Social Perception

Once upon a time, the great Cicero said: "Before arguing about anything, agree on the meaning of words ...". Perhaps this expression of a wise Roman as well as possible in a figurative sense reflects the meaning of the concept of "social perception." Indeed, everyone understands that effective interaction between people can be carried out only if it has the character of mutual understanding. The point is that interaction, for various reasons of objective and subjective nature, can be interpreted by participants in this act of interaction ambiguously.

This ambiguity is related to the fact that the actors of interaction have different expectations from the course and result of interaction with another individual, other attitudes, each actor in its relations with the external social environment is guided by different value systems and criteria.

However, for all the differences in these factors, there is one parameter in the interactions, which is objectively common to all participants in the process of interaction - this is the way and the process by which they perceive each other. It is objectively obligatory in the structure of communication and is characterized by the concept of social perception.

It should, however, clarify the point that the use of this category is not entirely accurate and fully reflects the content side of communication between people. In scientific terms this term was introduced by J. Bruner in 1947, and entered psychology together with the theory of "New Look" - a new view of the problems of communication, interaction and perception of each other's people. Within the framework of this paradigm, social perception was revealed only by the determinants of human relations.

Then the view on the content of this category has widened somewhat and under perceptions began to consider the whole process of perception of each other's social objects. At the same time, the broad interpretation consisted of the fact that a social object was understood not as a single individual, but as a whole set of elements of the social structure of society as a whole: social groups, communities, and even society as a whole, when it referred to the relationship "man - society". Modern psychological science is precisely in this interpretation of the concept of social perception.

A full-scale examination of the content of this category creates a very complex picture that reflects the mechanism of perception of each other's social objects in the process of their interactions. This mechanism includes the actual man, who is capable of perceiving another, the other person, interacting with the first. This mechanism is complemented by the properties of the actors of interaction that these individuals carry as characteristics of the social groups to which they relate. And, finally, an important element of this mechanism is the situational component - the specific conditions and circumstances of the place and time within which the interaction takes place.

Even more complex in structure and content is socio-educational perception, which involves the inclusion of a number of special, new significant factors that determine perceptions. These are such as professional orientation, especially pedagogical activity as a factor of the general socialization of the individual, competence and others. Therefore, pedagogical social perception is understood as the ability of the teacher, the teacher (in the broad sense of the word), to see the inner world of the child, trained by the means of empathy, that is, the ability to "live" the vicissitudes of his becoming together with him.

The effectiveness of this approach, as a rule, is determined by the degree of development of interest in the problems that concern the person being educated. Therefore, the "quality" of the perceptual component of pedagogical activity depends on two components: the abilities of the teacher, on the one hand, and the aptitude of the student, on the other.