The level of personality aspirations - what it is, how it manifests itself

The level of aspiration is a person’s desire to achieve the goals that he, in his opinion, can achieve. In simple terms, it is a set of ambitions. The level of aspiration is closely related to a person’s self-esteem and self-confidence. It also depends on how much a person knows, accepts and understands himself. Now let’s take a closer look at what the level of aspiration is, how it is defined in psychology and what it is like.

What is the level of aspiration

The term “level of aspiration” was introduced by psychologist, founder of social psychology Kurt Lewin (20s of the 20th century). Let's look at the basic concepts and definitions from K. Lewin's theory:

• a previous achievement is an experience, the result of a previous action;
• choosing a goal, or determining the level of aspirations, is thinking about what goal you can set for yourself based on previous experience;
• result - a comparison of the level of expectations (set goal) and the actual result; the result may exceed the goal, fall short of it, or coincide with it;
• reaction to the result - with success, a person raises his level of aspirations, with failure, he lowers it.

In practice, there may be more reactions to the result. For example, some people with low self-esteem, even after success, a positive difference between the goal and the result, continue to set low expectations for themselves. And it happens that after a defeat a person sets himself the same or a higher goal and does everything possible to make his plans work out this time. This difference in behavior is associated not only with self-esteem, but also with a person’s temperament and character.

Thus, we can say that the level of aspiration is, in psychology, a person’s system of expectations regarding himself when performing any task.

What influences the formation of the level of aspirations? The main factors in shaping the level of a person’s aspirations are a person’s subjective experience of his successes and failures. That is, it is not the result itself that is important, but how a person relates to it. For example, one subject will focus on the very fact of losing and give up this goal, while another will say: “This time I almost succeeded. I did it clearly better than then. You just need to push a little more and everything will work out. I'll try again".

How does it manifest itself?

What is the level of aspiration? The degree of difficulty of the tasks that a person sets for himself. The more ambitions a person has, the more difficult the tasks he chooses.

However, abilities and level of aspiration are not the same thing. The latter does not always correspond to the real abilities of the individual. When and why does this happen? For example, when a person is used to living well at someone else’s expense, he is not used to working, solving problems on his own and coping with difficulties. He lacks skills and knowledge.

Often, an inflated level of aspirations is formed in children from rich families, in which the parents gave the child everything ready, did not demand anything from him, and spoiled him. The child grows up, his needs remain the same, but he himself cannot satisfy them. If parents stop helping, then the person will face disappointment, failure, and worries.

Thus, ambition is reflected in the benefits that a person wants to receive from life. These are his requests regarding professional development, training, living conditions, personal life, etc.

Method of effective self-realization

To consider yourself a happy, accomplished person, you must fully realize your nature. Few, however, know what their individual purpose is.

Read also: Brown-green living room interior

People are sometimes ready to perform hated duties, to live other people's lives, just so as not to take responsibility. And this is a serious problem. The main method of effective self-realization is to find your individual path and gain the courage to walk along it with your head held high.

Varieties of aspiration levels

In psychology, it is customary to distinguish two types of level of aspiration: adequate and inadequate. The latter, in turn, comes in two types: high and low. Let's look at them in more detail:

1. Inflated level of claims. It arises against the background of inflated self-esteem and inadequate self-concept (inadequate self-awareness). An example of an inflated level of aspiration: participants in a music show who are confident that they will pass the casting and generally claim to win, but in fact they will only make the judges and audience laugh because they cannot sing at all.
2. Low level of aspirations. It is formed in people with an inferiority complex, fears, and unprocessed traumas. For example, a musician who can masterfully play the guitar, who is periodically invited to perform in some club, bar, and who is constantly told by friends and relatives that he needs to promote himself, does not dare to go to the casting of a popular group that is just looking for a guitarist.

Personality characteristics with an overestimated or underestimated level of aspirations (inflated or underestimated self-esteem):

• chooses goals that are too difficult or too simple;
• avoids competition, competition;
• worries a lot and is constantly in tension;
• often makes mistakes in forecasts regarding his activities (for the worse or for the better, respectively);
• refuses to analyze his actions and results.

