Psychological mechanisms of social perception. How to Develop Perceptual Skills

The tradition of research into social perception, or social perception, is one of the most enduring traditions in social psychology. Within its framework, practically the entire range of problems that later began to be developed in new area psychology. Problems are especially active social perception are being finalized in the 70s, although the problem existed almost from the very first years of the separation of social psychology into an independent field of knowledge, but not necessarily under this name.

The term "social perception" ("social perception") was proposed J. Bruner within the framework of the “New Look” he developed, and in this case this was the designation of the social determination of the perceptual process [see. 11, p. 117]. Soon, in social psychology, this term acquired a different meaning: it began to denote the perception of social objects, and their range was strictly limited. Social objects were called: another person, a social group, a wider social community. Almost from the very beginning of research into social perception in this meaning, it was established that the term is not able to designate the entire range of problems that arise, for example, when one person perceives another. As soon as we “read” another person, decipher the meaning of his external data, in a certain sense guess the traits of his personality, then we thereby go beyond the strictly perceptual process, at least we include the processes of thinking in it. Therefore, quite a long time ago, it was in the field of studying social perception that the term “social cognition” was proposed. One of the researchers of this process R. Tazhiuri noted that, unfortunately, the English language does not have a sufficiently adequate term, unlike, for example, French, where the expression “connaissance d'autrui” precisely captures not only result process (“knowledge of the other”), but also process"knowing" another person. Behind this “cognition” (the term “cognition” has become widespread in Russian) [see. 24] lies a lot: not only thinking about what is visually perceived, not only evaluating it (which includes emotions), but also motivating the need for further interaction with the perceived person or refusing such interaction. As we will see later, added to this is the need to understand the reasons for the behavior of the perceived.

Thus, in line with research on social perception, the problem was posed understanding social objects. This

Rice. 2. Scheme of social-perceptual processes

It is important to emphasize because, despite the greatest development of interpersonal perception, social-perceptual research assumed a wide class of social objects. We have repeatedly proposed a complete framework for research on social perception [see 9; eleven]. Let us reproduce it again (Fig. 2).

As you can see, the diagram includes various options not only the object, but also the subject of perception. When an individual is the subject of perception, he can perceive another individual belonging to his group (1); another individual belonging to an “out-group” (2); your own group (3); “foreign” group (4). Even if we do not include large social communities in the list, which can also in principle be perceived, then in this case, too, we get four different processes, each of which has its own specific characteristics.

The situation is even more complicated in the case when not only an individual, but also a group is interpreted as the subject of perception. Then to the compiled list of processes of social perception should be added: the group’s perception of its own member (5); the group's perception of a representative of another group /b)" the group's perception of itself (7); finally, the group's perception as a whole of another group (8). Although this second series is not traditional in research, it is fundamentally important to name it, especially in the perspective of future process analysis social cognition: in all eight designated positions we are talking not so much about simple perception, how much about knowledge object.

But even in the most developed area of social perception - studies of interpersonal perception - a number of such phenomena and mechanisms have been identified that indicate that the problem clearly does not fit into the traditional framework of the study of perceptual processes. To prove this thesis, it is necessary, firstly, to compare how the term “perception” is used in general and social psychology, and secondly, to at least briefly outline the entire set of specific tasks that social psychology solves by studying interpersonal perception.

Differences in the use of the term “perception” itself in general and social psychology can be traced in three directions (6).

1. At the description level subject research. In general psychology, the subject area of perception research is much more defined; it has fairly clear boundaries (despite the search for recent years, where these boundaries expand and attention, operative memory, and elements of thinking are included in perception, which has already been discussed in connection with the characteristics of cognitive psychology and domestic approach within the framework of activity theory). The very history of perception research in general psychology began with the “breeding” of various cognitive processes, from isolating perception as one of them, and only subsequently was their deep connection with each other realized.

In social psychology, the study of social perception largely began within the framework of the cognitive tradition, therefore, from the very beginning, the emphasis was largely on cognitive processes in the aggregate: they were considered as a single, undifferentiated whole, social perception was not clearly distinguished among them, the term itself was often used to denote the entire sphere of cognitive processes. In addition (perhaps this is why) the area of social perception included not only all cognitive processes, but also areas that have their own special status in the system of general psychological knowledge: motivation, emotions, personality. In general psychology, even if we recognize the interdependence of all these spheres, their qualitative specificity is quite obvious. In the processes of social perception, cognitive, motivational and emotional aspects are much less isolated: they act as an integral meaningful characteristic of any social-perceptual process. The concept of “bias” of a sensory image, which in general psychology has a more or less metaphorical connotation, in social psychology acquires a direct and everyday meaning. Although in a number of works on social perception there is a tendency to limit the problematic and reduce it only to the formation of the first impression, in general the subject area remains quite broad, without delineating its clear boundaries.

