form of behavior lies a special kind of motive, called « magainst aggressiveness". A person has two different motivational tendencies associated with aggressive behavior:


  • tendencand Itoaggressionandand- this is the tendency of an individual to evaluate many situations and actions of people as threatening him and the desire to respond to them with his own aggressive actions.

  • Thosetrend todaphenomenon aGressions- is defined as an individual predisposition to evaluate their own aggressive actions as undesirable and unpleasant, causing regret and remorse.
Needs, motives, goals- the main components of the motivational sphere of a person. Each of the needs can be realized in many motives; each motive can be satisfied by a different set of goals.

There are several parameters that characterize the motivational sphere of a person:

1) sophistication- characterizes the qualitative diversity of motivational factors;

2) flexibility- describes the mobility of connections that exist between different levels of organization of the motivational sphere (between needs and motives, motives and goals, needs and goals);

3) hierarchization- this is a characteristic of the rank ordering of the structure of each of the levels of organization of the motivational sphere, taken separately.

2. Theories of motivation and determinants of activity.

1. Need theories of motivation. The scientific study of the reasons for the activity of man and animals, their determination, was initiated by the great thinkers of antiquity - Aristotle, Heraclitus, Democritus, Lucretius, Plato, Socrates, who mentioned "need" as a teacher of life. Democritus, for example, considered need (need) as the main driving force, which not only set in motion emotional experiences, but made the human mind sophisticated, made it possible to acquire language, speech and the habit of work. Without needs, man could not get out of the wild state.

Heraclitus considered in detail the motive forces, drives, needs. In his opinion, needs are determined by the conditions of life, so pigs rejoice in mud, donkeys prefer straw to gold, birds bathe in dust and ashes, etc. Speaking about the connection between motive forces and reason, Heraclitus noted that every desire is bought by the Price of "psyche", therefore, the abuse of lust leads to its weakening. At the same time, moderation in meeting needs contributes to the development and improvement of human intellectual abilities.

Socrates wrote that every person has needs, desires, aspirations. At the same time, the main thing is not what a person’s aspirations are, but what place they occupy in his life. A person cannot overcome his nature and get out of dependence on other people if he is not able to control his needs, desires and behavior. People who are not able to tame their impulses are slaves to bodily passions and external reality. Therefore, a person should strive to minimize needs and satisfy them only when they become really urgent. All this would bring a person closer to a god-like state, and he could direct the main efforts of the will and mind to the search for truth and the meaning of life.

In Plato, needs, desires and passions form a "lustful" or "lower" soul, which is like a herd and requires guidance from a "reasonable and noble soul."

Aristotle made a significant step forward in explaining the mechanisms of human behavior. He believed that aspirations are always associated with a goal in which an object is presented in the form of an image or thought that has a useful or harmful value for the organism. On the other hand, aspirations are determined by needs and the feelings of pleasure and displeasure associated with them, the function of which is to report and evaluate the suitability or unsuitability of a given object for the life of an organism. Thus, any volitional movement and emotional state that determines a person's activity have natural foundations.

The Dutch philosopher B. Spinoza considered affects to be the main motivating force of behavior, to which he attributed primarily drives associated with both the body and the soul. If attraction is realized, then it turns into desire.

The French materialists of the late 18th century attached particular importance to needs as the main sources of human activity. E. Condillac understood needs as anxiety caused by the absence of something that leads to pleasure. Due to needs, he believed, all mental and bodily habits arise.

P. Holbach also emphasized the certain role of needs in human life, but he did it deeper and more consistently. Needs, he wrote, are the driving factor of our passions, will, mental activity. Through motives, which are real or imaginary objects with which the well-being of the organism is connected, needs actuate our mind, feelings and will and direct them to take certain measures to maintain the existence of the organism. Man's needs are uninterrupted, and this circumstance is the source of his constant activity. P. Holbach, in his doctrine of needs, argued that only external causes are sufficient to explain human activity, and completely rejected the traditional idea of ​​​​idealism about the spontaneous activity of consciousness, cognitive, emotional and volitional activity.

K. Helvetius considered passions to be the source of human activity. Physical or natural passions arise from the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of needs. The latter he identified with sensations.

N. G. Chernyshevsky assigned an important role to the needs in understanding human behavior. Only through them, he believed, can one understand the relationship of the subject to the object, determine the role of material and economic conditions for the mental and moral development of the individual. With the development of needs, he linked the development of cognitive abilities. Primary are organic needs, the satisfaction of which leads to the emergence of moral and aesthetic needs. Animals are endowed with only physical needs, which determine their behavior and mental life.

R. Woodworth also assigned a significant role in the mental activity of a person to the needs. Thanks to them, the body turns out to be sensitive to some stimuli and indifferent to others, which, thus, not only determines the nature of motor reactions, but also affects the perception of the surrounding world (here the views of R. Woodworth and A. A. Ukhtomsky on the dominant and, according to Essentially, the need is considered as the dominant focus of excitation).

In the 20s and subsequent years of our century, theories of motivation appear in Western psychology that relate only to a person (K. Levin [K. Levin, 1926]; G. Allport and others). Here, along with organic, secondary (psychogenic) needs are identified that arise as a result of training and education (G. Murray [N. Murrey, 1938]). These include the need to achieve success, affiliation and aggression, the need for independence and resistance, respect and protection, dominance and attention, the need to avoid failures and harmful influences, etc. A. Maslow (1954) (see section 9.7).

As we can see, in the 20th century the concept of "motivation" remains closely connected with the concept of "need". At the same time, the need theories of motivation were opposed to the behaviorists' views on motivation, according to which behavior unfolds according to the “stimulus-response” scheme.

2. Behavioral theories of motivation. Behaviorists noted that the term "motivation" is too general and not scientific enough, that experimental psychology under this name actually studies needs, drives (drives), which are of a purely physiological nature. Behaviorists explain behavior through the stimulus-response scheme, considering the stimulus as an active source of the body's response. For them, the problem of motivation is not worth it, since, from their point of view, the dynamic condition of behavior is reactivity organism, i.e., its ability to respond in a specific way to stimuli. True, it is noted that the body does not always respond to an external stimulus, in connection with which a factor (called motivation) was introduced into the scheme, which explains the differences in reactivity. But again this factor was reduced to purely physiological mechanisms: the difference in the sensitivity of the organism to a given stimulus, i.e., to the thresholds of sensations. Proceeding from this, motivation began to be understood as a state, the function of which is to lower the threshold of the organism's reactivity to certain stimuli. In this case, the motive is considered as an energizer or sensitizer.

The most prominent representative of dynamic psychology, the American R. Woodworth (R. Woodworth, 1918), criticizing behaviorists, interpreted the response to external influence as a complex and changeable act in which past experience and the originality of external and internal conditions are integrated. This synthesis is achieved through mental activity, the basis of which is the desire for a goal (need).

In everyday life, it is generally accepted that human behavior is determined by the plan and the desire to implement this plan, to achieve the goal. This scheme, as noted by J. Nutten (1984), corresponds to reality and takes into account complex human behavior, while behaviorists take only an elementary mental reaction as a model. It must be remembered, writes J. Nutten, that behavior is also a search for missing or not yet existing situations and objects, and not just a response to them. This is the basis of the views of psychologists who consider motivation as an independent specific mechanism for organizing the behavior of humans and animals.

2 . Cognitive theories of motivation. Even W. James at the end of the last century identified several types of decision-making (formation of intentions, striving for action) as a conscious deliberate motivational act. Objects of thought that delay or favor the final action, he calls grounds or motives this decision.

In the second half of the XX century, the motivational concepts of J. Rotter (J. Rotter, 1954), G. Kelly (G. Kelly, 1955), X. Heckhausen (N. Heckhausen, 1955), J. Atkinson (J. Atkinson, 1964 ), D. McClelland (D. McClelland, 1971), which are characterized by the recognition of the leading role of consciousness in determining human behavior. Cognitive theories of motivation entailed the introduction of new motivational concepts into scientific use: social needs, life goals, cognitive factors, cognitive dissonance, values, expectation of success, fear of failure, level of claims.

R. Cattell (R. Cattell, 1957) built a "dynamic grid of aspirations." He singled out motivational dispositions like "ergs" (from the Greek. Ergon - energy, work), in which he saw a kind of biologically determined drives, and "engrams", the nature of which is contained not in the biological structure, but in the life history of the subject.

In many foreign motivational concepts, decision-making becomes the central mental process that explains behavior.

4. Psychoanalytic theories of motivation. A new stage in the study of the determination of behavior began at the end of the 19th century in connection with the emergence of the teachings of Sigmund Freud (S. Freud, 1895) about the unconscious and human drives. He attributed a decisive role in the organization of behavior to the unconscious core of mental life, formed by powerful drives. Mostly sexual (libido) and aggressive, requiring direct satisfaction and blocked by the "censor" of the individual - "Super-I", i.e., social norms and values ​​internalized in the course of the individual's socialization. If W. James's motivation was to a decisive extent associated with conscious decision-making (taking into account many external and internal factors), then 3. Freud and his followers assigned the decisive role in the determination of behavior to the unconscious, the suppression of whose urges by the "Super-I" leads to neuroses.

