Adaptation. What is it in psychology, examples, types and forms

Personal adaptation is a psychological adaptation to environmental changes. The main component of psychological adaptation is a person’s adaptation to the demands of society and his own desires. Psychological adaptation implies the assimilation of the traditions of a social group and the values ​​​​accepted here. It is found everywhere. We need to adapt to the situation in kindergarten, at school, at work, in an unfamiliar company.

Definition

Psychological adaptation is no less complex, multi-stage and multifactorial process than biological one. The latter provides for the ability of living organisms to adapt to changes in climatic, food and other living conditions. It is directly related to evolutionary selection.

In a psychological context, this implies the harmonious integration of the individual into social processes, the development of the necessary communication skills and emotional stability. The concept has a long history of formation, development and study. There are many interpretations and formulations of it.

Adaptation is a mechanism of social adjustment in psychology, the essence of which ancient Greek philosophers tried to understand. Hippocrates, Anaxagoras and Democritus have thematic works. The physician, thinker and philosopher of ancient Hellas believed that social circumstances to some extent determine the appearance of people.

Later, this statement was made by Lamarck, a French naturalist and thinker who was actively involved in the study of the adaptation mechanism. The theoretical basis for the idea of ​​the relationship between appearance and habitat was given by Charles Darwin.

Initially, science was dominated by the concept of the influence of only physiological and biological factors on the adaptability of living organisms, including humans. It was radically changed by Hans Selye. Sechenov and Pavlov worked intensively on adaptation issues.

They considered purely physiological aspects of the process. Soviet sociologist G.I. Tsaregorodtsev sets out psychological patterns and principles in his work “Philosophical Problems of the Theory of Adaptation.” Its definition is the degree of human involvement in social and labor processes.

According to the outstanding American scientist A. Maslow, psychological adaptation represents the optimal interaction of the human personality with the environment. This issue has acquired particular relevance in the 21st century with the beginning of rapid technological development.

In a constantly changing world, when humanity is, according to many futurologists, on the threshold of a technological singularity, personality adaptation has become an even more complex and multifactorial process.

New concepts emerge, fresh formulations and views appear. In the work of I. A. Miloslavskaya, “The Role of Social Adaptation in the Conditions of Modern Scientific and Technological Revolution,” an objective-subjective characteristic of a person’s adaptability to the realities of a high-tech living environment is given.

According to the author, a person needs to constantly learn new communication skills and submit to different standards of life for the best socio-psychological adaptation.

Freud and Adler in their works position personality adaptability as the development of defense mechanisms from external stimuli. Each psychological school, teaching and concept gives its own definition of adaptation. Often these interpretations are vague, poorly compatible, or even come into obvious contradiction.

All authors agree on one thing - the speed and level of adaptability to changes in surrounding social conditions depend on personal characteristics.

Psychological adaptation is influenced by:

• degree of suggestibility;
• learning ability;
• emotional-volitional self-control;
• type of temperament;
• degree of activity.

The list is not limited to these criteria. Some authors add here life priorities and guidelines, social attitudes and individual goals.

Moving hair

0 The oldest members of North America's ungulates, the last of the pronghorn family that once numbered 70 species, pronghorns are unique in their own right. They are also the silver running champions among animals: they accelerate to 67 km/h, second only to cheetahs in speed. But the most important thing is that pronghorns have extremely developed muscles, and among them there are special ones that allow them to change the angle of their hair relative to their skin. If it’s cold, pronghorns lay their fur horizontally; if it’s hot and need to cool down, they ruffle their hair. This adaptive system helps pronghorns in moments of danger: having noticed a threat, one of the animals, standing on guard, ruffles the hair of its white “mirror” - spots around its tail. Noticing the watchman's signal, other members of the herd also make their butts fluffy, warning the others. This warning sign can be seen with the naked eye from more than 4 km away.

Kinds

M. Yaroshevsky is considered the first domestic scientist to reveal the mechanism of psychological adaptation. His work was based on the results of research by foreign colleagues. He was engaged in identifying differences in the behavioral patterns of individuals placed in the same social environment.

In psychology, according to Yaroshevsky, adaptation is the transfer to an individual of the value guidelines of a social group, which allows a person to become its integral and organic part. This concept was further developed by L. Vygotsky, who established the equivalence of the mutual influence of the social environment and the individual.

