Psychological exercises for trainings

The percentage of people who take part in psychological groups is increasing throughout the world. In our country this phenomenon is also quite common. Which is understandable - life in our time requires the processing of large amounts of information, increased resistance to stress, and the ability to adapt to new and not always favorable conditions of the social and natural environment. Meanwhile, just as playing sports allows you to keep your body healthy, working on your own psyche is necessary in order to remain in good psychological tone.

Elements of psychology are also added to the most diverse training programs. Almost no training for adults is complete without psychological exercises or games. They solve both specialized and general problems related to personal development.

Let's consider these forms of work on developing one's own potential, as well as some psychological exercises useful for developing various psychological abilities of a person in more detail.

What is taught in psychological trainings

Psychological training is a group form of working on oneself - with one’s behavior, capabilities, limitations, rules and problems. In it, participants learn to adequately perceive themselves, adapt to the conditions of society, develop their own potential and abilities, and interact with others. The target audience for such classes is very diverse. Psychological trainings are conducted for:

persons with addictions, somatic diseases, neuroses - within the scope of clinical psychotherapy;
mentally healthy people - with the aim of helping in self-development and regardless of age (in kindergarten, school, in an organization).

Based on this, their primary task is to improve a person in terms of social adaptation, communication skills, and instill personal, socially useful individual skills. In this connection, you should come to them only voluntarily and with the attitude of “realize-change.”

You can work on yourself in many areas, both personally and professionally. The following areas of psychological training are distinguished:

“I - I” are aimed at change at the personal level.
“I – Others” implies changes in interpersonal relationships. Participants are encouraged to seek data regarding, for example, the impact of their behavior on others, or the manner in which they communicate with others.
“I am a Group” is focused on changing the personality of each participant as a member of social society.
“I am the Organization” - focused on a specific individual - a member of a large organization. His experience of interpersonal interaction (communication) in conditions of intergroup competition, conflict and cooperation is considered.
“I am a Profession” are focused on the subject of a specific type of activity - they explore his feelings, aspirations, life values that he receives and realizes in the conditions of his professional activity.

Within the framework of this typology, in the specialized literature there are many classifications of psychological training. They differ both in the tasks they solve and in the methods of implementation. Here are just some of their types.

Self-regulation skills development training. These include auto-training and biofeedback training, widely used in the rehabilitation of various pathologies. They develop the ability to control and manage the state of their own body and emotions.
Communication trainings. They teach how to solve problems that arise in the process of communication - interpersonal or business, and teach behavior in various situations. So, those who experience difficulties during a job interview, or know that it’s time for a salary increase, but are embarrassed to tell their bosses about it, should come here.
Trainings that stimulate personal growth. The principles of their implementation were laid down in the 50s in the USA, when working with groups of dependent and emotionally unstable people. They were helped to increase self-esteem, become more relaxed, develop charisma, etc. Today's participants also realize and overcome their complexes. Here they will be “pulled out” of all unconscious fears, relieved of internal barriers, after which they will be taught to more adequately assess their abilities, notice their mistakes when communicating, and will also help develop certain facets of personality such as self-understanding and the ability to perceive other people.
Educational trainings. They develop specific skills necessary primarily for professions related to communicating with people. These are trainings for teachers, psychotherapists, trainers, managers, as well as trainings for sales, negotiations, and team building.
Social and psychological trainings. These are a kind of life lessons in a softened form. Here they teach the intricacies of interaction in a social environment and learn to cope with difficult life situations.
Business trainings. Aimed at modifying or developing business knowledge, skills and attitudes for the successful implementation of business tasks, increasing the efficiency of production activities, business interaction, and increasing the organization’s profits. Among them are trainings of professional skills, or corporate trainings, which are aimed at improving the professional skills of workers - both experienced and beginners; as well as trainings for professional and personal growth aimed at identifying external and internal resources for professional self-development of employees.

Ultimately, group members are helped to understand themselves, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and also learn to understand others, correct their behavior, and become more successful in their professional activities or life in general.

Principles of Positive Thinking

What are the basic principles of positive thinking? They include certain attitudes, exercises and techniques that help to form positive personal qualities and a positive way of thinking. In order to eliminate negative thinking and begin to think positively, you must practice these principles every day and sincerely believe in their effectiveness. Here are the main ones.