W. McDougall (1923), who believed that a person has eighteen instincts, developed his theory in the same direction. He put forward a “thermal” concept, according to which the driving force behind behavior, including social behavior, is a special innate (instinctive) energy (“gorme”), which determines the nature of the perception of objects, creates emotional excitement and directs the mental and bodily actions of the body to the goal. Each instinct corresponds to its own emotion, which from a short-term state turns into a feeling as a stable and organized system dispositions - predispositions to action Thus, he tried to explain the individual's behavior by the striving for the goal initially laid down in the depths of his psychophysiological organization.


  1. Biological theories of motivation. Among them, one can note those that refer to the concept of "motivation" only to explain the reasons for the activity of the organism (see the work of J. Nutten, 1975). Motivation in this case is referred to as the mobilization of energy. At the same time, they proceed from the notion that the state of inactivity is natural for the organism and that some special stimulating forces are needed for its transition to activity to occur. If we consider a living organism as active, then the concept of "motivation", from the point of view of these scientists, becomes superfluous. The inconsistency of these views is (as shown by the Russian physiologist N. E. Vvedensky at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century) that the state of physiological rest is also an active state.
TOPIC 5. "EXPERIENCE AS A FORM OF MANIFESTATION OF ACTIVITY"

Issues for discussion:


  1. The concept of experience
Experience, determines based on the theory of activity of A.N. Leontiev, according to which it is considered as a direct subjective reality of a mental phenomenon, which proceeds spontaneously in the form of a special mode of functioning of consciousness.

Experience- activity. In order to understand the meaning of this concept more precisely, it is necessary to consider experience in its relation to consciousness. Both structural components of a mental phenomenon - objective content and experience - are somehow given to consciousness, but given in different ways, in completely different modes of observation.

With active forms of perception, thinking, memory, the perceived subject content acts as a passive object, to which mental activity is directed. That is, the objective content is given to us in consciousness, which is a special act of observation, where the Observed appears as an object, and the Observer - as the subject of this act.

In the case of experience, these relationships turn around. Each of the internal experiences is well aware of the fact that our experiences proceed spontaneously, without requiring special efforts from us, they are given to us directly, by themselves (cf. Cartesian "we perceive by ourselves"). To say about experience that it is “given by itself” means to emphasize that it is precisely given by itself, by its own power, and is not taken by the effort of an act of awareness or reflection, in other words, that the Observed here is active and, therefore, is a logical subject, and the Observer , on the contrary, only experiences, undergoes the impact of the given, is passive and therefore acts as a logical object.

When consciousness functions as an active Observer grasping its own activity, i.e. both the Observer and the Observed have an active, subjective nature, we are dealing with reflection.

And finally, the last case - when both the Observer and the Observed are objects and, therefore, the observation itself as such disappears - fixes the logical structure of the concept of the unconscious.

In foreign psychology, the problem of experiencing is actively studied in the framework of the study of processes psychological protection, compensation, matching behavior.

Domestic psychology studies experiences from the point of view of the theoretical-activity approach.


  • analysis of specific cases of experience (let us recall, for example, A. N. Leontiev's description of the "psychological exit" that the prisoners of the Shlisselburg fortress found in order to survive the need to perform senseless forced labor);

  • development of ideas about psychological situations and states that are the causes of the processes of experience (these include: "disintegration of consciousness", a crisis in the development of the personality, a state of mental tension, a conflict of personal meanings.

  • The idea of ​​experiencing comes also in the study of individual mental functions (let's call V. K. Viliunas's idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe "emotional way of resolving situations", an attempt to explain such perception phenomena as perceptual defense, etc. using the concept of personal meaning,

  • and in the study of the general mechanisms of the functioning of the psyche (for example, in the study of the activity positions of the phenomenon, attitude).

Carriers (implementers) of experience


  1. External actions (behavior) carry out the work of experiencing not directly, by achieving certain objective results, but through changes in the consciousness of the subject and in general his psychological world. This behavior sometimes has a ritual-symbolic character, acting in this case by connecting the individual consciousness to the special symbolic structures organizing its movement, worked out in culture and concentrating in itself the experience of human experience of typical events and circumstances of life.

  2. Mental processes (functions) are internal actions. This role is often played by emotional processes (disgust for "too green" grapes eliminates the contradiction between the desire to eat it and the inability to do so). The main performer can be both perception (in various phenomena of "perceptual defense") and thinking (cases of "rationalization" their motives, the so-called "intellectual processing" of traumatic events), and attention ("protective switching of attention to moments extraneous to the traumatic event"), and other mental "functions". So, experience as an activity is realized by both external and internal actions.
3) A person manages to survive a life crisis often not so much due to the specific internal processing of traumatic events (although one cannot do without it), but with the help of active creative socially useful activity, which, realizing, as a subject-practical activity, the conscious goal of the subject and producing a socially significant external product, it simultaneously acts as an activity of experiencing, generating and increasing the reserve of meaningfulness of a person's individual life.

2. Types of experiences.

The most significant differences between experiences of different types are manifested in their relationship, on the one hand, to the accomplished event of being that created a critical situation, i.e., to reality, and on the other hand, to the vital necessity affected by this event.

1)hedonistic experience ignores reality, distorts and denies it, forming the illusion of actual satisfaction and, in general, the preservation of the disturbed content of life.

2)Realistic experience ultimately accepts reality as it is, adapting the dynamics and content of the subject's needs to its conditions. Former content life, which has now become impossible, is discarded by realistic experience; the subject has a past here, but no history.

3)value experience recognizes a reality that contradicts or threatens values, but does not accept it, it rejects the claims of immediate reality to directly and unconditionally determine the inner content of life and tries to disarm it with ideal, semiotic procedures, using them to deduce the event of being from equality with itself, turning it into an object of interpretation and ratings. An accomplished event as a fact of being is an irreversible reality beyond the control of man, but it is translated by value experience into another plane of existence, transformed into a fact of consciousness, and as such is transformed in the light of a system of values ​​that has become or is becoming.

4) If the hedonistic experience rejects reality, the realistic experience unconditionally accepts it, the value experience ideally transforms it, then creative experience builds (creates) a new life reality. An accomplished event, for example, one's own misdeed, is only ideally transformed, transformed by value experience, creative experience, sensually-practically, materially overcomes the attitude towards it. This sensory-practical, bodily character distinguishes the realization of a creative experience from a value one; it differs from realistic experience by virtue of its essential connection with values ​​by its deep symbolism. The unrealizable past content of life is not only aesthetically preserved by creative experience in the history of life, but also ethically continued in the plans and deeds of the new life reality that it builds.

TOPIC 6. "ACTIVITY AS A FORM OF MANIFESTATION OF ACTIVITY"

Issues for discussion:




    1. The concept of education and self-education.

    2. Moral development of personality.

    3. The concept of an active life position of a person.


  1. Development of personality in labor activity.

  2. Communication is a leading factor in the development of personality.
5.1. General psychotechnics of communication.

5.2. pedagogical communication.


  1. Activity as a necessary condition for the development of personality.
Acmeology - (from the Greek "acme" - peak, peak, highest step of something) is a new complex scientific discipline, which includes pedagogy. The object of its study is a person in the dynamics of his self-development, self-education, self-determination. These dynamic processes are studied by acmeology only in the context of human life.

Human activity- this is the totality of his active relationship to reality, in the process of which the satisfaction of his various needs, the achievement of his goals, the assimilation of social experience. The dominant spheres of human activity are play, educational and labor activities, as well as communication activities.

Thus, activity is the main mode of human existence. Moreover, satisfaction through the activity of the ever-increasing needs of a person is accompanied by the development of his body, psyche and personality.

For a developing personality, character, or rather, a change in the nature of activity, is important. The more diverse and richer in content the life of a person, the more opportunities for the development of various abilities of the individual, the versatile self-development of the individual.

Game, educational, labor and other types of activity create various, but unequal conditions for the development of intellectual, emotional, volitional or physical potentials of a person. As a result of this development, certain properties and qualities of a person are formed. Therefore, for the purposeful formation of a personality, from the point of view of pedagogy, an appropriate organization of an optimal system of activities is necessary. However, this does not at all mean "manipulating a person" contrary to his interests and needs, rights and freedoms, inclinations and abilities, contrary to his mind and convictions.

It should also be noted that for each age stage of the formation of a personality, there is a leading activity: for a preschooler, this is a game activity, for a younger student, a learning activity, for a teenager and a young man, a communicative activity, that is, communication; for an adult - labor activity.


