Contents
We are glad to welcome you all! The interactive side of communication in psychology is the basis for analysis and understanding of both the personality and its actions in such a direction as symbolic interactionism. The topic is very interesting. And as always, let’s start with what this article will be about.
General information
The interactive side of communication is, in fact, the process of interaction between people. The founder of this trend, Gerberd Mead, believed that a person develops and realizes, understands himself better not with the help of the feedback of others, but directly at the moment of joint activity. He believed that if a person wants to change and become like someone else, simply observing someone is not enough. The process will go on if they start doing something together, then, contacting and touching with their true selves, they will unconsciously influence each other.
The very structure of joint activities consists of goals, that is, the intended and expected ideal results. As you already know from the article, about the correct setting of goals, each goal is divided into tasks so that it is clearer how to implement it.
The next component of the structure is the motive, that is, what drives all participants, inspires and gives energy for accomplishments. Then comes the interaction itself., and final is, of course, the very result of common efforts.
Factors and main styles of behavior
Eric Burne, the founder of transactional analysis, has identified several ways of behaving at the moment of contact, namely:
- Parent. Being in this position, a person considers himself the smartest, he tends to think that he understands everything and does not doubt his actions, decisions and strengths at all.
- Child. Usually emotional, can do completely illogical things, succumbing to momentary desire.
- Adult. He analyzes, uses logic, tries to look at the situation realistically and sometimes knows how to restrain emotions.
Each of us is periodically in each of these roles, but it happens that in some position it “freezes”, which implies more harm than good. For example, when an adult behaves with children like a child, irresponsibly, it provokes children to take on the role of an adult. Have you met such precocious, serious children deprived of childhood?
Usually in families with alcohol dependence they can be observed. After all, care for both younger brothers and sisters, and “sick”, drunken parents lies on their little shoulders.
So, directly the factors due to which the personality develops
- Each person has two types of interaction in his arsenal — cooperation, that is, compatibility, and competition. Cooperation helps to achieve common goals, obtaining the necessary results, while rivalry, on the contrary, is focused only on satisfying one’s own desires and interests.
- Each of us during contact has a certain role that we adhere to.
- Our development is controlled by society. After all, morality was developed by scientists in order to manage society, such a regulator of their behavior. Similarly, the laws and norms of behavior. Therefore, when we meet, we most often smile at each other and say hello.
- Knowing these norms, a person constantly correlates his actions and actions with them, focusing on a model.
You rarely meet a person who successfully avoids interaction with people, no matter how hard he tries, being in society — this is impossible. And every contact with the personality of another implies the emergence of a conflict situation.
Types of behavior during conflicts
- Avoidance, evasion. For some reason, a person prefers to evade responsibility for his actions, desires, and in general, life. She does not defend her rights, does not participate in the dispute and is not interested in satisfying her needs, being content with what she can get without declaring her preferences. This style is justified in cases where the conflict is too complex and protracted, and in order to save your resources and take care of security, it is easier to actually avoid it.
- Competition — the very concept speaks of some kind of aggressiveness, the struggle for superiority, comparison, depreciation and superiority. In some situations, it gives strength and energy, in some, on the contrary, it frightens and “immobilizes”. Thanks to her, many brilliant discoveries were made, but she also “ruined” many, leading to depression, apathy and loneliness. So be able to distinguish between your desires and understand their motives so that “competition for the sake of competition” does not happen.
- Adaptation — I choose in cases where the relationship itself is of great value, and the person decides to give in on some issue, so long as there are no contradictions. It happens that the situation itself is not worth it to spoil the established communication, or when an individual understands that the forces are not equal, and he will lose, therefore there is no other choice but to reconcile.
- Cooperation is a very resourceful action in its essence, as it implies the search for solutions that will lead to the benefit of each of the participants in the conflict, so that everyone is satisfied with the outcome, and there are no victims or disadvantaged.
- Compromise. In short, this is the ability to make concessions, but not one-sidedly, as in the case of adaptation, but mutually and equally.
You can learn more about conflicts and how to resolve them in this article.
Factors affecting not only the process of contact, but also the person as a whole
- Distance. It depends on how willing they are to cooperate. For example, when we want to talk about something unpleasant, we avoid eye contact and move a little further away from it. But with good news, we approach and catch every glance.
- Orientation. Social psychology has found out the fact that depending on how we are disposed towards the interlocutor, we show him our attitude. For example, if we look closely into the eyes, without turning our backs or sideways to him, he will understand that we are aggressive. For more information on non-verbal expressions, see here.
- External barriers. In the case when you want to reach a compromise or get closer, be sure to position yourself so that there are no obstacles between you in the form of tables, chairs and other interior items. It is not for nothing that there is such a thing as a “round table”, when complex issues are resolved in an equal position, when everyone is sitting in a circle.
Conclusion
And that’s all for today, dear readers! This characteristic of interactive communication will help in such a difficult matter as adapting to society, because in order for your activity to be effective, it is very important to be able to make concessions and understand when to start competing and when to avoid a quarrel.
Subscribe to blog updates, there are many more exciting things in practical psychology ahead of us. See you soon.
Material for the article prepared by Zhuravina Alina