Rigidity in psychology

Rigidity in psychology implies the complexity, unpreparedness or total inability of the subject to change the planned program of activities in the new situational conditions. It is the ability of the psyche and the character of a person to firmly preserve the preset mindset.

A stiff man is not inclined to change his habits. He is stubborn, he tries to defend his tactics in solving everyday problems. He is impressionable, for a long time retains his emotional state. Surrounding people have to put a lot of effort to distract or persuade.

Varieties

The following types of rigidity in psychology stand out : cognitive, affective and motivational. Cognitive rigidity involves the complexity of restructuring perceptions and perceptions in changed situational conditions. This is the unwillingness of the subject to create a new conceptual picture of the world surrounding him when new information arrives, which does not correspond to the previous one.

Affective rigidity in psychology is expressed in the invariance of responses (affective or emotional) to changing objects of emotions.

Motivational rigidity manifests itself in the complexity of restructuring the system of motives in circumstances that require flexibility and behavior change. Rigidity, which the subject manifests in this or that situation, largely depends on the complexity of the task, its attractiveness for it, the presence of danger and so on.

Emotional rigidity

Lazursky A.F. Called emotional rigidity in psychology by the stability of emotions. It is characterized as follows: this is the largest time period for a certain person, during which once an excited emotion is detected again, despite the fact that the causative agent has ceased to act, and the circumstances have changed. Rigidity of thinking is associated with the stability of emotions with the fixation of attention on any important events, objects or circumstances, failures, insults and so on.

Feature of rigid individuals

The vocabulary of psychology characterizes a rigid person as a subject, little changeable even under the influence of external influences, which is incapable of independent regulation and correction. The moderately pronounced rigidity of the individual expresses the invariability of interests and attitudes that are aimed at upholding one's opinion, on the activity of a position which, under the influence of external forces, only intensifies. It is practical, accurate, faithful to its principles. Such people are resistant to stress, since they are less subject to changes in the environment.

More pronounced rigidity in psychology is characteristic of psychopaths with signs of paranoia. Such individuals, as a rule, are characterized by conflictness, affective capture by the dominant idea. Correcting the behavior of people with high levels of rigidity is not an easy task. The strategy of interaction with a person of this type should be built on an implicit conviction in the form of a recommendation so that the individual himself gets the impression that the conviction comes from himself, and the psychologist only confirms its correctness.