To be successful social beings, humans need to be flexible and highly adaptable to an ever-changing environment. They have to face social problems, difficulties in personal relationships, conflicts in the workplace and many other scenarios, each of which requires an individual approach and solution [FootHills Academy, 2020].
Often people who lack this quality react to different events that happen to them in exactly the same way. They choose one, well-known pattern for all occasions. Unfortunately, such tactics often fail. Cognitive flexibility can help in this case - a person’s ability to change habitual strategies to achieve the necessary goals.
We will talk about what cognitive flexibility is, why it is needed and whether it can be developed in this article.
What is cognitive flexibility?
Cognitive flexibility is a person’s ability to quickly switch necessary mechanisms when moving from one subject of discussion to another, change the usual way of thinking depending on the situation, abandon habitual but ineffective behavioral patterns and adapt behavior and style of thoughts to the environment.
Cognitive flexibility manifests itself in two main ways:
- The ability to think about several things at once.
- The ability to change thinking based on changing expectations or demands [FootHills Academy, 2020].
The life of every person is filled with examples of the manifestation of cognitive flexibility. It can manifest itself even in ordinary little things, for example, in choosing what to eat for breakfast instead of the usual omelet with coffee, or how to get to work if the car suddenly finds itself in repair. Flexible thinking is necessary to find answers to serious and global questions regarding, for example, choosing an educational institution or a future place of work [CogniFit, 2021].
When children are asked to think about multiple concepts at once or change their approach to solving a problem, they also need to demonstrate flexible thinking [FootHills Academy, 2020].
Cognitive flexibility is considered a key aspect of management, which affects the speed of reaction to any changes, as well as the mental processes that allow a person to plan, concentrate, remember instructions and perform multiple tasks simultaneously.
Cognitive flexibility adjusts a person's behavior in a certain way in accordance with the changing environment. It allows him to work effectively to distract himself from the previous task, reconfigure a new set of responses to complete the current task. Cognitive control exists to automatically or intentionally switch ways of thinking in situations that require variability. It is necessary to resist the impulse to continue thinking in a familiar, but no longer appropriate, style.
Flexible thinking depends on the context of the situation. Often, behaviors and mindsets that are appropriate in one setting or academic discipline may be completely inappropriate in another. People who demonstrate advanced cognitive flexibility can easily switch between subjects and tasks and successfully perform tasks that require them to apply learning in one area to solve problems in another context.
It is impossible to overestimate the importance of cognitive flexibility in a person's life. It has a number of advantages, namely:
- promotes quick learning and easy adaptation in conditions of change;
- improves long-term and short-term memory;
- allows you to adequately withstand any, even the most negative, environmental changes, which, in turn, forms high stress resistance;
- promotes the development of creative abilities;
- allows you to find a way out of many situations, since it provides several alternative solutions;
- provides prevention of Alzheimer's disease, senile dementia and many other brain diseases;
- improves a person's communication skills;
- allows you to set goals better and more carefully and achieve them;
- promotes communication with other people by helping to take into account their values, beliefs, points of view, ideas and views.
When a person performs a complex task, his behavior must be adapted to the conditions of the environment in which the task is performed. However, these conditions continue to change as the task itself evolves, so to be flexible, he must pay attention to them regularly. To adapt his behavior to changed realities, he needs to restructure his knowledge to effectively interpret the new situation and new task requirements [International encyclopedia of ergonomics and human factors, 2006].
Thus, cognitive flexibility depends on attentional processes and knowledge representation. When detecting any changes in the need for a non-standard reaction, a higher level of attention control is required when a person evaluates new conditions and plans the necessary actions.
Text of the book “Personal and professional development of teachers: strategies, resources, risks”
The most complete, in our opinion, is the definition of flexibility of thinking proposed by N. A. Menchinskaya (1966). According to the scientist, this quality is manifested in the appropriate variation of methods of action, in the ease of restructuring existing knowledge and transition from one action to another, in overcoming the inertia of the previous action, in the formation of feedback, in the freedom of restructuring in images created in accordance with the conditions of the task, put forward hypotheses. The results of N. A. Menchinskaya’s research allow us to consider this phenomenon not only as the ability to move from one action to another, but also as the possibility of a multifaceted reflection of the conditions of the task, which significantly expands the characteristics of flexibility. The author highlighted the following manifestations of flexibility of thinking:
1) approach to the task as a problem, appropriate variation of methods of action;
2) the ease of restructuring knowledge or skills and their systems in accordance with changed conditions;
3) ability to switch, or ease of transition from one mode of action to another.
Z. I. Kalmykova (1981) defines flexibility (dynamism) as the resolution of contradictions between updated knowledge and the requirements of a problem situation, the originality of solutions, their originality.
V. A. Krutetsky (1968, 1971) considers this phenomenon as a component of mathematical abilities, resulting from the basic characteristics of mathematical thinking. According to the author, flexibility of thinking is expressed in an easy and free switching from one mental operation to another, qualitatively different, in a variety of aspects in the approach to solving problems, in freedom from the constraining influence of template and cliched solutions, in the ease of restructuring existing thinking patterns and patterns actions. Based on these studies, we can conclude that in order to demonstrate flexibility of thinking, the subject must have certain knowledge, mastery of methods of action, systems of mental operations.
An approach to the psychological essence of flexibility of thinking is also outlined in studies devoted to creative thinking, in which flexibility is considered as its necessary component, although it is not specifically studied.
