Interaction in psychology. What is it, types, concept of social, manipulative, interpersonal, principles, methods, types, styles

In this article we will tell you:

1. Interpersonal relationships in human interaction
2. Features and examples of interpersonal relationships
3. 5 principles of human interaction
4. 4 types of human interaction
5. 13 Tips for Building Positive Relationships

Human interaction is a relationship based on feelings, communication, and involves joint activities. They are based on social connections that already exist or emerge again between members of society. Verbal and non-verbal, spontaneous or gradual - there are many options.

As a rule, interpersonal relationships are established for a specific purpose: to receive some benefit, share emotions, feel support, learn or communicate something. Important components of such relationships are mutual trust and understanding.

Definition

Interaction in psychology is the process of direct or indirect influence of people on each other as a result of communication, which gives rise to their interconnection or isolation. This definition of the concept is the most common in modern psychology, but not the only one.

A revolution in the way we study the human psyche has allowed the science of relationships to reach a new level and distinguish between the concepts of soul and body as separate areas of study. The problem of their relationships has become particularly acute. The definition of interaction has changed depending on the influence of time and the interpretation of various schools of psychology.

• Rene Descartes, a French philosopher, described interaction as the complete dependence of a living body on the influence of external forces.
• The scientist and thinker from the Netherlands, Benedict Spinoza, defined the mental principle in man as the result of the interaction of the body and nature, which is also an influential factor in this interaction.
• According to the theory of Parson, an American sociologist, interaction between individuals underlies the construction of individual human activity. With this approach, the entire diversity of social activity is built from the psychology of the individual.
• Social psychologists, Americans Thibault and Kelly presented a theory of interaction in a dyad. This approach implies that interaction should be considered any interpersonal relationship that is characterized by a real exchange of behavioral reflexes within a specific situation. The interaction will continue as long as both participants receive mutual benefits from the interaction.
• Polish sociologist J. Szczepanski proposed a different model for defining interaction, according to which interaction is not characterized by individual acts, but is divided into successive stages.
• According to G. Mead's concept, interaction is the starting point of every social psychological research. In a situation of interaction, personality formation occurs. The individual recognizes himself as a person in joint activities with others.
• Domestic psychology also considers various schemes of interaction situations. According to Galina Andreeva, interaction is defined as a form of organization of specific human activity.

Text of the book “Psychology and Pedagogy”

Unproductive

interaction style is an unfruitful way of contact between partners, blocking the realization of personal potentials and the achievement of optimal results of joint activities.

Typically, there are five main criteria that allow you to correctly understand the style of interaction.

1. The nature of activity in the position of partners

(in the productive style - “next to the partner”, in the unproductive - “above the partner”).

2. The nature of the goals put forward

(in a productive style - partners jointly develop both close and distant goals; in an unproductive style - the dominant partner puts forward only close goals without discussing them with the partner).

3. Nature of responsibility

(in a productive style, all participants in the interaction are responsible for the results of their activities; in an unproductive style, all responsibility is assigned to the dominant partner).

4. The nature of the relationship that arises between partners

(in a productive style - goodwill and trust; in an unproductive style - aggression, resentment, irritation).

5. The nature of the functioning of the identification-separation mechanism between partners.

Question 82. What types of human interaction exist?

In interaction, a person’s attitude towards another person as a subject who has his own world is realized. The interaction of a person with a person in society is also the interaction of their inner worlds: the exchange of thoughts, ideas, images, the influence on goals and needs, the impact on the assessments of another individual, his emotional state.

Interaction, moreover, can be represented as the systematic, constant implementation of actions aimed at causing an appropriate reaction on the part of other people. Joint life and activity, in contrast to individual life, has, at the same time, more stringent restrictions on any manifestations of activity or passivity of individuals. This forces people to build and coordinate the images of “I—He,” “We—They,” and to coordinate efforts between them. In the course of real interaction, a person’s adequate ideas about himself, other people, and their groups are also formed. The interaction of people is a leading factor in the regulation of their self-esteem and behavior in society.

Interaction is interpersonal

and
intergroup.
Interpersonal interaction

– these are accidental or intentional, private or public, long-term or short-term, verbal or non-verbal contacts and connections of two or more people, causing mutual changes in their behavior, activities, relationships and attitudes.

Main features

such interaction are:

• the presence of a goal (object) external to the interacting individuals, the achievement of which requires mutual efforts;

• explicitness (availability) for observation from the outside and registration by other people;

• reflexive ambiguity – the dependence of its perception on the conditions of implementation and the assessments of its participants.

Intergroup interaction

– the process of direct or indirect influence of multiple subjects (objects) on each other, giving rise to their mutual conditionality and the unique nature of relationships. Usually it takes place between entire groups (as well as their parts) and acts as an integrating (or destabilizing) factor in the development of society.

