What is Tolerance in Psychology, and Why Is It Important?

Not all people use the concept of tolerance in their lives. What it is? These are norms of behavior accepted in a social environment, which are expressed in people’s tolerance for each other, religions, customs and feelings. We can say that the basis of tolerance is considered to be the right to express thoughts and personal freedom of every person. These are human feelings that are expressed in people’s positive attitude towards something, but not towards violations of moral and universal principles. This word has come into use not so long ago; let’s try to understand this concept in more detail.

Peony flower Tolerance includes such human qualities as:

• Compassion and tolerance;
• Forgiveness and mercy;
• Perception of one's neighbor with all his shortcomings;
• Respect for people's rights and freedoms;
• Desire to cooperate;
• Maintaining a spirit of partnership and parity among people.

In 1995, the UNESCO Declaration of Principles on Tolerance was adopted.

According to this document, tolerance is:

• Patience;
• Lack of aggression;
• Philosophical worldview and the ability to philosophically evaluate life positions and manifestations of the character of other people.

Depending on the area of ​​manifestation, tolerance is divided into the following categories:

• Political;
• Pedagogical;
• Medical;
• Scientific;
• Administrative, etc.

Types and types of tolerance in modern society

The concept of tolerance is not just a Wikipedia definition. There are different definitions, as well as divisions of tolerance into types, types, subspecies and subtypes. Psychologists divide tolerance into four types, which are based on interpersonal communication between people:

1. Natural (natural). This type of tolerance is characterized by the fact that the child cannot contrast his own “I” with the world around him. He has too little experience for this. Children's consciousness is driven by kindness, forgiveness, and trust. It is these qualities that allow a little person to adapt to living conditions. However, these character traits force the baby to suppress his desires and manifestations of will.

People with different skin colors can be tolerant of each other

1. Moral tolerance. This type of tolerance is characteristic of self-sufficient and wise people who know how to restrain emotions using the body’s psychological defense mechanisms. The main manifestation of this attitude is considered to be tolerance towards others. Passions of indignation may rage inside him and negative energy may accumulate, but outwardly the person is extremely calm.

1. Moral tolerance. It will be surprising to many people that two paragraphs with synonymous subheadings appear in a row. But there is a significant difference between moral and moral tolerance. Moral tolerance is different in that it determines the degree of trust in a person. This type is typical for people who try to accept the thoughts, values, stereotypes, and life principles of another person. Such people find it easy to endure conflict situations and withstand stress.

1. Ethnic tolerance. Causes long-suffering and lack of judgment towards foreign culture, customs and way of life.

A person endowed with ethnic tolerance is able to live for a long time in an environment that is unusual, and sometimes even unpleasant for him, of foreign culture and traditions.

The main types of tolerance consist of four subtypes :

1. A person’s attitude towards a situation and the people taking part in it. Situational tolerance is divided into the following levels:

• A low level is characteristic of a person’s negative attitude towards the world and the surrounding reality (“they irritate me”);
• At the average level , a person expresses tolerance towards his interlocutors (“I like communicating with them, and I understand them perfectly”);
• The highest level is characterized by complete acceptance of a person by a person (“I feel comfortable and good with them”).

1. A person’s position relative to other people, based on political, ethnic and national characteristics. This subtype of tolerance is called typological .
2. Another subtype of tolerance is professional. This is people’s reaction to the environment in which they are forced to spend a large amount of time - employees, co-workers, colleagues.
3. Collective tolerance (general) consists of the traits that a person exhibits as a result of the previous three observations. Their systematization gives a general picture of the level of tolerance of an individual.

Many people are intolerant of men and women with tattoos

Examples of tolerance from life

The most obvious manifestations of tolerance in life, as a rule, are associated with religion: you can meet a Christian who talks with a Muslim, and both of them are tolerant of each other, listen to each other’s position and opinion. Another example of tolerance can be a conversation between people of different political views. The important thing is that people do not try to impose their point of view , but rather have the strength to recognize that the other person may not share your political beliefs.

Often people are intolerant of the appearance of people who dress or look completely different from you. For example, you don’t like tattoos and as soon as you see a girl with a tattoo, your attitude towards her immediately deteriorates, or you don’t want to communicate with her at all.

It will be absolutely intolerant to express your position as the only correct one, to hint in every possible way that a person is wrong, that all his arguments seem stupid or insignificant to you. In this situation, you can safely call yourself an intolerant person.

Criticism of the concept

Priest and acting secretary of the Department for External Church Relations Georgiy Ryabykh points out that this term is borrowed from the West and has several meanings with their own pros and cons. However, the clergyman was greatly disturbed by the fact that this is most often understood as moral nihilism and indifference to vices, the truth of religion and values ​​that have been formed in the country for centuries. Therefore, the priests took the initiative to boycott the tolerance lessons taught in school.

And also, according to critics, modern sociological tolerance acts in the form of manipulation of human consciousness in order to hide the destructive and negative aspects of any circumstances from society. For example: reduction of the indigenous population, replacing it with cheap foreign labor with low qualifications without providing legal and social guarantees in order to increase capital.

The concept of this term was also criticized by Bishop Irinarch Grezin of Perm and Solikamsk, who wrote an open letter to journalists. He urged people to learn to understand that not everyone can look the same and eat the same food, organize their families differently and react to everyday things. The bishop argues that if this difference between self-expression and submission is not accepted, “we will be in a terrible state of war.”