The ideas of S. L. Rubinstein (1958) that the creative nature of thinking is manifested in the ability to see a problem in a new light, consider it from different points of view, correlate it with already known knowledge, leads to an understanding of the flexibility of mental activity as the possibility of a multifaceted reflection by the subject of the original conditions of the problem, allowing you to highlight the properties, connections of objects, change the functional relationships of the elements of the situation.
A. M. Matyushkin, Ya. A. Ponomarev, Yu. N. Kulyutkin, G. S. Sukhobskaya isolate the components of creative thinking, which are indicators of the manifestation of flexibility of thinking. These include the skills: to see a problem in familiar conditions, to abandon an incorrect hypothesis, to find new connections and relationships between objects, to develop new methods of action or to creatively use old ones.
Individual characteristics associated with the nature of decision-making manifest themselves as flexibility of mental actions or, conversely, as their inertia. This parameter “flexibility - inertia” reflects a change in previous methods of action, a change in old hypotheses and plans if they no longer correspond to the real conditions of activity. Research conducted by Yu. N. Kulyutkin and G. S. Sukhobskaya (1990) reveals a direct connection between general emotional lability, manifested in a person’s temperament, character, and the style of mental activity (flexibility, mobility). For example, sharp emotional shifts that occur in unbalanced people during moments of conflict cause rigid methods of action and make it difficult to transition to new behavior programs.
In the works of A. Newell, D. Shaw, G. Simon, D. Anderson, factors of creative thinking are highlighted, among which various types of flexibility of thinking are noted:
– originality, the ability to produce “unusual”;
– the ability to rethink the functions of an object, the use of these functions in new conditions;
– adaptive flexibility, the ability to unlimitedly change the direction of action in connection with a problem situation;
– resourcefulness;
– independence of judgment;
– intuition;
- high efficiency;
– easy to learn;
– initiative, perseverance in achieving goals.
Despite the fact that the authors use the term “flexibility,” they do not explain the psychological conditions and factors in the formation of this phenomenon.
A unique approach to the study of the phenomenon under consideration is the study of O. N. Garnets (1979), who connects flexibility with the personality traits of an individual. The author identifies two qualitatively different levels of flexibility:
– level of induced flexibility
, in which the individual must go beyond an adequate response to a stimulus;
– level of spontaneous flexibility
, when turning to a new method of action occurs outside of a deadlock situation on the initiative of the individual himself, whose behavior is determined by the properties of his personality - criticality, initiative, constant focus on the creative implementation of the actions being carried out.
An experimental study by N. S. Efimova, carried out under our leadership, showed that intellectual flexibility is a combination of two groups of psychological characteristics of a teacher’s personality, combined into blocks:
– intellectual variability, providing a variety of ideas, ease of transition from one class of phenomena to another (social courage, activity, tendency to experiment, search, research);
– intellectual stability, ensuring the stability of the manifested characteristics (autonomy, the ability to have one’s own opinion, independence from the group, stable cognitive needs, the presence of values inherent in a self-actualizing personality).
Thus, analysis of the literature gives us the opportunity to differentiate the concepts of “flexibility of thinking” and “intellectual flexibility”.
Under the flexibility of thinking
we understand
the procedural property of intelligence, ensuring its operational activity
,
characterized by the presence of certain knowledge, methods of action, and a system of mental operations in the subject
.
Intellectual flexibility is an invariant personal characteristic that represents an optimal combination of intellectual variability and intellectual stability
.
The psychological condition for the development of intellectual flexibility is to increase the level of self-awareness of the teacher, mainly its cognitive component - self-knowledge.
Behavioral flexibility
Since the pedagogical activity of a modern teacher is carried out in dynamic, unexpected, ambiguous and multifunctional situations, the teacher faces problems associated with the contradiction between the need to think and act in a new way and the insufficient formation of certain personal structures. We are talking, first of all, about the development of behavioral flexibility
, i.e., the ability to abandon modes of behavior that do not correspond to the situation and develop new original, creative approaches to resolving problem situations while maintaining the same goals and moral foundations of the profession.
As is known, behavior in modern psychology is usually understood as such manifestations of human mental activity as:
– individual movements and gestures;
– external manifestations of physiological processes associated with the state, activity, communication of people (posture, facial expressions, glances, etc.);
– actions that convey a certain meaning;
– actions that have social significance and are associated with norms of behavior.
It should be noted that the world around a person can be both constant and changeable, therefore, dual requirements are imposed on human behavior: on the one hand, it must be stable, and on the other, dynamic. This fully applies to the professional behavior of a teacher, which must harmoniously combine both stable stereotypes based on fixed ideas and non-standard and original actions in problematic pedagogical situations. The flexibility of a teacher's behavior also depends on internal mental processes. Therefore, by behavioral flexibility we understand the variety of manifested external and internal forms of activity that are adequate to current situations.
Unfortunately, it is widely known and empirically proven that the behavior, rules of life and communication of a significant number of teachers are distinguished by conservatism, authoritarianism, permeated with conventions, devoid of spontaneity, spontaneity, creativity, which leads to professional deformations of the teacher’s personality and many psychosomatic diseases mentioned above .
Behavioral flexibility is directly related to self-regulation. Skillful, conscious and purposeful activity of a teacher can only be ensured by a sufficiently developed system of voluntary regulation of actions, i.e. self-regulation skills used to coordinate the “baggage” of mental means when carrying out activities (O. A. Konopkin, 1980, 2011; A. K Osnitsky, 2007). Otherwise, difficulties arise in the professional activity of the teacher and his personal development.