  1. Activities for self-education and self-education.
The concept of upbringing and self-education.

Good upbringing is the whole set of personal qualities, containing a variety of traits and properties formed in the process of education. For example, politeness as an element of upbringing is formed on the basis of the integration of the developed habits of greeting, giving way to adults, and thanking for certain services. Then more complex features of this quality are developed: the ability to show caution, signs of attention and courtesy; readiness for mutual assistance; the necessary culture of speech, communication, etc. (Kharlamov I.F.).

The results of education are most often delayed. And the criteria and methods that are available today in pedagogy do not make it possible to diagnose the often hidden qualities of a person sufficiently deeply and reliably. Therefore, according to the Russian professor I.P. Podlasogo, the general moral orientation of the personality, and not its individual qualities, should be assumed. At the same time, the behavior of the pupil should not be considered out of connection with his motivation. Sometimes even the most humane acts, supposedly testifying to a person’s upbringing, are in fact due to not the best motives.

Along with upbringing, among the characteristics of a person, education is distinguished, defined as the need and ability for self-education.

Self-education is a person's activity aimed at changing his personality in accordance with consciously set goals, established ideals and beliefs.

Education and self-education are two sides of the same process. Through self-education, a person can self-educate.

Self-education is a system of internal self-organization for mastering the experience of generations, aimed at one's own development.

Self-learning is the process of direct acquisition by a person of the experience of generations through his own aspirations and his own chosen means.

Self-education involves the use of techniques such as:


  • self-commitment (voluntary assignment to oneself of conscious goals and objectives of self-improvement, the decision to form certain qualities in oneself);

  • self-report (a retrospective look at the path traveled over a certain time);

  • understanding one's own activities and behavior (identifying the causes of success and failure);

  • self-control (systematic fixation of one's state and behavior in order to prevent undesirable consequences).
Self-education involves a certain level of development of self-consciousness, the ability to analyze and compare one's actions with the actions of other people.

Self-education is carried out on the basis of goals formulated by a person: goals, a program of actions, control over the implementation of the program, evaluation of the results obtained and self-correction.

Methods of self-education:

Self-knowledge, which includes self-observation, introspection, self-assessment, self-comparison.

Self-control, based on self-persuasion, self-control, self-order, self-hypnosis, self-strengthening, self-confession, self-coercion.

Self-stimulation, involving self-encouragement, self-encouragement, self-punishment and self-restraint.


  1. Game as a specific form of human life.
Play is often defined as an activity performed not to obtain any material or ideal products, but for the sake of entertainment.

The essence of the game lies in the fact that this is not an ordinary, but, as it were, conditional reality that expands and enriches the pragmatic life of a person.


  • Errors of the first type were named contrasting installation illusions ,

  • errors of the second type - assimilative illusions of installation .
Another thing is important - to make sure that the installation in this case was really unconscious.

This is not directly obvious. Moreover, it can be assumed that in the preparatory trials, the subjects were fully aware that the same type of presentations were going on, and began to consciously wait for the same trial again.

This assumption is absolutely correct, and in order to test it, D. N. Uznadze conducts a control experiment with hypnosis.

The subject is put to sleep and in a state of hypnosis, preliminary installation tests are carried out. Then the subject wakes up, but before that he is suggested that he will not remember anything. After awakening, he is given only one control sample. And it turns out that in it the subject gives an erroneous answer, although he does not know that before that he had been presented with balls of different sizes many times. The attitude was formed in him and now manifested itself in a typical way for her.

Thus, the described experiments proved that the processes of formation and operation of the installation of the type being studied are not realized.

in)Unconscious accompaniments of conscious actions.

Now let's move on to the third class of unconscious mechanisms - unconscious accompaniments of conscious actions. There are a large number of unconscious processes that simply accompany the action:


  • involuntary movements

  • tonic tension,

  • mime and pantomime,

  • as well as a large class of vegetative movements accompanying the actions and states of a person.
Many of these processes, especially the vegetative components, are a classic object of study in physiology. However, they are all extremely important for psychology.

  • First, these unconscious processes can be considered as additional means of communication between people. In some cases, such means not only give speech an emotional coloring, but also replace the speech itself.

  • Secondly, they can be used as objective indicators of various psychological characteristics of a person. His intentions, attitudes, hidden desires, thoughts, etc. It is with the expectation of these processes in experimental psychology that intensive development of the so-called objective indicators (or physiological correlates) of psychological processes and states.
2. Unconscious stimuli of conscious actions.

Let us turn to the second large class of unconscious processes - unconscious stimuli of conscious actions.

This topic is closely connected primarily with the name of Sigmund Freud. Little historical background . Freud's interest in unconscious processes arose at the very beginning of his medical career. The impetus was a demonstration of the so-called post-hypnotic suggestion, which Freud attended and which made a tremendous impression on him.

One lady was hypnotized to say that upon awakening she should take the umbrella of one of the guests, standing in the corner of the room. When she woke up, she really took the umbrella and opened it. When asked why she did this, the lady replied that she wanted to check if the umbrella was working. When she was noticed that the umbrella was someone else's, she was embarrassed and put it in its place.

WHAT caught his attention?


  • Firstly, unconsciousness of the reasons for the actions taken.

  • Secondly, the absolute effectiveness of these causes: a person performs a task, despite the fact that he himself does not know why he does it.

  • Thirdly, the desire to find an explanation, or motivation, for one's action.

  • Finally, fourthly, the possibility sometimes, by prolonged questioning, to bring a person to the memory of the true reason for his action, at least this was the case with the umbrella.
Based on the analysis of similar and many other facts - I will talk about them later - 3. Freud created his theory of the unconscious.

According to her, there are three spheres or areas in the human psyche: consciousness, preconscious and unconscious .


  1. typical inhabitants preconscious realm , according to Freud, are hidden, or latent, knowledge. This is the knowledge that a person has, but which at the moment is not present in his mind.
For example, you know very well the name and patronymic of your aunt or grandmother, but before I mentioned this, you were not actually aware of them. In the same way, you know the Pythagorean theorem well, but it is not always present in your mind.

Thus, according to Freud, the psyche is wider than consciousness.

Hidden knowledge is also mental formations, but they are unconscious. To understand them, however, it is only necessary to strengthen the traces of past impressions. Freud considers it possible to place these contents in a sphere immediately adjacent to consciousness (in the preconscious), since they are easily transferred into consciousness if necessary.


  1. As for the area of ​​the unconscious, it has completely different properties.
First of all, the contents of this area are not recognized not because they are weak, as is the case with latent knowledge. No, they are strong, and their strength is manifested in the fact that they influence our actions and states.

  • So the first distinguishing feature of unconscious representations is their efficiency.

  • Their second property is that they hardly pass into consciousness. This is explained by the work of two mechanisms that Freud postulates - the mechanisms displacement and resistance.
Freud paid special attention to neurotic symptoms. According to his ideas, neurotic symptoms- these are traces of repressed traumatic circumstances that form a highly charged focus in the sphere of the unconscious and from there perform destructive work to destabilize the mental state of a person. Neurotic symptoms were the main manifestations with which Freud began to work. Here is one example from his medical practice. A young girl fell ill with a severe neurosis after going to the bed of her dead sister, she thought for a moment about her brother-in-law (sister's husband): "Now he is free and can marry me." This thought was immediately repressed by her as completely inappropriate in the circumstances, and, falling ill, the girl completely forgot the whole scene at her sister's bed. However, during the treatment, with great difficulty and excitement, she remembered her, after which recovery came.

3.Supraconscious processes.

Let's turn to third to the class of unconscious processes, which I conditionally designated as "supraconscious" processes. If we try to briefly characterize them, then we can say that these are the processes of formation of some integral product of a great conscious work, which then "intrudes" into a person's conscious life and, as a rule, changes its course.

These include:


  • Unconscious mechanisms of creative processes, the results of which are perceived as artistic images, scientific discoveries, manifestations of intuition, inspiration, creative insight.

  • processes of experiencing great grief or major life events, crises of feelings, personality crises, etc.
Why should such processes be placed outside consciousness? Because they differ from conscious processes in at least two important respects.

  • Firstly, the subject does not know that final total, to which the "superconscious" process will lead. Conscious processes, on the other hand, presuppose the goal of the action, i.e., a clear awareness of the result to which the subject is striving.

  • Secondly, unknown moment when the "superconscious" process ends; often it ends suddenly, unexpectedly for the subject. Conscious actions, on the contrary, involve control over the approach to the goal and a rough estimate of the moment when it will be achieved.
madness. However, I couldn't stop loving her.

Modern psychology has included 2 more phenomena in the spectrum of unconscious processes:


  • Unconscious stimuli of activity (motives and semantic attitudes), which are not perceived because of their social unacceptability or mismatch with other needs, motives and attitudes of the individual, which leads to a violation of adaptation and mental health of the individual, these are phenomena of psychological protection.

  • The structures of the social unconscious are unconscious linguistic, cultural, ideological schematisms, myths and social norms that determine the worldview of people belonging to a given culture.