2. The second difference reveals itself when characterizing structures perceptual process. It can be divided into four components: the subject of perception, the object of perception, the actual process of perception and the result of this process - the image. In general psychology, the study of the actual procedural characteristics prevails, and the analysis of the subject and object of perception is presented only to the extent necessary for studying the process. The subject and even the object here are quite “impersonal” to the semantic side of the image. The process of studying perception ends with an analysis of the construction of the image; its further “fate” is not the subject of research.

In social psychology, on the contrary, earlier interest was focused on identifying the characteristics of the subject and object of perception. The process itself long time in general remained little studied and came to attention only as a condition for the generation of an image. On the contrary, the constant focus of researchers of social perception is the image itself as an element of the structure of the perceptual process. One of the latest ideas of A. N. Leontyev about considering the image of perception as an “indicative basis of behavior” is fundamentally important for social psychology. The image as a “result” of the social-perceptual process further functions in the entire system of relationships between people. Moreover, sometimes the “images” of another person, group, or some social phenomenon are more significant in these relationships than the objects themselves. When perceiving complex social objects, the perceptual task is therefore especially difficult: it consists in giving a simultaneous assessment of both objectively and subjectively significant characteristics of these objects.

The characteristics of the process of social perception itself remained quite meager until recently, and a kind of “boom” began only with the discovery of the phenomenon of causal attribution, which will be specifically discussed below.

But even taking into account this amendment, many characteristics of the social-perceptual process itself remain insufficiently studied. This concerns, first of all, such qualitative characteristics of the perceptual process, which in general psychology are described using the concepts of “constancy”, “integrity”, “subjectivity”, etc. We are not talking about a complete copy of these concepts and transferring them to social psychology, but although would be about searching for some analogues with adjustments for the specifics of the process itself.

3. The third difference between the approaches of general and social psychology to problems of perception concerns determinant perceptual process. In general psychology, at least within the framework of the Russian tradition, the cultural-historical (and therefore social) conditionality of perceptual and other psychological processes acts as a methodological principle. In this case, the specific social conditioning of perception (for example, the group to which the subject or object belongs) is not analyzed. In social psychology, the process of determination is described in more detail: the activity itself, as the most important determinant of the perceptual process, is defined in its specific form - “joint, group activity.” Those parameters of activity that determine the process of perception have also been identified (for example, the level of its development, otherwise: the closeness of cooperative ties; its success or failure, etc.). The specific parameters of perception that are influenced by joint activity are also identified in more detail, i.e. determines them. This includes the accuracy of perception, its completeness, its dynamics as joint activity develops, and, finally, meaningful characteristics (“a set” of those qualities of another person that are perceived by the subject of perception).

It is no coincidence, therefore, that for the socio-psychological study of perceptual processes, their study in conditions of a real social group[cm. 70]. Specific analysis social determinants of the perceptual process is the main direction of this block of work in social psychology.

The differences mentioned here in the understanding of perception in general and social psychology indicate that in the latter, perception is more included in the spectrum of other cognitive processes, and is also more directly related to a wide range of “purely” social problems. At the same time, we cannot discount the ability of a person, as a being endowed with consciousness, to want one thing, realize another, say a third, and act somehow differently, which was wittily called “problem number one” for social psychology [see. 103].

Proof that studies of social perception are closely approaching studies of social cognition is a huge array of experimental and empirical works devoted to individual aspects of this phenomenon. This, first of all, should include numerous studies of such mechanisms of interpersonal perception as the role of social attitudes in the formation of first impressions, the role of stereotypes in the perceptual process, including intergroup perception, as well as the conditions under which a person’s understanding of a person is achieved. From the latest special meaning have mechanisms identification And reflections.

