Suggestion, infection and persuasion - as mechanisms for the manifestation of socio-psychological phenomena and processes.

We think we can control our emotions, but is that really true?

Emotional contagion is a phenomenon in which one person's mood is transmitted to other people. The psychological state can apply both to specific individuals and to an entire group. Contagion of emotions occurs only during contact between people - personal or virtual.

There are many points of view about the reasons for the transfer of emotional states between people. One of these was expressed by psychologist Elaine Hatfield. In his opinion, infection with emotions occurs through automatic copying of a person’s facial expressions, voice, gestures and posture. Through unconscious repetition of other people's movements, we gradually adopt the same feelings as our interlocutor.

Introduction

If we proceed from the fact that social psychology, first of all, analyzes those patterns of human behavior and activity that are determined by the fact that people are included in real social groups, then the first empirical fact that this science encounters is the fact of communication and interaction between people. According to what laws do these processes develop, what determines their various forms, what is their structure; finally, what place do they occupy in the entire complex system of human relations?

One of the important mechanisms of communication and interaction between people is the processes of mental imitation and infection.

I consider the topic of the test to be relevant, since the problems and mechanisms of human interaction are inextricably linked both in the professional and social life of an individual.

The purpose of the test is to cover the topic of Mental infection and imitation.

Independent work tasks:

— Reveal the essence of the concepts of mental infection and imitation;

— Reveal the significance of infection and imitation for public and social life;

— Give examples of manifestations of mental infection and imitation in a person’s public and personal life.

Basic methods of influence in a group

Lecture 9

Relationships between individuals and groups

Plan

1. Forms of psychological impact of group structures on the individual.

2. Social and psychological phenomena of individual behavior in a group.

1. The relationship between the individual and the group seems quite complex. To understand and evaluate these relationships, one should take into account both the properties of the individual occupying a certain status in the group, as well as the composition, nature of activity and level of organization of the group and other broader social associations.

The main determinant of people's influence on each other is the process of joint activity. The purpose of such influence is to change the behavior of communication partners. Specifically, the forms of influence on the individual are related to the level of organization, the content of the activity and the size of the group, the ratio of its formal and informal structures.

Situations are possible when interaction takes place in randomly emerging, spontaneously formed groups that are not connected by meaningful joint activities. Moreover, these are, as a rule, not microgroups, dyads and triads, but more numerous associations with unstable relationships that arise for a short period of time, often for random reasons.

In such situations, such methods of interaction between people as infection, imitation, suggestion, and persuasion arise.

They are also called mass-like states

, characteristic of associations such as “mass”, “crowd”, etc.

The occurrence of such conditions is influenced by the media, mass forms of culture (for example, pop music), mass forms of spending free time (for example, football fans), advertising, fashion, forms of religious propaganda, etc.

The main methods of influence in a group.

Contagion
is a type of influence that integrates on an emotional basis members of one group or large masses of people.
Successful completion of a task generates enthusiasm among all group members. History has recorded many cases of emotional infection of the masses: religious ecstasies (crusades, auto-da-fé); mass psychoses due to rumors of fires and epidemics; sports passion; ecstasies of youth audiences at rock and pop music concerts, etc. Infection occurs on the basis of a person’s unconscious, involuntary exposure to certain emotional states: anger, aggression, jubilation, excitement, panic, etc. This does not involve a conscious analysis of situations or patterns behavior, but the transmission of mental states. Since this phenomenon occurs among many individuals, there is a mechanism of mutual reinforcement of the emotional effects of communicating people.

A special situation where the impact through infection is enhanced is panic. The reason for panic can be any news that causes emotional shock. For any person who finds himself in a situation of panic, understanding its causes is very difficult, since he himself, to a greater or lesser extent, finds himself involved in this state. Knowing the causes and cycles of panic is important to preventing it. Persons capable of leading the masses, especially representatives of law enforcement agencies, must have strong-willed qualities and be able to introduce an element of rational analysis into a situation of panic, seize “leadership” in this situation and demonstrate a model of appropriate reasonable behavior that people will follow and enter a normal emotional state.

Among the reasons causing emotional contagion, the following should be noted.

1. The development of a certain community of assessments and attitudes characteristic of the mass of people.

For example, in conditions of mass spectacles, the stimulus that precedes the emotional contamination of the community of assessments is applause when a popular artist appears. Specially developed methods of mass influence (processions, music, singing, calls, banners, etc.) in combination serve to involve the mass of people in a state of emotional enthusiasm. Emotional contagion can serve as an additional cohesive factor as long as it does not exceed a certain optimal intensity. However, if it gets out of control, mutual infection can lead to the collapse of normal and informal role structures and the transformation of an organizational-interacting group into a kind of crowd.

2. The general level of intellectual and moral development of the individuals who make up this community.

The higher the level of development of society, the more critical is people’s attitude towards the forces that tend to automatically drag them down the path of certain experiences, and the less pronounced is the mechanism of infection.

The phenomenon of infection is mainly considered in conditions of spontaneous antisocial behavior (catastrophes, natural disasters). However, this mechanism also operates in conditions of mass socially conscious actions—social movements. The role of infection is also visible in organized socially positive behavior (for example, the role of personal example in tense work situations, in a military situation). It is possible that in these cases the compensatory function of infection manifests itself in conditions of insufficient organization of human associations.

Imitation
. In the process of imitation, it is not a simple adoption of external characteristics of behavior, as during infection, but the individual’s reproduction of the traits and patterns of behavior of other people, i.e., a more active way of assimilating them.
In the “theory of imitation” by G. Tarde, this phenomenon is absolutized as the basic principle of the socialization of people, their interaction in groups, conflicts, etc. Including many useful observations, this theory at the same time simplifies the processes of the history of human relationships. Modern experimental psychological research makes it possible to reveal the true essence of the phenomenon of imitation and its different role in the lives of people at different stages of ontogenesis and in different conditions of activity.

Imitation plays a special role in the development of personality in childhood and adolescence, acting as the leading form of knowledge of reality. It goes through a number of stages from a child’s blind copying of adult behavior (A. S. Makarenko) to the conscious imitation of adults in adolescents. In an adult, imitation acts as an auxiliary means of mastering social reality, and as a rule, external behavior patterns are adopted, but this process does not affect the stable personal characteristics of the subject. In adults, imitation occurs in cases where there is no opportunity to use any other method of mastering new actions (for example, when mastering a working skill, an elementary professional action). Usually, the main way for adults to master new information is through active methods of forming and assimilating knowledge. Therefore, the mechanisms of imitation, like the mechanisms of infection, are much more complex in adults. It faces the criticality of the adult’s personality in relation to the influences exerted on him, as well as the personality’s reverse attention to the influencing object. These interactions are especially difficult in a group. In a group context, when an individual assimilates observed patterns of behavior, two plans of imitation appear: either to a specific person (most often the leader), or to the norms of behavior developed by the group. In the latter case, the phenomenon of imitation merges with the problem of conformity, that is, group pressure on the individual.

Suggestion is a form of untargeted, unreasoned influence of one person or group on another person or group. Unlike messages and persuasion, in a situation of suggestion, information is assimilated uncritically and without reasoning.

The phenomenon of suggestion (“suggestion”) has long been noted in psychology and borrowed from medical practice and educational practice. The phenomenon of suggestion in social psychology is considered as a specific phenomenon of “social suggestion” and was first studied by V. M. Bekhterev (1903). The specificity of suggestion, in contrast to infection and imitation, is that:

1) here there is not empathy for identical emotions, but a unidirectional active influence of a suggestive “suggestor” on another person or on a group;

2) suggestion, as a rule, is verbal in nature, while infection includes rhythms, movements, pantomime, etc.;

3) unlike persuasion, suggestion does not require logical argumentation, since here it is not the individual’s consent that is achieved, but his acceptance of information with ready-made conclusions. In suggestion, the emotional-volitional rather than the rational influence of the suggestor predominates.

There are a number of known conditions on which the effectiveness of suggestions depends:

a) the influence of age (children and adolescents are more suggestible than adults);

b) the mental and physical state of adults (tired and physically weakened people are more easily suggestible);

c) the authority of the suggestor, especially the manager and leader, creating the effect of trust in the source of information. The authority of trust is manifested not only in relation to the individual leader, but also to the group that he represents. Authority can influence through “indirect argumentation”, replacing direct logical argumentation during suggestion;

d) characteristics of individuals subject to suggestion (suggerends). The effect of counter-suggestion is possible - resistance to suggestion, as well as the use of additional means by the suggestor to overcome the “psychic self-defense” of the resisting suggestor.

The phenomenon of suggestion manifests itself in close connection with the phenomena of social perception and cohesion. An important factor in suggestion may be a previously established social attitude. Thus, the inherent attitude of employees to the need to obey the leader increases the effect of suggestion. The phenomenon of suggestion is also associated with the conformity of the individual and thus with issues of group cohesion.