TOPIC 8. "MENTAL STATES AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS"

Issues for discussion:




  1. Characteristics of mental states.

  1. The concept of "mental state" and its essence.

human psyche very mobile and dynamic. The behavior of a person in any period of time depends on what particular features of mental processes and mental properties of a person are manifested at this particular time.

It is obvious that a waking person differs from a sleeping person, a sober person differs from a drunk one, a happy person differs from an unhappy one.

At the same time, the mental states in which a person can be, of course, also affect such characteristics of him as mental processes and mental properties, i.e. these parameters of the psyche are closely related to each other. Mental states affect the course of mental processes, and repeating often, acquiring stability, can become a personality trait.

At the same time, modern psychology considers the mental state as a relatively independent aspect of the characteristics of personality psychology.

Concept of mental state

Mental condition- a concept that is used in psychology to conditionally single out a relatively stable component in the psyche of an individual, in contrast to the concepts of "mental process", emphasizing the dynamic moment of the psyche and "mental property", indicating the stability of the manifestations of the individual's psyche, their fixation in the structure of his personality.

Therefore, the psychological state is defined as a characteristic of a person's mental activity that is stable over a certain period of time.

As a rule, most often, a state is understood as a certain energy characteristic that affects a person’s activity in the course of his activity - cheerfulness, euphoria, fatigue, apathy, depression. Also highlighted states of consciousness . which are mainly determined by the level of wakefulness: sleep, nap, hypnosis, wakefulness.

Particular attention is paid to the psychological states of people under stress under extreme circumstances (if necessary, emergency decision-making, during exams, in a combat situation), in critical situations (pre-launch psychological states of athletes, etc.).

In every psychological state there are physiological, psychological and behavioral aspects. Therefore, the structure of psychological states includes many different-quality components:


  • at the physiological level, it is manifested, for example, in the pulse rate, blood pressure, etc.;

  • in the motor sphere it is found in the rhythm of breathing, changes in facial expressions, voice volume and speech rate;

  • in the emotional sphere is manifested in positive or negative experiences;

  • in the cognitive sphere, it determines one or another level of logical thinking, the accuracy of forecasting upcoming events, the possibility of regulating the state of the body, etc.;

  • at the behavioral level, it determines the accuracy, correctness of the actions performed, their compliance with current needs, etc.;

  • At the communicative level, this or that state of the psyche affects the nature of communication with other people, the ability to hear another person and influence him, set adequate goals and achieve them.
Studies have shown that the emergence of certain psychological states is based, as a rule, on actual needs that act in relation to them as a system-forming factor.

So, if the conditions of the external environment contribute to the quick and easy satisfaction of needs, then this leads to the emergence of a positive state - joy, inspiration, delight, etc. If the probability of satisfaction of one or another desire is low or absent at all, then the psychological state will be negative.

Depending on the nature of the state that has arisen, all the main characteristics of the human psyche, his attitudes, expectations, feelings, or feelings can change dramatically. as psychologists say, "filters of perception of the world."

So, for a loving person, the object of his affection seems ideal, devoid of flaws, although objectively he may not be such. And vice versa, for a person in a state of anger, the other person appears exclusively in black, and certain logical arguments have very little effect on such a state.

After performing certain actions with external objects or social objects that caused this or that psychological state, for example, love or hatred, a person comes to some kind of result. This result might be:


  • or a person realizes the need that caused this or that mental state, and then it comes to naught:

  • or the result is negative.
In the latter case, a new psychological state arises - irritation, aggression, frustration, etc. At the same time, the person again stubbornly tries to satisfy his need, although it turned out to be difficult to fulfill. exit from this difficult situation associated with the inclusion of psychological defense mechanisms that can reduce the level of tension in the psychological state and reduce the likelihood of chronic stress.

In mental states, the degree of balance of the individual's psyche with the requirements of the environment is manifested. States of joy and sadness, admiration and disappointment, sadness and delight arise in connection with what events we are involved in and how we relate to them.

Mental condition- temporary originality of the mental activity of the individual, due to the content and conditions of his activity, personal attitude to this activity.

Cognitive, emotional and volitional processes are complexly manifested in the corresponding states that determine the functional level of the individual's life.

Mental states are, as a rule, reactive states - a system of reactions to a certain behavioral situation. However, all mental states are distinguished by a pronounced individual feature - they are a current modification of the psyche of a given person. Even Aristotle noted that the virtue of a person consists, in particular, in responding to external circumstances in accordance with them, without exceeding or underestimating what is due.


  1. Classification of mental states.
Mental states are divided into situational and personal. Situational states are characterized by a temporary peculiarity of the course of mental activity depending on situational circumstances. They are subdivided:

  • to general functional ones that determine the general behavioral activity of the individual;

  • states of mental stress in difficult conditions of activity and behavior;

  • conflict mental states.

  • The stable mental states of the individual include:

  • optimal and crisis states;

  • borderline states (psychopathy, neurosis, mental retardation);

  • mental states of disturbed consciousness.
All mental states are associated with the neurodynamic features of higher nervous activity, the interaction of the left and right hemispheres of the brain, the functional connections of the cortex and subcortex, the interaction of the first and second signaling systems, and ultimately with the peculiarities of the mental self-regulation of each individual.

Reactions to environmental influences include direct and secondary adaptive effects. Primary - a specific response to a specific stimulus, secondary - a change in the general level of psychophysiological activity. Research has identified three types of psychophysiological self-regulation, which corresponds to three types of general functional states of mental activity:


  • secondary reactions are adequate to primary ones;

  • secondary reactions exceed the level of primary ones;

  • secondary reactions are weaker than the necessary primary reactions.
The second and third types of mental states cause redundancy or insufficiency of the physiological provision of mental activity.

3.Characteristics of mental states.

For many people, individual everyday and work conflicts turn into an intolerable mental trauma, an acute, persistent mental pain. The individual mental vulnerability of a person depends on his moral structure, the hierarchy of values, the significance that it attaches to various life phenomena. For some people, the elements of moral consciousness may be unbalanced, certain moral categories may acquire the status of supervalue, moral accentuations of the personality, its “weak points” are formed. Some people are highly sensitive to the infringement of their honor and dignity, injustice, dishonesty, others - to the infringement of their material interests, prestige, intra-group status. In these cases, situational conflicts can develop into deep crisis states of the individual.

An adaptive personality, as a rule, reacts to psychotraumatic circumstances by a defensive restructuring of its attitudes. The subjective system of se values ​​is aimed at neutralizing the impact that traumatizes the psyche. In the process of such psychological protection there is a fundamental restructuring of personal relationships. The mental disorder caused by psychic trauma is replaced by reorganized orderliness, and sometimes pseudo-orderliness - social alienation of the individual, withdrawal into the world of dreams, addiction to drugs. Social maladaptation of an individual can manifest itself in various forms. Let's name some of them.

The state of negativism- the prevalence of negative reactions in the personality, the loss of positive social contacts.

Situational opposition of personality- a sharp negative assessment of individuals, their behavior and activities, aggressiveness towards them.

Social withdrawal (autism)- sustainable self-isolation of the individual as a result of conflict interactions with the social environment.

The alienation of the individual from society is associated with a violation of the value orientations of the individual, the rejection of group, and in some cases general social norms. At the same time, other people and social groups are perceived by the individual as alien, hostile. Alienation is manifested in a special emotional state of the individual - a persistent feeling of loneliness, rejection, and sometimes in anger, even misanthropy.

Social alienation can take the form of a stable personality anomaly: a person loses the ability to social reflection, taking into account the position of other people, his ability to empathize with the emotional states of other people is sharply weakened and even completely inhibited, social identification is violated. On this basis, strategic meaning formation is violated: the individual ceases to care about tomorrow.

Prolonged and difficult to bear loads, insurmountable conflicts cause a person to have a state of depression(lat. depressio - suppression) - a negative emotional and mental state, accompanied by painful passivity. In a state of depression, the individual experiences painfully experienced depression, melancholy, despair, detachment from life; feels the futility of existence. The self-esteem of the individual is sharply reduced. The entire society is perceived by the individual as something hostile, opposed to him; going on derealization when the subject loses a sense of the reality of what is happening, or depersonalization when an individual loses the opportunity and need to be ideally represented in the life of other people, does not strive for self-affirmation and manifestation of the ability to be a person. Lack of energy supply of behavior leads to excruciating despair caused by unresolved tasks, failure to fulfill the obligations assumed, one's duty. The attitude of such people becomes tragic, and their behavior becomes ineffective.

So, in some mental states, stable personality traits are manifested. characteristic states, but there are also situational episodic states personalities that are not only not characteristic of her, but even contradict the general style of her behavior. The causes of such states can be various temporary circumstances: the weakening of mental self-regulation, tragic events that captured the personality, mental breakdowns caused by metabolic disorders, emotional downturns, etc.

TOPIC 9. "PERSONALITY AND SITUATION: INTERACTION OPTIONS"

Issues for discussion:

1. Parameters of personal determination of action

Happiness is not in always doing what you want, but in always wanting what you do (Leo Tolstoy).