An adequate level of aspiration is a person’s desire to achieve those goals that actually correspond to his abilities, capabilities, knowledge, skills. As a rule, they are slightly higher than what a person has already conquered. Individuals with an adequate level of aspirations are distinguished by self-confidence, purposefulness, perseverance, adequate self-demandingness and self-criticism, and high productivity.

An example of an adequate level of aspiration: a musician plays well and knows it, he has already won some competitions, he is often asked to play for fun, and periodically he performs at corporate events for money. He sees an advertisement for a casting for a popular group and decides to try his hand at it.

In addition, in psychology it is customary to distinguish general and particular types of claims. General is a person’s ambitions in life as a whole. Private is ambition in one area, for example, at work, in sports, music or something else. That is, in the first case we are talking about a person’s assessment of himself as a whole as an individual, and in the second – about the assessment of his individual abilities, qualities, skills, etc.

Interesting! The level of aspirations can be used to judge a person’s self-esteem and vice versa. Sets inflated, unrealistic goals for oneself - self-esteem is inflated. Makes low demands - low self-esteem.

Connection with self-esteem

The level of aspirations directly depends on how a person evaluates himself. As a rule, people with high self-esteem have big plans for life. They certainly will not be satisfied with minor achievements and low incomes. Such individuals claim high-quality products and strive for career growth.

A person with low self-esteem cannot realize all his strengths and advantages. He often finds himself in a situation of internal conflict with himself; he does not know what is best for him. He often lives by the principle “as long as they don’t touch me” and is even ready to endure significant inconvenience. This worldview makes his life very difficult. Such a person does not believe in himself, nor in the fact that other people can truly love him. Somewhere in the depths of his soul, he doubts himself and the possibilities that life opens up for him. This is what low self-esteem may indicate. The claim merely reflects its essence.

What characterizes a person’s level of aspirations

The level of aspirations is formed in the process of activity, problem solving and analysis of the final result. It is characterized by the choice of tasks that a person sets for himself.

Simply put, if a person manages to successfully solve a problem, then next time he will set himself a more difficult goal, that is, his level of aspiration will increase. If the result of an activity does not suit a person, then he reduces his ambitions and next time takes on something simpler. Or, in case of failure, a person tries again to solve the same problem, but at the same time analyzes the reasons for the failure and works on the mistakes. Most people take on easier tasks after failure. K. Levin proved this feature experimentally.

Note! The level of aspirations is determined by the needs of a person.

Impact on personality traits

The level of aspirations is characterized by dynamic development. It can increase and decrease depending on the quality of the next task. The emotional and volitional characteristics of a person determine her behavior in case of failure. Behavioral reactions to failure vary from person to person. Unbalanced people can react to defeat violently, overly emotionally, committing chaotic, irrational actions.

Other people lose confidence and subsequently choose lower goals to prevent failure again. The intellectual abilities of an individual influence the PM. With an increase in the level of intelligence, the PM increases, which is due to a realistic assessment of one’s own capabilities and the use of a logical, well-founded approach to goal setting. UP is considered by many psychologists as the most important individual property of a person. Taking into account the UE, the following types of personalities are distinguished:

1. Preferring to take risks. High LP, which is higher than the level of achievement (LA).
2. Reinsurer. Reduced UE, which is lower than UD.
3. Adequate. It is characterized by approximately the same indicators of UE and UD.

A significant discrepancy between the indicators of PM and UD indicates overestimated or underestimated self-esteem, unsatisfactory coordination of action programs, and insufficiently developed self-regulation mechanisms. Research shows that individuals who tend to take risks or play it safe have reduced resistance to stress.

Research has shown that many people strive more to avoid failure than to pursue the goal of achieving success. In this case, the tasks you set for yourself are usually either too simple or too difficult. In the first case, the risk of failure is minimal, in the second, failure can be explained by extraordinary, great difficulties, so defeat will not affect pride and self-esteem.

