Social situation: concept, main characteristics and history of occurrence

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

What is the social situation? If at least two out of ten people answer the question, it will already be a success. But unfortunately, most people are far from sociology. Let's fill in the gaps in knowledge! And to find out not only the concept of a social situation, but also its types.

Terminology

What is invested in this concept? A social situation is a complex of positions, circumstances and conditions. In this case, a condition is considered to be a condition that determines the position of the existence of something.

The term is considered one of the most important concepts of social psychology. The situation can be viewed in different ways, for example, as something created by a person in the process of interacting with others. It can also be treated as a situation that exists independently of the participants or the participant.

As you already understood, experts hold different points of view, so it is worth considering each.

Symbolic interactionism

What is the point? Adherents of this theory consider the "settings" to be a script that is just waiting for its actors. They draw attention to the fact that from the outside one can only observe the actor's perception of the social situation, that is, it has consequences for experience and behavior. Also, followers believe that almost all definitions of "environment" occur through the process of communication. Experts believe that the participants are in contact with each other in order to maintain a mutual understanding of the circumstances that accompany their interaction. That is, people strive to help each other in the correct identification of their own personality and reduce the inconvenience that arises.

To be clearer, let's give a clear example: every person finds himself in some kind of "environment" every day, not necessarily a social emergency. More often it means work or a party, in a word, habitual actions. Naturally, a person tries to match the situation with his behavior, while observers may consider this form of behavior contradictory. You can analyze the behavior of people on a nude beach. The example does not apply to a social emergency, but rather to a normal life situation. So, a person who is not a participant in the "setting" will find the exposure explicitly sexual, while the participants themselves try to level any hints of sex.

Thus, the opinion that the situation is what is only in the head takes place. That is, a person relates to what is happening in accordance with his attitude and principles.

Independent situation. Features

There are quite a few examples of social situations: some speak in favor of the first theory, while others confirm the correctness of the second. What is the second theory? Its supporters believe that the situation exists autonomously and does not depend on the people who are involved in it. It turns out that none of the people create their own situations of learning, training, selling and so on. For this reason, each of the situations has an impact on the behavior of people interacting with each other. Simply put, how people express their feelings, make physical contact, show emotions depends on the situation in which the person finds himself.

Some experts argue that everyday situations have a considerable number of features that determine in themselves the thoughts of people, their behavior. If you think like that, then the subjective nature is not suitable for determining the situation. But in order to study the objective nature, you will have to work hard. This is due, first of all, to the fact that it is simply impossible to classify all "environments", because there are a huge number of them. You can give examples of social situations in the place of action: at work, at home, on vacation, and so on. Of course, you can try to systematize them with the type of relationship, such as: intimate, formal, partnership, competitive, but not everything is going smoothly here either. Sooner or later it may turn out that the situation does not fit into one category. Again, different individuals may not always assess the situation in the same way. For example, the samean amateur and a professional game will cause a different assessment.

Specialists tried to use the third approach - the characteristics of perception. What does it mean? Situations were divided according to the type of complex-simple, non-inclusion-inclusion, passivity or activity, unpleasant or pleasant situation, and so on. But again, it cannot be said that this method helped 100%. Still, it is impossible to classify everything in the world, you need to leave room for something new.

Engagement factors

When researchers at Oxford University studied types of social situations, they identified several interaction factors that help define "settings":

1. Rules.
2. Goals.
3. Roles.
4. Sequence of behavioral acts. An example would be the reversal of the roles of listener and speaker.
5. Elementary actions. We are talking about non-verbal and verbal forms of participation in assistance.
6. Physical environment. Its elements are the boundaries of the situation. It can be a street, any enclosed space, a square, and so on. This also includes the physical qualities of the environment that affect the senses (smells, noise, or color), spatial conditions, such as the distance between someone or something, and props (school desks or blackboards).
7. Knowledge concepts. What it is? That is, there must be certain categories that provide insight into any kind of social situation. This includes knowledge of the rules of the game, designations of figures, narrow terms. If we take the term under study, then in it such conceptsrepresentations about the social structure, about people, about the objects that are included in the interaction, and the elements of that very interaction are considered.
8. Speech and language. This applies to certain turns of speech, vocabulary and intonations that the participants in the situation use.
9. Skills and difficulties. What does it mean? By this point, specialists understand all the obstacles to contact, as well as the skills that help to overcome them.

It is important to understand that scientists have brought together the objective and subjective aspects of situations.

Researchers also consider the most important goals. Let's talk more.

Goals

It has already been noted above that goals occupy a key position. This is because they are treated as independent variables. It turns out that other parameters depend on the goals.

Besides them, there are other significant factors, however, they are of lesser importance. These factors include the emotional atmosphere, the rules, the ability to overcome difficulties along the way. A striking example is the meeting of friends after many years, communication between a supervisor and a student about a thesis will differ, first of all, in these parameters, and then a different style of communication will be added and so on.

