Behavioral reactions characteristic mainly of adolescents. Behavioral responses

Mental states of people in extreme situations are diverse. At the initial moment, the reaction of people is predominantly of a vital orientation, due to the instinct of self-preservation. The level of expediency of such reactions is different in different individuals - from panic and senseless to consciously purposeful.

Sometimes people experience a state of psychogenic anesthesia (no feeling of pain) in the first 5-10 minutes after injuries, burns, while maintaining a clear consciousness and the ability to rational activity, which allows some of the victims to escape. In individuals with an increased sense of responsibility, the duration of psychogenic anesthesia in some cases reaches 15 minutes, even with the area of ​​burn lesions up to 40% of the body surface. At the same time, hypermobilization of psychophysiological reserves and physical forces can be noted. Hypermobilization in initial period present in almost all people.

E.A.Mileryan highlights the following types of human behavior in a state of emotional stress in extreme conditions: - tense (slowness, impulsiveness); -brake; - aggressively uncontrolled (with affective breakdowns, reduced control of consciousness over behavior); cowardly (avoidance of activities, actions according to habitual algorithms, a pronounced sense of fear); progressive type (improvement of performance, the presence of fighting enthusiasm).

Fear

Fear– negative emotion in a situation of real or imagined danger. The emotion of fear in itself causes fear, and the experience of fear further intensifies it, leading to an extreme stage of horror.

Horror- this is the maximum degree of the experience of fear, reinforcing itself due to the repeated circulation of this experience in the psyche.

As a philosophical concept, "fear" was introduced by S. Kierkegaard, who distinguished between empirical "fear-fear" of a specific danger and unaccountable metaphysical "fear-longing" specific to a person.

There are two main functions of fear:

· motivation of cognitive and behavioral acts;

adaptive motivation.

The primary function of fear is to motivate specific cognitive and behavioral acts that promote security and a sense of confidence. Fear also performs an adaptive function, forcing a person to look for ways to protect himself from possible harm. A premonition of fear can become an impulse to strengthen the "I", can encourage an individual to self-improvement.

Depending on the origin, 4 types of fear are distinguished.

biological fear- is caused by a situation that is directly life-threatening. The threat can come from outside or from within the body. As an expression of the disturbance of internal balance, fear arises when the body's metabolism is disturbed - the exchange of matter and energy with the environment. The main element of this exchange is oxygen. Oxygen deficiency, which most strongly affects the nervous system, excites a state of fear in myocardial infarction, acute circulatory failure, bronchial asthma, blood loss, etc., and its intensification depends on the degree of decrease in oxygen access (fear with a heart attack is stronger than with anemia ). In addition to lack of oxygen, fear can be caused by thirst and hunger. The units of time for oxygen deprivation are minutes, water - hours, food - days. The growth of fear depends on the length of the period: the shorter the period, the faster the fear grows.

social fear- a person cannot live and develop outside of interaction with other people, and his exclusion from social peace(social death) equals biological death.

moral fear- interaction with the environment, the performance of certain roles and norms of behavior, self-assessment, respectively, the reactions of the environment affect in a stabilizing way the emotional attitude towards oneself. The sudden appearance of something contrary to this causes fear, which will increase in direct proportion to the exclusivity of the situation.

disintegration fear- the experience of fear is accompanied by a feeling of insecurity, insecurity, inability to control the situation.

There are a number of stimuli and situations to which we are biologically predisposed to respond with fear. As experience is gained, a person begins to experience fear when confronted with various situations, phenomena and objects. Most fear activators are associated with "natural signals" of danger.

Fear- this is a strong emotion that has a very noticeable effect on the perceptual-cognitive processes and behavior of the individual. There is a phenomenon of fear delayed in time, which is explained by the fact that in a situation of threat there are opportunities to avoid danger. Intense fear creates the effect of "tunnel perception", severely limiting the perception, thinking and freedom of choice of the individual. It stops the individual's freedom of behavior: a person ceases to belong to himself, he is driven by a single desire - to eliminate the threat, to avoid danger, but fear can be accompanied not only by a reaction of withdrawal or flight, but also by careful attempts to explore the frightening object, sometimes even a smile or laughter, which driven by motivation.

Fear may be the result of a cognitive assessment of the situation as potentially dangerous. Thought processes constitute the largest, most common class of fear activators. Its source is a person, object or situation.

The list of indicators of fear includes such phenomena as an instant cessation or gradual extinction of the actions performed, prolonged numbness, alertness, a reaction of avoidance or withdrawal from the stimulus, a serious or frightened facial expression, etc.

Indicators (expressive and motor acts):

1. Watchful and intense look directed at the object;

2. Mimic manifestations specific to fear;

3. Mimic manifestations may be accompanied by trembling or crying;

4. Pantomimic complexes, such as cowering and attempts to escape;

5. Desire to contact with a potential defender;

6. Complete lack of movement.

Fear- the most toxic, the most pernicious emotion. If the individual does not have the ability to eliminate the threat, the experience of fear, having a powerful effect on the nervous system and the functioning of vital organs, can increase the danger. Excessive activation of the autonomic nervous system creates a serious burden on vital organs, working on the verge of failure.

Emotion researchers believe that facial expressions are the most reliable and accurate indicators of fear. Internal tension during fear can go to the muscles, increasing their tone, the face can become “dead”, immobile, and fear experiences are not always constant and can manifest themselves in seizures. With a developed mimic expression of fear, the eyebrows are raised and slightly reduced to the bridge of the nose, as a result of which the horizontal wrinkles in the center of the forehead are deeper than along the edges. The eyes are wide open, the upper eyelid is sometimes slightly raised, as a result of which the white of the eye between the eyelid and the pupil is exposed. The corners of the mouth are sharply retracted, the horn is usually ajar.

Prolonged experiences of fear cause changes throughout the body - heartbeat, rapid pulse, tachycardia attacks. There is a feeling of squeezing in the chest, suffocation, abdominal pain, intestinal spasms, flatulence, urination disorder, diarrhea, muscle twitching, trembling.

Affect

The group of primary emerging, emotionally saturated and psycho-traumatic states that manifest themselves in extreme conditions includes affect. Affect (from lat. affectuctus - emotional excitement, passion) is a strong and relative short-term emotional experience, accompanied by pronounced motor and visceral manifestations.

The affect arises on the occurred event and is shifted to its end. Any emotion (positive or negative) and feeling (positive or negative) can be experienced in an affective form. Outwardly, affect manifests itself in pronounced movements, violent emotions, accompanied by changes in the functions of internal organs, loss of volitional control.

An acute conflict situation leads to the emergence of affect, in which an individual must act to save his life, but does not know how and what to do. The same situation, with equal preparedness of people or surprise for them, in one person causes an affect, in another it does not violate mental activity.

agitated state. In response to stimuli signaling a danger to life, anxiety and anxiety come to the fore. Excitation is expressed in fussiness, the ability to carry out only simple automated acts under the influence of random stimuli that have fallen into the field of vision. Agitation is characterized by strong erratic motor activity. The ability to understand the complex relationships between phenomena, which requires judgments and conclusions, is impaired, mental processes are slowed down. A person has a feeling of emptiness in the head, there is a lack of thoughts. Vegetative disorders appear in the form of pallor, palpitations, shallow breathing, sweating, hand tremors. The perception of time and the surrounding reality is disturbed, which makes it difficult to understand the situation as a whole. The process of choosing actions is complicated, the logic and consistency of thinking are violated. As a result, conditions are created for the "release" of stereotyped, automated actions that do not correspond to the current situation. An agitated state is regarded as prepathological within the boundaries of the psychological norm and can be perceived as confusion.

state of stupor. In life-threatening conditions, stupor is characterized by a sudden stupor, freezing in place in the position in which the person was at the time of receiving the news of an accident, catastrophe, natural disaster, etc .; while intellectual activity is preserved. Stupor is manifested in the tense stiffness of posture, movement and speech.

