Family Perceptions Of People With Different Typology Of Individuality

Abstract

The family is one of the factors, which allow us to strengthen psychological resistance to adverse conditions. Do ideas about the family in people with different typology of individuality differ? The goal of the study was to identify the similarities and differences of the family representation in people with different typology of individuality and try to explain what caused this relationship. A multiple design was used in our research including the organization of the concept Family (directed associative experiment). IBM SPSS Statistics 22 Statistical processing techniques of empirical data included descriptive statistics and Relationships (Hierarchical Cluster Analysis, Ward’s Method). The ordinary type is characterized by a small amount of energy, but the family is “large” for them, this may be due to high rates in the sensory and emotional-evaluative index. For a person of action, it is important that his family be loved, which may be due to the fact that the space-time aspect of the family is important for this type of people. For the Spiritual Man and the Man of Mood - the emotional and evaluative characteristics of the family. Notions about Family in people with different typology of individuality differ. They are significantly associated with the characteristics of individual mental resources.

Keywords: Concept “family”temperamentcharactercognitive styles

Introduction

Studies of family and marriage are conducted in sociology, philosophy, cultural studies, psychology, and many other sciences related to society. Family is a social institution, the basic unit of society (Korolev, 2000). It belongs to the most important social values (Bim-Bad & Gavrov, 2010). Despite its general use, the concept of a family is quite extensive, and it is somewhat difficult to define it clearly. In different societies and cultures, the definition of a family may differ. In addition, often the definition also depends on the area in which this definition is given. There are many definitions of the family. Each of them depends on specific historical, ethnic, and socio-economic conditions, as well as on the specific objectives of the study (Werneck & Werneck-Rohrer, 2000; Kravchenko, 2010).

The value of the family in life remains very high due to the increase in its psychological function, since the family is one of the few factors that enhance psychological and psychophysiological resistance to adverse conditions (Volkova & Dudnikova, 2018a).

The picture of the world is changing extremely rapidly, one socio-economic formation replaces another, the virtual world displaces the real one, putting at risk the existence of the family - the most important unit of society, the last bastion responsible for the safety of mankind as a whole. It is in the family that people receive the first social experience, various skills and standards of human behaviour proper - communicative, behavioural, emotional, moral and ethical, etc. Each family is a unique system in which a person develops, finds support and realizes his own potential (Volkova & Dudnikova, 2018b).

Problem Statement

Family problems are fundamental to understanding the characteristics of personal development and social interaction. Therefore, the family is the object of studying a wide range of sciences - philosophy (Aristotle, Aquinas, Bacon, Berdyaev, Hegel, Kant, Soloviev, Engels, etc.); sociology (Antonov, Durkheim, Kohn, Navaitis, Strauss, etc.); psychology (Druzhinin, Karabanova, Shulga), economics (Vishnevsky), cultural studies and other sciences.

Therefore, it is extremely important to study the characteristics of implicit ideas about the family, allowing to identify the mechanisms of productive life in young people with different typology of individuality. The solution of this problem lies in the field of interdisciplinary research - psycholinguistics and personality psychology. Methods of personality psychology allow us to develop a typology of individuality.

An associative experiment - a technique of psycholinguistic analysis - can act as an effective way to identify implicit ideas about the family in young people with different personality traits, reveal those linguistic stereotypes that are often not realized, but control the mind and behaviour of a person, causing the productivity of vital activity provided by a set of functional, operational and regulatory mechanisms.

Functional mechanisms are a combination of innate and acquired features of the nervous system that determine the specificity of behaviour and activity (formal-dynamic properties of temperament, fundamental properties of the personality). Regulatory mechanisms are manifested in the features of the orienting actions, planning, control, correction (cognitive styles, motivation). Operational mechanisms in the context of this study represent a set of meaningful characteristics of the concept of "family" in the human mind, which determines the features of family interaction, making adjustments to the work of the first signal system through the mechanisms of second-signal control of mental processes (Chuprikova, 1967).

The concept is the basis of conceptual thinking, which is key in the structure of human mental resources. Thanks to the concepts, the situation is analyzed and causal relationships are identified, as well as the interpretation of the incident. Studies of the concept of terrorism, for example, have shown that extraverts are more active and adaptable to the environment. This fact can explain why only a few attributes of negative attitude towards terrorism in the structure of the concept. Neurotics are extremely emotional persons. Probably that is why the attribute of fear and horror dominate in the structure of the concept Terrorism. Psychotics rely only on one’s own knowledge and experience. That is why high awareness about types of terrorism and their danger correlates with a pronounced negative attitude towards terrorism. (Volkova & Dudnikova, 2018c).

Research Questions

Do ideas about the family in people with different typology of individuality differ?