Identification literally means identifying oneself with another, becoming like him; sometimes it is defined as the ability to “take the point of view” of another person. However, in reality the mechanism is not so simple. It is useful to distinguish two meanings of the term “understanding.” In some cases, understanding another person really means being sympathetic to him (which is denoted by the term “empathy”) and accepting him completely as he is. In this case, it is appropriate to talk about identification: the situation of another person is not so much “thought through” as “felt.” And although this way of perceiving another person exists, it can hardly be considered universal. In a number of real life situations, “understanding a person” does not necessarily mean completely accepting his position or even switching to it. This is hardly possible in the situation of an investigator interrogating a criminal, or a teacher listening to a student’s explanations about his truancy. “Understand” in this case is just to take into account the explanations, take them into account, but not at all agree unconditionally with them. “Understanding” in this case is a much more “cognitive” process than sympathetic identification: it includes considerations, arguments, searches for arguments, etc. to a greater extent.

The proximity of the process of social perception to social cognition is even more obvious when analyzing reflections- the individual’s awareness of how he is perceived by his communication partner. This is no longer just knowledge or understanding of another, but knowledge of how another understands me, a kind of double process mirror reflections each other, the reproduction of the inner world of another person, in which the image of the partner is present. The literature repeatedly provides an elegant example by J. Holmes, explaining the mechanism of reflection (Fig. 3). When a certain John and Henry communicate, there are actually six positions present: John, as the Lord God created him; John as he sees himself; John as Henry sees him. Accordingly, three of the same positions for Henry. It is clear that reflexive relationships could be traced further: John, how his image appears to him in Henry’s mind, and Henry, how his image appears to him in John’s mind [see 11, p. 122-123].

It is clear that the mismatch of all these constructed and reflected “images” is of great importance for the mutual understanding of the participants in communication. But thinking through this entire rather complex chain is additional work to the simple construction of an image: the process of social perception here requires the inclusion of a number of operations characteristic of thinking, and thus “overgrows” with additional complexities and thereby enriches itself.

Similar reasoning can be made regarding the so-called effects of interpersonal perception. The “halo effect” or “halo effect” means that when perceiving a stranger, the image is not built on the basis of what is directly perceived, but is built into some previous information about the person, surrounding him with a certain halo (positive, as a rule, but perhaps and negative). This is already very close to what, as we saw, in cognitive psychology was called a “schema.”

The halo effect manifests itself during the formation of a first impression in the case when there is minimal preliminary information about the perceived person: only a certain set of either positive or negative qualities allegedly inherent in him, as a rule, relating to the moral properties of the individual. The halo acts as a filter through which only a limited number of qualities, either positive or negative, are passed, and this, too, is a certain cognitive “work.”

Associated with this effect are two others - “primacy” and “novelty”, which determine the construction of the image of the perceived person depending on the order in which information about him is presented (which qualities are named first and which ones later). the occurrence of these effects is fully analyzed directly in the psychology of social cognition, since they are not associated with a complex system of information organization.

The most significant effect, and in essence, the core of interpersonal perception, is stereotyping, that is, the construction of an image based on an already existing, stable idea, for example, about members of a certain social or ethnic group. Thus, pronounced professional traits of a member of a given profession (“all accountants are pedants”) are considered as traits inherent in all representatives of a given profession, etc. Stereotyping in the process of human perception of a person can have two different consequences. On the one hand, it simplifies the process of building an image of another person and reduces the time required for this. On the other hand, when this mechanism is turned on, a shift may occur towards any assessment of the perceived person and then this gives rise to prejudice or, on the contrary, an overestimation of the real properties of the object of perception. Stereotypes are of particular importance in the field of interethnic relations [see. 88; 90]. Although the phenomenon has been described in numerous studies on social perception, its study takes great place and in works on social cognition, where all the problems associated with the process of stereotyping are significantly enriched.

Characteristics of the observer and the observed

The social aspects of perception directly determine how we perceive and know each other, and in this case, the characteristics of the observer and the observed have a great influence on perception.

Four general characteristics greatly influence how a person perceives others in his or her environment:

1. Understanding yourself makes it easier to clearly understand others.

2. Your own personality traits influence your perception of the traits you are likely to see in others.

3. People who are at peace with themselves are more likely to see the positive in others.

4. Accuracy in observing others is a multifactorial skill.

It should also be noted certain characteristics of the observed personality that influence social perception:

1. The status of the observed has a serious influence on the perception of him by others.

2. To simplify the process of perception by the observer, the observed personality is usually classified into categories. Typically these include the status of the observed and his role.

3. The visible features of the observed person greatly influence how others perceive it.

Members of an organization must understand that their perceptions are largely determined by how they own characteristics, and the properties of other people. There are many complex factors that influence social perception. However, the primary factors are rooted in such psychological processes, as attribution, as well as in problems associated with stereotyping And "halo" effect.