In the literature, the state of affect is divided into three characteristic aspects: 1) the "charge" of affect (the energy component of instinctive attraction); 2) the process of "discharging"; 3) perception of the final "discharge" (sensation, emotion, feeling). In this case, the "charge" of the affect has quantification intensity, and the process of "discharge" is felt or perceived by a person in qualitative categories.

K. M. Gurevich and V. F. Matveev came to the conclusion that the state of passion in emergency situations is closely related to the individual characteristics of the nervous system: persons who do not have sufficient strength of the excitation process or with a predominance of the inhibitory process are most likely to be incompetent in complex and extreme situations.

1.Reaction of opposition or protest. At early preschool age, it can occur when the child’s activity is limited, with excessive or forced feeding, with premature or immoderately strict potty training. demands, unbearable workloads, loss or lack of attention, unfair or cruel punishments. 2.Reactions of active protest. Disobedience, rudeness, destructive actions, defiant or aggressive behavior. 3. Reactions of passive protest. Refusal to eat, leaving home, suicide attempts, refusal to speak (mutism), enuresis, encopresis, repeated vomiting, constipation, violent cough, disguised hostility to the "offender", withdrawal, violation of emotional contact. 4. Refusal reaction. Its most typical manifestations occur at an early age. It arises in connection with the child's loss of a sense of security, an unsatisfied need for communication with an emotionally significant figure. The most pronounced manifestations of this reaction are immobility, lethargy, lack of desire for communication, the disappearance of reactions to what is happening around. The desire to play, to enjoy sweets is lost. There are depression, sleep disturbance, loss of appetite. The weakening of somatic diseases contributes to the occurrence of this reaction. 5. Simulation reaction. It is characterized by copying the behavior of the most authoritative person for the child. The child can imitate the activity of an adult or the behavior of a reference group (an asocial company of children). Violation of behavior occurs when antisocial forms of behavior (foul language, hooligan acts, theft, vagrancy), addictive behavior (smoking, inhalation of volatile substances, alcohol consumption) are copied. This reaction is especially stubbornly repeated and leads to deeper maladaptation if it develops against the background of disinhibited drives or if it itself provokes the premature development of instinctive manifestations (for example, sexual ones). 6.Compensation reaction. It can arise as a form of psychological defense, in which children, disappointed by their failure in one area, strive to achieve great success in other areas. This reaction can form the basis of behavioral disorders if a child who has not been able to prove himself at school begins to strengthen his authority through antisocial behavior (hooliganism, theft, etc.). 7. Hypercompensation reaction. It differs from the previous one in that children overcome their inability or their defect due to super-efforts in the most difficult area of ​​activity for them. If a fearful teenager tries to overcompensate for his fear by attacks on other teenagers or by dangerous riding a bicycle, motorcycle, car (stealing them from their owners), then this reaction will thus become a mechanism for the development of disturbed behavior. 8. Reaction of emancipation. This is a desire to free oneself from the care of parents, educators and, in general, all adults. This reaction is facilitated by petty guardianship, deprivation of independence, constant pressure, attitude towards a teenager as an unintelligent little child. The reaction of emancipation is manifested by hidden resistance to the order or attempts to get out of the control of adults. In the first case, this is ignoring advice, instructions and instructions, not accepting help, stubborn attempts to do everything on their own, rejecting the rules and norms established by adults. In the second case, these are attempts to arrange an independent life. 9. Grouping reaction. It is carried out by the creation of informal groups of peers and adolescents, somewhat older or younger in age. These groups are usually distinguished by a certain persistence. Teenagers who are neglected and neglected are most inclined to unite. The activity of such groups is often anti-social in nature (hooliganism, fraud, theft). 11. Fascination reactions. Closely related to the inclinations, inclinations, interests of the individual and are manifested by the satisfaction of certain needs, motives. Allocate informative and communicative hobbies(satisfaction of the thirst for new information, the need for contacts that allow the exchange of new information ); hobbies based on the satisfaction of a sense of excitement(arising from various games, especially for money or other "interest"); egocentric hobbies allowing you to be in the spotlight (participation in amateur performances, sports performances), etc. Constant focus on hobbies, affective charge in the process of implementing one's hobby allow these reactions in some cases to be considered as overvalued formations (implementation of overvalued ideas). The painful nature of these hobbies is also confirmed by the absurdity of the goal that the teenager sets for himself (to make a collection of insect paws, fragments of dishes), the unproductiveness of the hobby (there are no completed results of what years can be spent on.

(irritation, anger, anxiety, fear, despondency, sadness, etc.)

Physiological response

(excitation of the autonomic nervous system, release of hormones, neurochemical changes, etc.)

behavioral response

(attempts to cope with stress, such as hitting someone, self-flagellation, asking for help, solving a problem, expressing emotions, etc.)

Rice. 4. Stress Reaction Levels

a stupor of uncontrolled rage. Such a reaction is typical, for example, if an insurmountable or insurmountable obstacle arises on the way to achieving the desired goal (in psychology, the term “frustration” is used to refer to such a situation). Perhaps the most common emotional response to stress is the emotion of fear of varying intensity. Sometimes stress worsens mood, causing despondency and sadness. This reaction is especially characteristic in a stressful situation that cannot be changed. Emotional reactions to stress can lead to both positive and negative consequences. Even the negative emotions that arise from stress can serve important purposes. For example, like physical pain, unpleasant emotions can signal trouble and the need to do something.

A positive emotional response to stress is, first of all, general emotional arousal associated with the release of energy at the stage of resource mobilization (resistance). Numerous studies show that task performance increases with emotional arousal. However, the increase in efficiency occurs up to a certain limit, after which the excitation reaches such a strength that it becomes destructive. The level of arousal that corresponds to the highest performance indicator is called the optimal level of arousal. This optimal level is different for different tasks. Partly it depends on the complexity of the task. The general rule is that the more difficult the task, the lower the optimal level of arousal.

behavioral response. The behavioral response to stress primarily involves actions to overcome it. Coping with stress is the act of resisting, reducing, or tolerating the demands of the environment that caused the stress. People deal with stress in many different ways. A person's choice of one or another coping strategy depends on a number of factors, both due to external circumstances and the individual characteristics of the person himself. It is important to note that it is the coping strategy that largely determines whether the consequences of each particular stress will be positive or negative.

All behavioral responses to stress can be divided into two poles: the flight response (usually unconscious) and the fight response (usually conscious).

The latter include the so-called coping mechanisms(or coping mechanisms). According to R. Lazarus, coping mechanisms are strategies of action taken by a person in a situation of psychological threat. These strategies are of an active nature, to a large extent determine the successful or unsuccessful adaptation of a person in a new, subjectively difficult situation. Coping mechanisms cover the cognitive, emotional and behavioral spheres of personality functioning and are implemented in the following forms.

a) in the cognitive (cognitive) sphere:

distraction or switching thoughts to other topics;

acceptance of the situation as something inevitable (philosophy of humility);

reducing the seriousness of the situation with the help of humor, irony;

problematic analysis of the current situation, thinking over the strategy of one's behavior;

comparing oneself with others who are in a relatively worse position;

giving personal meaning to the situation, for example, treating the current situation as a challenge to fate or a test of fortitude.

b) in the emotional sphere:

reaction negative emotions in a reasonable, acceptable manner;

suppression of negative emotions while maintaining self-control, self-control;

c) in the behavioral sphere:

distraction - an appeal to any activity;

manifestation of altruism - caring for others, when one's own needs are relegated to the background;

active protection - actions aimed at changing the situation;

active search for emotional support - the desire to be listened to, to meet with assistance and understanding.

There are also unconscious reactions aimed primarily at avoiding resolving a stressful situation. These include psychological defense mechanisms, the idea of ​​which was originally formed within the framework of psychoanalytic theory (for the first time this term appeared in 1894 in the work of Z. Freud "Defensive neuropsychoses"). These mechanisms are aimed at depriving the significance and thereby neutralize the traumatic moments of the impact of stress on the individual.

