Popular psychological encyclopedia. level of aspiration

The level of aspiration is a person’s desire to achieve the goals that he, in his opinion, can achieve. In simple terms, it is a set of ambitions. The level of aspiration is closely related to a person’s self-esteem and self-confidence. It also depends on how much a person knows, accepts and understands himself. Now let’s take a closer look at what the level of aspiration is, how it is defined in psychology and what it is like.

Self-assessment of personal qualities

In the process of life, a person evaluates skills, abilities, experience, and opportunities. By comparing ourselves with others, we satisfy our own desires:

personal improvement; striving for a goal; curiosity.

Self-esteem makes it possible to see strengths and weaknesses and choose appropriate behavior options in life's realities.

A person evaluates his own behavior based on two components:

emotional - a person determines how he himself relates to his own character traits, habits, behavior and other personality traits; cognitive - learns about himself from friends, relatives, colleagues, ill-wishers.

American psychologist James W. derived the following formula for self-esteem: the ratio of success to the degree of aspiration.

Success is an established fact of some result, the solution of a given task. The degree of claims in this option is the goal of future processes in an ideal form. Based on the formula, it is clear that you can increase self-esteem in two ways:

reduce the level of claims; increase the effectiveness of processes.

Psychologists note that the level of aspirations is inextricably linked with self-esteem.

The discrepancy between real forces and claims leads to the fact that a person judges himself and his own behavior incorrectly. Because of this, a decline in emotional strength and breakdown appears, and anxiety increases. This leads to underestimation of one’s own value and failure of one’s plans.

Formation of personal self-esteem

Personal self-esteem develops in the process of activity, as well as interpersonal interaction. How a person evaluates himself largely depends on society. An important role in the formation of a person’s self-esteem is played by the assessments of people around him, as well as the personal achievements of the individual.

In psychology, self-esteem is understood as an individual’s idea of the significance of his personal activities among other individuals, as well as evaluation of himself and personal qualities, feelings, advantages, disadvantages, expressing them closed or open.

Self-esteem of a person is considered to be the stable psychological characteristics of a person. It is very difficult to change, since it is formed in early childhood and depends not only on congenital factors, but also on circumstances in life. It is significantly influenced by the attitude of others, since self-esteem is formed as a result of continuous comparison of oneself with other people. To overcome yourself, you should take a sober and courageous look inside yourself, study your temperament, character, and other psychological properties necessary in interpersonal interaction.

Interpretation of results

Diagnostics of the level of aspirations in the Schwarzlander motor test is based on the analysis of the target deviation. The number of crosses planned for execution is compared with the number actually implemented in each test.

The average target deviation (TD) is calculated using a formula that involves comparing the level of aspirations of the PM and the level of achievement (LA):

UP2, UP3 and UP4 – the values of the levels of claims in the placement of crosses in the squares of each of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th samples; EL1, EL2, EL3 – values of the level of achievement in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd tests, respectively.

Target Deviation Standards:

5 and above – unrealistically high UE;

3 – 4, 99 – high UE;

1 – 2, 99 – moderate UP (within normal limits);

-1.49 – 0.99 – low UE;

-1, 5 and below – unrealistically low LP.

High realistic level

a person’s aspirations can be combined with confidence in the value of one’s own actions, with the desire for self-affirmation, responsibility, correction of failures through one’s own efforts, and with the presence of sustainable life plans.

If a person has a high unrealistic level of aspirations, then, as a rule, it is accompanied by frustration, demands on others, and extrapunitiveness. Persons with this level of aspiration are hypochondriacal and experience difficulties in realizing their own life plans.

Moderate level of aspirations

typical for subjects who are self-confident, sociable, not seeking self-affirmation, determined to succeed, calculating the extent of their strength and measuring their efforts with the value of what they achieve.