According to his theory, there are the following types of psychological adaptation:

The personality adapts to the proposed social conditions of existence at the physiological, social, everyday and psycho-emotional levels. The first involves getting used to natural environmental changes - climatic, man-made and others.

Social adaptation involves integration into the social system, getting used to cultural subtleties. This type of adaptability can be passive in nature, when a person accepts established norms of behavior and does not try to find a compromise between individual preferences and mass traditions.

Much more opportunities open up with active socio-psychological adaptation. In this case, the individual tries to develop his own line of behavior or even choose the optimal group to adapt to new conditions.

A striking example of this approach is a change of residence to a more acceptable one from the point of view of professional or creative fulfillment. Active social adaptation involves intensive interpersonal communication and rapid switching between areas of labor effort.

Psychological adaptability is closely related to physiological adaptability, since it activates special compensatory systems of the body that ensure proper resistance to stress and adequate reactions to external stimuli.

The mechanism of neurohumoral regulation is launched, which activates the secretion of the adrenal hormone - adrenaline. It allows you to cope with stressful situations that are inevitable during the adaptation period. Endorphins are released - neurotransmitters that reduce psycho-emotional stress.

Adaptation to the social environment is often associated with the need to change thinking. In psychology, this means developing the necessary dynamic stereotypes and behavioral reactions. And at the physiological level it manifests itself by the creation of stable neural connections and the formation of the necessary conditioned reflexes.

Stages of adaptation

The adaptation process can be divided into 4 stages:

Stage 1: Assessment - determining the candidate's level of readiness. If an employee has not only special training, but also experience working in similar departments of other companies, his adaptation time will be minimal. However, it should be borne in mind that even in such cases, tasks with which he is already familiar may be unfamiliar in the organization.

Since the organizational structure depends on several parameters such as operating technology, external infrastructure and personnel, a newcomer will inevitably find himself in some unfamiliar situation. The adjustment should include his familiarization with the peculiarities of the organization’s functioning, as well as his participation in communication networks, familiarization with personnel, the peculiarities of corporate communications, rules of conduct, etc.

Stage 2 - Orientation - practical familiarization of the new employee with the responsibilities and requirements imposed on him by the organization. This typically includes training programs such as Realistic Approaches to Future Work, Organizational History, or Introduction to Work.

Stage 3: Effective adaptation, which consists of the newcomer adapting to his status and largely determining his involvement in interpersonal relationships with colleagues. At this stage, it is necessary to give the newcomer the opportunity to actively act in various areas, as well as to try out and test on himself the acquired knowledge of the organization. It is important at this stage to provide the newcomer with maximum support, regularly evaluate his performance and interaction with colleagues.

Stage 4: Operation. This completes the adaptation process, characterized by the gradual overcoming of operational and interpersonal problems and the transition to permanent employment. If the adjustment process develops spontaneously, then this stage usually occurs after 1-1.5 years of work. If the setup process is regulated, then the stage of effective functioning may occur in a few months. This shortening of the onboarding period can bring significant financial benefits, especially if the organization has a large number of employees.

The alternating stages cause difficulties called “crisis of adjustment”, since the influence of the social environment tends to increase sharply. As a result, a state of anxiety, resistance, stress arises, a search for a way out arises, and there is a need to more actively master the previously unknown.

Each of the above stages requires well-thought-out onboarding management.

If we analyze the above points, we can say that adaptation and its process are the main stage of professional education of employees. Adjustments help build connections in the workplace, which subsequently leads to more productive interactions that directly impact work results.

Characteristics and properties

According to the American psychologist Richard Lazarus, socio-psychological adaptation is influenced by information received by an individual when interacting with the social environment and that contradicts the original life attitudes.

As a result, there is an inconsistency between the internal message and the real conditions of existence. This causes a state of psychological discomfort, which prompts action.

The hypothesis was confirmed experimentally when Richard Lazarus and a group of researchers studied the cognitive assessment of threat on the formation of stress reactions.

The conditional intensity of emotional experiences indicates the degree of adaptation of the individual to socio-psychological conditions. Freud, Adler and Hartmann considered the problem in the context of the development of defense mechanisms.

Social structures, division of labor, social inequality and other factors, according to the masters of psychoanalysis, have a strong influence on the success of personality adaptation. Their properties and characteristics determine the development possibilities of the individual.

The structure of society, upbringing and training shape behavioral reactions and ensure successful adaptation. An important condition for harmonious integration is social compliance. It determines the norms of individual behavior.