Remember I. Krylov's fable "The Fox and the Grapes". It was easier for a fox to declare the grapes unripe than to admit even to herself that she could not get them.

To date, experts know more than twenty types of psychological defense mechanisms. Among them are:

Repression - the inability to remember any event, or perceive any information due to the traumatic nature of this information;

negation - defense mechanism, in which various facts that contain a threat to a person are denied or not perceived by him;

projection - an unconscious endowment of another person with one's own traits and properties, the transfer of one's feelings and experiences to another person or to another situation;

regression - the transition to earlier, less mature and adequate patterns of behavior;

rationalization - the construction of acceptable moral, logical justifications for explaining and justifying unacceptable impulsive forms of behavior;

sublimation - the direction of energy to socially approved, as a rule, creative spheres of human activity;

suppression - the expulsion from the memory of unpleasant, displeasure-producing memories, images, thoughts, desires; and etc.

Despite the differences between specific types of protection, their functions are similar. They consist in mitigating the traumatic impact of undesirable events on the psyche, reducing the level of personal anxiety, maintaining stability and immutability of the individual's ideas about himself.

According to a number of studies, in mature, harmonious personalities, coping mechanisms predominate among reactions to stress, while in immature, disharmonious, infantile personalities, psychological defense mechanisms prevail.

Let us return to the issue of the influence of individual and personal characteristics of a person on the occurrence and development of stress.

The influence of individual and personal characteristics of a person on the occurrence and development of stress

Numerous studies have established the dependence of the development of psychological stress on the following individual and personal characteristics of a person: age, general health, type of nervous response and temperament, locus of control, psychological endurance (stability) and self-esteem.

Age. It has been established that children and the elderly are the most vulnerable to stress. As a rule, they are distinguished by a high level of anxiety and tension, insufficiently effective adaptation to changing conditions, a prolonged emotional reaction to stress, and a rapid exhaustion of internal resources.

General health. It is obvious that people with good health generally adapt better to changing environmental conditions, more easily tolerate negative physiological changes that occur in the body under the influence of a stressor, and have a greater supply of internal resources to maintain the resistance phase. In people suffering from diseases of the cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal tract, hypertension, bronchial asthma, neuropsychiatric disorders and a number of other diseases, stress exacerbates these diseases, resulting in serious consequences for their health.

Type of nervous response and temperament. The individual reaction of a person to a stressful effect is largely predetermined by the innate properties of his nervous system. The concept of types of the nervous system (or types of higher nervous activity) was introduced by I. Pavlov. Initially, two main types of the nervous system were considered: strong and weak. The strong type, in turn, was subdivided into balanced and unbalanced; and balanced - on mobile and inert. These types were compared with the classical ideas about the types of temperament.

Rice. 5. The ratio of types of GNI and temperament

Temperament is characterized mainly by the energy reserve of the individual and the speed of metabolic processes. It determines how the actions are implemented and does not depend on their content. For example, the influence of temperament on attention is reflected in the stability and switchability of attention. Influencing memory, temperament determines the speed of memorization, the ease of recall and the strength of retention. And its influence on thinking is manifested in the fluency of mental operations. The efficiency of problem solving does not always correlate with the high speed of mental operations. Sometimes a leisurely melancholic who carefully considers his actions achieves better results than an ultra-fast choleric. In an extreme situation, the influence of temperament on the method and efficiency of activity intensifies: a person falls under the control of innate programs of his temperament that require a minimum energy level and regulation time.

How do people with different temperaments differ from each other? First of all, they have a different emotional organization, manifested in sensual mobility and in the tendency of people of different temperaments to respond to a situation mainly with one of the innate emotions, which differ only in power. The choleric person is especially prone to the manifestation of negative emotions of anger and rage, the sanguine person is predisposed to positive emotions; the phlegmatic is generally not prone to a violent emotional response, although potentially, like a sanguine person, he gravitates toward positive emotions, and a melancholic quickly succumbs to negative emotions of fear and anxiety.

These types of temperament are clearly characterized by generalized everyday definitions: they say about choleric people that they are emotionally explosive, about sanguine people that they are distinguished by emotional liveliness, about phlegmatic people they are emotionally inexpressive, and melancholic people are considered emotionally sensitive and vulnerable (Granovskaya, 2004).

Choleric and sanguine people cope better with tasks in which there is a place for creativity, phlegmatic and melancholic people with tasks that require strictly regulated performance.

In general, people with a strong type of higher nervous activity tolerate the impact of a stressful situation more easily, more often use active methods of overcoming, coping, while people with a weak type of nervous system tend to avoid, avoid stressful effects, shift responsibility to other people or external circumstances. The most violent, sthenic (irritation, anger, rage) emotional reaction to stress is characteristic of people with a choleric temperament, they react especially sharply to the emergence of a sudden obstacle on the way to achieving their goal. However, they do well with urgent unexpected tasks, as the presence of strong emotions “spurs” them to be active. Sanguine people have a slightly calmer emotional background: their emotions arise quickly, have medium strength and short duration. The source of stress for both types is more likely to be monotony, monotony, boredom than events that require active action and cause strong emotions. Phlegmatic feelings take possession slowly. He even slowed down in emotions. He does not need to make an effort on himself to maintain composure, so it is easy for him to resist a hasty decision. In a situation of stress, a phlegmatic person will cope well with practiced, stereotypical actions, while at the same time one should not expect effective solutions from him in a rapidly changing environment. The melancholic suffers the most from stress. They are initially prone to emotions of fear and anxiety, their feelings are lingering, suffering seems unbearable and beyond all consolation. When necessary to act in a stressful situation, melancholics will show a lack of energy and perseverance, but high self-control can be their advantage.

As already noted, it should be borne in mind that the indicated typology of temperament is a simplified scheme, far from exhausting the possible features of the temperament of each individual person.

In order to determine the type of temperament, we suggest you use the following Eysenck method (Coke, 1981).

Instruction: You need to answer "Yes" or "No" to the questions below.

Do you like the revival and bustle around you?

Do you often have the uneasy feeling that you want something and you don't know what?

Are you one of those people who do not go into their pocket for words?

Do you feel sometimes happy and sometimes sad for no reason?

Do you usually keep a low profile in companies?

Did you always do what you were ordered to do immediately and meekly as a child?

Do you have a bad mood?

When you are drawn into a quarrel, do you prefer to remain silent, hoping that everything will work out?

Are you easily affected by mood swings?

Do you like being among people?

Have you often lost sleep because of your worries?

Do you get stubborn sometimes?

Would you call yourself dishonest?

Do good thoughts often come to you too late?

Do you prefer to work alone?

Do you often feel tired and lethargic for no good reason?

Are you by nature a living person?

Do you sometimes laugh at indecent jokes?

Do you often get bored with something and feel "fed up"?

Do you feel uncomfortable wearing anything other than casual?

Do your thoughts often get distracted when you try to focus your attention on something?

Can you quickly put your thoughts into words?

Are you often lost in your own thoughts?

Are you completely free from any prejudice?

Do you like April Fool's jokes?

How often do you think about your work?

Do you really like delicious food?

Do you need the friendliness of a person to talk out when you are annoyed?

Do you find it very frustrating to borrow or sell anything when you need money?

Do you brag sometimes?

Are you very sensitive to certain things?

Would you rather be alone at home than go to a boring party?

Are you sometimes so restless that you can't sit still?

Do you tend to plan your affairs carefully and even earlier than you should?

Do you have dizziness?

3 6. Do you always answer letters immediately after reading them?

Do you do better when you think about it on your own rather than discussing it with others?

Do you ever get short of breath even if you didn't do any heavy work?

Is it possible to say that you are a person who does not care that everything is as it should be?

Are your nerves bothering you?