Raising the bar too high or lowering it too low, the individual strives more to maintain self-respect (high self-esteem) than to realize his potential in any area of ​​activity. In this case, past performance results influence the location of the bar indirectly, slightly adjusting the value (volume) of claims.

The level of a person’s aspirations in psychology is a criterion that allows one to evaluate the personal qualities of an individual, predict his behavior when setting goals and in the event of an unsuccessful outcome of the planned event.

How to determine your level of aspiration

To determine your level of aspirations, you can use one of the self-diagnosis techniques. For example, refer to V. Gerbachevsky’s questionnaire or use the Schwarzlander technique. I propose to take a closer look at the latest technique.

An alternative name for the test is the Schwarzlander Motor Test. This is a universal rapid test. It is used in schools, universities and in personnel selection, as well as for diagnosing employees.

The essence of the study:

1. The subject is asked to guess how many plus signs he will be able to give in 10 seconds.
2. Then he is given a form, the presenter records the time, and then stops the process.
3. The estimated number of characters (LP - level of aspiration) and the actual number of characters inserted (UD - level of achievement) are compared. The data is entered into the same form where the subject put the pluses (see the table after the instructions).
4. Another 3 times the subject is asked to evaluate his result and guess how many signs he will have time to make, and then the time is recorded. That is, the experiment is repeated 4 times in total. In this case, experiments 1, 2 and 4 last 10 seconds each, and the third – 8 seconds.
5. Then the overall aspiration level score is calculated using the formula:

Sample of filling out the form:

The size of the table is 10x3 cm, the size of one square is 1x1 cm. This is important. It is recommended to conduct the experiment using printed versions of the forms.

Interpretation of diagnostic results:

• from 5 points and more – a very high level of aspirations;
• from 3 to 4.9 points – high level of aspirations;
• from 1 to 2.99 – adequate level of aspirations;
• from -1.49 to 0.99 points – low level of aspirations;
• from – 1.5 and less – a very low level of aspirations.

If you think that the results of self-diagnosis are not enough, doubt them, or do not know what to do next if an inadequate level of aspirations is identified, then I recommend contacting a psychologist. One session will be enough for a specialist to help you determine your current level of ambition and outline a work plan. In the case of injuries, blocks and other psychological problems, several sessions will be required. The work plan is determined individually.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Burns, Robert. Development of self-concept in education. /Trans. from English - M.; Progress, 1986. - 420 p. 2. Bozhovich L.I. Problems of personality formation / Ed. D.I. Feldstein. 2nd ed. M.: Publishing house "Institute of Practical Psychology", Voronezh: NPO "MODEK", 1997. -352s. 3. Bozhovich L. I. Stages of personality formation in ontogenesis // Questions of psychology. 1979.No.2.-P.23-34. 4. Bortnikova L.G. Dynamics of development of reflexivity and validity of self-esteem depending on the characteristics of the student’s internal position: Abstract of thesis. diss. ...cand. psychol.sciences.-M., 2000,-23p. 5. Borozdina L.V., Vidinska L. Pretensions and self-esteem // Vestn. Moscow un-ta. Series 14. Psychology. 1986. No. 3.-pp. 21-30. 6. Borozdina L.V., Zaluchenova E.A. “An increase in the anxiety index when there is a discrepancy between the levels of self-esteem and aspirations.” Experimental study. 7. Kapustin A.N. Study of the level of aspirations under conditions of mental stress in connection with the properties of the nervous system and temperament: Author's abstract. dis. ...candidate of psychology Sci. -M., 1980. — 24s. 8. Kislitskaya L.A. Materials of the V city scientific and practical conference of young scientists and students of institutions of higher and secondary education of city subordination. -M.: MGPPU, 2006.-320 p. 9. Kon I.S. Self-awareness: discovery of the “I” // Psychology of early youth. M.1989. P.84-105 10. Lapshina O.A. Your child is a fifth grader // School psychologist. 2006 11. Lisina M.I. Communication, personality and the child’s psyche / ed. Ruzskoy A.G. -M.: Publishing house “Institute of Practical Psychology”, Voronezh: NPO “MODEK”, 1997.-384 p. 12. Makarova I.V. Psychology. - M.: YURAYT, 2004. - P. 183-190. 13. Maslow A. Motivation and personality. 3rd ed./trans. from English - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2007. -352 p. 14. Melnichenko O.G. The relationship between structural-variation characteristics of the level of aspirations and intelligence depending on personality traits: Abstract of thesis. dis. ...candidate of psychological sciences - Leningra d., State University named after. Zhdanova, 1986.- 25 p. 15. Menchinskaya N.A. Problems of learning and psychological development of a child / ed. E.D. Bozhovich. - M: Publishing house "Institute of Practical Psychology", Voronezh: NPO "MODEK", 1998. -448s.