The speed and depth of adaptation depends not only on mental characteristics, emotional stability and internal reserves. External influences have a great influence on the process of adaptation.

At the material level, material factors are distinguished, and in the social environment - social development, ethnic issues, and living conditions. Each individual enters the adaptation process in a different moral and physiological state.

Some people adapt easier and faster, others more difficult and slower. According to many researchers, adaptability is strongly influenced by environmental factors and subjective influence.

The first include:

1. Nature of work activity. Professional mental deformation slows down the adaptation process and makes adjustments to it.
2. Living conditions. They are of fundamental importance, since the environment largely shapes the inner world and views of the individual.
3. Social layer. This is a complex characteristic of the adaptation process that influences behavioral reactions and ideological position.

The subjective properties of the adaptation process usually include gender, age, psycho-emotional and physiological characteristics of the individual.
Researchers do not have a consensus on which group of factors has a greater influence on an individual’s ability to adapt to changed conditions.

According to one theory, adaptation is influenced by a set of the following criteria:

• cognitive;
• emotional;
• motivational;
• practical.

In the process of life under the proposed conditions, a new behavioral model is formed, which accelerates adaptation.

Freeze or die!

0 Not all animals flee in a moment of danger. There are also special cunning creatures: they have learned to pretend to be dead so that predators mistake them for carrion. Thus, a wounded or very frightened opossum is capable of masterfully imitating death. He doesn't just fall and lie motionless - his eyes glaze over, foam flows from his mouth, and his anal glands emit a foul-smelling secretion. Having sniffed the body of an imaginary dead person, predators, as a rule, leave. They say that the possum gets so used to the image that it remains motionless even if it is touched with a foot or moved to another place. Only after some time will he come to his senses and run away. The pig-nosed snake from the colubrid family has the same talent for “dying”: when threatened, it turns its belly up and freezes.

Functions and role

Adaptation is a special form of personal transformation in psychology, which involves reducing the expenditure of internal energy to withstand stressful situations and irritating factors.

An important function of this process is the individual’s ability to level out traumatic circumstances to more comfortable ones. For example, a person who goes hunting for the first time often experiences shock. As you get used to new conditions, your perception becomes calmer.

A mechanism of stress resistance is developed, which contributes to the formation of psychological compensatory internal reserves. The role of adaptation in human life is obvious.

It allows:

• it is easier to achieve your goals;
• react more calmly to stressful situations;
• be more resistant to moral pressure;
• increase self-esteem;
• reduce the level of conflict;
• improve your own communication skills;
• move up the career ladder more successfully.

In the process of resolving adaptation difficulties, conflicts and contradictions, intellectual abilities develop and the necessary psycho-emotional reactions are developed.

Protective coloration

Protective coloration is very important for animal species that do not have effective means of protection against predators. Thanks to it, animals become less noticeable in the area. For example, female birds hatching eggs are almost indistinguishable from the background of the area. Bird eggs are also colored to match the color of the area. Bottom-dwelling fish, most insects and many other animal species have a protective coloration. In the north, white or light coloring is more common, helping to camouflage in the snow (polar bears, polar owls, arctic foxes, baby pinnipeds - squirrels, etc.). A number of animals have acquired a coloration formed by alternating light and dark stripes or spots, making them less noticeable in bushes and dense thickets (tigers, young wild boars, zebras, sika deer, etc.). Some animals are capable of changing color very quickly depending on conditions (chameleons, octopuses, flounder, etc.).

Forms of manifestations

The main, longest and most complex adaptation is considered to be adaptability to a new social environment and changed social conditions. This is an active form of personality development, within which the mutual influence of a person and the environment is felt.

An important manifestation of such adaptation is the nature of the interaction, which includes communicative nuances, between the individual and the people around him. Successful adaptation to changed conditions means the individual’s ability to function in a new social environment.

The adaptation mechanism at the psychological level can take on various forms and manifestations. This is determined by the personal emotional and physiological characteristics of a person. Adaptation is manifested by changes in attitudes and behavioral reactions to situational stimuli.

Bottom line

A person is always forced to adapt at different levels of his life. First, a person adapts physiologically, getting used to control of his body, then to the surrounding nature. Social adaptation begins at the moment when parents begin raising a child. At the same time, psychological adaptation occurs when a person develops character traits that will help him feel harmonious in existing conditions.