Motivation (motivatio) - a system of incentives that encourage a person to perform actions. It is a dynamic process of a physiological nature, controlled by the psyche of the individual and manifested at the emotional and behavioral levels. For the first time the concept of "motivation" was used in the work of A. Schopenhauer.

Concepts of motivation

Despite the fact that the study of motivation is one of the topical issues of research by psychologists, sociologists, teachers, to date there has not been a single definition of this phenomenon. There are many rather contradictory hypotheses that try to scientifically explain the phenomenon of motivation, to answer the questions:

  • why and because of what a person acts;
  • what needs the activity of the individual is aimed at satisfying;
  • why and how a person chooses a certain strategy of action;
  • what results the individual expects to get, their subjective significance for the person;
  • why some people who are more motivated than others manage to succeed in those areas in which those endowed with similar abilities and having the same opportunities fail.

One group of psychologists defends the theory of the predominant role of intrinsic motivation - innate, acquired mechanisms that control human behavior. Other scientists believe that the leading cause of motivation is significant external factors affecting the personality from the environment. The attention of the third group is directed to the study of fundamental motives and attempts to systematize them into congenital and acquired factors. The fourth direction of research is the study of the question of the essence of motivation: as the main reason for orienting human behavioral reactions in order to achieve specific purpose or as a source of energy for activities controlled by other factors, such as habit.

Most scientists define the concept of motivation as a system based on the unity of internal factors and external incentives that determine human behavior:

  • action vector;
  • composure, purposefulness, consistency, organization of actions;
  • activity and assertiveness;
  • sustainability of the chosen goals.

Need, motive, purpose

The term motive is one of the key concepts of psychology, understood by scientists in different ways within the framework of various theories. Motive (moveo) is a conditionally ideal object, not necessarily of a material nature, towards the achievement of which the activity of the individual is oriented. The motive is perceived by the individual as peculiar, specific experiences that can be characterized as positive feelings from the anticipation of achieving the object of needs, or negative emotions that arose against the background of dissatisfaction, or incomplete satisfaction from the present situation. To isolate and realize a specific motive, a person needs to carry out internal purposeful work.

The simplest definition of motive is presented by A. N. Leontiev and S. L. Rubinshtein in the theory of activity. According to the conclusion of leading scientists: the mentally outlined, “objectified” need of the subject acts as a motive. The motive is essentially a different phenomenon from the concepts of need and goal. A need is an unconscious desire of a person to get rid of the existing discomfort ( read about human needs). The goal is the desired result of conscious purposeful actions ( read about purposefulness). For example: hunger is a natural need, the desire to eat is a motive, and a delicious schnitzel is a goal.

Types of motivation

In modern psychology, various methods of classifying motivation are used.

extrinsic and intrusive

Extraordinary motivation(external) - a group of motives due to action external factors on the object: circumstances, conditions, incentives not related to the content of a particular activity.

Intense motivation(internal) has internal causes associated with the life position of the individual: needs, desires, aspirations, inclinations, interests, attitudes. With internal motivation, a person acts and acts "voluntarily", not guided by external circumstances.

The subject of discussion about the expediency of such a division of motivations is consecrated in the work of H. Hekhausen, although from the point of view of modern psychology, such debates are groundless and unpromising. A person, being an active member of society, cannot be completely independent of the influence of the surrounding society in choosing decisions and actions.

positive and negative

Distinguish between positive and negative motivation. The first type is based on incentives and expectations of a positive nature, the second - negative. Examples of positive motivation are constructions: “if I perform some action, I will receive some kind of reward”, “if I do not take these actions, then I will be rewarded”. Examples of negative motivation would be statements; "if I do this, I will not be punished", "if I do not act in this way, I will not be punished." In other words, the main difference is the expectation of positive reinforcement in the first cases, and negative reinforcement in the second.

Steady and unstable

The foundations of sustainable motivation are the needs and needs of the individual, to satisfy which the individual performs conscious actions without needing additional reinforcements. For example: to satisfy hunger, to warm up after hypothermia. With unstable motivation, a person needs constant support, incentives from outside. For example: to lose interfering kilograms, to get rid of smoking.

Psychologists also distinguish between two subspecies of stable and unstable motivation, conventionally referred to as "carrot to stick", the differences between which are illustrated by an example: I strive to get rid of excess weight and achieve attractive shapes.

Additional classification

There is a division of motivations into subspecies: individual, group, cognitive.

Individual motivation combines needs, incentives and goals aimed at ensuring the vital activity of the human body and maintaining homeostasis. Examples are: hunger, thirst, the desire to avoid pain, to provide an optimum temperature.

To phenomena group motivation include: parental care for children, choosing the type of activity to gain social recognition, maintaining the state system.

Examples cognitive motivation perform: research activities, the acquisition of knowledge by the child through the game process.

Motives: the driving force behind people's behavior

Psychologists, sociologists, philosophers have been trying for centuries to define and classify motives - incentives that potentiate certain activities of the individual. Scientists distinguish the following types of motivation.

Motive 1. Self-affirmation

Self-affirmation is a person's need to be recognized and valued by society. Motivation is based on ambition, self-esteem, pride. Guided by the desire to assert himself, the individual tries to prove to society that he is a worthwhile person. A person seeks to occupy a certain position in society, to obtain social status, to achieve respect, recognition, reverence. This type is essentially similar to the prestige motivation – the desire to achieve and subsequently maintain a formally high status in society. The motive of self-affirmation is a significant factor in the motivation of a person's vigorous activity, which encourages personal development and intensive work on oneself.

Motive 2. Identification

Identification is the desire of a person to be like an idol, which can act as a real authoritative person (for example: father, teacher, famous scientist) or a fictional character (for example: the hero of a book, film). Identification motive is a strong incentive for development, improvement, application of strong-willed efforts for the formation of certain character traits. The motivation to be like an idol is often present in the juvenile period, under the influence of which a teenager acquires a high energy potential. The presence of an ideal “model” with which a young person would like to identify himself gives him a special “borrowed” strength, gives inspiration, forms a sense of purpose and responsibility, and develops courage. The presence of an identification motive is an important component for the effective socialization of a teenager.

Motive 3. Power

Power motivation is the need of an individual to have a meaningful influence on other people. At certain points in the development of both the individual and society as a whole, the motive is one of the essential driving factors of human activity. The desire to play a leading role in the team, the desire to occupy leadership positions motivates the individual to take consistent action. In order to fulfill the need to lead and manage people, to establish and regulate their sphere of activity, a person is ready to make great strong-willed efforts and overcome significant obstacles. The motivation of power occupies an important position in the hierarchy of incentives for activity. The desire to dominate in society is a different phenomenon from the motive of self-affirmation. With this motivation, a person acts for the sake of gaining influence over others, and not in order to obtain confirmation of his own importance.

Motive 4. Procedural and substantive

Procedural-content motivation encourages a person to take active actions not due to the influence of external stimuli, but due to the personal interest of the individual in the very content of the activity. It is an internal motivation that has a strong effect on the activity of the individual. The essence of the phenomenon: a person is interested in and enjoys the process itself, he likes to be physically active, to use intellectual capabilities. For example, a girl is engaged in dancing, because she really likes the process itself: the manifestation of her creative potential, physical abilities and intellectual abilities. She enjoys the very process of dancing, and not external motives, such as: the expectation of popularity, the achievement of material well-being.

Motive 5. Self-development

Motivation for self-development is based on a person's desire to develop existing natural abilities, improve existing positive qualities. According to the eminent psychologist Abraham Maslow, this motivation encourages a person to exert maximum volitional efforts for the full development and realization of abilities, guided by the need to feel competence in a certain area. Self-development gives a person a sense of his own significance, requires self-exposing - the ability to be himself and implies the presence of the courage of "being".

Motivation for self-development requires courage, courage, determination to overcome the fear of the risk of losing the conditional stability achieved in the past, to abandon comfortable peace. It is human nature to hold on to and exalt past achievements, and such reverence for personal history is the main obstacle to self-development. This motivation prompts the individual to make an unequivocal decision, making a choice between the desire to move forward and the desire to remain safe. According to Maslow, self-development is possible only when steps forward bring a person more satisfaction than past achievements that have become commonplace. Although during self-development there is often an internal conflict of motives, moving forward does not require violence against oneself.

Motive 6. Achievement

Achievement motivation refers to the desire to achieve best results in the activities performed, to master the heights of skill in an attractive field. The high efficiency of such motivation is based on the individual's conscious choice of difficult tasks, the desire to solve complex problems. This motive is a driving factor for achieving success in any sphere of life, because victory depends not only on a natural gift, developed abilities, acquired skills and acquired knowledge. The success of any undertaking is based on a high level of achievement motivation, which determines the purposefulness, perseverance, perseverance, determination of a person to achieve the goal.