Do you prefer to make plans rather than act?

Do you sometimes put off until tomorrow what you need to do today?

Do you get nervous in places like elevators, subways, tunnels?

Are you usually the first to take the initiative when meeting someone?

Do you have severe headaches?

Do you usually think that everything will work itself out and return to normal?

Do you find it difficult to sleep at night?

Have you ever lied in your life?

Do you sometimes say the first thing that comes to mind?

How long do you worry after the embarrassment that happened?

Are you usually closed with everyone except close friends?

How often do you get in trouble?

Do you like to tell funny stories to your friends?

5 4. Do you prefer to win more than lose?

Do you often feel uncomfortable in the company of people above you in position?

When circumstances are against you, do you usually think that it is worth doing something else?

Do you often "suck in the stomach" before an important matter?

Dough Processing

Answers must be calculated on two scales "X" and "Y", then find the point of intersection. The area where the intersection point is located is your temperament. For example, if on a scale X = 10,anoY = 13, then the intersection point will lie in the “Phlegmatic” area; or if the point X = 20, and Y = 3, then the point of intersection will lie in the "Choleric" area.

Keys

Scale "X"

Locus of control. Locus of control determines how effectively a person can control the environment and influence its change. People's positions on this issue are located between two extreme points: external (external) and internal (internal) locus of control. Externals perceive most of the events that occur as a result of chance or the action of external forces beyond the control of a person. The boarding school, on the contrary, believes that only certain events are outside the sphere of human influence. Even catastrophic events, from their point of view, can be prevented by well-thought-out human actions. Internals have more effective cognitive coping mechanisms. They spend a significant part of their mental energy on obtaining information that allows them to influence events that are significant to them. Internals also have a strong tendency to develop specific plans of action in certain situations. In this way, they can develop self-mastery to the extent that it allows them to cope with stressful situations more successfully.

Psychological endurance (stability) *. Experts refer to psychological endurance a number of factors, including the previously noted locus of control and self-esteem, as well as the level of criticality, optimism, the presence of internal conflicts, beliefs and moral values influencing the giving of personal meaning to a stressful situation.

Each person has their own individual ability to cope with a stressful situation. Everyone has their own "threshold level" of stress. Criticality reflects the degree of importance for a person of security, stability and predictability of events. The more important a sense of security, stability and predictability is for a person, the more painfully he will endure a stressful event. It was also noted that optimistic, cheerful people are psychologically more resilient. Great importance has a person's personal understanding of the meaning of the ongoing stressful event. The well-known psychiatrist V. Franchi convincingly showed in his works (in particular, in the book “Man in Search of Meaning”) that a person could endure anything if he sees the meaning in it.

Self-esteem. Self-esteem is an assessment of one's capabilities. If people evaluate themselves and, accordingly, their capabilities highly enough, then it is likely that they will perceive stressful situations as manageable, and therefore less difficult in terms of emotional response. Thus, when stress arises, people with adequately high self-esteem cope better than people with low self-esteem, which gives them additional information about their capabilities and, in turn, further strengthens their self-esteem.

Faced with difficult situations, a person daily adapts to his physical and social environment. Psychological stress is a concept used to refer to a wide range of emotional states and human actions that occur as a response to a variety of extreme influences (stressors).

The development of psychological stress is influenced by numerous factors, among which are the characteristics of a stressful event, the interpretation of an event by a person, the influence of a person’s past experience, awareness (awareness) about the situation, individual and personal characteristics of a person. In turn, stress has an impact on the mental processes of a person, in particular on higher mental functions.

A person reacts to stress on a physiological, emotional and behavioral level. The type of response, in particular the choice of coping strategy, largely determines what the consequences of each specific stress will be.

Questions and tasks for chapter 4:

What is psychological stress?

Give examples of mental stressors.

Name the types (levels) of reactions to stress.

What emotions do people experience in a stressful situation?

Is there an unambiguous relationship between the type of stress and specific emotions?

Name the factors influencing the development of psychological stress.

What individual and personal characteristics of a person influence the development of psychological stress?

Lecture

The impact of stress on human life

The positive impact of stress on a person.

The negative impact of stress.

The effect of stress on the human body.

Stress is a complex phenomenon, about which it is difficult to say right away whether it is useful for a person or harmful.

On the one hand, without what we call the stress response, a person would not be able to survive - simply because he would not be able to respond to the changes that the world gives him daily. Without stress, people would not be able to catch a mammoth, catch up with a departing bus, or hide from danger. In this context, we can talk about stress as an invaluable gift of nature, the benefits and even the vital necessity of which is obvious.

On the other hand, stress can and often does cause psychological and health problems. In this chapter, we have to figure out when stress is good and when it is bad for a person.

The positive impact of stress on a person

In addition to the obvious natural "usefulness" of stress, we can say that a person, experiencing stress, can also receive indirect (not provided by nature) benefits:

Increasing the level of stress resistance. There is an expression “After that, I’m not afraid of anything” - that is, having been in some kind of tense (and now we’ll say stressful) situation, a person acquires the skill to cope with other situations that he faces or will face in the future.

Related to this is another benefit of stress:

Development of personal qualities, or personal growth. Gaining experience in coping with difficult life situations, a person can not only increase his resistance to stress, but also discover qualities in himself that neither he nor those around him simply suspected.

Another benefit of stress may be that it allows realize the need for tension forces. So, for example, representatives of extreme sports, in fact, specifically cause stress by satisfying their needs for thrills.

The negative impact of stress

The negative impact of stress is a frequently discussed topic. Newspapers and magazines write about the dangers of stress, we hear about it on the radio, we see it on television, we discuss it with friends and acquaintances. But when the question arises of what this harm consists in, we find it difficult to answer. Let's try to figure out why stress is bad.

Among the negative effects of stress, the following are usually distinguished:

Deterioration in task performance. Stress often has a negative impact on the performance of any activity. Thus, according to the theory of Roy Baumeister (Emotional stress, 1970), attention to the activities performed is disturbed in two ways. Firstly, a high degree of tension can distract attention from the actions being performed, and secondly, if the activity is familiar and almost automatic, it can lead to excessive concentration of attention on individual operations, which can also worsen its performance.

Violation of cognitive (mental) functions.

Various studies have shown that stress leads to impaired cognitive processes. (ibid.), in particular: increases the tendency to hasty decision-making, without considering all possible options; contributes to a chaotic, poorly organized enumeration of various possibilities. For some people, high levels of emotional and physiological arousal lead to poor thinking flexibility, concentration, and memory. Let's see how this happens.

Cognitive processes include: sensation, perception, representation, imagination, attention, memory, thinking, etc.

First of all, stress affects the features of sensations and perceptions, as well as the process of attention. In order to understand the nature of this impact, let us recall the phases of the reaction to stress (according to G. Selye):

Alarm phase - It is the body's primary response to stressors.

Phase of resistance (resistance) - maximum mobilization of internal resources.

Exhaustion phase - a sharp decrease in the body's resistance, depletion of resources.

The first phase corresponds to the psychological shock reaction, which may be accompanied by acute reactions to stress. In this state, the implementation of all higher mental functions is extremely difficult. There may be a significant narrowing of the zone of attention, a change in perception, a dulling of sensations up to their complete absence. Thinking abilities are noticeably reduced.

In the second phase, all mental resources are mobilized. Sensations and perception, attention, memory, thinking acquire a character that is narrowly focused on overcoming a stressful situation that has arisen, on adapting to new conditions, that is, these processes are aggravated in relation to a stressful situation with their simultaneous blunting in relation to other events of reality.

In the third phase, resources are depleted, resulting in a general decrease in mental activity.

The implementation of all higher mental functions at this stage is again difficult, especially the processes of attention and thinking suffer. Memories acquire a selective character: some moments of a stressful event can be forced out of memory, and some, on the contrary, are remembered especially vividly.