Question 83. What types of human interaction exist?

In addition to species, several types of interaction are usually distinguished. The most common is their division according to their effective focus: cooperation

and
competition.
Cooperation

- this is an interaction in which its subjects reach a mutual agreement on the goals pursued and strive not to violate it as long as their interests coincide.

Competition

is an interaction characterized by the achievement of individual or group goals and interests in conditions of confrontation between people.

In both cases, both the type of interaction (cooperation or competition) and the degree of expression of this interaction (successful or less successful cooperation) determine the nature of interpersonal relationships between people.

In the process of implementing these types of interaction, as a rule, the following leading strategies of behavior in interaction appear:

1. Cooperation aimed at ensuring that the participants in the interaction fully satisfy their needs (either the motive of cooperation or competition is realized).

2. Reaction, which involves focusing on one’s own goals without taking into account the goals of communication partners (individualism).

3. Compromise, realized in the private achievement of partners’ goals for the sake of conditional equality.

4. Compliance, which involves sacrificing one’s own interests to achieve the partner’s goals (altruism).

5. Avoidance, which is a withdrawal from contact, the loss of one’s own goals to exclude the gain of another.

The division into types can also be based on the intentions and actions of people,

which reflect their understanding of the communication situation.
Then there are three types of interactions: additional, intersecting
and
secretive.
Additional

This is an interaction in which partners adequately perceive each other’s position.

Intersecting

- this is an interaction during which partners, on the one hand, demonstrate an inadequate understanding of the positions and actions of the other participant in the interaction, and on the other, clearly demonstrate their own intentions and actions.

Hidden

interaction simultaneously includes two levels: explicit, expressed verbally, and hidden, implied. It involves either deep knowledge of the partner, or greater sensitivity to non-verbal means of communication - tone of voice, intonation, facial expressions and gestures, since they convey hidden content.

Question 84. What are the dynamics of human interaction?

In its development, interaction goes through several stages (levels).

At its initial (lowest) level

interaction represents the simplest primary contacts of people, when between them there is only a primary and very simplified mutual or one-sided “physical” influence on each other for the purpose of exchanging information and communication, which, for specific reasons, may not achieve its goal, and therefore not receive comprehensive development.

The main thing in the success of initial contacts is the acceptance or non-acceptance of each other by the interaction partners. Moreover, they do not constitute a simple sum of individuals, but are some completely new and specific formation of connections and relationships, which is regulated by real or imaginary (perceived) difference-similarity, similarity-contrast of people involved in joint activity (practical or mental). Any contact usually begins with a concrete sensory perception of the external appearance, characteristics of the activities and behavior of other people.

The congruence effect also plays a major role in interaction at its initial stage. Congruence is confirmation of mutual role expectations, complete mutual understanding, a single resonant rhythm, consonance of the experiences of the contact participants. Congruence presupposes a minimum of discrepancies in the key points of the behavior lines of the contact participants, which results in the release of tension, the emergence of trust and sympathy on a subconscious level.

At your average level

development, the process of interaction between people is called productive joint activity. Here, the gradually developing active cooperation between them is increasingly expressed in an effective solution to the problem of combining the mutual efforts of partners.

Typically, there are three forms or models of organizing joint activities:

1) each participant does his part of the overall work independently of the other;

2) the common task is performed sequentially by each participant;

3) simultaneous interaction of each participant with all others takes place.

At the same time, the common aspirations of people can lead to clashes in the process of coordinating positions. As a result, people enter into “agree-disagreement” relationships with each other. In case of agreement, partners are involved in joint activities. In this case, roles and functions are distributed between the participants in the interaction. These relationships cause a special direction of volitional efforts among the subjects of interaction. It is associated either with a concession or with the conquest of certain positions. Therefore, partners are required to demonstrate mutual tolerance, composure, perseverance, psychological mobility and other strong-willed personality traits, based on intelligence and a high level of consciousness and self-awareness of the individual.

At this time, there is a constant coordination of thoughts, feelings, and relationships between partners in joint life activities. It takes on various forms of influence of people on each other. Regulators of mutual influence are the mechanisms of suggestion, conformity and persuasion, when under the influence of the opinions and relations of one partner the opinions and relations of the other partner change.

Highest level

interaction is always an extremely effective joint activity of people, accompanied by mutual understanding.

Mutual understanding between people is a level of their interaction at which they understand the content and structure of the partner’s present and possible next action, and also mutually contribute to the achievement of a common goal. An essential characteristic of mutual understanding is always its adequacy.

It depends on a number of factors: on the type of relationship between partners (relationships of acquaintance and friendship, friendly, love and marital relationships), companionship (essentially business relationships), on the sign or valence of the relationship (likes, dislikes, indifferent relationships); on the degree of possible objectification, the manifestation of personality traits in the behavior and activities of people (sociability, for example, is most easily observed in the process of communication interaction).