Our thoughts materialize. The world around us treats us the way we treat it. Be kind, caring, help others and you will see that the world will reciprocate you.
The main thing in life is love. She always accompanies us. Love is at the core of learning to think positively and attract good things. Accompany all your actions with care, respect, and do not show indifference. A positive person treats everyone with love and kindness.
The world around us is not limited, the resources in it are limitless. It sounds unusual, but try repeating this phrase to yourself every day. And you will see: if you really want something, you will definitely get it.
Each of us is the author of our own destiny. There are many studies confirming that self-confidence is one of the keys to success. Don't look for the reasons for your failures in other people. Believe that everything in your life depends only on you.
Love yourself. Tell yourself every day that you are smart, beautiful, happy. Praise yourself even for small victories.
The world around us is fair: if something happened to you, then you deserve it. So do good deeds and the world will reciprocate. This principle is similar to the method of causal positive thinking, widely used in psychology.
Our world is unique and worthy of admiration. Don't take for granted everything you have. Every day, thank fate for any pleasant little things. A positive person always concentrates on the good and finds pleasure in everyday little things.

Basic Methods

The key principle of psychological training is the combination of various types of activities during classes. They have a lot of communication:

discussions in which participants in group work can express their thoughts on a particular issue based on their knowledge and previous experience, as well as expand, deepen, and sometimes rethink and change them;
situational tasks, which represent a group search for a solution in a particular proposed situation;
surveys, during which participants not only actively participate in the discussion, but also learn to analyze;
brainstorming sessions in which the most daring ideas on the issue under consideration are expressed and discussed.

But the main feature of the training is the use of a large number of psychological exercises and games. They are needed for relaxation, switching attention, acquiring certain knowledge and skills, and creating a comfortable atmosphere. They can also be aimed at finding a way out of difficult situations by communicating with other participants and developing specific communication skills. In addition, psychological games and exercises serve as a tool for managing the group process, and always have a clearly defined goal that meets the needs of the group and the topic of the training.

The number of exercises and games is in the hundreds. Some of them are quite famous, others are simply interesting, but all of them simulate some kind of life situation, through which the participants themselves discover how they can perceive themselves and others differently, what they can change in their behavior to achieve the desired results. Thus, participants in psychological trainings are not taught how to live - they acquire the necessary knowledge and skills in the process of exercises and games.

Types and types of psychological exercises and games used in training.

For acquaintance. Short exercises during which the group and the coach can get to know each other and get additional information about the participant, for example, find out his profession, what he likes to do in his free time, what his temperament is, etc. Such exercises also create an atmosphere of trust in the group and provide emotional and verbal contact between the participants and the leader.
For warming up - short games and exercises with a large content of active movements (jumping, movements of the head, arms, legs, etc.), used at all stages of the training to “warm up” the group by changing the psychological and physiological state of each participant. They also stimulate thinking, promote concentration, and improve mood.
On group cohesion - carried out in the event of the emergence of several informal groups that may interfere with the process, or if there are a couple of leaders in the group who are trying to demonstrate their priorities, or if there is a need to overcome barriers in communication between participants, or when it is necessary to unite group members.
Psychodiagnostic - allow you to “probe” the personal characteristics, emotional state, and development of mental processes of the participants.
Communication – develop communication skills necessary to adapt to the social environment:
speak easily and convincingly;
listen and hear;
have developed intuition in communication;
present yourself effectively.
For the necessary personal changes. This is a symbol for the main, most numerous exercises aimed at developing or demonstrating those basic psychological qualities or skills that the training participants came for:
correctional – aimed at correcting behavior and correcting personal characteristics (aggression, jealousy, greed, etc.) that interfere with social adaptation (especially in childhood);
psychotechnical (psychotechnics) – contain systems of techniques and methods of self-regulation for managing mental and psychosomatic processes.
Body-oriented . Among them, we can highlight relaxation exercises - for relaxation at the moment of group fatigue, breathing exercises (train proper breathing skills), eye exercises, dance-movement and dance-song exercises (relieve the fear of expressing yourself and standing out), as well as non-verbal and pantomime exercises , which help in establishing social contacts.
Entertaining - do not carry a semantic load, but help relieve tension and release emotions.
Rituals for the beginning and end of group work help maintain the community of participants, separate classes from each other, and create a special training atmosphere that is not similar to ordinary life.