In the future, if the situation normalizes, there is a gradual restoration of both the physiological and mental state of the person. In some cases, the strength of the stress effect or the characteristics of its experience by a person are such that the restoration of the pre-stress state does not occur, and negative consequences of stress occur. Cases where stress becomes dangerous will be covered in detail in later chapters of this tutorial.

In addition, severe stress can lead a person into a state of dazedness and confusion, that is, to shock. In this state, people feel emotionally numb, they react sluggishly and indifferently to surrounding events. Their behavior becomes rigid, automatic, stereotyped.

Exhaustion. Exhaustion can be physical, mental and emotional. Physical exhaustion is characterized by chronic fatigue, weakness, loss of strength. Mental exhaustion is manifested in sharply negative assessments of oneself, one's activities and life in general. Emotional exhaustion leads to feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and being overwhelmed. Burnout usually occurs as a result of exposure to a stressor of excessive intensity or as a result of chronic stress.

Delayed reactions, post-traumatic stress disorder. The effects of stress do not necessarily appear immediately. Between stressful situation and its effects may take some time. Post-traumatic stress is a behavioral disorder associated with a stressful situation that manifests itself after the stress has already passed. The delayed effects of stress will be discussed in subsequent chapters.

The effect of stress on the human body

Nature arranged the human body expediently, with a huge margin of safety, adapting it for a long and healthy life. But, unfortunately, she could not foresee the coming growth of civilization and culture, which tore human existence from its natural roots, modern man many emotions from a means of survival in the wild to a tool of self-destruction. Interesting comparisons are given in his book “Protection from Stress” by M.E. Sandomierski, pointing out that emotions such as anger or fear, for example, are biologically justified, are useful. They prepare the body to "squeeze" everything possible out of the muscles, entering into a fight or fleeing. This mechanism, which we have considered earlier, is inherited from distant ancestors and works in the same way both in animals and in humans. But if a Neanderthal, dressed in animal skins and armed with a stone ax, this mechanism helped to defeat the enemy in battle or escape from a ferocious predator, then to our contemporary, in a suit and tie, armed only with a telephone receiver and a pen, he creates only problems, because he enters contrary to the rules of modern society. Indeed, in most cases, it is impossible to show physical aggression against the interlocutor who caused a negative emotion. Yes, and fast legs will not help in solving today's problems. But at the same time, sitting at a table in the office, faced with unpleasant, emotionally significant information, a person internally tenses up: both the pressure rises and the pulse goes off scale to provide the muscles with energy. Muscles tense up in preparation for action, but no action occurs. Physiological shifts in the form of unspent, unclaimed preparation for an unaccomplished action remain.

If stress were limited to only uncomfortable sensations (increased muscle tension, sweating, shortness of breath and a state of anxiety), even this would negatively affect a person. Unfortunately, chronic stress leads to the development of serious diseases.

The cardiovascular system. As already noted, stress causes an increase in blood pressure. The effect of stress on the cardiovascular system is clear. In addition, stress affects the heart directly. Increases, due to the influence of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system and the above hormones, the number of contractions and cardiac output. When stress in the body increases the level of cholesterol, blood serum and other fatty acids. Cholesterol in the blood accumulates on the walls of blood vessels, disrupting blood flow in various parts of the body. If blood flow to the heart is impaired, there is a high risk of developing coronary heart disease or death from myocardial infarction caused by insufficient oxygen supply to the heart.

The immune system. The most important component of the immune system is leukocytes (white blood cells). Leukocytes are divided into 3 groups: phagocytes and two types of lymphocytes (T-cells and B-cells). All these groups of cells perform one task: they identify and destroy substances foreign to the body. Human health is threatened by any factor that lowers the number of leukocytes. Stress is one of those factors.

Dr. Candace Perth, a neuroscientist and head of brain biochemistry at the National Institute of Mental Health, has studied chemicals that transmit signals from nerve cells to the brain and from the brain to the parts of the body. He discovered that hundreds of such transmitters (neuropeptides) are produced directly by the brain. And some of these substances are produced in small amounts by macrophages (leukocytes that destroy viruses and bacteria). Since relaxation and some forms of visualization promote the production of neuropeptides (such as beta-endorphins), it is possible to specifically stimulate their production, thus strengthening the immune system. The expected result is a reduction in disease.

Cancer treatment takes into account the influence of consciousness on the body, as modern researchers tend to emphasize the role of stress in the development of cancer. Cancer patients are taught to imagine how T-lymphocytes attack cancer cells. The use of visualization skills and other relaxation techniques is based on the reasonable assumption that if under the influence of stress the number of lymphocytes decreases, then during relaxation their number increases. As a result, the immune system can control cancer cells to some extent. However, it should be recognized that this method of cancer treatment is not generally recognized and is used only experimentally.

Digestive system. As a result of stress, the secretion of saliva in the mouth decreases. That is why, when we worry, we feel that everything is dry in our mouth. Due to the fact that uncontrolled contractions of the muscles of the esophagus can begin as a result of stress, swallowing may be difficult.

During chronic stress, the release of norepinephrine causes spasm of the gastric capillaries, which prevents the secretion of mucus and destroys the protective mucous barrier on the walls of the stomach. Without this barrier, hydrochloric acid (which increases during stress) corrodes the tissue and can reach the blood vessels, resulting in a bleeding ulcer.

Due to the fact that the rhythm of contractions of the large and small intestines changes as a result of stress, diarrhea (if the peristalsis becomes too fast) or constipation (if the peristalsis slows down) can occur.

Modern medicine associates all disorders in the bile and pancreatic ducts, pancreatitis, any stomach problems with stress.

Musculature. Under stress, muscles tense up. Some people look like they are constantly on the defensive or aggressive, they are constantly on edge. This muscle tension is called "clamping". Indeed, how often a person feels (after a conflict, in a crisis situation, or simply by the end of a working day, week) depressed, “exhausted”, tired like a “squeezed lemon”. It is no coincidence that there are folk expressions to describe emotional states: “like a mountain off your shoulders”, “to take on a burden”, “put a collar around your neck”. This is not only heaviness in a figurative sense, but also a physical feeling of heaviness, residual muscle tension associated with unreacted emotions.

The examples listed refer to skeletal muscles. Stress is also reflected in the functioning of smooth muscles (see earlier the mechanism of increased blood pressure, peristalsis disorders). Thus, migraine headaches are the result of contraction and expansion of the carotid arteries on one side of the head. The contraction phase (prodrome) is often accompanied by increased light and noise sensitivity, irritability, flushing or pallor of the skin. When arteries dilate, certain chemicals excite nearby nerve endings, causing pain. Headaches caused by muscle tension as a result of stress can affect the forehead, jaw, and even the neck.

As with tension headaches, chronic stress causes muscle spasms and back pain.

Leather. In a stressful situation, sweating increases, and the temperature of the skin surface decreases. Since norepinephrine causes the walls of blood vessels on the surface of the skin of the hands and feet to contract, fingers and toes get colder than usual during stress. In addition, due to vasoconstriction, the skin turns pale. Thus, the skin of nervous, anxious, stressed people is cold, slightly moist and pale.

Sexual system. Prolonged release of glucocorticoids leads to a significant decrease in testosterone production, which reduces sexual desire and leads to impotence. Stress is considered one of the causes of menstrual irregularities in women, resulting in impaired reproductive function.

Stress can cause miscarriage in a pregnant woman. According to studies, 70% of women who have had miscarriages experienced at least one stressful situation in the 4-5 months before.

Now that you have an idea of ​​how the body reacts to stress, you can study your own response. Mark in the table how often you have a certain physical syndrome, and then calculate the total points scored for the answers.

40-75 points - your chances of getting sick due to stress are minimal;

76-100 points - there is a small chance that you will get sick due to stress;

101-150 points - high probability of getting sick due to stress; more than 150 points - probably stress has already affected your health.

