A person is constantly in society, because of which he has to communicate and interact with other people every day. And this in the life of each of us is one of the main factors. Indeed, a person’s success and his social position are largely determined by the ability to negotiate with other people, find an approach to them and influence them. In this case, often we all ourselves are influenced by others, which often contradicts our interests.
Methods of psychological impact on a person are considered in a separate direction of psychology. They consist of various ways of influencing, which we use almost every day, building professional, social and family relationships. What are the methods of psychological impact on a person, and what purpose can be achieved when applied?
Concept of influence
This term is most often used in sociology and psychology. The psychological impact on a person is nothing but the effect on his thoughts and feelings. It is a process that changes the behavior, attitude, intentions, desires and perceptions of one of those around. Such a psychological effect on a person goes around his consciousness, mind and logic. It is carried out using suggestion, appeal to feelings and feelings, to habits and the unconscious, to hidden fears and lively impressions.
Impact Objectives
Among the features of the psychological impact on a person, one can single out his unconscious and spontaneous nature, as well as the lack of social control. Its use is made with certain goals, which can be both positive and negative.
The topic of psychological impact on other people is especially interesting for businessmen, marketers, advertisers and entrepreneurs. Using existing mechanisms of such influence, they can profitably sell their goods. The correct use of tools of psychological influence allows representatives of these professions to make good profits.
There are other goals of psychological impact on a person. These include:
- satisfaction of personal needs at the expense of others or through them;
- confirmation of the fact of one’s own existence and its significance;
- overcoming the spatio-temporal boundaries of his own "I".
But in any case, the purpose of the psychological impact on a person is the desire to make him consciously or at the subconscious level obey certain requirements, laws, attitudes or norms. For example, using such methods, the director, influencing his subordinates, seeks to rally the team or give people food for thought, so that they act for the good of the company. Parents psychologically influence their children with the goal of forming a full-fledged personality, from which a well-educated and law-abiding citizen of their country and a good person will be obtained.
Advertising is created in order to force the buyer to purchase a particular product. And this is its main goal of psychological impact on humans. It can also be created so that people vote for a particular candidate, watch a film, the budget of which required the expenditure of large funds that need to be urgently returned, etc.
The goals of psychological suggestion are not always positive. An example of this is suicide bombers. Before completing the assignment, they are subjected to suggestion, hypnosis and processing, convincing them to kill other people, dying themselves. All this contradicts human nature.
Types of influence
As a rule, people direct their socio-psychological activity to individual individuals or to entire groups.
At the same time, scientists and researchers distinguish the following types of psychological effects on humans:
- Information-psychological. Sometimes it is called ideological and propaganda. It represents the impact of information or word. The main purpose of this influence is to form certain social (ideological) ideas, beliefs and views. Its use causes both positive and negative emotions in people, active mass reactions, forming at the same time stable representations-images.
- Psychogenic. Such an effect is produced on the human brain, as a result of which deviations from the norm begin to be observed in the neuropsychic activity of the individual. The cause of this may be, for example, the shock effects of any events or environmental conditions. So, pictures of numerous victims or mass destruction so negatively affect a person’s consciousness that he loses his orientation, loses the ability to act rationally, falls into a stupor, panic, etc. Psychogenic effects can also be exerted by color. Thus, the experiments made it possible to establish that yellow, orange, red and purple increase the pulse rate, increase blood pressure and deepen breathing, while purple, blue, blue and green produce the opposite effect.
- Psychoanalytic. This type of exposure is characterized by the effect on the human subconscious by various therapeutic agents. The most striking example of this is the state of deep sleep or hypnosis. There are also methods in which the psychological effect on a person’s consciousness excludes the possibility of resistance not only to a single individual, but also to groups of people who are awake.
- Neuro-linguistic. This type of psychological impact on a person allows you to change his motivation. This happens when special linguistic programs are introduced into the consciousness of an individual. Features of psychological effects on people in this case are in influencing the neurophysiological activity of the brain. At the same time, there is a change in volitional and emotional states. The main means of psychological impact on a person in this case are specially selected verbal (verbal) and non-verbal programs, with the assimilation of the contents of which you can change the ideas, beliefs and views of an individual or groups of people in the right direction.
- Psychotronic. Such an effect on other people occurs when information is transmitted through an unconscious (non-sensitive) perception. For example, there are developments that result in generators of low-frequency and high-frequency coding of the brain, as well as dowsing installations that stimulate certain psychological reactions. The latter are carried out using biological and chemical agents.
- Psychotropic. The means of this effect are medicines, as well as biological and chemical substances. So, some strongly smelling elements can influence the psyche. Their use allows you to change a person’s behavior and provoke him to perform certain actions.
In sociology and psychology there are also distinguished directional influence and non-directional. The first of them includes such methods of influencing a person as suggestion and persuasion. Indirect influence is possible with imitation and infection.
Conviction
This method of psychological impact is one of the most harmless, but at the same time the most effective. This method is based on the provision of facts that become apparent in the case of building a logical chain during reflection.