Behavioral flexibility is formed and developed along with the improvement of both the self-regulation system as a whole and its individual interacting components, which include determining the purpose of the activity, analyzing and identifying significant conditions; choosing the best method and sequence of actions, evaluating the results and correcting them. These components are subordinated to the human-conscious process of goal setting and goal implementation (A.K. Osnitsky, 1991, 2007).
Thanks to the development and improvement of the self-regulation system, teachers develop a set of private, but no less important self-regulation skills: the ability to set goals, linking them for a long time with the organization of their own efforts; analyze the conditions and highlight the most significant ones for achieving the goal; choose methods of action and organize their consistent implementation; evaluate intermediate and final results of activities, selecting the most appropriate evaluation criteria for this; correct mistakes. Like all developed skills, they can be subject to conscious control. On the basis of conscious mental self-regulation, socially mediated mechanisms for managing the individually acquired arsenal of direct sensory and mediated experience are formed. For teachers, these mechanisms can become an effective means of developing behavioral flexibility.
In a study by K. A. Avetisyan, carried out under our leadership, it was shown that behavioral flexibility is a characteristic of a teacher’s personality, representing a combination of individual behavior patterns and variable ways of role interaction.
The psychological condition for the development of a teacher’s behavioral flexibility is to increase the level of the behavioral component of self-awareness - the possibilities of self-regulation, and the organizational and pedagogical condition is specially designed psychological training. 3.3.
Increasing the level of self-awareness as a fundamental condition for the professional development of a teacher The basis for the development of a person’s inner world is formed by processes associated primarily with the self-awareness of the individual as a fundamental condition for a person’s creative realization of his own goals and values. This is the highest, personal level of human existence in society and history. That is why his professional self-awareness should be considered as a fundamental condition for a teacher’s professional development.
An analysis of modern research on the problems of self-awareness in Russian psychology shows that they mainly touch on three groups of issues:
– philosophical, methodological, historical and cultural aspects of self-awareness (personal responsibility, moral choice, moral self-awareness) (A. G. Spirkin, A. I. Titarenko, etc.);
– general psychological aspects in the context of the problem of personality development (L. I. Bozhovich, I. I. Chesnokova, E. V. Shorokhova, etc.);
– social-perceptual aspects (features of self-esteem, their relationship with the assessments of others, with self-knowledge and knowledge of other people) (I.V. Vachkov, A.V. Zakharova, A.I. Lipkina, V.V. Stolin, etc.) .
The problems of the emergence of self-awareness, its structure and level organization are of greatest interest to domestic psychologists. Thus, I. I. Chesnokova (1977, 1997) proposes to distinguish between two levels of self-awareness (according to the criterion of the framework within which knowledge about oneself is correlated).
At the first level, it is carried out within the framework of a comparison of Self and Other, when a certain quality is perceived and comprehended first in another person, and then transferred to oneself. The corresponding internal techniques of self-awareness are mainly self-perception and self-observation.
At the second level, this correlation occurs in the process of autocommunication, i.e. within the framework of I - I. A person operates with ready-made knowledge about himself, to some extent formed, received at different times and in different situations. Introspection and self-awareness are indicated as a specific internal technique of self-awareness. At this level, a person correlates his behavior with the motivation that he realizes, and also evaluates the motives themselves from the point of view of social and internal requirements. Self-awareness reaches its highest development when forming life plans and goals, life philosophy in general, one’s social value, and self-esteem.
The level concept of self-image is formulated somewhat differently by I. S. Kon (1978, 1984). The author is based on the theory of dispositional regulation of social behavior by V. A. Yadov, according to which the image in the holistic Self is understood as a system of attitudes consisting of cognitive, affective and behavioral components. The lower level of the self-image consists of “unconscious attitudes, represented only in experience, traditionally associated in psychology with “well-being” and emotional attitude towards oneself; higher are the awareness and self-esteem of individual properties and qualities; then these private self-evaluations are combined into a relatively holistic image; and finally, this very image of the Self fits into the general system of value orientations of the individual associated with his awareness of the goals of his life and the means necessary to achieve these goals” (I. S. Kon, 1978, pp. 72, 73).
According to V.V. Stolin (1983), self-awareness is realized at three levels: in the system of organic activity of the subject; in the system of his collective objective activity and the relations determined by it; in the system of his personal development associated with the multiplicity of his activities.
Let us note that much of the ideas about the level structure of self-consciousness are close to our own views, developed below. This also applies to the thesis that well-being characterizes the “lower floor” of the self-image, and the position about changing the “framework” of correlating knowledge about oneself as a criterion for changing self-awareness, and the thesis that awareness of the motives and meaning of life, as well as inscription The self-image into the general system of value orientations of the individual characterizes the highest level of personal development (stage of self-realization).
In the 1950s problems of self-awareness have taken a central place in Western psychology - the humanistic, or phenomenalistic, direction.
Proponents of this movement - A. Maslow, K. Rogers, A. Combs and others - turn to the holistic human self and its personal self-determination in the microsocial environment. They believe that a person's behavior should be considered as an external manifestation of his inner world, that the main reasons for behavior lie in people's emotions, attitudes, beliefs, values, hopes, perceptions and aspirations.
The interactionist school (L. Cooley, G. Mead, etc.) is characterized by a socially oriented view of the human problem. Representatives of this movement believe that the individual, like society as a whole, is a product of role-based interaction between people. “The interactionist approach is characterized by the belief that human nature and social order are the product of communication,” writes the theorist of this direction T. A. Shibutani (1969, p. 26). However, we cannot completely agree with this, since it is the social system that determines both the entire set of social roles “played” by people and their objective meaning. At the same time, interactionists rightly point out that a person’s self-awareness and value orientation seem to mirror the reactions of the people around him. Under the influence of the mechanism of mutual communication, the formation of the individual’s self-concept occurs.