The conclusions you made are important in order to form your own strategy of behavior. It is necessary not only to understand the fundamental need to fulfill one's aspirations, but also to know how to harmoniously combine it with inherited opportunities. After all, the amount of innate adaptive energy varies from person to person.

I would like to end this section with a reminder of the “total disposal” rule, or, as the American psychologist R. Alpert (aka philosopher Ram Dass) figuratively called it, the “grain to the mill” rule. Everything that happens to a person, he can use, comprehend, process, like a mill grinds grain. And the events that take place in a person’s life, even if unpleasant, and negative thoughts about them are just “grain for the mill”, which must be disposed of, “grind” in oneself in order to maintain health and move on. In the process of internal work on oneself, a person can and should develop stress resistance, or, in the words of K.G. Jung, "the willingness, whatever happens, to accept it QUIETLY."

So, stress has its positive and negative sides. The main useful property of stress is, of course, its natural function of human adaptation to new conditions. In addition, the “useful” consequences of stress include an increase in the level of stress resistance, the development of personal qualities and personal growth, and the realization of the need for exertion.

Stress becomes harmful when it is too strong or when it lasts too long.

Among the negative consequences of stress, deterioration in the performance of tasks, impaired mental functions, exhaustion, delayed mental reactions, including post-traumatic stress disorder, mental health disorders and psychological problems. Stress is considered the main culprit in the development of psychosomatic illnesses.

Questions

1. What are the negative effects of stress on a person?

2. What positive impact does stress have on a person's life?

3. Remember two cases from your life: one - when stress helped you in your life situation, the second - when the state of stress negatively affected this situation. In the first case, consider what the positive effect of stress was, and in the second, what exactly the stress had a negative effect on. What was the difference for you in experiencing these two stressful situations?

I.P. Pavlov for the basis of his classification behavior took biological needs, to which the behavior is directed. He singled out instinct considered as genetically fixed, developed in the process of development kind combination of unconditioned unconditioned reflexes):

1) individual instincts - food, aggressive, active-defensive and passive-defensive, freedom reflex, research reflex, game reflex;

2) species instincts - sexual and parental.

Human behavioral responses can be caused by (reasons):

1. The impact on the body of physiologically significant stimuli from the external or internal environment (unconditioned and conditioned stimuli).

2. The emergence of needs (or the formation of a dominant state of a certain nerve center).

According to I.P. Pavlov need- this is the foundation of behavior and the psyche, the determinant of behavior, or the reflex of the goal, the “blind force” that prompts the body to a certain behavior.

Classification of needs P.V. Simonova.

1) biological or vital needs aimed at maintaining the integrity of the organism and species (needs for food, drink, sleep, etc.);

2) social (or zoosocial) needs, including the need for a person to belong to a certain group and follow the behavioral, moral and aesthetic standards of society;

3) ideal needs, or the needs of knowledge and creativity, including the need for a person to know the world and his place in it, to know the meaning of life, the need for new information, the need to be armed with knowledge.

A. Maslow distinguished the following types of needs (and their hierarchy) (popular in the West).

one). physiological needs. 2). The need for security 3). The need to love and belong to someone. 4). The need for self-respect. 5). The need for self-realization.

motivation (according to Kotlyar) is an emotionally colored state that arises on the basis of a specific need and forms behavior aimed at satisfying this need. They are classified into - biological (according to other lower, vital), social and ideal (higher), pathological (needs for nicotine, drugs, alcohol).

There are two components to any motivation: energy(reflects a measure of the tension of the need) and guide(specificity or semantic content) needs.

Every motivation is characterized two phase: phase detection need occurrence and phase launch and implementation of specialized purposeful behavior in relation to those external objects that are able to satisfy this need. The first phase initiates the second.

Physiological processes occurring during the formation of motivations:

1. Activation of the motor system (motor activity increases).

2. An increase in the tone of the sympathetic nervous system (due to impulses coming from the limbic system to the hypothalamus and the thoracic spinal cord) (increased blood pressure, blood flow to the muscles, etc.).

3. An increase in the activity of afferent systems, which is expressed in a decrease in sensory thresholds, in an increase in orientation reactions.

4. The growth of search activity (the second phase of motivation), which is purposeful.

5 Memory update.

6. Change in the electrical activity of the brain

7. The emergence of subjective emotional experiences

Theories of the formation of biological motivations.

1. Peripheral- in the brain, biological motivations arise on the basis of the interpretation of signals coming from peripheral organs. At the same time, it is believed that motivations arise as a result of the body's desire to avoid unpleasant sensations that accompany various motives.

2. Humoral- biological motivations arise as a result of changes in the chemical composition of blood and other body fluids.

3. Central- the emergence of motivation due to the excitation of nerve centers.

3.1 Motivational theory of two centers. It assumes that motivations arise as a result of the reciprocal work of two centers, for example, a center of hunger and a center of saturation, or a center of thirst and a center of saturation with water.

3.2 hypothalamic theory closely related to the humoral theory. It suggests that in the deep structures of the brain (primarily in the hypothalamus) there are chemoreceptors that specialize in perceiving changes in the content of certain chemicals in the blood. Therefore, such structures (primarily the hypothalamus) act as a center of motivational states.

3.3 limbic theory- in addition to the hypothalamic structures, the limbic system of the brain plays an important role in the formation of motivations. It is involved in the process under the influence of excitation of the lateral nuclei of the hypothalamus. In addition, excitation of the hypothalamus also covers the reticular formation, resulting in a generalized activation of the cerebral cortex.

General representations about the formation of the need-motivational state.

Afferent information from the corresponding receptors enters three areas of the brain. Firstly, to the cerebral cortex, in which the dominant need is determined and with the help of which the limbic system of the brain is excited. Secondly, to the limbic system, which triggers emotional responses. And, thirdly, to the hypothalamus, which also receives signals from the cerebral cortex and excites motivational neurons, the activity of which, in turn, reaches the cerebral cortex. Based on all this information, the cortex launches an action aimed at fulfilling the needs. Evaluation of the final result of the action is accompanied by appropriate emotions.

emancipation reaction. This is a desire to free oneself from the care of parents, educators and, in general, all adults. This reaction is facilitated by petty guardianship, deprivation of independence, constant pressure, attitude towards a teenager as an unintelligent little child. The reaction of emancipation is manifested by hidden resistance to the order or attempts to get out of the control of adults. In the first case, this is ignoring advice, instructions and instructions, not accepting help, stubborn attempts to do everything on their own, rejecting the rules and norms established by adults. In the second case, these are attempts to arrange an independent life.

Grouping reaction is carried out by the creation of informal groups of peers and adolescents, a few older or younger in age. These groups are usually distinguished by a certain persistence. Teenagers who are neglected and neglected are most inclined to unite. The activity of such groups is often anti-social in nature (hooliganism, fraud, theft).

Entrainment reactions are closely related to the inclinations, inclinations, interests of the individual and are manifested by the satisfaction of certain needs, motives. Allocate informative

communicative hobbies (satisfaction of the thirst for new information, the need for contacts that allow the exchange of new information); hobbies based on the satisfaction of a sense of excitement (arising from various games, especially for money or other "interest"); egocentric hobbies that allow you to be in the spotlight (participation in amateur performances, sports performances); hobbies caused by passion for hoarding (different types of collecting); hobbies based on the desire for bodily-manual improvement (bodybuilding, body-building); hobbies based on the desire for leadership (search for situations where you can lead); intellectual and aesthetic hobbies (associated with a deep interest in modern or classical music, drawing, radio engineering, modeling). These hobbies can be one of the reasons for the violation of behavior, since for the sake of fulfilling one’s “passion”, studies are abandoned, dubious acquaintances are made, illegal exchange operations, sales, etc. are carried out. hobbies allow these reactions in some cases to be considered as overvalued formations (implementation of overvalued ideas). The painful nature of these hobbies is also confirmed by the absurdity of the goal that the teenager sets for himself (to make a collection of animal excrement, insect paws, fragments of dishes), the unproductive hobby (there are no completed results of what years can be spent on), neglect of one's duties as a family member, student, friend and lack of attention to their health, appearance, career, good name.