The effect of suggestion occurs in such areas of social influence as propaganda and advertising. In propaganda, which appeals mainly to the emotions of the audience, suggestion is used to a large extent. If propaganda relies more on the logic and consciousness of people, then it is dominated by method and beliefs.

Techniques of suggestion are especially evident in advertising. It involves the technique of forming an image (image) of a perceived object, when the perspective of perception is deliberately shifted, and attention is focused only on certain properties of the object, appealing to people’s emotions. At the same time, the colors of the image are often thickened, and thereby the effect of suggestion is achieved.

Persuasion,
unlike other previously discussed phenomena of psychological influence on people, is not a type of spontaneous, involuntary influence.
Conviction ensures the individual’s conscious acceptance of the information communicated to him and refers to targeted social influences of an educational, political, economic nature, in which the individual exhibits a certain analytical and critical perception.

Persuasion is widely used in the management process as the arbitrary influence of a leader on certain subordinates and on a group in order to ensure a certain final result of their activities and the formation of personality. Therefore, persuasion will be considered below as a way for a leader to influence the members of the group he leads.

All of the considered types of influence on people can be carried out both in conditions of non-collective spontaneous behavior and in joint group activities, but they always occur during social contacts. The nature and effectiveness of these influences, on the one hand, depend on the level of cohesion of these social associations, and on the other hand, they have a significant impact on the formation of interpersonal relationships in groups and the levels of their cohesion.

2. Impact (pressure) has a significant impact on the behavior of group members. However, this impact is different for different people due to their personality characteristics. In conditions of group communication and interaction, people discover specific properties that are called socio-psychological phenomena of group behavior. Such phenomena include various manifestations of individual activity in a group.

Personality settings

-
This is a manifestation of unconscious motivations for activity.
The theory of attitude was developed in the psychological school of N.D. Uznadze, where the phenomena of cognitive and practical attitudes were first experimentally identified.

For example, if a subject is given several times to compare two objects that are unequal in size, and then is presented with two more similar but equal objects, then the person perceives them as different in size. The subject has an illusion of inequality of identical objects, which is explained by the fact that the perception of objectively equal objects occurs in conditions of subjective readiness for the fact that the objects will be unequal, i.e., when installed as a need to carry out the action of comparison in a certain way. Thus, an attitude is an unconscious personal state of readiness for a certain activity, with the help of which one or another need can be fulfilled.

As a result of the repetition of “setting situations”, the subject gradually develops a “series of fixed attitudes”, which, unnoticed by the person himself, determine his life position in the perception of the surrounding reality.

In social practice, psychologists identify forms of behavior in which the individual’s fixed attitudes towards the perception of people and events are manifested. Attitude is a psychological mechanism of those communication stereotypes. For example, an attitude towards the need to carry out the orders of a manager causes a readiness to carry out any orders without a critical assessment of him as an individual. Looking closely at the personal qualities of people, we try to understand what they are like, whether they can be trusted, etc. And here the prevailing attitudes, social stereotypes, everyday ideas formed in each person, as well as the level of psychological culture in ability to perceive and critically evaluate other people1. An example of a social attitudinal stereotype is the following: many people believe that a professor is always absent-minded, short-sighted and not adapted to everyday life; the student is always cheerful, witty, active and never ready for an exam; All the English are thin, arrogant and cold-blooded, while the French only think about love. The attitude towards athletes is expressed in the saying: “You have strength, you don’t need intelligence.”

When we meet a new person, we immediately assign him to a certain category and build our behavior in accordance with the existing stereotype.

Psychologists distinguish three types of attitudes towards the perception of another person:

— positive attitude

encourages us to overestimate the positive qualities and ignore the weak qualities of a person, i.e. we give the person a large advance, which manifests itself in unconscious gullibility;

— negative attitude

leads to the fact that we perceive only the negative qualities of another person, expressing distrust and suspicion towards him;

— adequate installation

associated with the understanding that every person has both advantages and disadvantages; the main thing is how they are balanced and how they are assessed by another person.

The presence of attitudes is considered as an unconscious predisposition to perceive and evaluate the qualities of other people. These attitudes underlie typical distortions of the image of another person. Here are examples of some distortions.

"Halo effect"

— the influence of the general impression of a person on the perception and assessment of the private properties of his personality. If employees or a group leader have a positive opinion about a person, then his bad deed is perceived as an accident. And the good deed of a person whom everyone considers bad is perceived as an accident. This effect very often interferes with the adequate perception of people and creates conditions under which capable and bright individuals are completely unable to work in a particular group, since the good is not noticed and the shortcomings are exaggerated.

"The Sequence Effect".

The judgment about a person is most influenced by information about him that is presented in the first place. Usually an ill-wisher who wants to harm a person is in a hurry to report something discrediting about him to the new boss. Against such an installation background, it is difficult for a person to justify himself and prove something. And a lot of time will pass until the leader understands the situation and assesses who is who.

"Advance effect"

- this is when non-existent virtues are attributed to a person, and then they are disappointed when faced with his behavior, which is inadequate to the positive image that has developed about him.

“The effect of projecting one’s own qualities onto people”

causes an expectation of appropriate behavior. This effect very often manifests itself in people’s inability to take another person’s point of view.

The phenomenon of attraction is distinguished as a special type of installation. Attraction (

letters, attraction) is
a type of social attitude toward another person in which the emotional component of the person’s attractiveness to others predominates.
The manifestation of attraction is influenced by such circumstances as the similarity of the partners’ characteristics in communication, proximity, frequency of meetings, mutual assistance and the positive emotional relationships that arise on this basis. Therefore, attraction can be considered as a function of emotional regulation of interpersonal relationships in groups in which the affective side of interpersonal assessments significantly prevails over its rational side.

Conformism

(from the Latin conformis - similar, similar) -
this is the conscious or unconscious subordination of the individual to the influence of the group in which he is included.
The concept of conformity is close to the concept of suggestibility, accepted in our social psychology.
Above we have already examined the phenomenon of suggestion that a group exerts on an individual. But people succumb to this suggestion in different ways or do not succumb to it at all due to their inherent degree of suggestibility and conformity. Conformism differs from suggestibility as a form of involuntary and uncritical acceptance of someone else’s opinion in that, along with unconscious imitation, it can also have its arbitrary forms. Conformism is the individual’s compliance with real or imagined group pressure, manifested in changing behavior and attitudes in accordance with the position of the majority, even if this position was not previously accepted by the subject. There are three types of conformism.
1 type

-
this is a personal spontaneous form of conformism, which is carried out according to the scheme “Chafer bug - Thumbelina”,
described in the fairy tale by H. Andersen. As you know, the Chafer sincerely believed that Thumbelina was very beautiful and fell in love with her, but under the influence of his fellow beetles he became disappointed in her, because the beetles thought that she was ugly because she did not look like a larva. In this case, the individual shows internal and external agreement with the group without experiencing any conflict.

Type 2

-
protective conformism.
In this case, a person joining a group seeks protection from troubles that threaten him outside the group and spontaneously strives for support from the majority. Type 3

-
conditional, purely external conscious conformism, carried out according to the “King’s New Clothes” scheme.
In this case, the subject agrees with the group, the majority, although he actually thinks differently. He can demonstratively obey the imposed opinion of the group in order to earn approval or avoid censure from other members of the group, to make a more successful career, etc. Conformity is studied experimentally using the “dummy group method,” which consists in the fact that a specially assembled group “presses ” on an individual, encouraging him to change his original opinion. The speed of submission to such influence determines the level of conformity of the individual.

According to available scientific data, the degree of conformity depends on a number of factors, which include: age - children and adolescents are more conformist than adults; gender - women are more conforming than men; profession - among men, army officers are more conforming and technical specialists are less conforming.

According to American social psychologists, 80% of people in society are conformists of various types.

The opposite property of conformism is negativism (nonconformism)

(from Latin negatio - denial), i.e. unmotivated behavior of the subject, opposing the demands and expectations of other people and social groups.
Negativism can manifest itself as a situational reaction (in children and adolescents) and as a personality trait. This property may be a consequence of the subject’s need for self-affirmation, as well as a consequence of selfishness and alienation from the needs and interests of other people. The psychological basis of negativism is the subject’s attitude toward disagreement, denial of certain requirements, forms of education, and protest against the traditions of a given group or the statements of a particular individual.
The extreme manifestation of negativism is stubbornness and personality conflict. Rigidity

(from Latin rigidus - hard, solid) -
this is the difficulty, and sometimes the impossibility, of a subject changing previously planned activity programs in conditions that objectively require certain changes. There are several types of rigidity.
1. Cognitive rigidity

is revealed in the difficulties of restructuring perceptions, ideas, and memory standards in a changed situation.

2. Affective rigidity

is expressed in the rigidity of emotional reactions to the changing objects of these emotions.