A low level of aspiration depends largely on the mindset of failure. Individuals with unrealistically low aspirations often have unclear plans for the future. They are usually submission oriented and often show helplessness. One of the problems of such people may be planning their actions in the near future and relating them to the future. An inadequate level of aspirations can lead to maladaptive behavior, ineffectiveness of any activity, and difficulties in interpersonal relationships. A low level of aspirations, which develops as a result of a lack of socially significant success, can cause a decrease in motivation, uncertainty and a global fear of difficulties.

Correction of the level of aspirations should be aimed at coordinating ideas about the desired result with the capabilities and abilities of a person. Consolidating this coordination in specific successful activities increases the adequacy of the level of aspirations.

Fundamentals of Success. What are you motivated for in life?

The second feature of a happy person, after positive self-esteem , is SELF-CONFIDENCE!

How important it is to realize that there is no need to expect permanent ideal behavior or results, either from yourself or from “someone else”, without compromising your adequate self-esteem.

“Confidence comes not from always being right, but from the absence of fear of being wrong,” wrote Peter MacIntyre.

A true INDICATOR of whether a person has “SELF-CONFIDENCE” is the ability to maintain his inner attitude in a positive attitude towards himself under almost any circumstances in life.

Under negative circumstances, SELF-ESTEEM may, of course, fluctuate slightly or more strongly, but for a short period of time.

Over time, balance within is restored and the person, as before, perceives himself in an adequate light.

Marianne Williamson said: “Our deepest fear is that we are inadequate. We express fears that we are strong beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and famous?” In fact, who can't you be? You are a child of God.

Your little games do not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shyness, so people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to SHOW the glory of God that IS WITHIN US!

And when we allow our own Light to shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. When we free ourselves from our fears, our presence automatically frees others.

Self-confidence GIVES you the RIGHT to accept your own mistakes. You can make mistakes and sometimes you “have to” - a person is not ideal.

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO UNDERSTAND THIS?!

No one has the right to deprive a person of their experience.

The process of learning and development is very important and one must treat mistakes adequately, thanking for the lesson and experience gained.

Everything that God gives in life is deserved, even if it does not logically fit into the framework of our rational thinking and a self-confident person will not panic and complain about life!

“There are three paths to reason before a person: the path of reflection is the noblest; the path of imitation is the easiest; the path of personal experience is the most difficult,” wrote Confucius (Kun Tzu).

The next feature of a happy person is SELF-CONFIDENCE , self-respect, self-esteem.

This topic deserves separate consideration, but, in general, we will touch on it.

You need to be well aware of the difference in these, at first glance, similar concepts!

The fact is that SELF-ESTEEM can show how a person evaluates himself in relation to some individual property, and SELF-ESTEEM expresses a generalized self-esteem.

SELF-RESPECT is a generalized attitude of an individual towards himself, directly proportional to the amount of success achieved and inversely proportional to the level of aspirations (self-esteem = success/aspiration), that is, the higher the aspiration, the greater a person’s achievements must be so that he can respect himself.

On the other hand, Self-esteem is one of the sources of psychological stability and good mood. You can understand how pronounced this feeling is in you by imagining yourself in the following situation:

Let's say you made a mistake, did something wrong... What is your reaction?! If you have a high enough level of self-esteem, you will be able to “calm” yourself and bring your emotions into balance. At the same time, your thoughts: “It’s okay, because in general, I’m not a stupid person and mistakes don’t indicate my limitations. We need to make more efforts and find other sources of solving the problem. I will do this without predicting anything in advance, and then we’ll see,” that is, psychological defense is triggered and the person calms down.

HIGH self-esteem means that a person in his soul does not consider himself “worse” than his environment and has a positive attitude towards himself as an individual. Also, one should not confuse an arrogant attitude towards others with high self-esteem of an individual.

LOW self-esteem implies disrespect for oneself, a negative assessment of one’s own personality.

Self-respect does not mean over-demonstrating your importance. Inner self-confidence does not need “loud” external manifestations, pompous approval of “great” people; it manifests itself in real actions, in the ability to express oneself and defend one’s interests in relation to oneself and, of course, in a respectful attitude towards others, in the ability to clearly and clearly accept your responsibility and realize the results of the actions taken.