In relation to the development of self-awareness in humans, interactionists have been able to identify factors that are significant, but far from sufficient for understanding this extremely complex process. They were only interested in microsocial dynamics, and the macrosocial aspects of personality development remained unnoticed in their theory. In addition, as I. S. Kon rightly notes, they leave in the shadows “the biological foundations of individuality” (I. S. Kon, 1978, p. 48).
This lack of interactionism is filled in the theory of E. Erikson (1982), which explores the formation of the conscious self of an individual as a biosocial being. The scientist considers the development of personality and its self-awareness as a successive change of stages that have not only somatic, but also qualitative emotional features. E. Erikson's theory describes eight stages of personal development, at each of which the individual inevitably experiences a certain crisis, marking a new turning point in his formation as a member of society. The prospects for favorable personal development depend on the psychological baggage with which a child or adolescent enters the next stage of their life journey.
At the same time, E. Erikson defends a narrow view of education, considering it as a process of switching antisocially colored impulses in the direction of civilizing social restrictions, and does not address the issue of the meaningful value orientation of the individual in the modern world as the true task of education. In fact, E. Erikson’s theory reveals the process of formation of a person’s self-awareness in an individual psychological, but not in a personal sense.
R. Burns (1989), considering the psychoformative influence on personality, emphasizes the role of parental influence in the life of a child and adolescent. In the educational process, mutual penetration of the self-concept of adults and children occurs. However, in the theory of R. Burns, the question of the socio-ethical, spiritual and cultural content of the feelings and attitudes of teachers and parents in the process of education remains in the shadows. The social environment is considered by him only in terms of the direct adaptation of the child or adolescent to it. The fact remains obscured that the social existence of society and the moral values affirmed by it are refracted in the individual.
Summarizing the brief overview of foreign theories given above, it is necessary to recognize the enormous contribution that Western psychologists (R. Burns, K. Rogers, etc.) made to the development of practical aspects of the development of individual self-awareness.
Returning to the works of Russian authors, we emphasize that in Russian psychology there is a generally accepted point of view according to which the development of an individual’s self-awareness occurs primarily under the influence of social consciousness, the worldview prevailing in society, moral and aesthetic norms. Therefore, the development of a teacher’s self-awareness depends on society’s attitude towards him. As long as the teacher is classified as a worker of unproductive labor, he will be treated as a person who does not produce values. Meanwhile, the development of students’ personality is not only one of the main, but also one of the most labor-intensive areas of spiritual production in society. The social position of a teacher largely determines his attitude towards himself, towards his student, and towards his profession.
As we can see, in many psychological theories the problem of self-awareness is one of the central ones. At the same time, there is still no universal definition of this concept, nor unity in terminology. Terms that some authors use to designate self-awareness as a whole (“Self-concept”, “Self-image”), others use to designate its individual aspects.
Most researchers of this problem tend to understand by self-awareness a person’s awareness of himself as an individual, and by the expansion of self-awareness - the expansion of the sphere of self-awareness. We adhere to the point of view of a number of authors, according to which self-awareness is, first of all, a process through which a person knows himself and relates to himself. But self-awareness is also characterized by its product - a self-image, a self-concept, which arises in a person in the process of social interaction as an inevitable and always unique result of mental development, as a relatively stable and at the same time mental acquisition subject to internal changes and fluctuations. It leaves an indelible imprint on all manifestations of a person’s life - from childhood to old age.
Thus, self-awareness is a dynamic system of a person’s ideas about himself, his awareness of his physical, intellectual and other qualities, self-esteem of these qualities, as well as subjective perception of external factors influencing this personality.
Self-awareness is formed in the process of socialization and education, but it also has certain somatic and individual-natural determinants. With age, the needs of the individual develop; it is in them and through them that a person manifests himself and his self-awareness changes accordingly. In turn, self-awareness serves as feedback. In contrast to situational self-images (how an individual sees and feels himself at a given moment in time), self-awareness creates in a person a feeling of his certainty and self-identity. This is what the dialectic of the formation and manifestation of self-awareness looks like in general terms.
Despite the abundance of works devoted to the study of the problem of individual self-awareness, in our opinion, researchers have not paid due attention to the issue of the formation of professional self-awareness. Despite the fact that there is a certain range of works that analyze various aspects of professional self-awareness of schoolchildren (V.D. Bragina, 1976; M.V. Retivykh, 2005, 2010; P.A. Shavir, 1981), vocational school students (V . I. Mironova, 1985), university students (A. A. Vorontsova, 2010; E. G. Efremov, 2000; Yu. V. Lazareva, 2017; E. I. Rogov, 2014; T. N. Fam, 1989 ; V. A. Shvetsova, 2012; T. V. Shtykova, 2015; S. O. Shchelina, 2014), workers (E. M. Borisova, G. P. Loginova, 1991), group psychotherapists (S. R. Kaliteevskaya, V. I. Ilyicheva, 1995; M. V. Molokanov, 1994), professionals (A. A. Angelovsky, 2010, 2011; S. T. Dzhaneryan, 2004, 2005; D. N. Zavalishina, 2005; T L. Mironova, 1999), this problem requires further comprehensive study.