3. Motivational rigidity

manifests itself in a sedentary restructuring of the system of motives for activity in new circumstances, requiring the subject to be flexible and change the nature of behavior.

The level of rigidity of the subject is determined by the interaction of his personal properties and characteristics of group influences, including the degree of complexity of the emerging tasks, their attractiveness for him, the presence of danger, monotonous activity, etc.

In contrast to conformism and negativism as unconscious spontaneous manifestations of the individual in relation to the group, there is a generally recognized phenomenon of collectivism in our Russian psychology.

Collectivism

- This is the conscious solidarity of the individual with the traditions and requirements of the group. A person takes a certain position (either positive or negative) in a group not spontaneously, but as a result of a conscious assessment of the correspondence of group influences to his own beliefs, thereby demonstrating adherence to principles as an important moral-volitional quality of the individual.

Frustration

- a state of personality when a person feels the hostility of the group, its real or apparent opposition to his goals, the futility of his position in the group, etc. The state of frustration leads to significant changes in the behavior of the subject: rudeness and aggressiveness may appear both in relation to those circumstances, which directly act as obstacles, barriers, and in relation to everyone around them, especially in adolescence. Sometimes frustration manifests itself in self-deprecation and leads to nervous depression. Sometimes in people of the passive type this leads to the replacement of blocked activities with imaginary situations. Thus, an employee who has failed to justify his failure to his manager changes this situation for the better in his imagination. A frequently experienced state of frustration can lead to the formation of undesirable personality traits: passivity, aggressiveness. The ability to create perspective on each employee's personality is an important leadership skill.

The complex dynamics of interaction between the individual and the group, as well as the specific phenomena of group behavior observed by us, are of significant practical interest for managers of social management systems, since the leader must play a certain role in regulating interpersonal relationships, the relationship between each member of the group and the team as a whole.

Preventing Panic

People's response to various disasters and emergency situations, as in ancient times, very often ends in panic. That’s why the answer to the question is so important: how to prevent and stop panic if it has already begun?

One of the main preventive methods is to establish effective leadership while simultaneously building trust in that leadership. No less important for preventing panic is the knowledge by group members of their functional responsibilities, circumstances, reasons for the situation, and the possibility of obtaining reliable information about them. Lack of information always breeds uncertainty, and under such conditions it is more difficult to distract panic.

Knowledge of the dynamics of panic makes it possible to develop recommendations and techniques aimed at stopping it and preventing it.

Dynamics

panic looks like this.

Firstly, a stimulus is needed for panic to occur (the cry of “Fire” is reinforced by the smell of smoke).

Secondly, panic begins with the reactions of individuals who make up the crowd. These are, as a rule, anxious people whose disordered movements activate feelings of fear and despair. Further, a panic state under the influence of infection covers an increasing number of people. Then a panic movement begins without a well-thought-out plan or prediction of the consequences.

The climax occurs at the moment of mental overstrain in people. The turning point is accompanied by the screams of those dying in a stampede or stampede. The crowd thins out and peace gradually sets in.

At the first stage, when panic is just beginning, it can only be stopped by loud and powerful persuasion. On the second are the planned and confident orders of those individuals who did not succumb to panic. The third is the use of a super-strong stimulus that brings people out of a state of shock or shock. Thus, in army practice a warning shot is used; in a cinema it can be a loud order to stop panic, transmitted through a megaphone, with the following instructions on where and how to move to the exit. There are cases when in theaters during a fire the entire troupe came on stage and performed the national anthem or a well-known choral song

In this situation, people stop, even for a moment, turning all their attention to the stage. This is often enough to establish contact with them and organize evacuation.

Let's say the command is given: “Stay still!”, “Get down!”, “Everyone back!” And others, the first one to carry out the command becomes a role model.

Thus, panic is an important socio-psychological phenomenon, the study of which makes it possible to explain some of the processes occurring in social groups or society during special periods of their life.

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Whose emotions are you feeling?

It may seem that these emotions are not yours at all, you “picked them up” from others. But this is not entirely true. If you experience them, then they are yours, you experience them fully and sincerely, they are not artificial, and have no less influence on you than all other feelings.

A similar effect is manifested in the influence of art on the masses. When you watch a movie or read a book, you empathize with the characters, share their grief and joy, you experience certain feelings in a safe environment and receive emotional release. The situation is not real, you know that it was invented by someone, but the feelings that you experience are very real.

Emotional contagion, what is it?

Is that possible? The answer became obvious after the discovery of mirror neurons - neurons in the brain that are excited both when performing a certain action and when observing another person performing this action. Your loved one hit himself - you also shuddered and winced, although you know that you definitely didn’t hit yourself. He was scared, you can be scared too.

Your boyfriend gets angry and you get angry back. He raises his voice, and you raise your voice, and before you know it, you are both shouting at each other, on the spur of the moment. “Thank you” to mirror neurons. You can’t explain to them that five minutes ago you weren’t at all angry with your boyfriend. And he, perhaps, was not angry with you, he had already come like this - infected by the mood of his boss or colleague, or the person who was sitting next to him on the subway.

Psychological contagion is a special mechanism. Mechanism of infection

Infection belongs to a special method of psychological influence on a person in the process of communication and interaction, which is carried out not through consciousness and intellect, but through the emotional sphere of a person. It is one of the oldest methods of integrating group activities and is characterized by spontaneity, since it occurs primarily in situations of significant crowds of people - in stadiums, concert halls, carnivals, rallies, etc. The sources of infection go back to ancient times, and its manifestations are extremely numerous: these are contagious ritual dances, initiations, and mass psychoses that cover a large number of people, and sports excitement or religious ecstasy, etc. According to the conditions of mental infection, the process of transmitting an emotional state from one person to another occurs primarily on an unconscious level.

In psychology, infection is characterized as an unconscious, involuntary tendency of a person to certain mental states. In social psychology, contagion is the process of transferring an emotional state from one individual to another at the level of mental contact. Infection occurs through the transmission of a mental mood endowed with a large emotional charge.

Elaine Hatfield believes that emotional contagion is divided into two stages:

Stage 1. We borrow the mood from the interlocutor. For example, if a person addresses us with a smile, then we automatically smile back.

Stage 2: Our emotions depend on nonverbal communication. An angry facial expression changes a good mood to a bad one.

Psychologists John Casciopo and Richard Rapson also conducted research on emotional contagion. They believe that people's conscious assessment is influenced to a greater extent by the opinions of others. Consequently, the intensity of emotional contagion will be influenced by the following factors: individual characteristics of the person, how susceptible the person is to influence, whether the relationships in the group are strong.

To summarize: These two opposing opinions boil down to a dispute about the natural and the social in man. Hatfield argues that emotional contagion occurs involuntarily and unconsciously, at the level of sensory communication. Casiopo and Rapson are convinced that this, on the contrary, is a meaningful and necessary process for the social comparison of a person with society.

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Psychological contagion is a special mechanism. Mechanism of infection

At the same time, the psychological readiness of the recipient for an emotional response to the corresponding influence is also significant. A strong catalyst for emotional arousal is explosive forms of manifestation of emotions generated by the positive or negative emotional state of people, in particular contagious laughter, crying, etc. Research into the nature of mental infection indicates the fact of the presence of communicative contact between individuals who interact as the main catalyst for this phenomenon. Those

direct communication is an important feature of infection, and the strength of the increase in tension, which forms the mental background of infection, is directly dependent on the size of the audience and the degree of emotional stress of the communicator. The mechanism of socio-psychological infection comes down to the effect of multiple mutual reinforcement of emotional impacts due to the fact that they seem to be reflected from many other individuals

The presence of a chain reaction of infection is observed in large open audiences, in unorganized communities, in crowds. The constructive effect of contagion manifests itself in further strengthening group cohesion, and is also used as a means of compensating for insufficient organizational cohesion of the group. The main characteristic of suggestion is considered to be a significant decrease in a person’s criticality towards the information that comes to him, the individual’s lack of desire to check its reliability, and unlimited trust in its sources. So, suggestion or suggestion (from the Latin Suggestio) is a process of influence on the mental sphere of a person, associated with a decrease in consciousness and criticality in the perception and implementation of external information, with a lack of desire to understand, analyze and evaluate it, with trust in sources of information. As we see, the content of influence is directed not at the individual’s logic, his ability to think, analyze, evaluate, but at his readiness to receive instructions, orders, advice and act in the right direction. In this case, of course, the individual characteristics of the person on whom such a roll influence is directed are of great importance: her ability to think critically, make decisions independently, have strong beliefs, her gender, age, emotional state, degree of inspiration, etc. There are direct and indirect, intentional and unintentional suggestions. Direct suggestion involves a call to a specific action, which is transmitted by the suggestor as an order, instruction, instruction, prohibition. Under conditions of indirect suggestion, the content of information is presented by the communicator in a hidden, disguised form.