Behavioral disorder caused by a reaction to one's physical condition. Assessing his body, a teenager, faced with his physical unusualness, draws a conclusion about his social inferiority. You may want to compensate for your shortcomings in another area or try to correct them. Rapid growth during puberty leads to a disproportionate elongation of the limbs, a delay in the formation of the neuromuscular apparatus, which disrupts the coordination of movements and manifests itself in clumsiness. Hints or reproaches of others about a peculiar appearance or awkwardness cause violent affects, distort behavior. Lagging behind in development, thin and undersized boys (retardants) appear to others as immature and unadapted. They feel the need for guardianship, show rebelliousness. In order to change the unfavorable impression of themselves, they are forced to constantly show ingenuity, enterprise, "courage", be in sight and prove their usefulness and even indispensability in the group to which they belong with their "achievements". Such activity leads to communication difficulties and emotional stress, which create conditions for disturbed behavior. Early maturing adolescents have little time to adjust to the new physical appearance that arises in connection with this. mental state and position among peers and in the family. Reactions to body features are different in boys and girls.

Behavioral disorders due to emerging sexual attraction. The pace, time, complexity of puberty affect behavior.

With precocious puberty in some cases, affective disorders occur, in others - psychopathic behavioral disorders such as disharmonic infantilism, behavioral disorders (pretentiousness, irascibility, aggressiveness), disorder of drives, especially sexual.

With delayed sexual development slowness, lack of concentration, uncertainty, clumsiness, lethargy, impulsiveness and difficulties in adapting to a new situation appear. Teenagers become unassembled, unsure of themselves.

Older children may experience unusual cruelty (sadism), peeping at naked people, cross-dressing, self-exposing, cooperative masturbation, forcing other teenagers and children to nude, perverted interest in urination and defecation, seduction of younger children. Adolescents also have sexual fantasies with masturbation, discussions on erotic themes, exhibitionistic games (with undressing each other), early heterosexual contacts, homosexual oral-genital and anal-genital contacts, promiscuity. Sexual desires can lead to aggression.

Adolescents have insufficiently conscious and increased sexual desire. Gender identification has not yet been completed. Therefore, deviations in sexual behavior easily occur. Adolescents with accelerated and delayed maturation are especially susceptible to them. For the former, a strong sexual desire arises long before social maturity, for the latter, there is a desire to assert themselves, overtaking peers in sexual activity. In addition, those who are lagging behind in development may become the object of seduction by their older comrades. Sexual deviations in adolescents depend on the situation and are transient. Among them may be visionism (peeping at the naked), exhibitionism (demonstration of one's nudity), manipulation of the genitals of younger children or animals. As they grow older and during the transition to a normal sexual life, deviations disappear completely. In unfavorable cases, they become

they become a bad habit and persist along with normal sexual behavior or resume in the absence of a normal sexual life, seductive influence. If masturbation appears before puberty, reaches a high frequency, is accompanied by neurotic symptoms or depressive experiences due to one's behavior, it should be considered as a deviation. Petting, i.e. mutual caresses without sexual intercourse, to achieve orgasm, is used by adolescents in order to avoid defloration and pregnancy. It can be considered deviant if practiced before the age of puberty. The emergence of sexual relations before full physical maturation can be considered as a deviation. Adolescent promiscuity (repeated change of partners and frequent sexual intercourse) is a sexual deviation. It is often combined with alcoholism, which in some disinhibits drives, while in others leads to passive submission. Transient adolescent homosexuality is usually situational. It often appears in closed educational institutions where adolescents of the same sex are concentrated. In younger adolescents, this deviation may be due to corruption, imitation and coercion. This deviation is more often found in male adolescents than in girls. The possibility of transient homosexuality is explained by the insufficient maturity of sexual desire. Unlike true homosexuality, an object of the opposite sex is always attractive.

Behavioral disorder due to psychological characteristics. In younger adolescents, there are disproportions in the level and pace of personality development. The emerging sense of adulthood leads to an overestimated level of claims. Emotionality becomes unstable, characterized by sharp mood swings, rapid transitions from exaltation to a depressed mood. When a teenager encounters a lack of understanding of his aspirations for independence, as well as in response to criticism of physical abilities or external data, flashes of affect arise. The most unstable mood is noted at 11-13 years old in boys and at 13-15 years old in girls. The most pronounced stubbornness falls on the same age. In older adolescents, physical maturation is completed, emotional instability becomes less pronounced. They are concerned about the right to independence, they are looking for their place in life. There is a differentiation of abilities, interests, a worldview is developed, a psychosexual orientation is determined. However, purposefulness and perseverance at this age still coexist with impulsiveness and instability. Excessive self-confidence and categoricalness are combined with sensitivity and self-doubt. The desire for wide contacts coexists with the desire to be alone, arrogance with shyness, romanticism with pragmatism and cynicism, the need for tenderness with sadism. The development of the personality of a teenager occurs under the influence of the culture and society that educates him, is associated with the socio-economic status and gender. Puberty at modern teenagers ends before the onset of social maturity. Available freedom of choice life path prolongs settling time. At the same time, social maturation occurs unevenly and depends on the completion of education, material independence or the onset of adulthood. A teenager in some areas of life may be unadapted and it is hard to experience his failure. For example, having authority in a group of athletes, a teenager may be completely immature in relationships with people of the opposite sex. During the life of a teenager, the range of social roles expands: a student, an amateur participant, a member of a sports team, etc. However, their development is difficult, which can lead to great emotional stress and behavioral disorders. The subjective significance and correlation of different roles and relationships is changing.

ACCENTUATIONS OF CHARACTER

The behavior of children and adolescents is determined by what the characteristics of their psyche are, because, as the bearer of previous experience and innate, as well as acquired ways of responding to life circumstances, it actually organizes a system of relations with the environment. It is not enough to evaluate behavior as a separate process; one should study the carrier of this process - the personality. Otherwise, the activity will be studied in isolation from the actor. Personality is revealed in every activity, being determined in every reaction by the history of its past. Therefore, for a correct explanation of the activity performed, knowledge of the personality and its characteristics is necessary. Personality is a dynamic organization in the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine its integral adaptation to its environment (Allport G.). The personality acts as a united set of internal mental conditions through which all external influences are refracted.

People differ from each other in such distinctive features that give them individual traits. These individual traits, according to K. Leonhard (1976), belong to the sphere of orientation of interests and inclinations, to the sphere of feelings and will, and to the sphere associated with intelligence (interest, desire for orderliness). The accentuated traits are nowhere near as numerous as the varying individual ones. Accentuation is, in essence, the same individual traits, but with a tendency to move into a pathological state. With great severity, they leave an imprint on the personality as such and, finally, can acquire a pathological character, destroying the structure of the personality. Accentuated personalities are not pathological. Among them are individuals with a pronounced original mental warehouse.

Accentuated personalities potentially contain both the possibility of socially positive achievements and a socially negative charge. V. M. Bekhterev (1886) wrote about the transitional degrees between psychopathy and the normal state and about such a weak severity of psychopathy that under normal conditions it is not detected. This also includes "easily losing balance", discordant-normal, "latent psychopaths" [GannushkinP. B., 1933].

A. E. Lichko (1983) argues that with character accentuations, his features, as opposed to psychopathy, may not appear everywhere and not always. They can only be found under certain conditions. These features do not prevent satisfactory social adaptation, or its violations are transient. Each type of accentuation has its own “weak points” that are different from other types. So, for a hyperthymic character, the situation of isolation is difficult, and for a schizoid character, the need to establish informal emotional contacts is difficult. Under certain circumstances, the accentuator may find increased resistance. The schizoid easily tolerates loneliness, hyperthymia - an environment that requires increased activity. In connection with the foregoing, A.E. Lichko gives the following definition: character accentuations are extreme variants of his norm, in which individual character traits are excessively strengthened, which reveals selective vulnerability to a certain kind of psychogenic influences with good and even increased resistance to others.