For mutual understanding, joint activity is not enough; mutual assistance is needed. It excludes its antipode - mutual opposition, with the appearance of which misunderstanding arises, and then misunderstanding of man by man.

Question 85: What is a relationship?

In the course of human interaction, various relationships arise. In particular, the term “social relations” covers the following phenomena:

1) according to the form of manifestation, social are economic (production), legal, ideological, political, moral, religious, aesthetic

etc.;

2) from the point of view of belonging to various subjects - these are national (international), class, confessional, etc.

relationship;

3) based on the analysis of the functioning of connections between people in society, we can talk about vertical and horizontal relationships;

4) by the nature of regulation, social relations are official

and
unofficial.
All types of social relations permeate, in turn, the psychological relations of people (synonym - relationships), i.e. subjective connections that arise as a result of their actual interaction and are already accompanied by various emotional and other experiences (likes and dislikes) of the individuals participating in them. Psychological relationships are the living human fabric of any social relationship.

The difference between social and psychological relations is that the former are, so to speak, “material” in nature, are a consequence of a certain property, social and other distribution of roles in society and in most cases are taken for granted, are, in a certain sense, , impersonal character. In social relations, first of all, the essential features of social connections between spheres of people’s life activities, types of work and communities are revealed.

Psychological

relationships
are
the result of direct contacts between specific people, endowed with certain characteristics, capable of expressing their likes and dislikes, recognizing and experiencing them. They are saturated with emotions and feelings, that is, the experience and expression by individuals or groups of their attitude towards interaction with other specific people and groups.

Psychological relationships are completely personalized, as they are of a purely personal nature. Their content and specificity are filled, determined and depend on the specific people between whom they arise.

Relationship

(in general) is a socialized connection between the internal and external contents of the human psyche, its connection with the surrounding reality and consciousness.

The category of attitude can be considered both as a readiness for a certain interaction, and as a really functioning connection within the framework of “subject-object”, “subject-subject”.

Relations within the framework of “subject-object” and “subject-subject” are not identical. Thus, what is common to one and the other connection is, for example, the activity (or severity) of the relationship, modality (positive, negative, neutral), breadth, stability, etc.

At the same time, a significant difference between the relationships within the subject-object and subject-subject connection is the unidirectionality and reciprocity of the relationship. Only if there is reciprocity of relations is it possible to form a “cumulative fund” of a common and new intersubjective formation (thoughts, feelings, actions). When it is difficult to say where is ours and where is someone else’s, both become ours.

Subject-subject relations

are characterized by both constant reciprocity and variability, which is determined by the activity of not only one of the parties, as is the case in subject-object relations, where stability depends more on the subject than on the object. Subject-subject relations, in addition, include not only the relationship of a person with another person, but also the attitude towards oneself, i.e. self-attitude.

In turn, subject-object relations

- these are all relationships of the individual to reality, excluding relationships between people and self-attitude.

Question 86: What are the types and dynamics of relationships?

The general criterion for dividing interpersonal relationships (synonym: relationships) into types is attractiveness. The components of mutual attractiveness-unattractiveness include: likes-antipathies and attraction-repulsion.

Like-dislike

represents the experienced satisfaction - dissatisfaction from real or mental contact with another person.

Attraction-repulsion

there is a practical component to these experiences. Attraction-repulsion is mainly associated with a person’s need to be together, nearby. Attraction-repulsion is often, but not always, associated with the experience of likes and dislikes (the emotional component of interpersonal relationships). Such a contradiction often arises when there is a unidirectional relationship between the popularity of a person: “For some reason one is drawn to her, without apparent satisfaction, to be together and close.”

We can also talk about the following types of interpersonal relationships: relationships of acquaintance, friendly, comradely, friendly, love, marital, family, destructive relationships.

This classification is based on several criteria: the depth of the relationship, selectivity in choosing partners, and the function of the relationship.

The first and main criterion is the measure, the depth of a person’s involvement in a relationship.

Different types of interpersonal relationships involve the inclusion of certain levels of personality characteristics in communication. The greatest inclusion of personality, down to individual characteristics, occurs in friendly and marital relationships. Relationships of acquaintance and friendship are limited to the inclusion of predominantly specific and sociocultural characteristics of the individual in the interaction.

The second criterion is the degree of selectivity when choosing partners for relationships.

Selectivity can be defined as the number of characteristics that are significant for establishing and reproducing a relationship. The greatest selectivity is found in relationships of friendship, marriage, and love; the least selectivity is found in relationships of acquaintance.

The third criterion is the difference in the functions of relationships.

Functions are understood as a range of tasks and issues that are resolved in interpersonal relationships. The functions of relationships are manifested in the difference in their content and psychological meaning for partners.