There are several approaches to understanding professional identity. For example, B. D. Parygin (1971) puts into this concept a person’s awareness of his belonging to a certain professional group. V.D. Bragina (1976) places the main emphasis on knowledge and self-esteem of professional qualities and attitude towards them. P. A. Shavir (1981) interprets it as a selective activity of individual self-awareness, subordinate to the task of professional self-determination; awareness of oneself as a subject of one’s professional activity. It is obvious that such interpretations of the term “professional identity” do not contradict each other, but rather complement each other, reflecting various aspects of this broad concept.
E. A. Klimov (2003) identified the following components in professional self-awareness:
– awareness of one’s belonging to a certain professional community;
– an idea of the degree of one’s compliance with professional standards, one’s place in the system of professional “roles”, “on the scale” of social positions;
– a person’s knowledge of the degree of his recognition in a professional group;
– knowledge of your strengths and weaknesses, ways of improvement, probable zones of success and failure, individual methods of successful action, your most successful “handwriting”, style of work;
– an idea of yourself and your work in the future (“I am in the future”) (obviously, this generalization is limited only to the cognitive sphere, without affecting emotions, meanings and actions).
Following the research of V.N. Koziev, published in 1980, a number of works appeared devoted to the professional self-awareness of a teacher (E.I. Belous, 2010; E.M. Bobrova, 1989; S.V. Vaskovskaya, 1987; I V. Vachkov, 2002, 2007; E. I. Isaev, S. G. Kosaretsky, V. I. Slobodchikov, 2000; L. M. Mitina, 1990, 2010; I. E. Molostova, 2015; V. P Savrasov, 1986; A. I. Shutenko, 1994). V. N. Koziev considers this phenomenon as a central element of pedagogical skill, which primarily carries out the regulating function of the teacher’s activity. V.P. Savrasov understands a teacher’s professional self-awareness as the result of reflecting the teacher’s position as a subject of management in the process of teaching and educating schoolchildren, as a result of the teacher’s awareness of the professionally significant qualities of his or her self. According to our ideas, a teacher’s professional self-awareness is not limited to the cognitive aspect. The richness, versatility and emotional richness of pedagogical activity force a teacher who closely studies himself as a professional to not only realize the presence or absence of certain professionally significant qualities, but also to form a certain self-attitude, experience a feeling of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with his work, and deeply emotionally experience compliance own image I have an ideal image of myself as a teacher. As a result of these processes, the self-regulatory function of the teacher’s professional self-awareness is realized.
Psychological analysis of professional self-awareness inevitably includes the question of its structure. Knowledge of structure and functions is necessary for the targeted formation, change and expansion of the teacher’s self-awareness.
In the book “Acmeological foundations of professional self-awareness” A. A. Dergach, O. V. Moskalenko and a number of other scientists identify structural and functional components in professional self-awareness. The first, in their opinion, includes self-image, self-esteem and behavioral reactions. The functional components are cognitive (realized in self-knowledge), motivational (realized in self-actualization), emotional (realized in self-understanding) and operational (realized in self-regulation).
A. K. Markova (1993) believes that the teacher’s professional pedagogical self-awareness, by which she understands the complex of teacher’s ideas about himself as a professional, includes the following components:
1. The teacher’s awareness of the norms, rules, model of his profession (requirements for teaching activities and communication, for the individual) as standards for understanding his qualities.
2. Awareness of the presence of these qualities in other people, comparison of oneself with a certain averagely qualified professional - both abstract and in the image of one’s professional colleague.
3. Taking into account the teacher’s assessment of his professionalism from other people - students, colleagues, management, expectations from others.
4. Self-assessment by the teacher of certain aspects of his work.
5. The teacher’s positive assessment of himself as a whole, identification of his positive qualities, prospects, creation of a positive self-concept.
The proposed list of components of professional self-awareness covers all its aspects, but their connection with the structure of self-awareness remains unclear.
According to I.V. Vachkov (2002, 2007), the psychological condition for the development of the polysubject “teacher - students” is to increase the level of self-awareness of the subjects of the educational environment included in this polysubject, i.e. teachers and students. The author identifies the following levels of self-awareness of the subject: situational-pragmatic, egocentric, stereotype-dependent, subject-accepting and subject-universal, the criteria for identifying which are centering, manifestation of independence, direction of activity and the degree of acceptance of the other.
Since the concept of personal self-awareness is generic for professional self-awareness, then, apparently, we can talk about the coincidence of the general principles of development, patterns, mechanisms and structure of these two categories.
The structure of a teacher’s professional self-awareness in general terms coincides with the structure of an individual’s self-awareness and represents an intersecting and complementary combination of three substructures: cognitive, affective and behavioral.
Of course, this does not exclude, but, on the contrary, implies the manifestation of specific features of the development of a teacher’s professional self-awareness as a special case of the self-awareness of the individual as a whole. Therefore, it makes sense, when exploring a teacher’s professional self-awareness, to rely on the studied properties and characteristics of an individual’s self-awareness and look for the special specifics of their manifestation.
The content characteristics of each substructure of a teacher’s professional self-awareness include specific characteristics that determine the teacher’s self-development and implementation in professional activities.
We understand the professional identity of the teacher
as
a teacher’s awareness of himself in each of the three components of the space of pedagogical work: in the system of his professional activity, in the system of pedagogical communication and in the system of his own personality
.
Based on this understanding, we propose to consider the following structure of a teacher’s professional self-awareness.
The cognitive component (I-understanding) of a teacher’s professional self-awareness consists of three elements: the teacher’s awareness of himself in the system of pedagogical activity, in the system of interpersonal relationships determined by this activity, and in the system of his personal development associated with activity and communication.