Attribution

Attribution describes how people explain their behavior and the behavior of others. It is the process by which people come to conclusions about the factors that influence behavior or make that behavior meaningful. In relation to social perception, attribution is the search for reasons (attributes) when explaining the behavior of other people or oneself, and there are two characteristic type attribution. Firstly, This is a predisposed attribution which explains individual behavior by internal factors such as personality traits, motivation, or abilities. Secondly, this situational attribution, which attributes behavior to external factors such as training or social influence.

For example, if outstanding labor indicators worker are attributed to such external factors as new machine or technology, then his perception and subsequent attitude will be one. If these indicators are associated with personality traits such as ability and perseverance, then the attitude will be different. The same is true for the reasons for one’s own behavior. Perception and, accordingly, attitude will differ depending on the type of attribution - internal or external. In other words, the type of causal attribution largely determines perception.

Stereotyping

Term "stereotype" reflects the tendency to perceive another person through his membership in a certain class or category. According to attribution theory, a stereotype also presupposes a general agreement regarding the traits attributed to a person, as well as the existence of a discrepancy between the ascribed and actual characteristics. In particular, it is used to analyze prejudices.

For example, one classic study shows that people perceive and evaluate others based on whether they are classified as managers or union members. Thus, 74% of the managers used the word “fair” when evaluating Mr. A when he was presented as a manager, but this word was used only 50% of the time when he was presented as a union representative.

"halo" effect

The halo effect is often considered in performance appraisal analysis when an appraisee's personality and/or overall performance is rated erroneously based on a single characteristic, such as intelligence, appearance, trustworthiness, or cooperativeness. Whatever this characteristic, it can overshadow all others when forming an impression of a person.

For example, a person's appearance and clothing may outweigh all other characteristics when selecting or evaluating his performance.

Modern representations The halo effect can be summarized as follows:

1. Effect is a common mistake when grading.

2. The effect is based on both true and illusory components of the perception process.

3. The effect leads to the emergence of an unreasonable connection between basic properties and is due to the influence of a general assessment and special judgments.

4. It has an effect Negative consequences, and should be avoided or eliminated. For example: the impact of the “halo” effect on the perception of employees of a company that was under external control (during bankruptcy proceedings). Despite the fact that the company paid relatively high salaries, provided excellent conditions labor and acceptable management, employees did not perceive these favorable factors. The feeling of instability and uncertainty created a negative “halo” effect and dominated pay and working conditions. The results of this study confirm that when there is one significant "rotten" indicator, it can spoil a whole "barrel" of other characteristics.

Overcoming perception problems such as stereotyping and the halo effect remain important for effective human resource management.

Perception (this word means "perception" in Latin) is cognitive process active direct display by a person of various objects, phenomena, events and situations. If such knowledge is aimed at social facilities and effects, then this phenomenon is called social perception. A variety of mechanisms of social perception can be observed every day in everyday life.

Description

Mentions of such a psychological phenomenon as perception were found in the ancient world. Philosophers, physicists, physiologists and even artists made a great contribution to the development of this concept. But highest value This concept is given in psychology.

Perception is the most important mental function knowledge, manifested in the form complex process receiving and transforming sensory information. Thanks to perception, the individual forms a complete image of the object, which affects the analyzers. In other words, perception is a form of sensory mapping. This phenomenon includes such characteristics as the identification of individual signs, the correct selection of information, the formation and accuracy of a sensory image.

Perception is always associated with attention, logical thinking, and memory. It always depends on motivation and has a certain emotional overtones. The properties of any type of perception include structure, objectivity, apperception, contextuality and meaningfulness.

This phenomenon is being intensively studied not only by representatives of various branches of psychology, but also by physiologists, cybernetics, and other scientists. In their differential studies, they widely use methods such as experiment, modeling, observation, and empirical analysis.

Understanding what the functions, structure, and mechanisms of social perception are is not only common to psychology, but also practical significance. This phenomenon plays a major role in the creation information systems, in artistic design, in sports, pedagogical activity and many other areas of human activity.

Factors

Perceptual factors are both internal and external. External factors include intensity, size, novelty, contrast, repetition, movement, and recognition.

Internal factors include:

Interaction with society through perception

Another concept widely used in psychology and related sciences is such a type of our perception as social perception. This is the name given to a person’s assessment and understanding of other people and himself, as well as other social objects. Such objects may include various groups and social communities. This term appeared in 1947, and was introduced by psychologist D. Bruner. The appearance of this concept in psychology allowed scientists to look at the tasks and problems of human perception in a completely different way.