World of Psychology

The basics of socio-psychological influence are: suggestion, infection, persuasion.

Suggestion.

Suggestion is a purposeful, unreasoned influence on a person or on groups, leading either to the manifestation by a person, in addition to his will and consciousness, of a certain state, feeling, attitude; or to a change in his behavior, that is, his commission of an act that does not directly follow from the accepted norms and principles of activity.

Thus, the main goal that is pursued during suggestion is to impose on a person ready-made assessments, conclusions, judgments, and ways of behavior.

Suggestion influences not only one person, but also a mass of people, that is, the object of suggestion can be either an individual person or groups, social strata.

There are direct and indirect suggestions.

Direct suggestion is an influence when one person communicates to another in an operational form certain ideas that must be unconditionally accepted and implemented. As a similar example of suggestion, one can name the influence of parents and teachers on children.

With indirect suggestion, the goal is achieved through roundabout methods. Vivid examples of indirect suggestion are advertising, where techniques are most often used that induce approval without hesitation. Instead of clear information about the product, advertising connects the product offered with ideas of beauty and pleasure (this is mainly the case with advertising of cigarettes, beer, cosmetics), when advertising any drinks where the product is associated with ideas of youth, health and cheerfulness.

With suggestion, the process of transmitting information is carried out based on its uncritical perception.

The degree of suggestibility varies among people and depends on various factors.

The main factors of suggestibility are:

age (children and elderly people are most susceptible to suggestion);
the degree of fatigue, physical weakness of the object of suggestion;
The authority of the person carrying out the suggestion creates trust in the source of information. This trust can be tied. both with the person himself, his personal qualities, and with that social group; which this person represents;
characteristics of the personality of the object of suggestion (her independence, life position, interests, needs).

Thus, the main condition for effective suggestion is the authority of the person who inspires trust and respect for him. In turn, the degree of suggestibility depends on the characteristics of the person who is the object of influence.

The result of suggestive influence is faith. Faith does not require proof or confirmation; it performs a motivational function and is a motivating factor in activity.

Belief.

Persuasion is a process of well-founded, logical, that is, based on a system of evidence, influence, with the goal of changing or forming new views, attitudes, and ways of behavior of an individual.

The belief is based on; so that, with the help of logical justification of the proposed provisions, based on rational thinking, influence a person. Big role; At the same time, the logical structure, the correct correlation of theoretical knowledge with reliable facts plays a role.

Conviction presupposes that a person must not understand, but agree with the information received. Persuasion is carried out due to the fact that. the audience focuses on the arguments and engages in corresponding thinking. Thus, being more analytical and less superficial mechanisms of influence, persuasion more often achieves its goal, then. is more likely to be able to eat. influence behavior and this change is more durable and sustainable.

The effectiveness of persuasive influence depends on a number of conditions:

the power of influence, which is determined by its content and the authority of the persuader;
the psychological make-up of the person being influenced (her needs, interests, tastes, thinking characteristics);
on the intellectual and emotional state of the persuader and the persuaded at the moment of their interaction.

Infection.

Contagion is a method of influence that integrates masses of people in a certain way. It is associated with the emergence of such phenomena as religious ecstasies and mass psychoses.

The phenomenon of infection was known in ancient times, at the earliest stages of human history, and had diverse manifestations: massive outbreaks of various mental states that occurred during ritual dances, sports excitement, and situations of panic.

Contagion can be defined as the unconscious, involuntary exposure of an individual to certain mental states.

The phenomenon of infection has been studied for a long time and specifically on the example of spontaneous large groups such as masses and crowds. Gustave Le Bon (1841-1931), a French scientist and social psychologist, thoroughly studied the masses.

In the mass, individuals acquire new qualities that they did not possess before. Le Bon sees the reasons for this in three different points.

The individual experiences a feeling of irresistible power, allowing him to indulge in primal urges that, if alone, he would be forced to curb.
Infectivity. In a crowd, every action, every feeling is contagious.
Suggestibility.

Distinctive features of an individual in a mass.

Disappearance of the conscious personality
Predominance of the unconscious personality
Orientation of thoughts and feelings in one direction.
Tendencies to urgently implement emerging ideas.

Typical traits of behavior in the masses.

Depersonalization
Sharp predominance of feelings over intellect
Loss of intelligence
Loss of personal responsibility.

Contagion is a mass phenomenon that is so strong that the observed signs of a state of passion can automatically cause the same effect in the observer.

So, infection appears through the perception of a certain emotional state. In spontaneous groups, such as a crowd (formed on the street in connection with a variety of events), mass, public (a short-term gathering of people to spend time together in connection with some kind of spectacle). The infection manifests itself especially clearly in a situation of panic (a psychological state caused by the threatening influence of external conditions and a pronounced feeling of acute fear)

How to control a crowd

Crowd management is a complex and unpredictable process. If it is an organized passive mass of people performing actions according to an algorithm, it is not difficult to control it. If the pandemonium formed spontaneously and is aggressive or panicky in nature, it is almost impossible to stop it.

Like any psychological phenomenon, crowd psychology is used to achieve personal interests by the instigators. Such interests may include:

instilling one's own opinion;
selling goods or collecting money;
attacking people;
destruction and vandalism;
call to action.

The study of crowd types in psychology allowed scientists to highlight some features that provide tools for managing a large public.

Demonstration of strength and power. Lost in the crowd, a person instinctively begins to search for a strong participant. An unstructured, spontaneous gathering of people is quite primitive in nature, so the demonstrative use of force and authority helps to establish control over a group of people.
Expressiveness of performance. People who accidentally find themselves in a mass gathering are looking for an object of attention, a leader they can trust. Often this is an expressive individual who loudly declares his opinion and clearly expresses his emotions.
Informative speeches. An excited public demands action, not eloquent statements that make no sense. With the help of correctly selected slogans, the mood of the crowd can be adjusted and directed in the right direction.

When choosing a leader who can pacify a crowd, it is important to consider his oratory skills. More often than not, it is the right words that help to cope with tension in the crowd.

Suggestion is one of the forms of influence

One of the frequently observed forms of mental infection is suggestion, or suggestion - from the Greek word “suggestio” (suggestion, hint, addition). Or rather, not even a form, but a prerequisite for the development of mental infection.

Suggestion is defined as a mental influence on an individual, accompanied by suppression of his level of development: criticism of sources of information, ability to analyze and conscious activity.

The essence of this influence is that the influence is aimed precisely at his readiness for certain actions, behavioral factors, while simultaneously suppressing logic and thinking abilities. In other words, suggestion is one of the most powerful forms of influence, along with hypnosis and zombification. Suggestion differs from mental infection precisely in that the source of suggestion is located at a level above the suggested, thereby controlling the situation in the relationship. Which ultimately often becomes one of the root causes of mental infection.

The result of suggestion primarily depends on both sides of the influence: the suggestor (source) and the suggestor (recipient). Their level of development, as well as their ability to build relationships, directly influence the resulting effect of suggestion as a method of psychological infection.

Contamination in advertising. Infection

Many psychologists define mental infection as the unconscious, involuntary exposure of an individual to certain mental influences. It manifests itself not through the conscious acceptance of some information or patterns of behavior, but through the direct transmission of a certain emotional state. Here the individual does not experience deliberate pressure, but unconsciously assimilates the behavior patterns of other people, obeying them.

The infection mechanism most often manifests itself in conditions of random, unplanned purchases and queues. Here advertising is distributed and acts instantly. However, the role of contagion in advertising has not been sufficiently studied; it is often identified with imitation.

G. Lebon, analyzing such a mental mechanism of social influence as contagion, wrote that mental contagion, or, as he called it, “psychic infection,” is most characteristic of the crowd and contributes to the formation of special properties in it.

“Infection is a phenomenon,” writes G. Le Bon, “which is easy to indicate, but not to explain; it must be classified as a hypnotic phenomenon... In a crowd, every feeling, every action is contagious, and to such an extent that the individual very easily sacrifices his personal interests to the collective interest.

The mechanism of mental infection (example of G. Lebon)

G. Le Bon describes a case that he interprets as an example of the mechanism of mental infection. One ship was looking for another, from which it had been separated by a storm. The sailors peered carefully into the distance. It was daytime and the sun was shining brightly. Suddenly a sentry noticed an abandoned ship and loudly notified the crew. All the sailors and officers looked in the same direction and clearly saw a raft loaded with people and attached by a tug to the boats on which distress signals were installed. The captain of the ship sent help to the dying.

Approaching the scene of the disaster, the officers and sailors clearly saw people pulling their hands towards them, and heard the noise of a large number of voices. When the boats finally approached this place, it turned out that there was nothing there except a few branches with leaves blown by the wind from the neighboring shore. Thus, it was only a collective hallucination. Since there was a lot of evidence of this case, G. Le Bon considered this case as real and tried to describe the mechanism of such “mental infection.” He writes: “In this example, we can clearly trace the mechanism of the formation of collective hallucination. On the one hand we have the crowd in a state of expectant attention, on the other we have the suggestion made by the sentry who saw the abandoned ship at sea; this suggestion, already through infection, spread to all those present, both officers and sailors” (Lebon G., 1998. P. 23).