Personal component
is responsible for understanding and comprehending oneself in situations where professionally significant personal qualities of a teacher or their absence act as an obstacle to one’s own activity or, conversely, a condition that facilitates active self-realization. Thus, the personal component of self-awareness ensures the self-development of the individual, that is, his need to realize, reveal and expand his creative capabilities.
What is cognitive rigidity?
Cognitive flexibility goes through different stages of development. As an infant exploring the world, a person already begins to train flexible thinking and continues to do so. Its full formation occurs around the age of 20, but can continue until the end of life, provided that the person does not stop learning and learning something new.
The prefrontal lobe of the brain is responsible for this function, the development and maturation of which takes longer than all other zones in time. For example, young children often throw tantrums over the loss of a toy, because they have not yet learned to see other alternatives or solutions to the situation [CogniFit, 2021].
Although flexibility can be an adaptive ability in humans, this adaptation does not always occur. It is important for a person to be flexible in order to cope with changes in the environment, but when he does not have the opportunity to do this, we can talk about cognitive rigidity, which arises from the brain's attempts to maintain stability and certainty [International encyclopedia of ergonomics and human factors, 2006].
An example of a lack of flexible thinking is when actions that have proven effective in previous situations are persistently performed in new cases, even when they are not at all effective. For example, continuing to persistently pull the door towards you, unsuccessfully trying to open it, instead of trying to push it away from you or find the key to unlock the lock.
Rigidity can often be observed in people:
- with low concentration;
- those who have received a traumatic brain injury;
- have had a stroke;
- those suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder and other neuropsychiatric disorders;
- in older people suffering from diseases caused by brain aging.
Such people, as a rule, find it difficult to find alternative ways to solve familiar problems and adapt to changes. Adapting to change is much more difficult for them than for others.
This violation can lead to deviations in a person’s behavior - he will get stuck on the wrong emotions and continue to use useless and sometimes destructive strategies.
A scientific view of emotions
The brain consists of two main structures.
The first is the limbic system, which controls emotions and behaviors and triggers the sympathetic nervous system response when we are under stress. It's part of the fight-or-flight response, an instinctive physiological pathway the brain takes to try to protect us if it senses we're in danger.
Have you ever felt nervous before an important presentation? — say thank you to the limbic system for jitters and sweaty palms. If you were cut off by some reckless driver on the highway, and your cheeks began to burn and your heart began to pound wildly, it was the limbic system that felt a threat. In general, this reaction helps us survive.
But the second system, the prefrontal cortex, has gone through a longer evolutionary path. If someone advises us to “think with our heads,” they most likely mean it—the conscious part of the brain, thanks to which we know how to reason, delay gratification, and sense the meaning behind emotions.
The limbic system is important because it is responsible for survival, but if it controls behavior for too long, problems can arise:
“When caught in the grip of fear, anxiety, depression, or chronic stress, a person is unable to make a realistic assessment of the situation,” writes Dave Gray, author and visual thinking coach. “In this case, the prefrontal cortex “turns off.” Creative thinking, resourcefulness—all high-level brain functions are suppressed.”
How to find balance?
If the limbic system in the brain acts as a gas pedal, then the prefrontal cortex is more of a brake: it helps to slow down, assess the situation and respond appropriately to emotions.
Learning to put on the psychological “brakes” is the first step towards emotional regulation (the ability to control the response to one’s own feelings) and an important stage in personal growth on the path to well-being.
Theories of cognitive flexibility
There are theories of cognitive flexibility that suggest that people who are able to view a task from different perspectives can easily interpret situational changes in the environment and therefore exhibit greater cognitive flexibility. Thus, they have the ability to quickly restructure their knowledge, thereby adapting their reactions to radically changing situational demands [International encyclopedia of ergonomics and human factors, 2006].
When a person lacks cognitive flexibility, he or she cannot cope with situational demands and will often act erroneously. For this reason, various fields of research have used this phenomenon to explain the errors of specific experts. Some authors have concluded that experts may be less cognitively flexible, and empirical research has shown that inflexibility and competence are inextricably linked [International encyclopedia of ergonomics and human factors, 2006].
Experts change their mental representations of problems less often than novices. When a person knows that he is skilled, he is less likely to change his strategy after discovering significant changes. Moreover, according to the researchers, it is experts who are less likely to detect such changes.
Some authors in the field of cognitive psychology advocate the opposite hypothesis. For example, one study found that an outstanding expert characteristic is the ability to manipulate multifaceted representations, which allows better adaptation to environmental changes and more effective transfer of knowledge between tasks [International encyclopedia of ergonomics and human factors, 2006].
Experts may have more difficulty paying attention to and perceiving environmental changes, but once they notice them, they can more effectively modify their mental representations to adapt their behavior to them.
Some theories suggest that cognitive flexibility depends on whether the environmental changes a person encounters are relevant to the particular strategy they developed during learning. Only those of them that are truly significant can influence his work.
This hypothesis is based on an ecological theory of expert knowledge known as the constraint binding hypothesis. She suggests that skill acquisition should be understood as adaptation to environmental constraints. People develop different strategies to adapt to these constraints, and each of them depends on various characteristics of the external world. Therefore, only those changes that affect the specific strategy used by a person can affect his performance [International encyclopedia of ergonomics and human factors, 2006].
Another theory of cognitive flexibility is the cultural-historical theory of the Russian scientist Lev Semenovich Vygotsky. He devoted his life to the study of psychology and pedagogy, paying special attention to the peculiarities of teaching children with developmental disorders. He was confident that any teacher in his work must be guided by psychological knowledge, which subsequently led to the emergence of such a branch of science as psychological pedagogy.