People are social creatures. Throughout life, any person comes into contact with other people a huge number of times, forming a variety of interpersonal relationships. Individual groups of people also form close bonds. Therefore, every person turns out to be a subject huge amount very different relationships.

A positive or negative attitude towards people around us directly depends on our perception, as well as on how we evaluate our communication partners. Usually, during communication, we first evaluate the appearance, and then the behavior of our partner. As a result of this assessment, we form a certain attitude and make preliminary assumptions about the psychological qualities of the interlocutor.

Social perception can come in several forms. So, in most cases, social perception is the perception of the person himself. Any individual perceives himself, as well as his own or someone else’s group. There is also the perception of group members. This includes perception within the boundaries of one’s own community or members of an out-group. The third type of social perception is group perception. The group can perceive both its own person and members of another community. The last type of social perception examines one group's perception of an outgroup.

The process of such perception itself can be depicted in the form of evaluative activity. We evaluate psychological characteristics man, his appearance, actions and deeds. As a result, we form a definite opinion about the observed person and form a clear idea of his possible behavioral reactions.

Mechanisms

Perception is always a process of predicting the feelings and actions of people around us. To fully understand this process, knowledge of the peculiarities of the functioning of its mechanisms is required.

The mechanisms of social perception are shown in the following table:

Name	Definition	Examples
Stereotyping	A persistent image or idea of people, phenomena, which is characteristic of all representatives of one social group	Many people believe that the Germans are terrible pedants, the military is straightforward, and beautiful people are often narcissistic
Identification	Intuitive identification and cognition of an individual or group in situations of direct or indirect communication. In this case, a comparison or comparison of the internal states of the partners arises	People make assumptions about their partner’s state of mind, trying to mentally become them themselves.
Empathy	Emotional empathy for others, the ability to understand another person by providing emotional support and getting used to their experiences	This mechanism is considered a necessary condition For successful work psychotherapists, doctors and teachers
Reflection	Self-knowledge through interaction with another person. It becomes possible thanks to the individual’s ability to imagine how his communication partner sees him	Let's imagine a dialogue between hypothetical Sasha and Petya. At least 6 “roles” are involved in such communication: Sasha, as he is; Sasha, how he sees himself; Sasha, as Petya sees him. And these same roles from Petya
Attraction	Knowing another person based on a strong positive feeling. Thanks to attraction, people not only learn to understand their communication partner, but also form rich emotional relationships	Psychologists distinguish these types of this perceptual mechanism: love, sympathy and friendship
Causal attribution	This is the process of predicting the actions and feelings of others. Without understanding something, a person begins to attribute his behavior	Without understanding something, a person begins to attribute his behavior, feelings, personality traits, motives to other people

The peculiarity of interpersonal cognition is that it takes into account not only various physical characteristics, but also behavioral characteristics. If the subject of such perception actively participates in communication, then he establishes a coordinated interaction with his partner. Therefore, social perception is highly dependent on the motives, emotions, opinions, prejudices, attitudes and passions of both partners. In social perception there is also necessarily a subjective assessment of another person.

Does our perception depend on society?

IN interpersonal perception There are various gender, class, age, professional, and individual differences. It is known that young children perceive a person by appearance, paying special attention on his clothes, as well as the presence of special paraphernalia. Students also first evaluate teachers by their appearance, but teachers perceive students by their internal qualities. Similar differences occur between managers and subordinates.

Professional affiliation is also important for perception. For example, teachers perceive people by their ability to conduct a conversation, but, say, a coach pays attention to a person’s anatomy, as well as how he moves.

Social perception is highly dependent on the previous evaluation of our object of perception. IN interesting experiment Teaching grades of 2 groups of students were recorded. The first group consisted of “favorite” students, and the second group consisted of “unloved” students. Moreover, the “favorite” children deliberately made mistakes when performing the task, while the “unloved” children solved it correctly. However, the teacher, despite this, assessed the “favorite” children positively and negatively the “unloved” children. The attribution of any characteristics is always carried out according to the following model: people with a negative characteristic are assigned negative actions, and positive people - good ones.

First impression

Psychologists have found out which factors cause the most powerful impression in the process of social perception. It turned out that people usually pay attention first to the hairstyle, then to the eyes, and then to the facial expression of the stranger. Therefore, if you smile cordially at your interlocutors when meeting you, they will perceive you friendly and will be more positive.