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Examples

To better understand what a person’s level of aspiration is, let’s give examples of each of the three types.

Examples of an adequate level of aspirations:

1. A person wants to change his job to a more profitable one. He studies the vacancies and settles on one of them. He compares the requirements for the applicant with his skills, knowledge, and abilities. He has the experience that is required here: he knows English, “communicates” with a computer at the level of an advanced user, and generally corresponds to the described portrait. He comes for an interview and gets the job.
2. An ordinary hard-working guy is looking for a girlfriend among the same ordinary women. Yes, in appearance he likes well-groomed and sometimes inflated girls (he constantly admires their photos on Instagram), but he understands that he will not attract such a lady, and she is unlikely to even look at him.
3. Freelancer looking for orders. He is studying the requirements for one of the projects. All the concepts are familiar to him; he has already performed similar tasks. Only one program to work with is still unknown, but he is confident that he can figure it out because he has successfully worked with similar services. The freelancer submits an application for an order, and at the same time begins to study this program, because it will still be useful in the future.

Examples of an inflated level of claims:

1. A young man who barely completed the 9th grade, never studied further and never worked for a day, comes to get a job at a large company. He is applying for the role of director. Time after time he is refused, but he does not give up and presses with the authority of his successful father: “Do you even know who my father is! He will close your sharashka office!” The young man confuses his abilities and capabilities with his father's achievements.
2. A beautiful, but not the smartest and wisest, ill-mannered, uneducated girl (and sometimes not even beautiful, unable and unwilling to look after and care for herself) is waiting for the prince on a white horse. She is sure that some millionaire should take her under his wing and satisfy all her needs simply for the very fact of her existence. That is, she cannot offer him anything except her body (and even then not always), but she believes that this is quite enough to lead to a successful life.
3. A 25-year-old guy refuses to work for the minimum wage, because he believes that this is not his level - he needs at once and at least 50 thousand rubles per month. But at the same time, he has only school behind him, no official work experience, self-organization and discipline are lame, many other business qualities are undeveloped, and there are also no special skills for working for the desired pay. But he continues to ignore the real vacancies for him, refuses to work on himself and continues to go for interviews with large companies. And then he complains that the whole world is against him, there is no work, and the directors of these companies are completely insolent and greedy. From time to time he creates scandals right in the offices.

Examples of low level of claims:

1. The teacher tells the students: “Everyone who attended the lectures can automatically get C grades. If you want a different grade, pull out the ticket and take the exam. All those who study “poorly” and “satisfactorily” agreed to the machine gun, but among them there was one excellent student. Why? Because he is not sure that he can do well in the exam. He is never sure of this at all, but he always gets “good” or “excellent”. However, this does not change his attitude towards himself. “Lucky,” he always says.
2. For 10 years now, a man has been working in the same place in the same position. Responsibilities increase, salary does not change. Those around him convince him that he needs to ask for a raise or a promotion, or change jobs, because he clearly deserves more. But he doesn’t think so, he convinces himself and others that he is happy with everything and has enough income for everything. However, deep down he dreams of more, but is afraid to take risks and lose even what he has.
3. The student takes the Unified State Exam and hopes that he will score at least the minimum score - he does not expect more. Unexpectedly for himself, he scores 90 points out of 100, which is much more than the minimum. However, this does not reduce his general anxiety. Next comes university studies. And although the points are enough to enroll in the desired, prestigious field, the graduate chooses a simpler option, since he is sure that it will be difficult for him to study at his first university. Why take someone else's place?