The scientist developed a theory of cognitive development, which, in his opinion, was presented as a natural process. Lev Semenovich identified cultural factors, for example, signs and language, as defining moments. He believed that the main source of human cognitive development is culture and the totality of “historically developed tools, systems of signs and other means of activity” [V.S. Goncharov, 2005].
Vygotsky is the author of a cultural-historical theory that assumes that all the child’s internal mental processes (attention, speech, thinking) are interconnected with the world around them. In his opinion, the child is able to assimilate a number of artificial stimuli, with the help of which he will subsequently control his behavior and attention.
Tests to determine cognitive flexibility
Flexibility testing is carried out in different fields: medicine, psychology, conflict management, sociology. We invite you to get acquainted with some of the most popular ones.
Stroop test
One of the simplest and most accessible is the Stroop test, which is often used in neuropsychological studies to measure response inhibition and cognitive flexibility. Doing well on a test requires strong concentration and self-regulation [SharpBrains, 2019].
The subject's task is to name the colors in which the words are written. It is important to read not the words themselves that represent the colors, but only the colors of the ink used to write them. For example, if the word "green" is printed in blue, the correct answer would be "blue".
An important element of the test is the time during which the test taker passes it without errors. You can try to do this online by typing “Stroop test online” into a search engine [SharpBrains, 2019].
Exercise "Alphabet"
Another great test of cognitive flexibility is the Alphabet exercise, which is also used to enter a state of high productivity. On a large sheet of whatman paper you need to draw a table, in each of the cells 2 letters will be written: in the upper part - a letter of the alphabet, in the lower part - one letter “P”, “L” or “O”.
The participants’ task is to read only the top letter, and respond to the second by raising their hands (“P” - right, “L” - left, or “O” - both). At first, the subjects get confused and confused, either calling the wrong letter or raising the wrong hand. But if you make such training permanent, then very soon you can read the entire alphabet without a single hesitation. For fans of the online format, the exercise is also available online.
Multitasking test
The subject's task is to follow the movement of the white ball, while paying attention to the words that appear in the center of the screen. As soon as the word that appears matches the color in which it is written, you must give an answer.
This task is aimed at testing attentiveness, hand-eye coordination, reaction speed and the ability to change strategy [CogniFit Research, 2021].
The advantage of these tests and exercises is their simplicity, convenience, and the fact that they can be used not only to determine the level of cognitive flexibility, but also to train it [FootHills Academy, 2020].
The Art of Emotional Flexibility
No one is born with the ability to self-regulate: babies can't sleep until they're rocked to sleep, and older kids can't calmly wait in line at the grocery store. Children communicate through emotions.
By school age, most of us already know how to restrain emotional reactions in difficult situations - by using positive thinking or being distracted by something.
We understand that we can control our emotions and that they do not have to control us - which is the most important aspect of well-being. It's fair to say that emotional regulation is a vital part of social maturation and one of the pillars of mental health.
However, simply overcoming emotional reactions and managing emotions
- this is not the same thing at all. Emotional regulation is aimed at preventing a negative reaction, and managing emotions helps to use them for personal and professional growth.
Psychologist and Harvard Medical School professor Susan David calls the practice of managing emotions through mindful interaction with them “emotional flexibility.”
“Unlike positive thinking and avoidance, which place excessive emphasis on thoughts, emotional flexibility is a set of skills based on the ability to perceive one’s emotions, label and understand them, and then move forward mindfully,” David writes.
“It is the ability to recognize stress and the ability to step out of it and decide how to act in a way that aligns with your personal values and goals.”
If emotional regulation is a science, then emotional flexibility is an art.
With the ability to strategically perceive and manage emotions, we can develop creative, communication and leadership abilities. Sociologist Joseph Grenny also writes about this.
He says, “The ability to recognize, shape, and control emotions is a fundamental skill that will help you deepen intimacy with loved ones, increase your influence at work, and develop the ability to turn ideas into results.”
How to improve cognitive flexibility?
Cognitive flexibility and cognitive rigidity are only a small part of the mental characteristics known to us. The human brain, despite thousands of studies, still remains one of the most mysterious and unexplored objects. You can lift the veil of secrecy a little and get acquainted with the pitfalls of our main body by completing the online program “Cognitive Science”. In it, we looked at the basic nuances of perception, the principles of how the brain works, and the main techniques and styles of thinking that will help you not only in your studies, but also in your work and personal life.
Research shows that cognitive training has a positive effect on neuroplasticity [CogniFit Research, 2021]. Fortunately, the ability to think flexibly can be developed. We have prepared some recommendations for you on how to do this.
Audit situations with repeating patterns
Try to track all the situations in which you repeat familiar, but perhaps no longer effective and expedient scenarios. To do this, ask yourself the following questions:
- What scenarios do I repeat most often?
- How often do I repeat them?
- Why am I doing this?
- What is the result of my actions?
- What alternative scenarios can I choose?
- What results will I get if I act differently?
Conduct such an audit regularly – at least once every six months. This way you can monitor ineffective algorithms in a timely manner and make adjustments to them.
Add variety to your usual rituals
Neuroplasticity develops through the emergence of new neural connections, which in turn are formed through learning unfamiliar scenarios. You can add variety to your usual routine quite easily without spending a lot of time and effort.
For example, you can choose a new dish for breakfast every day or take a variety of routes to get to work. Brushing your teeth or drawing with your unaccustomed hand is also great for developing the opposite hemisphere of the brain.