In addition, each interpersonal relationship is characterized by a certain distance between partners and presupposes one or another degree of participation of role clichés. The general pattern is this: as relationships deepen (for example, friendship, marriage versus acquaintance), the distance shortens, the frequency of contacts increases, and role clichés are eliminated.

There is a certain dynamics in the development of relationships between people. Having begun to form and develop correctly, they largely depend on a number of factors: on the individuals themselves, on the conditions of the surrounding reality and social system, on the subsequent formation of contacts and the results of joint activities.

Initial contacts

between people, representing the initial stage of the implementation of social connections between them, the primary act of social interaction.
How they occur depends on how people perceive and evaluate each other. On the basis of primary contacts, perceive and evaluate
each other - an immediate prerequisite for the emergence of communication and the development of relationships between them.
In turn, communication
is the exchange of information and is the basis for the development of relationships between people. It makes it possible to achieve mutual understanding between individuals or reduces the latter to nothing.

This is how the content of the relationship

between people, which consolidates socialized connections between them and contributes to the development of their productive joint activities.
The effectiveness of joint activities and mutual understanding depend on how this process occurs. Ultimately, on this basis, stable relationships
between people are formed - the highest form of their social interaction. They give stability to social life in society, contribute to its development, facilitate the joint activities of individuals, give it stability and productivity.

Question 87. What is human communication?

Communication

– a complex multifaceted process of establishing and developing contacts and connections between people, generated by the needs of joint activities and including the exchange of information and the development of a unified interaction strategy.

Communication is usually included in the practical interaction of people (joint work, learning, collective play, etc.) and ensures planning, implementation and control of their activities.

If relationships are defined through the concepts of “connection,” then communication is understood as a process of interaction between person and person, carried out using means of speech and non-speech influence and pursuing the goal of achieving changes in the cognitive, motivational, emotional and behavioral spheres of the persons participating in communication. During communication, its participants exchange not only their physical actions or products, the results of labor, but also thoughts, intentions, ideas, experiences, etc.

In everyday life, a person learns to communicate from childhood and masters its different types depending on the environment in which he lives, on the people with whom he interacts, and this happens spontaneously, in everyday experience. In most cases, this experience is not enough, for example, to master special professions (teacher, actor, announcer, investigator), and sometimes simply for productive and civilized communication. For this reason, it is necessary to improve the knowledge of its patterns, the accumulation of skills and abilities to take them into account and use.

Each community of people has its own means of influence, which are used in various forms of collective life. They concentrate the socio-psychological content of the lifestyle. All this is manifested in customs, traditions, rites, rituals, holidays, dances, songs, legends, myths, in the visual, theatrical and musical arts, in fiction, cinema, radio and television. These unique mass forms of communication have a powerful potential for mutual influence of people. In the history of mankind, they have always served as means of education, of including a person through communication in the spiritual atmosphere of life.

The human problem is the focus of all aspects of communication. Concentration only on the instrumental side of communication can neutralize its spiritual (human) essence and lead to a simplified interpretation of communication as an information and communication activity. With the inevitable scientific and analytical division of communication into its component elements, it is important not to lose the person in them as a spiritual and active force that transforms oneself and others in this process.

Communication usually manifests itself in the unity of its five sides: interpersonal, cognitive, communicative-informational, emotive and conative.

Interpersonal side

communication reflects a person’s interaction with his immediate environment: with other people and the communities with which he is connected in his life.

Cognitive side

communication allows you to answer questions about who the interlocutor is, what kind of person he is, what can be expected from him, and many others related to the personality of the partner.

Communication and information side

represents an exchange between people of various ideas, ideas, interests, moods, feelings, attitudes, etc.

Emotive side

communication is associated with the functioning of emotions and feelings, mood in personal contacts of partners.

Conative (behavioral) side

communication serves the purpose of reconciling internal and external contradictions in the positions of partners.

Communication has six basic functions.

1. Pragmatic function of communication

reflects its need-motivational reasons and is realized through the interaction of people in the process of joint activity. At the same time, communication itself is often the most important need.

2. Function of formation and development

reflects the ability of communication to influence partners, developing and improving them in all respects. By communicating with other people, a person learns universal human experience, historically established social norms, values, knowledge and methods of activity, and is also formed as a person. In general terms, communication can be defined as a universal reality in which mental processes, states and behavior of a person arise, exist and manifest themselves throughout life.

3. Confirmation function

provides people with the opportunity to know, affirm and confirm themselves.

4. The function of uniting and separating people,

on the one hand, by establishing contacts between them, it facilitates the transfer of necessary information to each other and sets them up for the implementation of common goals, intentions, tasks, thereby connecting them into a single whole, and on the other hand, it can be the cause of differentiation and isolation of individuals as a result communication.