Adaptation does not always imply exclusively effective and successful, acceptable behavior. You can adapt by developing an illness or bad behavior, which also helps you achieve your goals more quickly under existing conditions.

Psychological theories and schools

There are 2 forms of personality adaptability in the aspect of reducing mental stress - active interaction with the social environment and passive. The first is called the anaplastic type of adaptation and best contributes to the improvement of the individual.

Passive or conformal interaction involves accepting the value guidelines of a social group and is called the autoplastic approach.

The interactionist psychological school identifies the following types of adaptation in the aspect of socio-economic interaction:

• extrapersonal;
• situational;
• individual;
• general.

This classification is characterized by a high level of generalization in the absence of meaningful criteria reflecting the effectiveness of the adaptation process. The interactionist school is a branch of American psychology, cultural studies and sociology that studies the symbolic interaction of the individual with society.

Her adaptation theory is complemented by research by the Russian psychologist and public figure A. D. Rean, conducted in 2004. True adaptation, in his opinion, lies in the mutual change of oneself and the environment.

Adaptation. What is this in psychology

The school of analytical psychology, based on the research of Freud and Jung, interprets personality adaptation within the framework of social consciousness. This is a kind of theory of collective intelligence, which states that an individual’s behavioral reactions are formed under the influence of the social environment.

The British anthropological school of applied psychology draws a parallel between the development of mental processes of modern man and primitive beliefs, ideas about morality and customs of various socially isolated groups.

The Austrian psychological school puts forward an adaptation theory of the integrity of the consciousness of an individual, which determines the success of its adaptation to new conditions of existence.

Personal potential

Personal adaptation potential is the ability of a particular person to demonstrate psychological stability in changing conditions.

The higher this potential , the easier it is for him to demonstrate normal performance, high performance efficiency and stability of psychological state under the influence of external factors.

That is, for one person, these indicators may decrease under minor external influences, while for another, they may remain at a normal level even under severe pressure from circumstances.

The adaptive potential of an individual consists of the following characteristics:

• neuropsychic stability;
• stress sensitivity;
• self-esteem;
• self-control;
• availability of support;
• level of conflict;
• experience of social communication.

Management methods

In psychology, adaptation is the process of bringing a person’s emotional reactions and mental activity into line with social standards and the requirements of the living environment. It can be controlled using special methods developed by leading industry experts.

Trial and error method

American psychologist and teacher Edward Lee Thorndike in 1898 proposed to manage the adaptation of an individual in a social environment or work group empirically, using a person’s innate abilities to sort out options for action.

The method consists in solving life problems using accumulated experience and simultaneously acquiring new ones in the process of overcoming difficulties. According to this theory, less time, effort and resources are spent on achieving each subsequent goal than on the previous one.

The technique has found wide application in the development of the adaptation mechanism of schoolchildren, students and other social groups. The advantage of this method is that it does not require learning. The ability to find solutions to a problem is inherent in every person from the very beginning.

Formation of behavioral reactions

This method provides for the development of a motivational component and a reward system that stimulates further improvement of the personal adaptation mechanism. This method of managing an individual’s adaptability was developed by a representative of the behaviorist psychological school, J. Watson.

He considered the “stimulus-response” system as a mechanism for the formation of new forms of behavior in a certain social environment. Watson categorically stated the decisive role of the influence of the environment on the development of a psychological type and behavior pattern.

Observational method

The theory put forward by the French psychologist and neuropsychiatrist Henri Vallon provides for managing adaptation by creating conditions convenient for observation and analysis.

According to the author, placing an individual in a new social environment forces him to subconsciously look closely at the behavior of others and unwittingly imitate it. This is how the individual integrates into the social group.

This type of adaptation is called latent-passive. In psychology, this is a common phenomenon characteristic of people of phlegmatic temperament. Most of the information received from the outside world, according to the author of the theory, is perceived at a subconscious level, which plays a key role in the development of generally accepted norms of behavior.

Social institutions

It is through them that the process of socialization is carried out. It is their task to correct and shape social qualities, to activate or limit the impact of certain factors on people.

Since many old institutions have been lost, it is necessary to develop new technologies of socialization. Their implementation will not only satisfy the needs of society, its individual groups and individuals. This will contribute to the fact that a person will begin to learn to “process” the principles of his behavior and relate it to certain situations and conditions.