Such behavior, however, is contrary to human nature, and therefore a person is capable of it only when he is part of the crowd” (Lebon G., 1998).

In practice, the phenomenon of mental contagion as a method of advertising influence manifests itself during mass events and is especially effective among young people. For example, during various rock concerts, specific technical devices (strobe lights, reverberators, smoke sprayers, etc.) are used to enhance the effect of infection. Such exposure, together with greater physical activity, ensures an increase in the amount of fluid consumed, tonic drinks, wine, low-alcohol drinks, etc. In this case, the teenager often makes a purchase both because he feels thirsty and because he sees how others do it. Discotheques sell discs, souvenirs, T-shirts, postcards and other attributes of a “party member” belonging to a certain category of fans of a particular musical genre. And the “communication” itself in a circle of like-minded people represents a kind of jointly experienced emotional state, which is held not just as a musical concert, but as an interactive “disco show”, for which the organizers receive a lot of money.

Emotional contagion. How experiences are transmitted

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May 22, 2018

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Emotional contagion is a situation in which a psychological state is transmitted from one person to another. Both individual characters and groups of individuals can participate in such a process. For infection to occur, direct contact is required. The most often cited example is the psychology of a crowd that panics as one person, but you can also be “infected” through virtual communication and other types of interaction. One way or another, the result will be a transfer of mental state.

One of the points of view on the issue, developed by American social psychologist Elaine Hatfield, states that emotional contagion is carried out through automatic imitation and synchronization of facial expressions, sound of voice, posture and movements with other people. By unconsciously “mirroring” the expression of other people's emotions, we actually begin to feel the same emotions as them. It's not surprising, because research suggests that even posture can affect our sense of self.

Elaine Hatfield divides the process of emotional contagion into two stages.

Step 1: We imitate people. For example, if someone smiles at you, you smile back, and often this happens against our will.

Step 2: Our own emotional experiences change based on nonverbal emotional cues. For example, a smile helps you feel happier, but a gloomy facial expression spoils your mood.

Emotional contagion is closely related to empathy, although the concepts are not entirely the same. In The Art of Loving, Erich Fromm notes that empathy presupposes a certain autonomy, while emotional contagion is a direct reaction that is less conducive to the separation of personal and external experiences.

In addition to Elaine Hatfield, psychologists John Casciopo and Richard Rapson have studied emotional contagion. Their research showed that the conscious evaluations people make of their experiences depend heavily on what others have said. The intensity with which this phenomenon manifests itself is influenced by a number of factors: how dependent a person is on others socially, the strength of connections within the group in which it occurs, the person’s personal characteristics, and a number of demographic characteristics.

As mentioned above, you don't have to see them in person to share other people's emotions. Experiments conducted on Facebook and Twitter showed that emotions are also transmitted in virtual space.

Interestingly, in this case, infection occurs without the participation of non-verbal signals. However, the inability to see postures and facial expressions, as well as hear the voice of other people, is compensated by new means of conveying emotions that are used when communicating on the Internet. This is a certain style (you definitely know a number of people who abuse capslock and punctuation marks), characteristic mistakes that people make when they are nervous and in a hurry, as well as the specifics of using emoticons and stickers. This area is still waiting for its researchers - we give you an idea.

FROM INSIDE OR OUT?

Would we know exactly how to have fun, how to feel guilt, and how to mourn without a proper dose of social learning? There are two points of view on the nature of emotional contagion, the difference of which goes back to the eternal discussion about the relationship between the biological and the social in man.

According to one of them (Hatfield), this type of interaction represents automatic and unconscious behavior. The process begins with the “sender” expressing emotions, the “receiver” reads them and automatically imitates them, and thanks to afferent (sensory) feedback, turns them into the same emotion that the “sender” feels.

Another view, based on social comparison theory, suggests that emotional contagion is a more conscious and mediated process. People engage in social comparison to determine whether their behavior is appropriate. To understand how important the opinions of others are to us, and how decisive it is in deciding what actions are socially acceptable, just remember the classic Bobo doll experiment, the Stanford prison experiment, or the Asch test.

BRAIN STRUCTURES

From a neurological point of view, the manifestation of emotional contagion is associated with the activity of mirror neurons. Vittorio Gallese from the University of Parma discovered a class of neurons in the premotor cortex of macaque monkeys that are activated when the monkeys perform goal-directed hand movements and also when they observe others doing the same action.

Human studies show activation of the premotor cortex and parietal region of the brain during the perception of others' experiences. Gallese suggests that the observer gains direct experiential understanding of what the fellow is experiencing through neural activation.

The Amygdala is one of the brain structures that underlies empathy, allowing emotional contagion to occur. The basal areas are involved in creating a biological connection through which one person can recreate the physiological state of another. Psychologist Howard Friedman believes that thanks to this, some people can inspire others with their actions: facial expressions, gestures, and the body language of the speaker convey his emotions to the audience.

SO IS THIS BAD OR NOT?

In some cases, emotional contagion can be managed consciously. Usually we are talking about the fact that an opinion leader or a group of people, pursuing their own goals, strive to evoke some emotions in society. As you know, with great power comes great responsibility, so it is entirely up to the leader whether he will use influence to inspire people to do something creative or, say, to create panic and then offer a “cure” (this strategy is used to to gain more control).

The possibility of emotional contagion opens up scope for manipulation, including in interpersonal relationships. People can aggressively include others in the space of their own experiences in order to receive attention and some benefits for themselves. It is important to separate the request for support from the desire to manage others. However, sometimes manipulations, as well as the tendency to succumb to them, are unconscious. Acknowledging emotions and acknowledging their origins may be one way to avoid emotional contagion.

The possibility of emotional contagion in itself is not negative or positive. This is a feature of our psychophysiology, because people are first and foremost social animals.

It is the ability to notice the state of relatives and quickly respond to it, as well as signal about one’s own state, that has become an important factor in the development of the human species. Warning others about danger, inspiring joint activities or captivating games - we learned all this at the dawn of humanity.

However, with the development of intelligence and society, conscious management of these processes has become possible. That is why in some cases it is better to allow yourself to show emotions, and in others it is better to hold back. This especially applies to managers, teachers and media workers. And, of course, the ability to control yourself is important for personal and family relationships. When people are in close emotional connection, their experiences inevitably influence each other's experiences.

Unpleasant emotions are more likely to lead to mood contagion than pleasant ones. However, sharing negative emotions can be useful, because expressing them is already taking a step towards overcoming the situation. This is noticeable in national rituals and religious practices. For example, mourners at a funeral set the tone for general suffering, allowing other people to openly live their grief (it doesn’t even matter how sincere the people who are dying are in their voices - mourners were often hired for money). Today we have almost no clear regulations for expressing emotions, so we have to cope on our own.

And yet you can “infect” others with inspiration and fun. Sometimes we just can't stop laughing when someone else laughs - which is why watching comedies or stand-up shows can be especially good when you're in the company of people with a similar sense of humor. Often we deny ourselves the synchrony of positive experiences, fearing to clearly show our feelings, guided by complexes and fears. Experiencing positive emotions with others is a great pleasure, and the genuine moments it brings are the foundation of lasting emotional connections.

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Classification of types of panic

There are classifications of panic according to various criteria.

By scale

distinguish between individual, group and mass types of panic in psychology. In the case of group and mass panic, the number of people affected by it is different: group - from two or three to several tens and hundreds of people (if they are scattered), and mass - thousands or more people. In addition, panic should be considered mass when in a limited enclosed space (ship, house, etc.) it covers the majority of people, regardless of their total number.

By depth of coverage

we can talk about mild, medium and complete panic.

Mild panic occurs when transport is delayed, when there is an unexpected strong signal, and the like. At the same time, the person maintains almost complete self-control and criticality. Outwardly, this manifests itself in bewilderment, anxiety, muscle tension, etc.

Medium panic is characterized by a significant deformation of conscious assessments of what is happening, a decrease in criticality, an increase in fear, and susceptibility to external influences (for example, buying goods in stores when there are rumors of price increases, in case of minor transport accidents, various natural disasters).

Complete panic is panic with loss of consciousness, affective, characterized by incapacity and occurs when there is a feeling of great mortal danger. In this state, a person completely loses conscious control over his behavior - he can run in an unknown direction, carry out various chaotic actions, actions that exclude their critical assessment, rationality and ethics (a classic example is the panic on the Titanic and Admiral Nakhimov ships, in the latter case, the speed of events did not allow panic to fully develop, as well as during wars, earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, etc.).