5. The function of organizing and maintaining interpersonal relationships

serves the interests of establishing and maintaining fairly stable and productive connections, contacts and relationships between people in the interests of their joint activities.

6. Intrapersonal function

communication is realized in a person’s communication with himself (through internal or external speech, completed according to the type of dialogue).

Question 88. What types of communication are there?

Communication is extremely multifaceted. It can be presented in its diversity by type.

There are interpersonal

and
mass
communication.

Interpersonal communication

associated with direct contacts of people in groups or pairs with a constant composition of participants.

Mass communication

- this is a lot of direct contacts of strangers, as well as communication mediated by various types of media.

There are also interpersonal

and
role communication.
In the first case, the participants in communication are specific individuals who have specific individual qualities that are revealed in the course of communication and the organization of joint actions.

In the case of role-based communication, its participants act as bearers of certain roles (buyer-seller, teacher-student, boss-subordinate). In role-based communication, a person is deprived of a certain spontaneity of his behavior, since certain of his steps and actions are dictated by the role he plays. In the process of such communication, a person no longer manifests himself as an individual, but as a social unit performing certain functions.

Communication can also be confidential

and
conflicting.
The first is different in that during its course, particularly significant information is transmitted. Confidence is an essential feature of all types of communication, without which it is impossible to carry out negotiations or resolve intimate issues.

Conflict communication is characterized by mutual confrontation between people, expressions of displeasure and mistrust.

Communication can be personal

and
business.
Personal communication

is an exchange of unofficial information.

Business conversation

- the process of interaction between people performing joint responsibilities or involved in the same activity.

Finally, communication is direct

and
indirect.
Direct (immediate) communication

is historically the first form of communication between people. On its basis, in later periods of the development of civilization, various types of indirect communication arise.

Indirect communication

– this is interaction using additional means (writing, audio and video equipment).

Question 89. What means of communication exist?

Communication is possible only with the help of sign systems. The following means of communication are distinguished:

1) verbal

(when oral and written speech are used as sign systems).
In verbal
communication, two types of speech are usually used:
oral
and
written;
2) non-verbal,

which are needed in order to: regulate the flow of the communication process, create psychological contact between partners; enrich the meanings conveyed by words, guide the interpretation of the verbal text; express emotions and reflect the interpretation of a situation. They are divided into the following categories:

a) visual

means of communication, which include:

• kinesics – movement of arms, legs, head, torso;

• direction of gaze and visual contact;

• eye expression;

• facial expression;

• pose (in particular, localization, changes in poses relative to the verbal text;

• skin reactions (redness, sweating);

• distance (distance to the interlocutor, angle of rotation towards him, personal space);

• auxiliary means of communication, including body features (gender, age) and means of their transformation (clothing, cosmetics, glasses, jewelry, tattoo, mustache, beard, cigarette, etc.);

b) acoustic

(sound) means of communication, which include:

• paralinguistic, i.e. related to speech (intonation, volume, timbre, tone, rhythm, pitch, speech pauses and their localization in the text);

• extralinguistic, i.e. not related to speech (laughter, crying, coughing, sighs, gnashing of teeth, sniffling, etc.);

c) tactile-kinesthetic

(touch-related) means of communication, including:

• physical impact (leading a blind person by the hand, contact dance, etc.);

• takeshika (hand shake, shoulder pat);

d) olfactory:

• pleasant and unpleasant odors of the environment;

• natural and artificial human odors, etc.

Question 90. What is the psychological structure of communication?

Communication has its own structure and includes motivational-target, communication, interactive and perceptual components.

1. Motivational-target component of communication.

It is a system of motives and goals of communication. The motives for communication between members can be:

a) the needs and interests of one person who takes the initiative in communication;

b) the needs and interests of both communication partners, prompting them to engage in communication;

c) needs arising from jointly solved problems. The ratio of motives for communication ranges from complete coincidence to conflict. In accordance with this, communication can be friendly or conflicting in nature.

The main goals of communication can be: receiving or transmitting useful information, activating partners, relieving tension and managing joint actions, providing assistance and influencing other people. The goals of communication participants may coincide or contradict, or exclude each other. The nature of communication also depends on this.

2. Communication component of communication.

In the narrow sense of the word, it is an exchange of information between communicating individuals. In the course of joint activities, as noted above, they exchange with each other various opinions, interests, feelings, etc. All this constitutes the process of information exchange, which has the following features:

• if in cybernetic devices information is only transmitted, then in the conditions of human communication it is not only transmitted, but also formed, clarified, and developed;

• in contrast to the simple “exchange of information” between two devices, in human communication it is combined with an attitude towards each other;

• the nature of the exchange of information between people is determined by the fact that through the systemic signs used, partners can influence each other and influence the partner’s behavior;

• communicative influence as a result of information exchange is possible only when the person sending the information (communicator) and the person receiving it (recipient) have a single or similar system of codification or decodification. In everyday language this means that people “speak the same language.”