Features of the "furnishings"

The characteristics of the social situation that affect human behavior include the following:

1. Stranger-friend.
2. Communication Oriented - Doing Oriented -either.
3. Informal-formal.
4. Deep involvement or superficial. By the way, intimate involvement is also referred to as deep.

Based on these very characteristics, certain types of situations are distinguished:

1. Personal contacts with relatives and close friends.
2. Official events.
3. Random rare meetings with acquaintances.
4. Formal contacts at work and, for example, in stores.
5. Negotiation and conflict.
6. Asymmetrical contacts that are associated with social skills. An example is leadership, training, interviewing.
7. Group discussion.

It is noteworthy that this classification is not the only one. The social situation in countries can have different typologies. By the way, the work of Eric Berne is considered the most famous classification of species. It is based on the need to structure time. Bern offers six ways of this very structuring, which he divides into two borderline cases and four main ones.

Let's take a closer look.

Bern classification

Its division is as follows:

1. Border case. Its main feature is isolation. That is, a person psychologically does not give any contact, he is immersed in his own thoughts. Such behavior is only accepted as normal if it has not become a habit.
2. Repetitive, habitual actions and rituals. The social situation and the difficult life situation are impossible without it. SpeechIt refers to activities that are both formal and informal. The former include business etiquette, and the latter - greetings, gratitude, and so on. Rituals are needed in order to maintain communication while not getting close.
3. A pastime. We are talking about semi-ritual conversations about problems and some life troubles. Such communication is repetitive, although it can hardly be called predictable. Talking is spent at a party, usually by strangers or to pass the hours while waiting for something to start. Pastime is considered socially programmed, because conversations at this time are allowed only on certain topics. The purpose of such communication is not only to maintain friendly relations, but also to make new acquaintances and even connections.
4. Joint activities. We are talking about those situations when people contact at work, because they need to do their tasks well.
5. Games. Berne believes that this is the most difficult type of communication. But the fact is that in the game one side is trying to surpass the other and, accordingly, receive a reward. To make it clearer, let's give the following scheme: if a person asks for consolation and, having received it, calms down, then he has achieved what he wanted. But in a situation where a person was comforted, and he turned it against the comforter, then this is called a game. It is distinguished by the hidden motivation of the participants in the game. The scientist believes that all important contacts take place in the form of a game, which makes up most of the communication between people. The main reason for the game is that in life people have very littleopportunities for intimacy. For example, in the West, sincerity and frankness are not held in high esteem, because it can be used against a person. Again, the repetitive pastime gets boring sooner or later. In order not to endanger themselves and get rid of boredom, people begin to play. This is the key social significance of games. As a rule, people choose partners and friends from those people who play the same games. If a person begins to play other games, then he is usually expelled from his usual society. Again, games are needed to maintain mental he alth. When people do not have the opportunity to play, they will fall into despair. This is especially evident in families, when one of the spouses has better he alth, while the second one is deteriorating due to the refusal to play. This is explained by the fact that the second spouse maintained his own psychological balance with the help of the game.
6. The second borderline is proximity. It is she who becomes the closing way of structuring time. Intimacy is considered game-free communication, which is based on interest and lack of benefit. Real intimacy comes when ulterior motives and social patterns no longer matter. Human intimacy is the pinnacle of relationships between people, it brings such pleasure that even people with unstable balance no longer need games. The prototype of intimacy can be called an act of intimate or love relationships.

In addition to the theories of scientists, there is also such a thing as the social situation of a child's development. More on this later.

Social situationdevelopment

What is it and why is there a separate topic under question? This concept appeared not so long ago and means the conditions in which the behavioral and psychological development of a person takes place. By the way, this concept is used as a unit for measuring the dynamics of children's development. What is the point? Scientists distinguish two components of social development - experience and activity. If the activity of the baby can be observed without much effort, then the plan of experiences is often not visible even to parents. It has long been proven that children experience the same situation differently, even twins. For example, one child will not react in any way to the conflict of parents, and the other will earn himself a neurosis, because he himself will worry. Again, with age, a child may react differently to the same situation.

The situation of development changes at the beginning of the age period. How should this be understood? At the end of that period, new formations of the social situation of development appear, among which the central one stands out. It is this that is most important for the formation of another stage.

Such an "environment" poses specific developmental tasks for the baby. He must resolve them, which will be perceived as improvement. Any achievements of the baby lead to a contradiction between the old social situation of the child's development and the new one. Thus, the old ones are broken and new relations with society are built.

The age dynamics of changes in the social situation of preschool age or any other is determined by the development andadoption by the baby of a new position. A new status of the child is being formed and the forms of cooperation are being restructured. This is due to the readiness of the environment and the psychological readiness of the baby.