By duration

The following types of panic are distinguished: short-term - from several seconds to several minutes (panic on a bus, lost control), fairly long-term - from ten minutes to several days (earthquake), prolonged - from several days to several weeks (panic during the siege of Leningrad, after the Chernobyl accident). IN. Molyako introduces the concept of “continuous panic,” which characterized the state of affairs after the Chernobyl accident.

People who were panicked exhibited the following behavior patterns:

Inadequate assessment of the situation, exaggeration of danger, desire to escape;
Increased fussiness, chaotic behavior, or inhibition;
Decreased discipline and performance;
Search for sedatives (medicines, alcohol)
The desire to obtain information, increased interest in all messages, rumors, news.

Contamination in advertising. The role of suggestion, infection and imitation in advertising

For advertising, it is important to avoid intrusiveness and create the appearance of a person’s independent choice. This kind of influence, when a person is ignorant of the true motives of the communicator and considers himself responsible for its result, is called manipulation

Numerous techniques and methods of this kind are based on the socio-psychological mechanisms of suggestion, infection and imitation. They are an important part of the formation of new and actualization of potential needs.

Suggestion

Suggestion in advertising is carried out in different ways. One of the popular techniques of suggestion is testemonium. The advertising message based on it uses the authority of famous personalities. The choice of the intermediary through whom the suggestion is carried out depends on its popularity in the target audience of the appeal. This could be an actor, singer, athlete, politician or any other public person. There are a lot of examples of such advertising: Savage clothing is associated by a certain audience with Ksenia Sobchak, Larisa Dolina with weight loss products, Maria Shukshina with an advertisement for AOS dishwashing detergent, Yulia Menshova with an advertisement for Black Pearl cream, actress Miroshnichenko advertised calcium trinicomed, Yakovleva advertised Losk washing powder, popular singer Dima Bilan advertised Gloria jeans, etc.

However, testemonium is not always productive

As already noted, according to the laws of perception, it is important that the product be a figure against a neutral background

The image of a celebrity itself focuses the attention of viewers and can distract attention from the product being offered. Advertising specialist David Ogilvy noted the following on this matter: “The celebrity will be remembered, the product will be forgotten.”

A product will be remembered if the celebrity is related to the product - the object of advertising. We believe that it is more logical for famous musicians to advertise musical instruments, and athletes to advertise sports equipment. And then the result will not be long in coming. Thus, revenue from the sale of Nike sporting goods with Michael Jordan paraphernalia amounted to $2.6 billion.

The testimonies of experts included in advertising, that is, those who know a lot about the product, are also justified. Thus, introducing the image of a doctor into cigarette advertising may contribute not to the ban on smoking, but to the sale of cigarettes. In the 40s In the 20th century, there was a popular advertising poster where a smiling doctor held out a pack of “Lucky”. The inscription on the poster said: “20,679 * doctors say: “Lucky” makes your throat less sore.” An asterisk meant that these doctors were counted by a real company specializing in statistics. Sometimes there is no need to even include a man in a white coat in an advertisement. It is only necessary to form the right association. Thus, an advertisement for decaffeinated coffee from the Can brand featured an actor who starred in the role of Dr. Marcus Welby for many years. It was no coincidence that advertisers hired him; they understood that for the audience he was a real doctor. The calculation met expectations - sales of Banka brand coffee grew, and the video was not removed from the screen for several years. The mechanism of suggestion is so strong that even the knowledge that the advertising involves actors playing roles, and not real patients, people with problems, does not block its actions.

Who is most susceptible to emotional contagion?

The more empathy you have, the more susceptible you are to emotional contagion. On the one hand, thanks to this you are able to share their feelings with your loved ones, you are able to rejoice for them with all your heart. On the other hand, you are also susceptible to negative emotions; you can easily fall under the influence of toxic personalities and become infected with anger or sadness from them.

You may go to work and not understand why you feel so bad there. It seems like the work is interesting and the people are friendly. But one of your colleagues may be experiencing such strong negative emotions that you unknowingly pick up on them. Moreover, he may not talk about it at all, he himself may not realize that he is angry or upset.

But other people necessarily consider nonverbal manifestations of these emotions. Human perception is a very interesting thing. Who would have thought that we read 80% of information non-verbally. Only 20% comes from words. All other communication occurs through intonation, posture, and gaze.

Remember your childhood. You sit in the room, play, and only by the sound of your mother washing the dishes in the kitchen, you can already tell what mood she is in.

The most striking example of emotional contagion can be observed in a crowd. When, after a sporting event, people start smashing store windows. Individually, each of these people is a completely peace-loving and respectable citizen, who would never even think of throwing a brick at the window of someone else’s house. The more people around, the easier it is to succumb to emotional contagion.

Photo by Vera Arsic: Pexels

But emotional contagion is not just the influence of the crowd. A minority or even one person can infect everyone around them with their emotions. It depends on the intensity of his emotions, on his status in the group, and even on how often and closely you communicate with him. Even the people you communicate with on social networks can influence you.

Causes of panic

The reasons that contribute to the emergence or intensification of panic are quite diverse, and despite this, they can be combined into three groups - physiological, psychological and socio-psychological.

The first group includes phenomena that cause conditions for panic and physically weaken people. These are, in particular, fatigue and depression, hunger and intoxication, prolonged insomnia or mental shock. Each of the reasons mentioned seriously weakens a person’s ability to quickly and correctly assess a situation that arises suddenly.

The second group includes such psychological phenomena as strong surprise, great uncertainty, sudden fear, a feeling of isolation, and awareness of powerlessness in the face of danger.

The third group includes a lack of group solidarity, loss of trust in management, and a lack or excess of information that increases tension. This also leads to a decrease in the ability to rationally and correctly assess the situation.

Psychic infection in the crowd.

According to social psychologists, it is easier to control a crowd than one person. It's all about the leader, who can motivate the crowd to take the necessary actions. Usually these are the most active people from the same crowd. But history knows many examples of provocateurs with leadership qualities infiltrating crowds.

The term “Psychic Contagion exists.” 1.5% of the crowd’s activists can “Rock it up” and drive it into a frenzy. The leader's main task is to influence the feelings, not the minds of the crowd. It has long been noticed that people, overwhelmed by an emotional impulse, do things that are unusual for them in their normal state. This effect is enhanced if the environment does the same. The crowd effect is contagious and contagious; in a crowd, a person loses his critical attitude to what is happening, and suggestibility increases. The simpler and more absurd the slogans put forward, the more often they are repeated, the more responsive and trusting the crowd is to them. The inspired idea becomes the truth.

The crowd does not tolerate discussions or objections; they cause irritation and aggression in them. The crowd does not care about the causes of any problem and how to eliminate it

It is important for the crowd to find the “Switchman” who is to blame for everything. After this, it doesn’t take much effort to arouse hostility and anger among the crowd.

In the crowd, everyone is equalized, the humanity in people is leveled, and the crowd becomes homogeneous, aggressive and easily controlled. The scenario of action and the psychology of the crowd have not changed over thousands of years. People don't learn from history.

But how then can we explain a person’s need to be in a crowd? According to Erich Fromm, people, being social creatures, very often feel lonely outside of society; being in a crowd gives them a feeling of confidence and security.

When people find themselves in a crowd and feel like they are part of a whole organism, they lose their individuality in return. This is the sacrifice they bring to the altar of the phenomenon called “The Crowd”. A person becomes “like everyone else” and acts “like everyone else,” often without realizing it. When people detained during mass protests were shown operational recordings of their actions, they very often could not explain their actions.

Another crowd effect is the inexplicable increase in a person's physical strength. For example, as is known from the investigative chronicle, a person performs incredible “Feats”: he can overturn a heavy car, a bench that turns up, or uproot a tree.

The same effect is observed in animals. A migrating herd of gazelles will never stray from their path, even if there is a pride of lions on the way. Moreover, the lions will not make any attempts to attack the herd, but will quietly wait. A moving stream can easily overwhelm you, and this is inevitable death. Going against the crowd is the surest end.

This is contagion in psychology. Infection

The Encyclopedia of Sociology gives the following definition of mental infection.
Mental contagion is a collective name for a number of events and phenomena of an individual mental and socio-psychological order in the behavior of people, the prerequisites for which are the mechanisms of suggestion and imitation. The determining factor for mental infection is the clear dominance of the emotional component of its implementation and manifestation. Mental contamination is closely connected with such a phenomenon as “fashion”, as well as with precedents for such phenomena as collective phobias (fears) of various types. The first attempt at a strictly sociological explanation of the phenomena of mental infection was carried out by G. Le Bon in his project for reconstructing the behavior of human “crowds” Sociology: Encyclopedia / Comp. A.A.Gritsanov, V.L.Abushenko, G.M.Evelkin, G.N.Sokolova, O.V.Tereshchenko. - Mn.: Book House, 2003.. According to Andreeva, infection has long been studied as a special method of influence that in a certain way integrates large masses of people, especially in connection with the emergence of such phenomena as religious ecstasies, mass psychoses, etc. The phenomenon of infection was known, apparently, at the earliest stages of human history and had diverse manifestations: massive outbreaks of various mental states that arise during ritual dances, sports excitement, situations of panic, etc.