3. Interactive communication component.

It consists of the exchange of not only knowledge and ideas, but also influences, mutual motivations, and actions.
Interaction can be in the form of cooperation or competition, agreement or conflict, adaptation or opposition, association or dissociation. 4. Perceptual component of communication.
It manifests itself in the perception of each other by communication partners, mutual study and evaluation of each other. This is due to the perception of a person’s appearance, actions, actions and their interpretation. Mutual social perception during communication is very subjective, which is manifested in not always correct understanding of the goals of the communication partner, his motives, relationships, attitudes towards interaction, etc.

Question 91. What is interpersonal communication?

Communication

is
a connection during which information is exchanged between people in the process of interpersonal relationships.
It has a number of specific features.

1. A real relationship between two individuals,

each of which is an active subject. At the same time, their mutual informing presupposes the establishment of joint activities. The specificity of human information exchange lies in the special role for each participant in the communication of this or that information and its significance.

Types, types, styles

Interaction in psychology is the interactive action of individuals in a social environment, which is determined by many forms, types and styles. Social interaction is called interaction.

This concept refers to those actions of individuals that closely influence the actions and actions of others. Interactive interaction comes in various forms.

In modern psychology, the classification of P.A. is most often used to classify the types, types and styles of social cooperation. Sorokin, an American social psychologist of Russian origin.

He considered interaction as an exchange and classified it into the following types:

Russian psychologist S. Bratchenko added this classification with three more styles:

• Altruistic – actions for others to the detriment of oneself, development of a partner at one’s own expense. Such interaction implies that one of the participants ignores their problems.
• Comfortable - the individual fully joins the opinions of other participants, agreeing with all actions. In this situation, there are no opportunities for self-development.
• Indifferent – ​​the position of a pragmatist, in which psychological problems of communication are ignored. There is no opportunity for partner development.

The following types of interaction are distinguished, depending on the way the contact of external properties is carried out:

• declarative (verbal);
• physical;
• sensorimotor (gesture).

The interaction of an internal property is mental.

All types have common properties - meaningful orientation towards another person and motivation.

A common division in psychology is into two main opposing types: cooperation and competition.

• Cooperation is mutual cooperation based on reaching a mutual agreement on the means to achieve a goal, which is not violated until the desired result is achieved.
• Competition is the interaction of personal or collective interests in conditions of confrontation between the parties.

Characteristics and principles

Awareness of the laws of relationships helps self-development and successful achievement of goals.

Any social action has the following basic characteristics:

• Always has an external reason or purpose.
• Expressed and accessible to observation from the outside.
• Tied to a specific situation.
• Expresses the immediate intentions of all participants.

Interaction in society, the success of a collective or individual enterprise - these topics are always relevant for sociologists. Many experts in the field of psychology and sociology are working on the principles of productive cooperation. Psychosocial theorist Milton Erickson insisted on the close interconnection of an individual's physiological, mental, and social actions.

Its basic principles are as follows:

• All people are unique and have the right to be themselves. To create an atmosphere of trust, it is necessary to accept a person with all his views and beliefs. The realization that everyone is individual in nature leads to awareness of their individuality and inner comfort.
• Everyone has their own internal resources to achieve a personal goal. Their implementation depends on the strength of desire. When starting cooperation with a person with similar goals, you do not need to initially judge his capabilities; the main thing is to find the right general strategy.
• Each choice of a person in a given situation is the only correct and necessary one under the influence of external circumstances. Therefore, you should not worry about past failures; it is better to concentrate on the current moment.
• Any negative action should be looked at from the perspective of the person who committed it. Behind all actions, even bad ones, there is an initial intention of positive action towards oneself or another person. This suggests that there are no completely negative people. There are those who try to achieve their positive intentions in a way that negatively affects others. If you look at the situation from his side, you may be able to direct your partner or competitor in the right direction.
• Nothing stays the same. New experiences, new technologies, new environments lead to constant changes. The system of values ​​within a person also changes with age and under the influence of new knowledge. Changing goals and ways to achieve them is not a tragedy, but only a new step along the way.

Communication concept

Not a single person in his life can avoid interaction with other members of society, since it is difficult to achieve any heights or improvement alone.
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From infancy, a child learns to communicate by looking at his parents and gains skills through role-playing games, reading, drawing, modeling and other educational materials. His ability to freely enter a circle of people directly depends on how much he was taught this in childhood.

Communication in psychology is understood as a complex process, as a result of which people exchange information, receive and share emotions, perceive each other and draw conclusions about actions and behavior.