Each age stage is characterized by the direction of choosing some form of leading activity, which allows to be more fully realized in the social situation of the child. For example, preschoolers usually choose plot feature films, younger students choose educational films, but which have an emphasis on modeling, teenagers prefer forms of personal self-determination activity, older students prefer the birth of maturity and professional definition. It is noteworthy that the forms of activity should not be strictly tied to age. If, being small, the child is involved in some kind of activity, then with the process of development and formation of the personality, the formula is reversed. That is, the baby ceases to be involved in activities, but begins to choose the activity with which he develops. As a rule, the choice is made on the basis of what place the child occupies in social relations. Because of this, all psychologists call on parents to help the baby find him.

This is how the social situation of the development of preschool, school and other age of the child is explained.

Three levels of communication

This is another classification of social situations. Three levels appear depending on how much a person is involved in the transformation of relationships. So, allocate levels:

1. Business.
2. Social role-playing.
3. Intimate personal.

Business levelcharacterized by the fact that people are united by joint activities and interests. The principle of business relationships is the search for means to improve work efficiency, rationality. It is important to understand that partners at this level are judged on performance and functional qualities. Communication at a business level does not involve psychological rapprochement.

The concept of the social situation we analyzed at the very beginning of the article. And now, with a clear conscience, let's move on to a further analysis of the levels. The social-role level is evident in the situational necessity. For example, people communicate in transport, on the street, in public places, in official institutions. In order for communication at this level to go well, it is necessary to know the requirements and norms of the social environment. At the same time, communication is anonymous and it does not matter whether it occurs between strangers, acquaintances or close people.

Intimate-personal level implies psychological intimacy in a special form. In this case, the participants seek to satisfy their needs for understanding, empathy, sympathy. The principle of this level is trust, empathy.

It is important to understand that each level of communication will have different behaviors. For example, the social situation in society will differ sharply from that which arises in business communication. And so it is with everything.

Defining the situation

This moment can be called the most important, because in this way a person is oriented in the social environment. The definition of "environment" is considered the most importantstructure-forming point of interpersonal interaction. Socio-psychological situations of any level involve the interaction of people who are unlike each other in advance, but at the same time they depend, because it will not be possible to fulfill intentions separately. According to this reason, psychological tension of different strength arises between people. During communication, critical moments arise, which are due to the choice of the purpose of interaction, turning communication into a subject of negotiations. As a result of such negotiations, a kind of working agreement is formed. It turns out that all the above types grow from the ability to identify typical situations of a social nature that arise during the interaction of people. In other words, such "settings" have a script that is known to the members of a certain group. In order for interpersonal communication to be successful, it is important for people to be able to identify typical, social or standard situations and construct them with the help of actions. The extent to which a person understands the appropriateness of his behavior speaks of his social competence.

Interpersonal space

When the type is defined, for example, this is the social situation of families, the members of the latter begin to build their own positions that allow them to achieve goals in specific circumstances. Communication will be successful only if the participants create a common reality.

So, what is meant by interpersonal space? It suggests:

1. Clear definition of temporal and spatialboundaries of the interaction situation. Outside of this situation, the position is considered inappropriate.
2. Choosing a position in relation to another person, a test of strength.
3. Formulation of a taken position through non-verbal and verbal means of communication.

Usually, horizontal and vertical characteristics are distinguished in interpersonal space. The vertical characteristic is expressed in ideas about the mutual arrangement of partners, that is, an extension to a partner from any side.

The horizontal component is expressed in the use of interpersonal barriers that stand in the way of rapprochement between people. It can be like objects such as a table, a chair, or any gestures. Crossed arms, cross-legged posture, transferring the conversation to other topics, and so on are considered a striking example of an obstacle. An obstacle can also be a closed personality type in one of the interlocutors.

It can be said that the space that is created during interpersonal interaction is the determining factor in whether or not contact will be established.

Conclusion

We have analyzed many socio-psychological situations that may occur on the path of life. We hope that now the topic will become much clearer to you. First of all, it is worth saying that it is impossible to divide all situations into types, because there are a lot of them. But it is quite possible to know the basics of psychology and, thanks to this, understand how to act correctly in a given situation.

Society will always exist, and there is no getting away from it, and thereforeeach person must learn to interact with other people. You can act intuitively and by the method of mistakes and trials find your own model of behavior, or you can stock up on theoretical knowledge. In any case, it is always worth remembering the appropriateness in a given situation. If a person behaves differently than is customary in a particular group, then it is unlikely that he will be able to linger among these people.

Of course, individuality must be present and there is no need to become a gray mass, but the boundaries of what is permitted must also be. Remember, man is a friend to man, which means that we must be able to negotiate among ourselves. That's why we were given speech, unlike animals. For this, a person is endowed with empathy. Everything is in your hands.