Motive 7. Prosocial

Prosocial - socially significant motivation, based on the existing sense of a person's duty to society, personal responsibility to a social group. If a person is guided by pro-social motivation, the person is identified with a certain unit of society. Under the influence of socially significant motives, a person not only identifies himself with a particular group, but also has common interests and goals, takes an active part in solving common problems, overcoming problems.

A person driven by prosocial motivation has a special inner core, he has a certain set of qualities:

  • normative behavior: responsibility, conscientiousness, balance, constancy, conscientiousness;
  • loyalty to the standards adopted in the group;
  • acceptance, recognition and protection of the values ​​of the team;
  • a sincere desire to achieve the goal set by the unit of society.

Motive 8. Affiliation

The motivation for affiliation (joining) is based on the desire of the individual to establish new contacts and maintain relationships with significant people for him. The essence of the affiliation motive: the high value of communication as a process that captures, attracts and brings pleasure to a person. Unlike making contacts purely for selfish purposes, affiliative motivation is a means of satisfying spiritual needs, for example: a desire for love or sympathy from a friend.

Factors that determine the level of motivation

Regardless of the type of stimulus that drives a person's activity - the motive he has, the level of motivation is not always the same and constant in a person. Much depends on the type of activity performed, the circumstances and expectations of the person. For example, in the professional environment of psychologists, some specialists choose to study the most difficult tasks, while others limit themselves to “modest” problems in science, planning to achieve significant achievements in the chosen field. The factors that determine the level of motivation are the following criteria:

  • the significance for the individual of the prospective fact of achieving success;
  • faith and hope for outstanding achievement;
  • subjective assessment by a person of the existing probability of obtaining high results;
  • subjective understanding by the personality of standards, standards of success.

Ways of motivation

To date, various methods of motivation have been successfully used, which can be conditionally divided into three large groups:

  • Social - staff motivation;
  • Motivation for learning;

Here is a brief description of the individual categories.

Staff motivation

Social motivation is a specially developed complex system of measures, including moral, professional and material stimulation of the employee's activity. Staff motivation is aimed at increasing the activity of the worker and achieving maximum efficiency of his work. The measures used to encourage the activity of personnel depend on various factors:

  • incentive system provided for at the enterprise;
  • the management system of the organization as a whole, and personnel management in particular;
  • features of the institution: field of activity, number of staff, experience and chosen management style of the management.

Ways to motivate staff are conditionally divided into subgroups:

  • economic methods (material motivation);
  • organizational and administrative measures based on power (the need to obey the regulations, observe subordination, follow the letter of the law with the possible use of coercion);
  • socio-psychological factors (impact on the consciousness of workers, activating their aesthetic beliefs, religious values, social interests).

Student motivation

Motivation of schoolchildren and students is an important link for successful learning. Correctly formed motives, a clearly realized goal of the activity give the educational process meaning and allow you to get the required knowledge and skills, achieve the necessary results. The spontaneous emergence of motivation to study is a rather rare phenomenon in childhood and adolescence. That is why psychologists and educators have developed many techniques for the formation of motivation that allows you to fruitfully engage in learning activities. Among the most common methods:

  • creating situations that attract attention, interest students in the subject (entertaining experiments, non-standard analogies, instructive examples from life, unusual facts);
  • emotional experience of the submitted material due to its uniqueness and scale;
  • comparative analysis of scientific facts and their everyday interpretation;
  • imitation of a scientific dispute, creation of a situation of cognitive debate;
  • positive assessment of success through the joyful experience of achievements;
  • giving facts elements of novelty;
  • actualization of educational material, its approximation to the level of achievements;
  • use of positive and negative motivation;
  • social motives (the desire to gain authority, the desire to be a useful member of the group).

self-motivation

Self-motivation - individual methods of motivation based on the inner convictions of the individual: desires and aspirations, purposefulness and consistency, determination and stability. An example of successful self-motivation is the situation when, with intense external interference, a person continues to act to achieve the goal. There are various ways to motivate yourself, including:

  • affirmations - specially selected positive statements that affect the individual at a subconscious level;
  • self-hypnosis is a process that implies an independent influence of a person on the mental sphere, aimed at the formation of a new model of behavior;
  • biographies of prominent people - an effective method based on the study of the life of successful personalities;
  • development of the volitional sphere - the performance of activities "through I do not want";
  • visualization is an effective technique based on mental representation, experience of the results achieved.

On the relationship between the concepts of "motive" and "motivation" different authors express different opinions. Thus, B. F. Lomov considers motivation to be the totality of all human motives at a given moment in time, thereby emphasizing the moment of relevance contained in this phenomenon. At the same time, the author notes that the development of the motivational sphere is not a simple "layering" of some motives on others - new ones on old ones - or a simple sum of motives. BF Lomov understands the motivational sphere of personality as the totality of a person's motives, which is formed and develops throughout a person's life, i.e., emphasizes its historicism. Motivation is the result of dialectical development with differentiation and integration of individual motives within a complex system, characterized by inconsistency and the emergence of new qualitative features. If we take individual motives as elements of the system, and the whole process is presented as a systemic process, then the integration of motive elements will lead to the formation of a new quality, and not just to the summation of individual elements.

One of the most prominent experts in the field of studying motivation, X. Heckhausen, adheres to a more categorical point of view, believing that the concepts of "motive" and "motivation" are different both in volume, individual characteristics, qualitative and quantitative features, and in their functional role. In other words, motive and motivation are psychological phenomena close in name, but quite deeply differing in function and structure. Both motive and motivation are factors that determine the determination of behavior, but the nature of this determination in the first and second cases is different.

In the problem of determining human behavior by motivation, two research plans can be distinguished. The first aspect is the study of the active effectiveness of motivation, which characterizes the influence of motives on specific features of activity, its acceleration or deceleration, changes in its qualitative and quantitative parameters, direction, etc.; the second is the study of potential features of motivation. At the same time, the influence of motivation on activity is closely related to the totality of the individual's attitudes to a particular object, phenomenon, goal of the forthcoming or ongoing activity. Nevertheless, B. F. Lomov emphasizes that it is not this potential side of motivation, but special motives that determine the active moment of the beginning of real activity to achieve the goal (and in this position, he approaches the position of A. N. Leontiev on “motives-stimuli”, which serve as triggers at the beginning of activity).

The system of human motives is characterized by dynamism: a gradual change in its content, intensity, prevalence (generalization); hierarchy, i.e., different significance for a person, individual motives; relative stability: sufficient inertia and tendentiousness and other characteristics. In other words, the motivational sphere of a person is closer to the essence of the personality in comparison with motives; it is one of the most important structural components of the personality, in contrast to motives, which can be represented as separate elements that make up this system.

S. L. Rubinshtein believed that motivation is a subjective determination of human behavior mediated by the process of reflection by the external environment. Through motivation, a person is included in the context of reality. Thus, human behavior is determined by motivation, which is an indirect reflection of the objective world. In other words, this definition clearly indicates the active, stimulating value of motivation in the course of activity.

The study of V. G. Aseev is devoted to the problem of motivation, according to which the basis of any goal is a need, expressed in a tense actual state of a person, characterized by a negative experience of dissatisfaction with the need and the desire of the subject to satisfy it. It is tension that prompts him to vigorous activity aimed at changing, reducing the tension of this state, which has a negative emotional connotation. Motivation reflects the contradiction between attraction as a direct desire to realize a need and the need to perform one or another action, conscious of the requirements, a sense of duty, duties, i.e., due to objective necessity. VG Aseev believes that motivation includes all types of motives, including needs, drives, motives, interests, aspirations, goals, ideals, motivational attitudes and dispositions of the individual. Thus, according to the author, motives should be considered a general term for the above mental phenomena. Without going into a detailed criticism of the assumptions made by V. G. Aseev, we still believe that these concepts should be distinguished and the main difference lies not so much in the varying degree of awareness and, therefore, the "connection" of the individual to the process of activity stimulated by the above-described mental factors, how much in a different functional meaning, for example, attraction and interest, ideal and specific goal, etc.

As a result of a survey of 4,000 employees of European companies in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, the following personnel motivation factors were identified:

1) the management of the company shows an interest in the well-being of employees;

2) employees have the opportunity to improve their professional abilities;

3) company management sets an example in terms of company values;

4) in the company there is freedom in decision-making, sufficient to achieve good working results;

5) employees are attracted by the reputation of the company as an employer;

6) the range of tasks solved by the company ensures the constant activity of employees;

7) the employee participates in teamwork as part of his working group;

8) employees are attracted by a high level of customer focus;

9) employees are satisfied with the general working atmosphere in the company;

10) employees are satisfied with the acceptable level of their personal salary.

In addition, it was found that a quarter of all respondents consider themselves enthusiastic, interested in work; 63% are moderately enthusiastic; 14% can be called "internal quitters". Such employees do not have an emotional attachment to the enterprise, they work less productively than those who are very passionate about work, and, in addition, they have a negative impact on the team.

(According to the site e-xecutive.ru)

The motivation system is an effective tool for personnel management only if it is well developed and correctly used in practice.