On its basis, relationships are formed or broken, contacts are established.

Functions and role

Interaction in psychology is a multifunctional process that is determined by various criteria. Most often, the role of interaction is considered in the model: individual – activity – society.

The most important functions of interpersonal communication are:

• Pragmatic - manifests itself as the most important condition in uniting individuals to jointly perform common work.
• Formative – is implemented in the process of forming a person’s personality.
• function is carried out in the process of cognition and approval of personal attitudes during interaction with other people.
• Interpersonal – has different levels, from the sphere of friendship and love to business relationships.
• Intrapersonal - manifests itself in the individual’s communication with his inner self, in the construction of dialogues of internal and external speech.

Interpersonal relationships in human interaction

People interact with each other most often through three main methods of communication:

• verbal – information is exchanged using words and oral speech;
• nonverbal – non-verbal interaction: facial expressions, gestures, gaze, posture;
• affective – communication using sound expressions of emotions: laughter, crying, squealing and others.

A person begins to interact with other people immediately after birth. The child communicates with his parents using grimaces, laughter, crying, expressing his emotions and needs. Over time, he begins to realize what kind of reaction the parent receives to this or that manifestation. Of course, at the initial stage of life, the personality has not yet been formed, so it will be possible to talk about true interpersonal communication only when the child goes through the stages of initial socialization.

Forms of manifestations and physiology

Every person is a social being, that is, aimed at some type of interaction. People have a strong need to belong, to form lasting relationships with other individuals. The need for positive interaction is determined by a number of socio-biological aspects and contributes to human fitness and survival.

Interaction is a process that manifests itself in a wide variety of areas of human communication:

• In the economic sphere, each person acts as an employee, owner or manager.
• Political - generates cooperation or confrontation between individuals, as representatives of various movements, political parties.
• Professional – creates interaction between representatives of various professions.
• Demographic - includes communication between different age, racial, and gender groups.
• Family – interaction within a circle of family ties.
• Religious – interaction or conflicts based on religious beliefs and beliefs.
• On the basis of the territorial-settlement sphere, interaction between newcomers and permanent residents occurs.

Social interaction manifests itself as the connection of an individual with another individual, and the connection of each with the common world.

There are various forms of interaction.

According to P. Sorokin’s structure, they are distinguished as follows:

• By duration: long-term and short-term.
• By the number of participants: single, between two parties and multilateral.
• Organized and spontaneous.
• Conscious and unconscious.
• Intellectual, emotional and strong-willed.
• Actual and possible.

In each sphere, all basic types and types of interaction are possible. The formation of the human personality is manifested in the harmonious relationship between the mental and physiological capabilities of the body.

The realization of an individual in society is possible with a sufficient level of psychological energy, which determines his performance. At the same time, flexibility and mental stability allows you to adequately assess the environment and find ways to mutually beneficial cooperation.

Features and examples of interpersonal relationships

The social interaction of people has a number of features:

• Interpersonal relationships are strongly influenced by evaluative emotions, including unconscious ones. This applies not only to close relationships, but also to formal, business ones.
• Each of the parties involved in the interaction acts as a unique individual, who has his own character traits and social status.
• Relationships are characterized by gradual development with various types of communication - they are not spontaneous.
• The nature of interpersonal communication is changing. It is not static and can transform in the exact opposite direction, improve or worsen.

Psychological theories and schools

Various psychological schools present their theories of relationship development.

The main ones accepted in common practice are:

The following theories are also widespread:

• symbolic interactionism (J. Mead, G. Bloomer);

• theory of motivation (A. Maslow);
• theory of impression management (E. Goffman);
• interaction registration scheme (R. Bales).

Communication goals

Interaction between people is never aimless. In any case, it is based on the motives that each of the interlocutors pursues personally for himself.

By delving into a conversation, one person can carry on a conversation with an opponent, guided by his own motive. The other will at the same time have his own interest, for the sake of which he devoted time to this conversation.

The goals of communication are:

• desire to meet or establish relationships;
• provide help or ask for it from the interlocutor;
• find a partner for further interaction or conduct of activities, as well as receive sympathy and an emotional response;
• the opportunity to self-actualize or establish yourself, express your feelings, show skills;
• to introduce another person to beliefs, opinions, educate, train;
• change personal intentions, views on familiar events.

An individual chooses a partner for communication based on similar interests in hobbies and activities, proximity to certain moral qualities, physical characteristics, appearance, and level of intelligence.

What motives a person pursues depends on character, temperament, family upbringing, age, and life experience.

Diagnostics

Interaction in psychology is a broad area of ​​research in the field of interpersonal relationships in various spheres of human activity. With the help of test diagnostics, psychologists help determine the personal characteristics of an individual, his greatest strengths and formulate ways to achieve goals.