Important! By the level of aspirations one can judge what a person considers possible and worthy for himself, how much he values ​​and respects himself.

The concept of imagination and its types

Imagination is the mental process of creating an image of an object or situation by restructuring existing ideas. Images of the imagination do not always correspond to reality; they contain elements of fantasy and fiction. If the imagination draws pictures to the consciousness that nothing or little corresponds in reality, then it is called fantasy. If the imagination is directed to the future, it is called a dream. The process of imagination always occurs in inextricable connection with two other mental processes - memory and thinking.

Types of imagination

• Active imagination - using it, a person, by force of will, at his own request evokes appropriate images in himself.
• Passive imagination - its images arise spontaneously, regardless of the will and desire of a person.
• Productive imagination - in it, reality is consciously constructed by a person, and not simply mechanically copied or recreated. But at the same time, she is still creatively transformed in the image.
• Reproductive imagination - the task is to reproduce reality as it is, and although there is also an element of fantasy, such imagination is more like perception or memory than creativity.

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Interpretation of results

Diagnostics of the level of aspirations in the Schwarzlander motor test is based on the analysis of the target deviation. The number of crosses planned for execution is compared with the number actually implemented in each test.

The average target deviation (TD) is calculated using a formula that involves comparing the level of aspirations of the PM and the level of achievement (LA):

UP2, UP3 and UP4 – the values ​​of the levels of claims in the placement of crosses in the squares of each of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th samples; EL1, EL2, EL3 – values ​​of the level of achievement in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd tests, respectively.

Target Deviation Standards:

5 and above – unrealistically high UE;

3 – 4, 99 – high UE;

1 – 2, 99 – moderate UP (within normal limits);

-1.49 – 0.99 – low UE;

-1, 5 and below – unrealistically low LP.

High realistic level

a person’s aspirations can be combined with confidence in the value of one’s own actions, with the desire for self-affirmation, responsibility, correction of failures through one’s own efforts, and with the presence of sustainable life plans.

If a person has a high unrealistic level of aspirations, then, as a rule, it is accompanied by frustration, demands on others, and extrapunitiveness. Persons with this level of aspiration are hypochondriacal and experience difficulties in realizing their own life plans.

Moderate level of aspirations

typical for subjects who are self-confident, sociable, not seeking self-affirmation, determined to succeed, calculating the extent of their strength and measuring their efforts with the value of what they achieve.

A low level of aspiration depends largely on the mindset of failure. Individuals with unrealistically low aspirations often have unclear plans for the future. They are usually submission oriented and often show helplessness. One of the problems of such people may be planning their actions in the near future and relating them to the future. An inadequate level of aspirations can lead to maladaptive behavior, ineffectiveness of any activity, and difficulties in interpersonal relationships. A low level of aspirations, which develops as a result of a lack of socially significant success, can cause a decrease in motivation, uncertainty and a global fear of difficulties.

Correction of the level of aspirations should be aimed at coordinating ideas about the desired result with the capabilities and abilities of a person. Consolidating this coordination in specific successful activities increases the adequacy of the level of aspirations.

Unreality is a mystification of reality

Nature is a great mystifier. Just remember the Northern Lights. The visual phenomenon of fantastic flashes in the skies, unreal for us, actually has a very real background - the occurrence of magnetic storms under the influence of the Earth’s magnetic fields.

Thus, everything that goes beyond the scope of phenomena familiar to humans can be called unreal, without material evidence. To suggest that unreality is a paradox of reality.

In the concept of unrealism, it is generally accepted that “irreality” is as real and actually exists as “reality” itself.