The number of accentuated personalities in the population is 50%. Moreover, these data are valid for both adults and children. Among older adolescents, accentuants are found in 62% [Ivanov N. Ya., 1978]. The dependence of the frequency of occurrence of character accentuations on gender is noted. For example, in both younger adolescence and older, there are more accentuators among males, 52-42% and 52-51%, respectively.

A. E. Lichko (1977) describes the following main types of accentuations character: hyperthymic, cycloid, labile, asthenoneurotic, sensitive, psychasthenic, schizoid, epileptoid, hysteroid, unstable.

Hyperthymic type. It is characterized by high spirits, a thirst for activity, increased talkativeness, inextinguishable optimism, only for a short time overshadowed by misfortunes and failures. An increased thirst for activity contributes to the achievement of production and creative success. Lack of sustained attention can lead to interesting associations. Hyperthymic individuals are brilliant conversationalists, always finding enthusiastic and appreciative listeners, yet they may miss things that need to be taken seriously. They are able to break ethical standards without much remorse. They embark on dubious enterprises, often putting their property, position, and authority at stake. They take on a lot, but do not always bring the matter to the end. From childhood, they are noisy, sociable, overly independent, bold, prone to mischief, quick-tempered, easily enter into conflicts, always strive to lead, because of distractions and restlessness, they study unevenly.

Sexual feeling awakens early, so early manifestations of sexuality are possible.

The “weak point” of hyperthymia is intolerance to a monotonous environment, monotonous work, limited contacts, idleness, opposition to leadership attitudes.

cycloid type. This type is characterized by a change in hyper- and dysthymic states, which occurs without an apparent reason or in connection with certain events. The duration of these conditions ranges from several days to several weeks. In dysthymic states, lethargy, loss of strength, decreased mood are observed, communication becomes difficult, efficiency decreases, even minor troubles and experiences are hard to experience. Appetite decreases, sleep worsens, weakness is often noted in the mornings, complaints of boredom appear, there are thoughts about one's own worthlessness, suicidal intentions. In this phase, it is especially difficult to change the habitual routine of life, for example, the change of a strictly regulated life with parents to an independent existence outside the family.

The hyperthymic state in its characteristics approaches what is observed with hyperthymic accentuation.

Labile type. Carriers of this type react to life more violently than others. They are equally easily enthralled by joyful events and in despair from the sad. Mood changes are less associated with selfish stimuli, more often they are motivated by altruistic urges. They develop strong attachments. To the depths of their souls, they are permeated with love for music, art, nature. These accentuators are extremely impressionable, compassion and pity for the offended and destitute can lead them to despair. Artistic talent is a frequent quality of labile personalities.

In childhood, they do not differ from their peers or turn out to be more neurotic. Sexual activity is usually limited to courtship. The drive remains insufficiently differentiated for a long time.

The "weak link" in this type of people is their emotional rejection by significant persons, the loss of loved ones or separation.

Asthenoneurotic type. Accents of this type are characterized by increased fatigue, irritability, a tendency to hypochondria, affective outbursts, and tearfulness.

As children, accentuants show signs of neuropathy: sleep disturbances, moodiness, tearfulness, fearfulness.

"Vulnerable point" - the realization of the impracticability of plans, the unreality of hopes and desires, resulting in neurasthenia or other psychogenic disorders.

sensitive type. The main features of this type are: excessive impressionability and a sense of inferiority. These accentuants reveal many shortcomings in the field of moral, ethical and volitional qualities. They are very attached to loved ones. They have a highly developed sense of duty, responsibility, unusually high moral requirements for themselves and others.

AT childhood they are shy, afraid of the dark, animals, loneliness, avoid too lively peers, do not like noisy games, timid and shy. They are afraid of exams, they are embarrassed by the answers at the blackboard. Sexual desires increase shyness and feelings of inferiority, especially when onanism appears. "Weak link" - a situation in which the accentuator is the object of ill will, ridicule and suspicion of unseemly behavior.

psychasthenic type. Representatives of this type are indecisive, hesitate for a long time at the beginning of any business, seek confirmation of the success of future activity, doubt. They are suspicious, afraid of everything new, constantly in doubt, fear of the bad, dangers, misfortunes, in connection with this, it is very difficult for them to wait. In childhood, timid, timid, motor awkward, prone to reasoning, "adult" intellectual interests and the development of phobias strangers, new items, darkness.

Sexual development is often ahead of the physical.

Breakdowns are possible when experiencing a situation of increased responsibility.

Schizoid type. To assess reality, an accentuant of this type is more important than his own ideas than perceptions and sensations. He creates a picture of the world around him in accordance with his own judgments and "based on life experience. The more pronounced the accentuation, the more the person moves away from reality. Unexpressed introversion contributes to independence of judgment, and strong introversion favors the creation of an unreal world. Attempts to act in this regard lead to a collision with a reality that was not sufficiently taken into account when creating activity plans. Accentuants are more thoughtful and less ready to act. Expressed immersion in one's own experiences leads to isolation from other people. Another reason for communication difficulties may be the weakness of emotional contacts. The latter is largely determined by the poverty of their effectiveness, the underdevelopment of instincts, the ability to empathize and the lack of intuition.

From an early age, these children prefer solitude, play alone, avoid noisy peer groups, preferring to them the company of adults whose conversations are of interest to them. They are not childishly restrained and lack lively efficiency.

Sexual activity is often not noticeable to others. Contempt for sexual life can be combined with persistent onanism and vivid erotic fantasies in reality and in a dream.

The need to quickly and easily enter into informal contacts creates an unbearable situation for schizoids.

epileptoid type. Accentuants of this type are characterized by the desire for affective relaxation, explosiveness, impulsiveness, discontent, violent and rude protests, and conflict resolution. physical force. There is an underlying build-up of affect, cruelty. Thinking is heavy, detailed, stuck,

In childhood, this accentuation is rarely found, but if it is formed early, then excessive, inconsolable tearfulness, sadistic inclinations, frugality and petty accuracy unusual for age are observed.

Strong sexual desire, a tendency to sexual excesses, sadistic and masochistic tendencies are characteristic of epileptoids.

They do not tolerate disobedience, material losses, they are not able to limit their lust for power, curb jealousy, almost any affect can become uncontrollable and lead to cruel aggression.

hysterical type. They are characterized by egocentrism, capriciousness, demonstrativeness, intrigue, the need for

knowledge, overestimation, the desire to seem, and not be, self-praise, self-incrimination, slander of other people, fantasies, extravagant appearance and actions, self-pity, thoughtlessness of actions, lack of deep and sincere feelings.

From childhood, they can’t stand it when others are praised, toys are not so much played as they brag about. They strive to attract attention, solicit admiration and praise, for this they demonstrate their knowledge, skills, "talents".

Sexual attraction is not strong, sexual behavior is extravagant, defiant. They talk about "victories, adventures", present themselves as experienced, dissolute,

unstable type. Representatives of this type strive for pleasure, idleness, entertainment. In this regard, they soon obey those who offer to try smoking, drinks, psychoactive substances, they are looking for unusual adventures, including in sexual relationships. They are suggestible and carefree. They are indifferent to family members, neglect household duties. Close people are often seen as a source of funds for pleasure and entertainment. They are cowardly, lack initiative, and in this regard, they easily become the prey of criminal elements.

In childhood, they are naughty, restless, easily fall under the influence of others, and with difficulty learn the rules of behavior. Refusing to study. They are engaged and perform the regimen only under strict control.

Sexual attraction is not strong, under the influence of someone else's example, they start a sexual life early, which becomes a source of entertainment for them.

The weak point of accents is leaving them to themselves without any control.