There are 3 main factors that influence how a person's first opinion is formed: attitude, attractiveness and superiority.

“Superiority” is observed when a person, who is superior to a particular person in some way, is rated much higher in other characteristics. There is a global revision of the assessed personality. Moreover, this factor is most strongly influenced by the observer’s uncertain behavior. Therefore, in extreme
situation, almost all people are able to trust those whom they would not have approached before.

“Attractiveness” explains the peculiarities of perception for a partner who is attractive in appearance. The perceptual error here is that people around him who are attractive in appearance are often greatly overestimated in terms of his social and psychological properties.

“Attitude” considers the perception of a partner depending on our attitude towards him. The perceptual error in this case is that we tend to overestimate those who treat us well or share our opinion.

How to Develop Perceptual Skills

D. Carnegie believes that mutual strong sympathy and effective friendly communication arise through a simple smile. Therefore, to develop perceptual skills, he suggests, first of all, learning to smile correctly. To do this, you need to perform exercises specially developed by this psychologist every day in front of the mirror. Facial expressions give us real information about a person’s experiences, so by learning to control our facial expressions, we improve our social perception skills.

You can also use the Ekman technique to learn to recognize emotional expressions and develop social perception skills. This method consists of identifying 3 zones on the human face (nose with the area around it, forehead with eyes, mouth with chin). The manifestation of 6 leading emotional states (these include joy, anger, surprise, fear, disgust and sadness) is noted in these zones, which allows each person to recognize and decipher the facial expressions of another person. This perceptual technique has become widespread not only in ordinary communication situations, but also in psychotherapeutic practice of interaction with pathological individuals.

So, perception is the most complex mechanism of psychological interaction between a person and the object he perceives. This interaction occurs under the influence of a huge number of factors. The characteristics of perception are age characteristics, a person’s life experience, specific effects, as well as various personal properties.

Perception – Latin word, meaning perception, which is used to describe cognitive processes that are closely related to the display of various life situations, phenomena or objects. In the case where such perception is aimed at social spheres, the term “social perception” is used to characterize this phenomenon. Every person encounters manifestations of social perception every day. Let's look at the various psychological mechanisms of social perception.

Perception, translated from Latin (perceptio), means “perception”

The concept of social perception originates from the times ancient world. Many philosophers and artists of that time made a significant contribution to the formation of this area. It should also be noted that this concept has important in the field of psychology.

Perception is one of the important functions in mental perception, which manifests itself as a process that has a complex structure. Thanks to this process, a person not only receives various information from the senses, but also transforms it. Impact on various analyzers leads to the formation of integral images in the individual’s mind. Based on the above, we can conclude that perception is characterized as one of the forms of sensory reproduction.

Perception is based on the characteristics of individual features that help generate information based on accurate sensory images.

The cognitive function in question is closely related to skills such as memory, logical thinking and concentration. This concept depends on the strength of the influence of life stimuli, which are endowed with an emotional coloring. Perception consists of structures such as meaningfulness and context.

Perception is actively studied by representatives of various fields, including psychologists, cybernetics and physiologists. During differential experiments, they are used various techniques, including modeling of different situations, experiments and empirical form analysis. Understanding the mechanism of social perception is important in the field of practical psychology. It is this tool that acts as the foundation for development various systems affecting the sphere of human activity.

Social perception studies behaviors between individuals at different levels of development

Influence of perceptual factors

Perceptual factors are divided into two categories: external and internal influences. Among external factors Criteria such as movement, number of repetitions, contrast, size and depth of manifestation should be highlighted. Among the internal factors, experts identify the following:

Stimulus– motivation to achieve goals that are of high importance to the individual.
Setting the individual's perception– when getting into certain life situations, a person is based on previously gained experience.
Experience- various experiences life difficulties, influence the perception of the surrounding world.
Individual characteristics of perception– depending on the type of personality (optimism or pessimism), a person perceives the same life difficulties in a positive or unfavorable light.
Perception of one's own "I"- all events occurring in a person’s life are assessed based on the personal prism of perception.

The influence of psychological perception on interaction with society

Social perception in psychology is a term used to describe the process of an individual's assessment and understanding of people around him, his own personality, or social objects. Such objects consist of social societies and various groups. The term in question began to be used in psychology in the forties of the last century. This concept was first used by the American psychologist Jerome Bruner. Thanks to the work of this scientist, researchers were able to consider various problems associated with perceiving the world around us from a different angle.