The ideal system of personnel motivation does not exist. However, there are certain rules that allow any system to be more efficient: it must be simple and understandable; transparent and public; as objectively as possible to take into account the results of activities and qualifications of employees, reflect the specifics of the organization.


6.2.3. Job satisfaction and employee motivation

Satisfaction with work is considered as a positive emotional state of a person, based on the assessment of his work.

Employee motivation and satisfaction are two sides of one objective process - work. Schematically, this can be expressed as follows: motivation → work → satisfaction. If motivation is an explanation and justification of labor behavior, then satisfaction is recognition and agreement with it.

Satisfaction with work is the result of the perception by the workers themselves of the extent to which their work provides satisfaction of important, from their point of view, needs. With high job satisfaction, staff turnover decreases, the number of absenteeism decreases, employees have better physical and moral health, quickly master the necessary skills, suffer less from industrial injuries, are more inclined to cooperate, and help colleagues and clients more often.


Job satisfaction is a person's emotional reaction to the work situation, based on the principle of "like - dislike", "love - dislike".

Satisfaction with work can be considered both as a single attitude and in relation to various components of the work process.

However, the assessment of overall satisfaction gives considerable freedom for its individual interpretation. Some employees may be satisfied with the work based on wages, others - on the nature of the work, and others - on the social climate of the organization. Therefore, the existence of a complex structure of job satisfaction can raise doubts about the unambiguity of the respondent's understanding of the meaning of the question of overall job satisfaction.

In this case, the answer to a direct question about overall job satisfaction does not carry any specific information and cannot be unambiguously interpreted, which, according to many researchers, “makes its use meaningless.”

P. Smith, L. Kendall and K. Hulin believe that there are five main parameters of work that form satisfaction:

- work as such (providing a person with interesting tasks, the opportunity to learn new things, to experience a "sense of responsibility" for the task assigned);

- remuneration (remuneration and additional benefits that the employee receives);

– promotion (opportunity for career growth);

- leadership (the ability of the leader to provide technical and moral support);

– colleagues (degree of their competence and level of social support).

A broader approach to the study of job satisfaction includes the study of such elements of satisfaction assessment as the amount of work performed, labor intensity, labor organization, labor content, sanitary and hygienic working conditions, working hours and working hours, earnings, distribution of bonuses, relationships with management, relationships with colleagues at work, working conditions, the possibility of career and qualification growth, objectivity of work assessment, additional benefits, etc.

When studying satisfaction, it is advisable to take into account that people have stable traits that predispose them to satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their work, regardless of the actual production situation, i.e. some employees like all the work situations in which they find themselves, while others do not like any of them. The general tendency to respond positively to environment called "positive affectivity", and the tendency to negative reactions - "negative affectivity". Research confirms the existence of a positive correlation (strong relationship) between positive affectivity scores and greater job satisfaction.

The attention of researchers to job satisfaction is dictated primarily by the search for a relationship between job satisfaction and labor productivity.

The hypothesis that a job-satisfied person will demonstrate high labor productivity seems very attractive, but does not find empirical support.

According to 20 surveys conducted in the United States and summarized by V. Vroom, the average correlation between them was 0.14 with fluctuations from 0.86 (significant relationship) to -0.31 (feedback), which is close to the results obtained in domestic research.

F. Herzberg, comparing the results of 26 studies, recorded a positive relationship in 14 cases, a negative one in 3, no connection in 9. A later analysis revealed that only in 17 cases out of 100, a direct relationship can be found between these indicators.

According to L. Porter and E. Lawler, not an increase in satisfaction leads to an increase in productivity, but an increase in labor productivity can lead to rewards that can cause an increase in satisfaction. They explain the weak correlation between productivity and job satisfaction by the fact that many people may receive rewards that have little to do with work (for example, communication with colleagues). Researchers still believe that increased satisfaction may also have an inverse effect on performance if the individual seeks even greater rewards.

V.A. Yadov and A.G. Zdravomyslov argue that "job satisfaction is reflected in the results of labor and, conversely, the results of labor - in the degree of satisfaction." Thus, we can say that satisfaction is of a dual nature.

F. Herzberg explains the failure of attempts to find a significant stable relationship between performance and satisfaction with the incorrectness of measuring satisfaction, since they usually look for a relationship between performance and overall satisfaction, which includes satisfaction and hygiene factors, while it is worth measuring the relationship only between satisfaction with motivators and performance.

However, this position also has its drawbacks. According to F. Herzberg, wage refers to hygienic factors. However, Cherrington, Reitz, and Scott found that the nature of the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance depends on a third variable, rewards. A positive correlation between satisfaction and job performance is found only among employees who receive remuneration corresponding to the results of their work.

The inverse relationship between job satisfaction and staff turnover is more clearly recorded. According to I.M. Popova, the corresponding correlation coefficient is - 0.60, and among those who are dissatisfied with their work, the turnover is much higher than among those who are satisfied.

It is advisable for organizations to periodically survey the level of satisfaction of their employees in order to take timely actions to prevent and resolve problems that concern employees. In addition, it provides an opportunity to "release" the negative emotions of employees, to provide feedback to subordinates.

Periodic research in this area should be combined with daily monitoring of job satisfaction. Managers, on the one hand, receive current information about the level of job satisfaction during personal contacts and communications, and on the other hand, they have access to various information that can also be used to analyze satisfaction.

Sources of information include complaints, absenteeism and tardiness data, product quality indicators, job completion rates, workforce turnover, exit surveys, employee suggestions, training reports.

In most cases, research is carried out in the form of a questionnaire. An interview can be used as an alternative, but an individual conversation with an employee in such a case requires time (1-2 hours for each) and special preparation of the interviewer.

In a survey, there are a number of situational variables that can affect the understanding of questions and the willingness of respondents to be sincere:

– the form of the introductory text and the clarity of the instruction;

– anonymity of the survey;

- the degree of sensitivity to questions, i.e. the degree of concern of respondents about the fact that others may become aware of their answers. For example, questions about working conditions tend to have low sensitivity, while questions about management tend to have a high sensitivity;

– use of samples large enough so that the distribution of response distortions can be considered random.

To measure qualitative features, a quantification procedure is used, i.e., giving quantitative certainty to the studied qualitative features. In this case, the measurement tool is a scale representing a system of characteristics of the studied property, which acts as a standard.

In order to develop a scale, a so-called continuum is established - the extent of the studied property, i.e., its extreme states are determined. After finding the extreme points and determining the continuum, the scale is graduated.

Many researchers have come to the conclusion that the survey method, which gives a rank level of measurement, remains practically the only one for measuring subjective assessments, in particular job satisfaction. Therefore, statements are often offered in the questionnaires, and the respondents express their attitude towards them using a number series.

For example, a survey question might look like this:

At the same time, such a ranking assessment of indicators of job satisfaction and its features has a number of disadvantages:

- non-orthogonality of the positive and negative parts of the satisfaction scale, where the negative part is perceived by the respondent, as a rule, in more detail than the positive one;

- the dependence of the state of satisfaction on the strength of the need, i.e. on how subjectively significant this aspect of the work and its conditions is, when significant aspects of reality "provoke" a tendency to their moderate assessment on the scale, and subjectively insignificant - to an optimistic assessment;

- dependence on the measure of the employee's own efforts in achieving a certain goal: the more energy costs are applied to the achievement of the goal, the higher the satisfaction with what has been achieved;

- the dependence of the assessment on the level of development of the need, due to which high satisfaction can equally indicate the well-being of the production organization (if it satisfies the important needs of employees) and that these aspects of work are subjectively unimportant for the respondent.

Another approach to measuring satisfaction was proposed by Porter. It is based on the premise that not all people have the same attitude towards various aspects of their work. The Porter Questionnaire consists of 15 items addressing issues of security, respect, autonomy, social needs, and self-actualization needs.

Based on their own needs and ideas about the job, each respondent answers three questions related to each statement:

Thus, satisfaction is assessed on the basis of responses to questions about the satisfaction of needs at work, and the assessment depends on the degree of discrepancy between actual and desired assessments (answers to questions 1 and 2). The smaller the discrepancy, the greater the job satisfaction. By answering the third question, one can estimate the relative strength of each need for each individual respondent.

Many domestic researchers use a five-term verbal rank scale, in which five positions are expressed in verbal statements; The scale for assessing satisfaction with various work factors is as follows:

– quite satisfied (maximally positive answer);

– mostly satisfied (positive answer);

- find it difficult to answer (neutral answer);

– not quite satisfied (negative answer);

- not satisfied (maximum negative answer).

For subsequent quantitative data processing, the rank scale is converted into a metric one by assigning points to its divisions. In the case of the analysis of job satisfaction factors, the metric scale may look like this:

– quite satisfied +4

– mostly satisfied +3

- difficult to answer +2

– not quite satisfied +1

– not satisfied 0

The result of data processing is the calculation of the index of satisfaction with various labor factors, produced by the formula:

Q = ΣV / ΣV t = ΣV / V t n, (6.1)

where Q is the index of the group assessment of the factor; V - score in points of a separate answer on this question; ΣV - the sum of points received on this issue in the group as a whole; n is the number of group members who answered this question; V t - the maximum score of this rating scale; ΣV t is the maximum (ideal) number of points for this group.