Contagion can be defined as the unconscious, involuntary exposure of an individual to certain mental states. It manifests itself not through more or less conscious acceptance of some information or patterns of behavior, but through the transmission of a certain emotional state, or “mental mood” Parygin B.D. Fundamentals of socio-psychological theory. M.: Nauka, 1971, p. 10.. Since this emotional state occurs in the mass, a mechanism of multiple mutual reinforcement of the emotional effects of communicating people operates. The individual here does not experience organized deliberate pressure, but simply unconsciously assimilates patterns of someone’s behavior, only by obeying him. Many researchers have noted the presence of a special “contagion reaction” that occurs especially in large open audiences, when the emotional state is intensified through repeated reflection according to the usual chain reaction models. The effect takes place primarily in a disorganized community, most often in a crowd, which acts as a kind of accelerator that “accelerates” a certain emotional state of Andreeva G.M. Social Psychology. M.: Moscow State University Publishing House, 1988, p. 165..

Persuasion in psychology. Analysis of definitions of the concept of persuasion in psychology

The concept of persuasion in social psychology is given the following definitions:

1. Belief is a person’s system of ideological knowledge that has passed through his mind, feeling and will.

2. Conviction is a set of diverse influences on a person with the aim of developing socially necessary qualities in him.

3. Persuasion is the motivation of a person to perform a certain activity. To persuade means to motivate people by word, deed, example and purposeful organization of the social sphere.

4. Conviction is a personal formation that represents a person’s attitude to reality and is characterized by the unity of cognitive and need-personal components. The qualities of persuasion depend on the method of assimilation of certain knowledge and opinions and evaluations.

Persuasion is an influence on the consciousness, feelings, will of people through communication, explanation and proof of the importance of a particular position, view, action or their inadmissibility in order to force the listener to change existing views, attitudes, positions, attitudes and assessments or to share the thoughts or ideas of the speaker

Persuasion is the main, most universal method of leadership and education. The mechanism of persuasion is based on the activation of human mental activity, on appealing to the rational side of consciousness. It is assumed that the person being persuaded must make a conscious choice of ways and means to achieve the goal, i.e.

to convince, you need to attract the attention of the target, present and explain new information, and make impressive arguments

To convince someone of something means to achieve a state where the person being convinced, as a result of logical reasoning and inference, agrees with a certain point of view and is ready to defend it or act in accordance with it.

The main means of persuasion are a graphic sign, an image, the timbre of speech, a gesture, facial expressions, emotional and volitional states, the rhythm of speech and actions, the light and color of a visual aid, the results of work, the status and authority of the persuader. It should be added that not all people are equally willing to accept the point of view of the influencer. Most often, only information that is consistent with existing attitudes is perceived.

In this case, the concept that we will consider in this work is most fully reflected in the fifth definition; it is complemented by the third and fourth definitions. At the same time, we understand, of course, the dialectical relationship and unity of all these aspects of belief.

Your psychologist. The work of a psychologist at school.

Communication as people's perception of each other

Communication as interaction

Types of Interpersonal Interaction

Communication style and I-statements

Mechanisms of psychological influence: suggestion, infection, persuasion

Means and techniques of psychological influence

Ethics of business communication

All pages

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1.11. Mechanisms of psychological influence: suggestion, infection, persuasion

The effect of influence on a person depends on what mechanisms were used - persuasion, suggestion or infection. The most ancient mechanism of action is infection. It represents the transfer of a certain emotional, mental state from one person to another, based on an appeal to the emotional-unconscious sphere of a person (infection with panic, irritation, laughter, etc.). The effect depends on the degree of intensity of the emotional state of the influencing person (we will conventionally call him a “speaker”) and the number of listeners. The higher the emotional mood of the “speaker,” the more powerful the effect. The number of people must be large enough so that a feeling of unity arises under the influence of the emotional trance of the “speaker”. Suggestion is also based on an appeal to the unconscious, to a person’s emotions, but by verbal means, and the “speaker” should not be in an emotional trance, but in a rational state, confident and authoritative. Suggestion is based mainly on the authority of the source of information: if the suggestor does not have authority, then it is doomed to failure. Suggestion is verbal in nature, that is, one can only suggest with words. But this message is abbreviated and has enhanced expression. The role of intonation is very important here (90% of the effectiveness depends on intonation, which expresses persuasiveness, authority, and significance of words). Suggestibility is the degree of susceptibility to suggestion, the ability to uncritically perceive incoming information. It varies from person to person: above the streets with a weak nervous system and with sharp fluctuations in attention. People whose attitudes are poorly balanced are more suggestible (for example, children). Also, those in whom the first signaling system predominates are more susceptible to suggestion. There are three main forms of suggestion: 1) hypnotic suggestion (in a state of hypnosis); 2) suggestion in a state of relaxation - muscular and mental relaxation; 3) suggestion in an active state, when a person is awake. Suggestion techniques are aimed at reducing a person’s criticality when receiving information and using emotional transference. Thus, the transfer technique assumes that when transmitting a message, the new is associated with well-known facts, phenomena, people to whom a person has an emotionally positive attitude, so that this emotional state is transferred to new information (transfer of a negative attitude is also possible, in this case the incoming information is rejected ). Techniques of evidence (quoting a famous person, scientist, thinker) and “appeal to everyone” (“most people believe that ...”) reduce criticality and increase a person’s compliance with the information received. An important socio-psychological phenomenon is imitation, the reproduction of activities, actions, the quality of another person whom one wants to be like. Conditions for imitation: 1) the presence of a positive emotional attitude, admiration or respect for this person - the object of imitation; 2) less experience of a person compared to the object of imitation; 3) clarity, expressiveness, attractiveness of the sample; 4) availability of the sample, at least partially; 5) the conscious orientation of a person’s desires and will towards an object of imitation (one wants to be the same). Imitation is the most important factor in the development of a child’s personality, but it is also inherent in adults. Young people imitate, first of all, what is socially new, and preference is often given not only to socially significant, but also to externally dynamic, vibrant (cinema, fashion) models, although the latter may be socially insignificant or even negative in nature

1.12. Persuasive influences

Conviction appeals to logic, the human mind, and presupposes a fairly high level of development of logical thinking. It is sometimes impossible to logically influence people who are undeveloped. The content and form of persuasion must correspond to the level of development of the individual and his thinking. The requirements for the source and content of persuasive influence are as follows: I) persuasive speech must be constructed taking into account the individual characteristics of the listeners; 2) it must be consistent, logical, as evidence-based as possible, and must contain both general provisions and specific examples; 3) it is necessary to analyze the facts known to the listeners; 4) the person who convinces must himself be deeply convinced of what he is proving. The slightest inaccuracy or logical inconsistency will reduce the effect of persuasion. Its process begins with the perception and assessment of the source of information: 1) the listener compares the information received with what he has, and as a result, an idea is created of how the speaker presents it, where he gets it from; if it seems to a person that the speaker is telling a lie, hiding facts, or making mistakes, then trust in him drops sharply; 2) a general idea of the authority of the persuader is created, but if the speaker makes logical errors, no official status or authority will help him; 3) the attitudes of the speaker and the listener are compared: if the distance between them is large, then persuasion may be ineffective. In this case, the best persuasion strategy is the following: first, the persuader communicates elements of similarity with the views of those being persuaded, this way a better understanding is established and a prerequisite for persuasion is created. Another strategy can be used when they first report a significant difference in attitudes, but then the persuader must confidently and convincingly refute alien views (this is not easy to do - remember the levels of selection, selection of information). Thus, persuasion is a method of influence based on logical techniques, which are mixed with social and psychological pressures of various kinds (the influence of the authority of the source of information, group influence). It is more effective when the group is convinced, rather than the individual. Based on logical methods of evidence, with the help of which the truth of a thought is justified through the mediation of other thoughts. Any proof consists of three parts: thesis, arguments and demonstrations. A thesis is a thought whose truth needs to be proven; it must be clear, precise, unambiguously defined and supported by facts. An argument is a thought whose truth has already been proven, and therefore it is given to justify the truth or falsity of the thesis. Demonstration is logical reasoning, a set of logical rules used in proof. According to the method of conducting evidence, there are direct and indirect, inductive and deductive. Common mistakes in their use are as follows: D) substitution of the thesis during the proof: 2) the use of arguments that do not prove the thesis at all or are only partially true and under certain conditions, but are considered as true under any circumstances; or the use of deliberately false arguments; 3) refuting other people’s arguments is considered as proof of the falsity of someone else’s thesis and the correctness of one’s own statement (antithesis), although this is logically incorrect: the fallacy of the argument does not mean the fallacy of the thesis. However, since many people’s logic is far from flawless, such “pseudo-evidence” and “pseudo-beliefs” can work. In some cases, a boomerang effect is possible, when persuasion leads to results that are opposite to the intentions of the persuader. This happens: ■ when the initial attitudes of the persuader and the persuaded are separated by a large distance and from the very beginning the “speaker” shows this, but does not have the proper authority. compelling arguments. The audience blocks themselves with “filters”, does not listen, rejects information and strengthens its position even more under the pressure of ideological overload, the abundance of information, arguments, evidence for an insignificant reason. An emotional barrier is created that rejects all convincing arguments, although outwardly a person can pretend to agree; ■ if the impact is carried out on the focal installation. The degree of effectiveness of the influence of information on a person’s attitudes also depends on the parameter of primary/secondary information: the first data about any new event or fact is perceived easier, more trustingly, they are not influenced by previous prejudices, but information about some long-known event or person which was the last to arrive may negate the previously existing relationship to this event or person. The repetition of information can cause cumulativeness - the gradual accumulation of propaganda influence with the systematic repetition of information in various variations, but such repetitions should not be excessive, otherwise information satiety, fatigue and rejection of “annoying” information occurs.