Every person has inherent sociality. Throughout my entire life path, a person builds communicative connections with people around him. The formation of interpersonal relationships leads to the formation separate groups that are connected by the same worldview or similar interests. Based on this, we can say that a person as an individual participates in various types relationships between people. The nature of the attitude towards society depends on the degree of personal perception and how a person evaluates the people around him. On initial stage In order to build a communicative connection, external qualities are assessed. Following appearance, the interlocutor’s behavior model is assessed, which allows the formation of a certain level of relationship.

It is on the basis of the above qualities that the image of perception of the people around us is formed. Social perception has many forms of manifestation. In most cases, this term is used to characterize personal perception. Each person perceives not only his own personality, but also the social group to which he belongs. In addition, there is a form of perception that is characteristic only of participants in such groups. It is perception, based on the framework of a social group, that is the second form of manifestation of perception. The last form of perception is group perception. Each group perceives both its own members and members of other groups.

Behavioral reactions are formed on the basis of social stereotypes, knowledge of which explains communication patterns

The function of social perception is to evaluate the activities of surrounding people. Each individual is subject to careful analysis individual characteristics the temperament of others, their external attractiveness, lifestyle and actions. Based on this analysis, an idea of the people around you and their behavior is formed.

Mechanism of social perception

Social perception is a process on the basis of which a forecast of behavior patterns and reactions of society is made in various life conditions. The mechanisms of interpersonal perception presented below allow us to study the subtlety of this process:

Attraction– study of surrounding people, which is based on positive perception. Thanks to this mechanism, people gain the ability to interact closely with others, which has a positive impact on the formation of sensory relationships. A striking example This function is the manifestation of love, sympathy and friendly feelings.
Identification– this mechanism is used as an intuitive study of personality based on modeling various situations. Based on his own beliefs, a person makes an analysis internal state those around you. Example: when making assumptions about the state of an interlocutor, a person tends to mentally imagine himself in his place.
Casual attribution– is a mechanism for creating a forecast of the behavior of others, based on the characteristics of one’s own personality. When a person is faced with a misunderstanding of the motives of the actions of others, he begins to predict the behavior pattern of other people based on own feelings, incentives and other individual properties.
Reflection– a mechanism of self-knowledge based on interaction in society. This “tool” is based on the skills of presenting one’s own personality through the “eyes” of the interlocutor. As an example, imagine a dialogue between Vasya and Pasha. At least six “personalities” take part in this type of communication: Vasya’s personality, his idea of his own personality, and Vasya’s idea of personality through the eyes of Pasha. Exactly the same images are recreated in Pasha’s mind.
Stereotyping– a mechanism for creating a stable image of surrounding people and phenomena. It is important to note that such images have features depending on social factors. As an example of stereotyping, we can cite the persistent idea that most outwardly attractive people are prone to narcissism, representatives of Germany are pedantic, and employees of law enforcement agencies think straightforwardly.
Empathy– the ability to empathize, provide psychological support and participate in the lives of people around you. This mechanism is a key skill in the work of specialists from the fields of psychology, medicine and pedagogy.

The tools used by social perception ensure communication between individuals

The above types of knowledge of the personality of others are based not only on the physical characteristics of a person, but also on the nuances of the behavior model. The building of close communication ties is facilitated by the participation of both partners in the conversation. Social perception depends on the stimuli, feelings and lifestyle of each participant in interpersonal relationships. An important component of this cognitive function is the subjective analysis of surrounding individuals.

The importance of first impressions

An in-depth study of social perception has made it possible to identify key factors that influence the strength of impressions about a person. According to experts, when dating, most people pay increased attention to their hair, eyes and facial expressions. Based on this, we can say that a friendly smile during acquaintance is perceived as a sign of cordiality and a positive attitude.

There are three main points that are decisive in the process of forming first impressions of a new personality. Experts include such factors as the degree of superiority, attractiveness and attitude.

"Superiority" is most acutely expressed in a situation when the personality of a particular individual is superior in some way and is perceived as dominant in other areas. Against this background, there is a global change in the assessment of one’s own qualities. It is important to note that people with low self-esteem are more susceptible to the influence of “superiority of others”. This explains the fact that in critical conditions people express trust in those who were previously treated negatively.
"Attractiveness" which is a feature of social perception - a factor on the basis of which the degree of attractiveness of others is analyzed. The main mistake of such a perception is that, paying increased attention to external qualities, a person forgets about the analysis of psychological and social features those around you.
"Attitude" is based on the perception of a person, depending on the attitude towards his personality. The negative effect of such perception is based on the fact that when good attitude and sharing a life position, a person begins to overestimate positive traits those around you.