Research in the field of interpersonal relationships and communications allows us to optimally build profitable interaction in any field of activity.

• The Timothy Leary Questionnaire is a diagnostic of interpersonal relationships that allows you to determine a person’s self-image and to evaluate him from others. The test consists of 128 judgments. Of these, in the first circle you need to select those that correspond to a person’s idea of ​​himself, in the second – to his ideas about the ideal image. The result is provided in graphical form.
• The Thomas -Kilman Test of Behavior in Conflict Situations is designed to measure an individual’s interaction style and also identify predispositions to create or resolve conflicts. The test contains 30 pairs of situations from which you need to choose the one that is most typical for the individual.
• Tests by Viktor Boyko determine the presence and degree of negative communicative attitudes that are formed as a result of negative experiences of interactions or pronounced negative emotionality. The test's 25 questions require sincere "yes" or "no" answers.

• R. Girshfield's test diagnoses dependence in interpersonal interaction in various spheres: partnership, love, family. The test consists of 48 questions, to which 4 possible answers are given.
• The Berry and Janae Weinhold scale was developed to assess interdependence in relationships. The test consists of 20 questions.
• T. Bant's manipulative attitude scale allows us to identify the attitude towards an interaction partner as a means of achieving personal goals, without taking into account his will and desires. The test consists of 20 questions about judgments about people around you.

These and other tests are used by practicing psychologists. Many are provided on websites; you can go through them individually for free. In this case, a simplified interpretation of the result is provided. If you take a serious approach to the situation, it is worth getting advice and more detailed explanations from practicing specialists.

You can undergo psychological diagnostics at psychological assistance centers. Services are provided both upon individual request and for collective research within the company. Prices for services vary, depending on requests. The approximate minimum cost of consultation is in the range of 1200-1500 rubles.

Management methods

Interaction management is possible with the help of various trainings and psychological exercises. Their goal is to remove internal barriers and develop communication skills.

Many teams of trainers are working on creating special exercises. Exercises teach you how to manage the flow of a conversation and how to introduce yourself. Below are some examples of exercises that are used in interaction management training.

Exercises from the training:

"Tell about…"

This exercise is used for deeper personal disclosure and for getting to know each other.

Conducted in a group. Each of the training participants chooses any personal item and characterizes himself on behalf of this item. Other objects may ask him questions about its owner.

"In other words"

During this lesson, speech flexibility is trained, the ability to convey the same thought in your own words.

All participants in the game are divided into teams of 4 people. The goal of the game: to convey a simple phrase given by the presenter in a chain, without changing its meaning, but without using a single word in its exact form. Ultimately, 4 new phrases should be formed, exact in meaning, but from different words. The team that completes this task faster wins.

Exercises from Klaus Vopel:

"Who reminds whom"

It often happens that it is difficult for a new group to communicate with someone due to the fact that the person, in some way, resembles an already familiar person from a close circle. Subconsciously, the attitude towards him develops according to the evoked association. The exercise is carried out at the beginning of acquaintance with a member of the group.

Each participant is given 3 minutes to identify a person similar to someone significant to him. This person needs to be given a card on which to indicate who he resembles and the main features of a significant person. During the discussion, a closer acquaintance occurs, coincidences and discrepancies between the real and the represented are revealed.

"Self-disclosure"

Interaction in a group also depends on how individual members are able to reveal themselves in the group. During the training, everyone independently assesses their ability to open up. The results obtained are discussed and compared with the opinions of other group members about this individual.

In psychology and sociology, the science of interaction plays a large role. Effective communication is the basis of various areas of human life, from personal relationships to interactions for career growth.

Forms of social interaction

For man as a social being, communication is vital. Even a writer who has secluded himself from everyone (in search of inspiration for writing a book) can still be considered an example of the process of interaction between people, because this implies communication between the author and future readers.

The following forms of communication exist:

• Friendship. It implies a fairly close interaction between psychologically close people. Both experience joy and pleasure.
• Love. Very close interaction of an intimate nature. Gives impetus to mutual personal growth.
• Communication between students in a group or in some circles.
• Interaction between employees of the work team.
• Intersection and communication in psychological support groups.

Psychology distinguishes the processes of interaction between people into official and informal, business and interpersonal. In general, building relationships is a rather complex process that requires a subtle approach. Many factors influence this, and the main thing you need to be able to do is establish social contacts.

Establishing good interpersonal communication in a group is not very easy. What is needed here is a person with strong leadership qualities who will be able to smooth out rough edges and set the team up for work correctly. Without this, the group may simply fall apart.

In business circles there are also people who easily establish friendly relationships with others. Such individuals, as a rule, are distinguished by developed emotional intelligence and have good communication skills. Social leadership is inherent in them by nature, and they make excellent managers (if certain qualities are purposefully developed).