But it should be borne in mind that, using various psychological techniques for influencing a person, it is necessary to take into account the level of his intellectual development. To prove something to an individual who stands a notch in mental development is at least ridiculous. The above arguments will be incomprehensible to him, and therefore he simply will not accept them. You should also not convince someone who is smarter than you, because it will look just ridiculous.
Only after the human consciousness has mastered a new portion of information, his brain will begin to look for explanations. At this point, everything will depend on the art of persuading the speaker. It is good if he succeeds in getting the other person to trust him. In this case, you only need to alternate the new data in the conversation.
The most important requirement of any means of psychological impact on a person is that the speaker should not deceive his opponent. If only falsity sounds in his voice, then the level of confidence will immediately begin to fall. In any case, the person who is trying to convince his interlocutor should create the impression of an authoritative person.
Persuasion strategies
How to have a socio-psychological effect on people? To do this, you can use one of several strategies:
- Aggressive. It is built on the contradiction of the available facts. This will allow the interlocutor to prove that the speaker is an extraordinary person. A person immediately desires to listen to the arguments to the end in order to unravel the logical chain created during the conversation. A similar strategy is used, as a rule, by persuasion and word professionals.
- Passive. Such a strategy can only work if a person knows his interlocutor well. In order to convince him of something, he begins to cautiously give examples from his life, comparing them with cases well known to the general public. This is what he brings the opponent to the thought that he seeks to convey to him. Such an information-psychological effect on a person is possible only in the absence of discrepancies and inconsistencies in judgments. Such oversights will not allow you to get the desired result.
Suggestion
It is also one of the ways of psychological impact on a person. When applied, the influence on the opponent is due to the created emotional background. This makes the person act as the interlocutor tells him.
Suggestion is a belief that uses verbal tools, such as visual contact, words, etc. These tools make a person act as they say.
Suggestion can only become an effective tool when a person matches his words. If he begins to try to “learn to live,” to talk about the laws of success and the rules of behavior in society, but at the same time his manners and appearance will not be respected, then the opponent is unlikely to have a desire to imitate him. The words of a tormented individual in dirty clothes, from which he suffers from fumes, will look ridiculous, funny and pathetic. That is why those who want to help their interlocutor with advice should first understand the situation, get into the problem that has arisen and put themselves in the place of their opponent. Only this will allow you to begin to express the right thoughts and support the one who needs it.
What is the success of suggestion?
This method of psychological impact has some nuances. So, a person must necessarily inspire his thoughts with a confident voice, without any shadow of doubt. Sometimes the success of an idea or its failure directly depends on what the tone of the pronounced phrase is.
Another factor determining the result of exposure to a person is his suggestibility. And this indicator is purely individual. For example, a high level of suggestibility is observed in children under 12-14 years old, as well as in indecisive and insecure people.
Such a method will be especially effective when the meaning of the words spoken will be combined with external information that is understandable and familiar to the interlocutor.
If you want to prove to a person that by agreeing with the available arguments, he will be satisfied, you should give an example of some negative result that will certainly await him when he refuses suggestive thoughts.
Imitation
Often we use certain methods of influencing a person and we don’t even suspect about it, because this happens at the subconscious level. So, a person who has reached any heights in the intellectual plane or career, will certainly become the subject of admiration and respect. At the same time, from the one who managed to realize their aspirations, less experienced people begin to take an example. It should be borne in mind that the object of imitation at a height should always be. In order to use this method of psychological impact on people, it must be delightful, memorable, vibrant and attractive in any situation. In other words, he needs to satisfy the desire of those around him to follow his ideal.
Why does a person strive to be like an idol?
The basis of imitation is often an emotional outburst or unconscious envy. So, all children strive to take an example from their parents, and growing up - from peers or idols. Sometimes a person carries a craving for imitation through his whole life. Sometimes it is this psychological effect that pushes people to positive or negative actions. For example, a teenager picks up a cigarette, because many of his classmates do it. Or a young man begins to engage in a particular sport in an effort to be like his idol.
Similar methods of exerting psychological influence on people are used involuntarily. It is unlikely that celebrities set themselves the goal of persuading their fans to build mass or lose weight. But, nevertheless, they have a similar effect, and sometimes it is quite strong.
Infection
A similar method of psychological impact on people is the oldest and most studied. It is based on the transfer of emotional state from one person to another.
Surely many in their lives have come across a situation where a good mood was spoiled by a suddenly appearing person who, with tears in his eyes, began to tell his compassionate story. The wonderful state of mind disappeared somewhere. The mood fell and became similar to that which the interlocutor had. Particularly impressionable natures in such a situation did not even need to hear sad words. The mood began to fall at an emotional level when perceiving signals from those who are nearby.
Another striking example that is characteristic of the infection method is panic. Such a psychological effect exerts a particularly vivid effect in the crowd. In the presence of a large concentration of people who are in equal critical conditions, when panic occurs in one of them, almost all of those present begin to succumb to this feeling.
However, infection can occur not only by any negative emotions. Very well fun, laughter and positive mood are transmitted from person to person.