The primacy effect in social perception manifests itself upon first acquaintance

Methodology for the development of perceptual perception

According to the famous psychologist Dale Carnegie, a simple smile is enough to evoke sympathy from others. That is why, if you want to build a strong communication connection with others, you should learn how to smile correctly. Today, there are many psychological techniques for developing facial gestures that help enhance the transmission of experienced emotions. Managing your own facial expressions allows you not only to improve the quality of social perception, but also to gain the opportunity to better understand others.

One of the most effective methods for developing social perception skills is the Ekman practice. The basis of this method is to focus on three zones of the human face. These areas include the forehead, chin and nose. It is these zones that best reflect such emotional states as feelings of anger, fear, disgust or sadness.

The ability to analyze facial gestures allows you to decipher the feelings that the interlocutor experiences. This practice has become widespread in the field of psychology, thanks to which a specialist has the opportunity to build a communicative relationship with persons with mental disorders.

Perception is complex mechanism mental perception person. The quality of operation of this system depends on many different external and internal factors. Such factors include age, experience and individual personality traits.

The problem of perception is quite well developed in social psychology. The term social perception, i.e. social perception was first introduced by the American psychologist J. Bruner. Calling perception “social,” he drew attention to the fact that, despite all individual differences, there are some common socio-psychological mechanisms of perception, developed in communication and in shared life. Bruner spent a whole series experiments on the study of perception and showed that the perception of both objects and other people depends not only on individual personal, but also on sociocultural factors. The social significance or insignificance of an object may be perceived inadequately. So, for example, children from poor families perceived the size of coins to be larger than their actual size, while children from rich families, on the contrary, were smaller. Images of people are also subject to the same deformation (P. Wilson’s experiment to determine the height of a person, who was successively presented in different student audiences as a laboratory assistant, teacher, associate professor, professor: the taller he becomes social status, the higher he was perceived).

Communication is determined by the idea of the partner that develops in perception. As mentioned above, perception in the psychology of communication is understood as a holistic image of another person, formed on the basis of an assessment of him appearance and behavior, as well as understanding of the communication partner.

In the process of communication, you have to interact with people whom you see for the first time, and with people who are already quite familiar.

Psychological studies have shown that the perception of previously unfamiliar people and people with whom we already have some experience of communication are based on different psychological mechanisms. In the first case, perception is carried out on the basis of psychological mechanisms of intergroup communication, in the second - mechanisms of interpersonal communication.

The psychological mechanisms of perception in intergroup communication include the process of social stereotyping, the essence of which is that the image of another person is built on the basis of certain standard schemes. A social stereotype is usually understood as a stable idea about some phenomena or people, characteristic of representatives of a particular social group.

It is very important for a correct understanding of the role of a stereotype in perception that any social stereotype is a creation of and belonging to a group of people, and individual people use it only if they consider themselves to be part of this group.

Different social groups interacting with each other, they develop certain social stereotypes. The best known are ethnic or national stereotypes - ideas about members of some national groups from the point of view of others. For example, stereotypical ideas about the politeness of the British, the frivolity of the French, or the mystery of Slavic souls.

The formation of the image of another person is also carried out through stereotyping. The question of how accurate a first impression is is not at all simple.

On the one hand, almost every adult who has experience in communication is able to quite accurately determine many of his socio-psychological characteristics from a person’s appearance, his clothing, manner of speaking and behavior: some psychological characteristics, age, social class, approximate profession. But this accuracy occurs only in neutral situations. In other situations, there is almost always one or another percentage of errors. And the less neutral the relationship, the more people interested in each other, the greater the likelihood of mistakes.

This is explained by the fact that a person is never faced with the task of simply “perceiving” another. The image of a partner that is created when meeting is a regulator of subsequent behavior; it is necessary to build communication correctly and effectively in a given situation. Our communication is built significantly in various ways depending on who we communicate with. For each category of partners there are, as it were, different “techniques” of communication, the choice of which is determined by the characteristics of the partner. Therefore, the most important characteristics in a given situation are those that allow the partner to be classified into a certain group. It is these characteristics that are perceived quite accurately. And the remaining features and features are simply completed according to certain schemes, and this is where the likelihood of error appears. These errors of perception are caused, in particular, by the action of certain factors: superiority, attractiveness and attitude towards us.