1.13. Psychological impact; formation and change of attitudes, opinions

The purpose of speech influence is to change attitudes or form them (a certain view of things), to make a shift in the listener’s value system. Socio-psychological attitudes are a state of psychological readiness that develops on the basis of experience and influences a person’s reactions regarding those objects and situations with which he is associated and which are socially significant. There are four installation functions. 1. Fixture function. It is associated with the need to ensure the most favorable position of a person in the social environment, and therefore a person acquires positive attitudes towards useful, positive, favorable stimuli and situations, and negative ones towards the source of unpleasant, negative stimuli. 2. Self-protective. It is associated with the need to maintain the internal stability of the individual, as a result of which a person acquires a negative attitude towards those persons and actions that can serve as a source of danger to the integrity of the individual. If a significant person gives you a negative assessment, it can lead to a decrease in self-esteem, so we tend to develop a negative attitude towards that person. Moreover, its source is not the qualities of a person themselves, but his attitude towards us. 3. Value-expressive. It is associated with the needs for personal stability and lies in the fact that positive attitudes, as a rule, are developed towards representatives of a personality type similar to ours (despite the fact that we evaluate it positively). If a person considers himself strong and independent, he will react positively to the same people and rather “coolly” or even negatively to the opposite type. 4. The function of organizing the worldview. Attitudes are developed in relation to certain knowledge about the world; Every person has certain ideas about him, some of a scientific nature, some of an everyday nature. All this knowledge forms a system. Accordingly, a system of attitudes is a set of emotionally charged elements of knowledge about the world and people. But a person may encounter facts and information that contradict established attitudes. And the function of such is to distrust or reject “dangerous facts” - a negative emotional attitude, distrust, and skepticism are developed towards such “dangerous” information. For this reason, new scientific theories and innovations initially meet with resistance, misunderstanding, and mistrust. In the process of human communication and social interaction, attitudes are transformed, since in communication there is always an element of a conscious or unconscious desire to influence another person, to change his attitudes. However, due to the fact that they form a system, they cannot change quickly. In this system there are installations that are located in the center and have a large number of connections - central focal installations. And there are those located on the periphery, with a small number of interconnections, so they lend themselves to easier and faster change. The focal ones are the attitudes towards knowledge that are associated with the worldview of the individual, with his moral creed. The main thing is the attitude towards one’s own Self, around which the entire system of attitudes is built. In the process of socialization, we always correlate all phenomena that are significant to us with the thought of ourselves, so the self-esteem setting of the Self is at the intersection of all systemic connections. To change the focal setting, it is necessary to tear it out, and this is sometimes impossible without destroying the integrity of the individual. Therefore, transformation of the central attitude occurs extremely rarely and painfully. An intense change from positive to negative self-esteem leads to a violation of personal unity. The concept of oneself is most often positive; a powerful negative attitude towards oneself is observed mainly in extremely neurotic people. When any attitude changes, the following situations are possible: 1) neighboring attitudes become different in direction, that is, in emotional sign (from plus to minus), and in intensity, although this concerns mainly peripheral attitudes; 2) the degree of importance and significance of the installation may change; 3) the principle of communication between neighboring installations may change, their restructuring. The system of attitudes is based on both cognitive and emotional connections. What undergoes changes first: emotional attitude or logical, cognitive connections and knowledge? Both options are possible: a change in emotional attitudes entails changes in cognitive meaning, and vice versa. But still, research has shown that a more reliable and faster method of changing attitudes is to change the emotional meaning, attitude towards a particular problem (especially if it occurs under hypnosis). The logical method of influence does not always work and not for all attitudes, since a person tends to avoid information that can prove that his behavior is wrong: for example, in an experiment with smokers, they were asked to read and rate the reliability of a scientific article about the dangers of smoking. The more a person smokes, the less confidently he evaluates the article, the less is the possibility of changing his attitude towards smoking through logical influence. The amount of information received also plays a role. Numerous experiments have established a relationship between the probability of changing an attitude and the amount of information about it: a small amount of data does not lead to change, but as it grows, this probability increases. True, this happens up to a certain limit, after which it drops sharply, that is, a very large amount of information, on the contrary, can cause rejection, mistrust, and misunderstanding. The likelihood of change depends on the balance of the person’s attitude and opinions. In this case, they are characterized by psychological compatibility, and therefore are more difficult to influence than unbalanced systems, which themselves are prone to rupture. A person, as a rule, tends to avoid information that can cause cognitive dissonance - a discrepancy between attitudes or between attitudes and a person’s actual behavior. In the case of a balanced system of attitudes, the speech influence of another person or group occurs according to the principle of assimilative contrast action. This means that if a person has strong, balanced attitudes that differ from the opinion of the “speaker,” then after the latter’s speech, these beliefs become even more different from his position (if he was unable to provide super-convincing arguments for his rightness) - this is the contrast effect. If a person’s opinions are close to the attitudes of the “speaker,” then after he makes a speech, they come even closer to the position shared by the speaker, that is, assimilation and unification of opinions occurs. The closer the audience’s attitudes are to the speaker’s opinion, the more the latter is assessed by the audience as objective and impartial. People who hold extreme positions are less likely than people with moderate views to change their attitudes. Information passes through several levels of selection (selection): 1) level of attention (attention is directed to what interests a person and corresponds to his views); 2) level of perception (even perception and understanding of humorous pictures depends on a person’s attitudes); 3) level of memory (what is remembered is what coincides with a person’s interests and views). This three-step information selection process makes it very difficult to convince people. The goals of speech influence: 1) introduce new information into a person’s system of views and attitudes; 2) change structural relationships in the system of attitudes, that is, introduce information that reveals objective connections between objects, changes or forms new connections between a person’s attitudes and views; 3) change a person’s attitude, that is, make a shift in motives.

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The main characteristic signs of mental infection

Summarizing the above and other numerous established facts, we can say that the mechanism of mental infection is characterized by the following components:

There is a direct dependence of the degree of influence on the quality and quantity of the action catalyst.
The presence of a chain reaction effect of the process and mutual reinforcement (increase) of its magnitude. An example is infection with enthusiasm in any field of activity.
The versatility of the manifestation of the process of mental infection.
The dependence of the depth of mental infection on the level of development of the individual and society as a whole.

I would like to note the last point. The following pattern is observed - the higher the level of development of society and the individual in particular, the more difficult they are to be influenced in the form of mental infection and suggestion. In other words, their intelligence calls into question all behavioral factors emanating and imposed from the outside.

What is infection, as a type of psychological influence. Concept of mental infection

Mental contagion is one of the main methods of integration and management of human group activity. This phenomenon goes back to the very origins of society, right up to the primitive communal system. In other words, mental infection is considered primary among mass mechanisms of influence. In addition to its ancient origin, infection is characterized by a multifaceted manifestation. Let's take a closer look at this phenomenon.

The basic definition of psychological contamination interprets it as the unconscious exposure of an individual to various mental influences. At the same time, the transmission of behavioral and psychological factors occurs at the emotional, subconscious level, and not at the conscious level of the individual.

In fact, one can consider mental infection as one of the methods of public indoctrination. One of the striking examples of mental infection is the action of such concepts and processes as prestige, advertising, norms of behavior, etc. Being in society, a person involuntarily submits to these manifestations of mental infection on a subconscious level.

In professional sociology, mental contagion is a set of processes of transferring the emotional mood of one individual along a chain to another (other) individual at a deep mental level of contact. In this case, a huge role is played by the charge, the degree of emotional mood of the source of influence: the brighter and deeper they are, the more effective and efficient the process of mental infection itself.