Purpose of the Study

The goal of the study was to identify the similarities and differences of the family representation in people with different typology of individuality and try to explain what caused this relationship.

Research Methods

The collection of empirical data was conducted from 2015 to 2017 on a voluntary basis in compliance with generally accepted ethical norms of the organization of psychological research. To reduce the social desirability of the participants did not indicate their names, but only age and gender.

Findings

To identify the relationship between a different typology of individuality and the organization of the concept Family, let us turn to the results of one-dimensional analysis of variance.

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Based on the Figure 1 “The average sensory index to indicators of the typology of individuality”, we can say that for the Ordinary man the sensory component of the family is more important than for others. The sensory attribute of the family is most unimportant for the Spiritual man.

An example of words related to sensory modality: strong, warm, soft.

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As can be seen on the Figure 2 “The average emotional-evaluative index to indicators of the typology of individuality”, the most important is the emotional-evaluative component of the concept of "family" for the Ordinary man. For the Man of Action, this component, on the contrary, is the most unimportant.

An example of words related to emotional-evaluative modality: friendly, beloved, loving.

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As can be seen from the Figure 3 “The average spatio-temporal index to indicators of the typology of individuality”, the spatio-temporal component of the family is important both for the Spiritual man and for the Man of Action.

An example of words related to spatio-temporal modality: large, close, distant.

The Table 1 “The frequency of occurrence of associates for the word-stimulus "family" in people with different typology of individuality” shows that for all respondents, regardless of their typology, an important element is a trusting, warm relationship and mutual consent in the family (friendly).

For an Ordinary man, the family should be large, which can be associated with a high need for communication, as well as the fact that this type is distinguished by high rates in sensory and emotional-evaluative modalities. It is important for them to feel the family and be included in the emotional atmosphere of the family.

For the Spiritual man, the Man of Mood and the Man of Action, the family is beloved. For them, this is the place where they love someone. It is enough for a Spiritual man, as an introvert, to simply love someone. He has the resources to maintain these feelings. A Man of Mood, characterized by low activity, in love for his family can make up for this missing resource. A Man of Mood, as an extrovert with a rich supply of resources, loves a family because he simply has one. The choice of this word by the Man of Action and the Spiritual Man can be associated with a high indicator of the spatio-temporal modality, which indicates the need for the family to always be near. It is important for a mood person to feel love for the family directly because of the high values of the sensory index.

In third place with the Ordinary man is a love of family. Perhaps for this type of people, such a position for this characteristic of the family is due to low values of the spatio-temporal modality.

A Spiritual man and a Man of Mood perceive the family as strong, which can mean mutual respect within the family, a desire to help and support, the ability to understand problems where partners are equal in rights (strong).

For the Man of Action, the family should be large, which again is connected with his sociability, ability to get along with people and a high level of spatio-temporal modality.

An Ordinary man in the last place puts such a characteristic of the family as strong because they have high sensory modality.

For the Spiritual Man and the Man of Mood, the family must be large. A Spiritual man in a large and strong family will always be involved in new activities, and will gain new experience. A Man of Mood will make up for his small amount of resources at the expense of a large family. This characteristic of the family in the last place for the Spiritual man may be due to low sensory modality, while for the Man of Mood, the same statement of the word may be associated with a low level of the spatio-temporal index.

For a Man of Action, it is important not only to love the family yourself, but also that family members love in return (loving). Feeling reciprocal love from relatives, a person with this type will satisfy his communication needs.

The Spiritual man and the Man of Mood have the same ideas about the family, despite the big difference between the two types. This may be due to approximately the same indicators of the emotional-evaluative index.

Conclusion

Family perceptions of people with different typology of individuality a differ.

An analysis of the proposed characteristics of the family revealed mainly emotional manifestations of the family (friendly, beloved, loving). Only one word refers to sensory modality: “strong”. Just as with the spatio-temporal modality, only the “large” applies.

People with different typology identify the same words, but put them in different positions, the distribution of which is affected by three modalities: sensory, emotional-evaluative, spatio-temporal.

For Ordinary man with high sensory and emotional evaluative modalities, the family is friendly, large, beloved and strong.

Spiritual man and Man of Mood have similar ideas about the family: friendly, beloved, strong, large, which may be associated with high rates of emotional-evaluative modality.

For a Man of Actions with high spatial-temporal modality are characterized by the following words: friendly, beloved, large, loving.

The choice of the word "friendly" by all types of people may be related to the age and gender characteristics of the sample.

Acknowledgments

The study was grunted by the Russian Science Foundation (Project № 18-18-00386), Institute of Psychology, Russian Academy of Sciences. The authors express gratitude to A.Yu. Kalugin, S.A. Khazova and E.I. Gorbacheva for helping in gathering the data.

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