In addition to communication, communication exercises and games, psychological training often includes role-playing games, which help to identify errors in communication and behavior and analyze them. They can be spontaneous - carried out without preparation and are focused on current problems at the moment, and plot-based - they solve general problems. In both cases, participants have to play certain roles, which, among other things, contributes to the development of creative potential.

In the specialized literature there is the term “psychogymnastics”, which has a narrow and broad meaning. In the first case, it means all the games and exercises used in the training in which participants communicate through movement. They are aimed at solving group dynamics control problems, i.e. These are the well-known warm-ups.

Psycho-gymnastics in a broad sense is one of the methods of correctional work with children, the main task of which is to teach the child to cope with life’s difficulties. During psycho-gymnastic classes, children are taught to express emotions through movements, facial expressions, gestures, overcome barriers in communication, and understand themselves. Once completed, children express their feelings more easily and understand others better. Psychogymnastics also contribute to the development of character traits such as confidence, honesty, kindness, etc., and the elimination of all kinds of fears, apprehensions, and insecurities.

Benefits of Positive Thinking

Focusing attention. Positive thinking allows you not to waste energy on negativity, but helps you concentrate on solving problems. That is, you get back into your usual routine faster. You are wondering what you can do instead of staying depressed for a long time. Negative emotions - regret, irritation - stop going around in your head. From now on, you are focused on the experience gained and direct your thoughts in the direction of finding solutions.

Self-control. The ability to think positively drives away gloomy thoughts. This prevents you from doing reckless things that you might regret. When you are in a bad mood or angry, sometimes you act stupid or lose control of yourself. In most cases, responding negatively to a situation only makes it worse. The worst action is to bury yourself deeper into problems.

Thoughts are material

You receive from the universe what your attention is focused on. If you have negative thoughts and are fixated on bad events, then your life will be filled with nothing but problems.

And with positive thinking, you always attract positive situations into your life.

Positive thinking creates reality, not just directs your thoughts in the right direction. By learning to think positively, you will plunge into a positive life, because such thoughts contribute to positive actions that lead to the achievement of your goals.

Having developed positive thinking in yourself, you will be able to see what others are not able to see, look at the situation from a different perspective. This will happen because you change your mindset and redirect your focus.

For example, in any trouble that happens you will always notice not only one negative, you will be able to look at the situation from the other side, learn to focus on the positive aspects of what is happening

Benefits of Positive Thinking

If a person is always negative, he will be able to see only the bad in current events, missing the positive aspects, even if they are obvious. Having formed a worldview, things that are outside its boundaries are perceived very difficult. The point is that you will constantly be in a state of mental peace and regard all the events that happen in your life as nothing more than just an experience, even a very bitter one.

The benefits outlined above are not a complete list of the benefits you get by mastering positive thinking. In some ways, you will become almost fearless by developing a certain mindset and learning to think positively.

Fearlessness comes from knowing that no matter what happens to you, at any time in your life, you will be able to accept it without losing your positivity.

Living without fear and having the determination to live against all odds is an invaluable quality in our time. Once you master it, you will become stronger as a person, and nothing can break you on the way to your desired goals.

Positive Psychology: Definition and Brief History

Positive psychology is a special psychological direction that studies the positive aspects of the human psyche. If classical psychology focuses on problems and pathologies, then the subject of positive psychology research is everything that helps a person achieve happiness.

The basis for the emergence of this direction of psychological science was humanistic psychology and the ideas of its supporters, such as Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow, Gordon Allport and others. According to one opinion, the first person to use the concept of “positive psychology” was Maslow (work “Motivation and Personality”). But in the middle of the 20th century, quite a few psychologists already said that it was time for scientists to focus their efforts not on pathologies and diseases, but on stimulating mental health.

The foundation of the direction of positive psychology belongs to the American psychologist Martin Seligman, who later became president of the American Psychological Association. He became famous for his research into the treatment of depression, as well as the unusual history of the experiments he conducted, as a result of which he discovered the phenomenon of “learned helplessness.” These experiments served as a prerequisite for the emergence of a new direction.