The more similar experiments you conduct, the more neural connections you will form, which, in turn, will have a beneficial effect on cognitive flexibility.
Play out different scenarios
Make it a rule that every time you encounter a new problem, think through at least three different options for solving it. This will develop your ability to look at a situation from different perspectives.
Speak out loud and model even the most incredible options. Brainstorming on any topic is perfect for this. You can also pause while watching a movie and try to simulate several outcomes of the scene you watched.
Expand your horizons
New activities and hobbies have a positive impact on the formation of flexible thinking. Fortunately, today there are a large number of free courses, trainings and educational videos on the Internet.
Make it a habit to read at least 30 minutes a day. And if you regularly add previously unknown topics to familiar and beloved literary genres, this will not only develop cognitive flexibility, but will also serve as an excellent protection against falling into the filter bubble.
Don't stop learning
The interdisciplinary knowledge gained during training will allow you to develop and strengthen the neural connections that are so necessary for the formation of flexible thinking. Moreover, numerous studies support the benefits of education in preventing brain diseases.
Use terminology or strategies used in one discipline to solve problems in another.
Use different ways to work and memorize material
When teaching new concepts or skills, try to present the content in more than one way. For example, use puns and riddles when teaching new words that reveal different contexts and meanings. When solving math problems, use number lines, diagrams, manipulatives, and real-world problems in addition to abstract written calculation strategies.
Work in teams
Use teamwork in peer learning strategies. Students who move easily from task to task can be excellent mentors for students who need a little help to get the job done.
Brainstorming sessions are also great for developing flexible thinking because they allow you to push the boundaries of what is familiar and look at familiar things in an unconventional way.
Four Pillars of NLP
Pillar One: Results
What do you want? This is a simple question, but one that most people almost never ask themselves. People go through life without any sense of direction, drifting from one event to another. However, understanding what you really want is a critical component of being able to achieve what you want. In everyday life we talk about the need for a clearly defined goal, but in NLP the term “result” is used. Knowing the outcome you want in any given situation is one of the pillars of NLP. Focusing on your desire helps you to correctly use all the resources at your disposal and direct them towards achieving your goal.
The results can be as small as learning a Christmas song or changing the bathroom rug. You may wish for more—to find the person of your dreams or retire at age 50 as a multimillionaire. People constantly strive for certain results related to different aspects of life. Some results can be achieved in a short time, while others require a much longer period of time.
Moreover, NLP helps to more accurately determine the desired results and make them “formalized”. You must clearly imagine the desired result in detail. Try to feel how you feel after implementing your plan. The better you imagine your desired outcome, the more likely you are to achieve it. We'll talk about well-formed results a little later.
Second Pillar: Sensory Acuity
This refers to the ability to observe and notice small details. Sensory acuity is the second pillar of NLP. You must be able to use your own senses in order to clearly understand what is happening inside and around you. We all have different visual and hearing acuities. We feel differently. Some people are exceptionally observant, while others are more focused on their own thoughts and feelings. Close your eyes for a moment, and then try to describe your surroundings as accurately as possible. What color are the walls? What about the floor? What furniture is around you? Are there other people around you? What are they wearing? How do they move when they walk? What color are their eyes? This simple visual exercise will show you that most often we are very unobservant, we do not notice much of what is happening around us.
Sense acuity plays a very important role in NLP, since it is this that allows you to evaluate your own actions and understand whether they are bringing you closer to your goal, to the desired result. If you are, for example, trying to sell a product or get approval for your proposal, pay attention to the reactions of those you approach. Watch their gestures, tone of voice and other cues. Thanks to observation, you can adjust your actions in time and turn failure into success. In our book we will tell you how to develop the acuity of feelings, how to correctly understand the thoughts and feelings of other people.
Third Pillar: Behavioral Flexibility
The first two pillars are the first stages of a simple but very important feedback loop. By beginning to understand what you want to achieve and using your heightened senses to gather information about what is happening, you must change your own behavior. And for this you need feedback. If the actions you take are not moving you closer to your desired outcome, it is obvious that something else needs to be done. However, many people do not have sufficient behavioral flexibility and continue to behave exactly the same as before.
If you intend to close a deal, and your carefully prepared and thoughtful presentation with an abundance of examples and samples does not make any impression on buyers, then it makes sense for you to change your behavior, move to a more specific, sharp style of presentation. If your prospect is sitting with his arms crossed over his chest, you definitely need to move on to a different tactic. Otherwise, it will be simply impossible to achieve success.
Fourth Pillar: Mutual Understanding
The first three pillars - results, emotional acuity, and behavioral flexibility - will allow you to achieve many of the things you really want, as long as other people are not involved in the process. If you need cooperation, you will have to establish relationships with people based on mutual trust and understanding. The secret to establishing and maintaining such relationships is mutual understanding. It is the fourth pillar of NLP.
Mutual understanding is the cement that strengthens relationships between people. Most often it is established naturally, automatically, instinctively. Some people we meet we like at first sight. We immediately begin to dislike others.
However, within NLP, rapport is an art that can be learned and developed. We will discuss various ways to establish mutual understanding. You can adapt your habits to the other person or try to change body language signals so that the other person feels more comfortable with you. The ability to listen and respect the other person's point of view is a powerful tool that helps you establish immediate rapport.
But there is another aspect of mutual understanding that is not so obvious - with yourself. We are talking about mutual understanding between the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind. Sometimes we split up. One part of our “I” wants one thing, the other wants something completely different. The greater the degree of mutual understanding between the various aspects of our inner self, the greater inner peace you experience.