The satisfaction index calculated in this way makes it possible to compare the results of studies both within the same organization and in various organizations and their divisions.


Questions and tasks for self-examination

1. What is staff motivation? Give arguments confirming the importance of this area of ​​personnel work.

2. What kinds of needs do you know?

3. Describe the main motivational types of employees. What forms of incentives are basic, applicable, neutral and prohibited for them?

4. Describe the main methods of staff motivation.

5. Highlight the advantages and disadvantages of labor enrichment, employee participation in management.

6. List the main components of the motivation system.

7. What are the features of staff motivation when various types strategy and organizational culture of the company?

8. What is the purpose of researching the level of satisfaction of employees with work in the organization?

9. What is the relationship between job satisfaction and productivity?


Chapter 7


7.1. The functional state of a person as a regulator of professional activity

Activity- this is the process of a person's active attitude to reality, during which the subject achieves the goals set earlier, the satisfaction of various needs and the development of social experience. In activity, a person develops, forms and manifests itself as a person.

Traditionally, activities are divided into labor, play and educational. In the process of labor activity, a person interacts with the production environment, which is determined by the characteristics of the technological process, the nature of the labor process, sanitary, hygienic and socio-psychological working conditions.

Factors of the working environment, the organization of labor and production can cause a violation of the working capacity and health of workers, cause occupational diseases.

Labor is subject to the laws of nature, in particular psychophysiological ones: no matter how different the individual types of useful labor or productive activity are, from the physiological point of view they are in any case functions of the human body, and each such function, whatever its content and form, is a waste. human brain, nerves, muscles, sense organs, etc.

Human work is a functional task assigned to the organism as a whole, and its solution lies in the coordinated adaptation of all organs and systems to the task that is carried out by the central nervous system.

Labor activity is a source of various stimuli that carry information about the human environment and are processed by the brain. Information in the nervous system is coordinated by the processes of excitation and inhibition.

Excitation- This is a complex biological process, accompanied by electrical activity and activating one or another organ. A specific property of the excitation process is the ability to spread. Due to this property, the excitation process serves as a means of physiological communication between various organs and ensures their functional unity.

Braking is a biological process that weakens or stops the activity of an organ. At the same time, nerve cells restore their resources. Inhibition is stationary in nature, it remains at the place of its origin as long as the conditions supporting it persist, blocking the activity of the corresponding nervous structures.

The processes of excitation and inhibition carry out complex coordination of physical and mental activity. The interaction of these processes is carried out according to the laws of irradiation, induction, dominant and dynamic stereotype.

Irradiation- this is the spread of the nervous process from the place where it arose to the surrounding centers. For example, an agitated person cannot sit still.

Induction is the induction of the opposite process in the surrounding areas. Excitation or inhibition stands still, but, as it were, is covered by a belt of another process. For example, carried away, we do not hear the appeal to us. The law of induction is the basis for the formation of skills, excitation is increasingly concentrated in the right centers.

Dominant- This is the dominant focus of excitation, the main function of which is to coordinate the processes occurring in the nervous system. It brings together centers located at different levels nervous system, thus creating a functional system aimed at performing a particular activity.

The dominant determines the direction of reflexes and is the physiological basis of behavior in all its diversity - from a uniquely directed action to readiness for action. The latter state is of great theoretical and practical importance.

An important feature of the dominant attitude is its precise adjustment in accordance with the peculiarities of the upcoming work in terms of intensity, pace and energy costs. The severity of the attitude is also an important factor regulating labor activity. With an insufficiently expressed setting, it is difficult to quickly and fully enter the work, and with an excessively pronounced excitability of the nervous system, it increases, which leads to instability of the dynamic stereotype.

Labor activity is a complex of incentives coming from both external and internal environment. The nervous system systematizes the excitation and inhibition caused by these stimulants and fixes their stable combination, thereby forming a dynamic stereotype. Once developed, a stereotype is very persistent and can manifest itself even after a long break.

Introducing the concept of a dynamic stereotype, I.P. Pavlov emphasizes two characteristic features of the activity of the nervous system: stereotyping and, at the same time, dynamism. The stereotyping of the nervous system makes it stereotyped, devoid of creativity. The dynamism of the cortical system is expressed in the mobility of nervous processes, the ability to adapt to constantly changing conditions.

In labor activity, the more often a monotonous set of stimuli is used and the simpler it is, the more clearly the features of the stereotypy of the nervous system are manifested. Repeated repetition of movements that are simple and constant in composition makes their reproduction easy and economical (a rather narrowed field of excitation reacts). At the same time, the automatism of the performance of the activity is formed. However, it is precisely this simplicity and automation of the system that makes it inert and monotonous; conditions are created for the development of inhibitory states with all the accompanying phenomena in the form of a decrease in labor productivity and an increase in the reject rate. In addition, the system is deprived of the mobility necessary for a quick response to changes in the external environment.

The criterion of efficiency cannot be decisive in this case, since the excessive simplicity and automation of the stereotype, although beneficial in terms of reducing energy costs, however, forms monotony, hindering creative development in the labor process.

At the same time, if the dynamic stereotype is too complex, the monotony decreases, but there is difficulty in the formation of the stereotype and its restructuring in the case of high fixation. It follows that when organizing a production operation (establishing a dynamic stereotype of this operation), it is necessary to make sure that it allows for a certain variability, and hence the possibility of adapting to changing conditions.

Muscle work obeys the law of "average loads and average speeds": the muscle produces the greatest external work at average loads and average speeds. Muscle work is calculated as the product of the weight of the load (P) and the lift height (h) and is expressed in kilogram meters (A = P × h, kg/m).

Muscular work has two forms of manifestation - static and dynamic. static work is accompanied by continuous muscle tension and takes place while maintaining a posture and holding a load.

Static work is estimated by the time during which a given contraction force develops: if a muscle group maintains a force (P) for a time (t), then the work done is determined by the product (P × t) and is expressed in kilogram-seconds or kilogram-minutes (B = Σ P × t, kg/s).

Under dynamic work is understood muscle activity accompanied by a change in the length of the muscles and the movement of the working body. In this case, the working body produces a certain amount of mechanical work, which is different when different types professional activity.

All basic labor operations are performed through dynamic work. However, each movement contains elements of dynamics and statics, so there are static components in any work. The fatigue of work depends on this to a greater extent, so it is necessary to strive to reduce the static component.

Dynamic work is calculated by the formula:

А = Σ P × n × L, (7.1)

where A is dynamic work, kgm/h; Р – weight, kg; n is the number of processed parts per hour; L is the total distance of the moved cargo, m.

The function of the motor apparatus is subject to the laws of biomechanics - the science of body movement. Knowing the laws of movement, one can foresee their result, reveal the sources of errors, evaluate the effectiveness of the movement, find a way to improve them.

Biomechanical laws are:

- the law of motion of kinematic pairs, the essence of which is that the movement in the joints is a movement of a rotational type. This must be taken into account when designing equipment, organizing workplaces and movements;

- the law of leverage. A moving instrument becomes a lever when a force is applied to it. On the musculoskeletal levers, there is a loss in strength approximately equal to 10 times. This pattern must be taken into account when rationing labor;

- law of energy conservation. The sum of externally produced work and released heat in any ratio is equal to the change in internal energy. This law can be the basis for the development of labor intensity standards.

Energy costs during labor activity are the sum of energy costs for performing various work and the costs of basal metabolism (to maintain life at rest). The main metabolism averages 1 kcal per 1 kg of body weight per hour (about 1500 kcal per day). At various works energy costs per day vary widely: for students - 3000 kcal, for turners - 3300 kcal, for blacksmiths - 3500-4000 kcal, for a foundry worker - 4000-4500 kcal, for a bricklayer - 5000 kcal, for a tractor driver - 3000 kcal, mowers with manual mowing - 7200 kcal.

An important issue is the maximum allowable energy consumption during long-term operation. According to G. Lehman, the number of calories expended in the production process by one person should not exceed 2500 kcal (with an 8-hour working day), which is about 5 kcal / min. As a normal value of energy costs, corresponding to the capabilities of the human body, G. Leman proposes to take 4300 kcal / day, including 2000 kcal for production work.

With the modern development of technology, not only employees, but also the majority of workers work in conditions of low levels of energy consumption. The motor activity of people becomes insufficient, as a result, conditions are created under which there is a direct threat to health. Currently, medical science considers a low level of physical activity as one of the risk factors for a number of diseases of the cardiovascular system and metabolism.

Labor activity enhances metabolism, increases blood flow, affects the condition of the heart and blood vessels.

As established by scientists, heart rate is closely related to energy costs (Table 7.1).

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