Sometimes critics, in their statements about tolerance, use the neologisms “tolerant” or “tolerant” to implicitly insult those who support the ideas of the existing concept.

Tolerance and intolerance

Striving to become tolerant, a person does not think about the fact that his manifestations of tolerance sometimes have the nature of violence against himself. That is, he does not have moral tolerance, which is conditioned by acceptance and forgiveness. This process occurs at the level of moral tolerance, which suppresses internal rejection of any processes.

Tolerance and intolerance manifest themselves in all spheres of human relationships: professional, interethnic, interreligious and others.

How to understand that a person is tolerant? As a rule, the following signs of tolerance and a tolerant personality are distinguished:

1. Humor . The ability to laugh at one’s own shortcomings is the main difference between a tolerant person. He reacts adequately to criticism and jokes directed at him.

1. Self-realization.

A tolerant person is focused on self-improvement and the implementation of his plans.

He is inquisitive, open with people and selflessly comes to the first call for help. An intolerant individual does not know how to empathize and does not show compassion for people. He cannot determine himself and does not strive for self-improvement.

1. Self-esteem . Tolerance is a person’s ability to adequately evaluate himself and others. He clearly knows his own shortcomings and strives to eradicate them. Tolerance implies harmony between people with the world and within themselves. An intolerant person is accustomed to blaming others for his troubles. He transfers all the blame to those around him, to the circumstances. At the same time, intolerant people extol their own achievements and push forward virtues that, perhaps, do not exist at all.

1. Security . Despite all the problems of modern reality (rampant crime, terrorism, etc.), a tolerant person feels protected in society. However, intolerant people see a real threat to their own safety in everything that happens around them.

1. Responsibility . Tolerant people are not afraid of responsibility. In everything that happens around them, they look for true reasons and meaning. It is not difficult for them to take on certain obligations and bear the burden of responsibility for their own misdeeds and those of others.

Conchita Wurst, aka Thomas Neuwirth, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen

1. Democratic . Tolerant people will never try to convince you that they are right. They will definitely listen to your point of view, but will remain with their own. Intolerant people are dictators in their psychological attitude. They need to know that everyone around them is subject to their concepts and aspirations.

Racial intolerance

Racial intolerance is a phenomenon characterized by a feeling of superiority of one's own race over another (others). This form of intolerance is called racism.

The most striking example of racism is the situation in the United States. It is known that representatives of the Negroid race were used as slaves for many years in the southern states of the country. The war of 1861-1865 put an end to the existence of slavery as a phenomenon in the United States. However, attitudes towards African Americans remained for a long time (and in some places still remain to this day) negative and full of prejudice. They were not allowed to hold certain positions; they were taken to the lowest paid and dirtiest jobs. There were frequent cases of discrimination in public places, transport, and so on.

In our time, these manifestations have been reduced to a minimum, but the echoes of those events can still be heard.

Tolerance in the modern world

Tolerance for our state and its citizens is something new that has come to us since the times of “Perestroika” and the formation of a new state. In the Soviet Union, tolerance was considered, if not a sign of weakness, then a betrayal of political views promoted by the state. In a communist society, differences of opinion, religious views and preferences were not allowed. The distorted concept of tolerance was recognized only in the call for equality and brotherhood of all peoples and sectors of society. Which, however, was pure propaganda and had no basis in reality.

Nowadays, people in our country and all over the world are increasingly asking themselves the question: “How to become a tolerant person?” Moreover, many confuse tolerance with forgiveness in Christianity . However, this concept is far from the Christian call for a patient and stoic desire to “carry your cross” or “turn your cheek to be struck again.” The Orthodox Fathers categorically deny tolerance as a science and do their best to prevent its teaching in schools and universities. They believe that accepting and understanding any point of view destroys the moral foundations of a person that were brought up in him from childhood.

We can list several examples of double interpretation of manifestations of tolerance in society:

1. The youth . Let's consider a striking example of the manifestation of the denial of tolerance - a group of skinheads. They believe that tolerance of foreign culture, beliefs and views leads to the oppression of the Slavic race. How to explain to a child what tolerance is? By example, first of all. Do not be afraid to discuss sensitive topics in the family regarding any type of tolerance. Tolerance for children, especially young ones, can be a difficult concept, but over the years the seeds you sow will pay off and your child will become a truly tolerant person.

1. Family . In some countries, where a tolerant position towards people has been promoted for a long time, there are some excesses in concepts. For example, in England it is prohibited to use the words “husband” and “wife” in document flow. Thus, the state authorities try not to offend the feelings of sexual minorities entering into a marriage union. However, this is not the limit either; in the future it is planned to ban the words “mother” and “father” for the same purpose. European society condemns the denial of Russians towards same-sex partners who want to adopt children.

Tolerance is manifested in acceptance of same-sex relationships

1. Policy . In political life there is a very fine line between tolerance and servility. Politicians receive appropriate training and skills that help them manipulate the public and the opinions of the majority of people. Take the same ban on teenage homosexuality, adopted at the legislative level in Russia. In tolerant Europe, this caused a storm of condemnation and accusations of intolerance of Russian rulers.

Today we see that the Russian public is outraged by the manifestation of fascism and extremism on the territory of the former Russian state - Ukraine.

Why is tolerance needed?

Tolerance is necessary in relations with different peoples, nations and religions . It is considered a sign of awareness of the reliability of one’s positions, confidence in actions and openness of ideological flow, which does not avoid competition and is not afraid of comparison with a different opinion, since it implies respect, a true understanding of cultures and ways of expressing human individuality.