Self-esteem includes confidence in one's worth; an affirmative principle in relation to the personal right to live and be happy!

Of course, the question logically arises: “Why, after all, are there people with different personal attitudes towards themselves”?!

The formation of self-esteem and self-esteem is influenced by many factors that already operate in early childhood: the attitude of parents, who created the basis for the formation in the child’s personality of self-confidence, or belief in one’s complete “unsuitability”, position among peers, the attitude of teachers and work colleagues .

Based on what does a person form his self-esteem?!

The answer is amazing! From a comparison of the opinions of people around you about yourself! Like this!

Moreover, what is curious is that a person FIRST LEARNS to evaluate OTHERS, and then to evaluate THEMSELVES! But did each of us do things differently?!

Basically, by the age of 14-15, a teenager masters the skills of introspection, introspection and reflection, analyzes his own results and thereby evaluates himself.

It should be noted that a person’s self-esteem can be ADEQUATE (a person correctly, objectively evaluates himself), or INADDEQUATELY HIGH or INADQUATELY LOW.

When considering issues of self-esteem, self-improvement, self-respect, one cannot ignore another significant concept - LEVEL OF PERSONAL Aspirations . Why?! Because the level of a person’s self-esteem, in turn, will influence the level of a person’s aspirations, which shows a certain degree of difficulty of the goals that a person strives for and the achievement of these goals seems most attractive to the person.

Based on a person’s reasoning about “himself,” we can assume that he has some kind of self-esteem!

So, for example, if a person is “sprayed” that he is “the kindest, the most honest and the very best...” - these are probably people with low or high self-esteem.

People with hysterical manifestations are “given away” by the following judgments: “I am much more hardworking, more decent, and kinder than most people, but I am the unluckiest and most unhappy.” A familiar “picture”?! In our surroundings, we simply do not notice such individuals, but they are always looking for an “interlocutor” to “drain” their negative thoughts.

How many people around us are of exactly this type?! Ask yourself: “What are they doing near you”?! How important and significant are they in your life?!

By regretting and agreeing with such a person, what are you doing for yourself?! Answer?!!

Growing up, year after year, we form for ourselves a certain ideal that we try to live up to...

There is a certain discrepancy between the ideal, formed as a development prospect, and real self-esteem (at the moment), which stimulates another key concept for the individual - SELF-IMPROVEMENT .

The famous French philosopher, idealist, professor Jules Lachelier wrote: “A person can remain himself only if he tirelessly strives to rise above himself.”

Striving for improvement and considering oneself “perfect” are different concepts and, as a rule, find their manifestation in the appropriate conditions of personal development.

Let's return to the question of levels of CLAIMS...

The concept of level of aspiration was introduced into psychology by T. Dembo, a representative of the school of K. Lewin. The first experimental analysis of the phenomenon of claims was also made by a representative of this school, F. Hoppe, who defined the LEVEL OF CLAIM as “a set of shifting, sometimes vague, sometimes more precise expectations, goal setting or fulfillment claims with each fulfillment.”

From the classical definitions of the concept of level of aspiration, one can cite the definition of J. Frank, the main idea of which can be formulated as follows:

“What determines the level of CLAIMS”?! The answer to this question is clear - from “A MAN’S FAITH IN HIS OWN!!! ABILITIES and manifests itself in the desire to gain a certain reputation, to gain recognition in the eyes of a significant group of people.” We can also say that the level of aspirations is the level of the image of “I”, which manifests itself in the degree of difficulty of the goal that a person sets for himself.

So, let's summarize the above.

Obviously, the level of a person’s aspirations is the desire to achieve a goal of the degree of complexity that a person considers himself capable of.

He balances the difficulty of current tasks with his goals, choosing those that seem to him not only surmountable, but also attractive.

It is precisely taking into account the level of aspirations that sometimes allows us to understand why a person does not rejoice after successes and is not upset after failure?!!

You've probably asked yourself this question more than once?! Is everything obvious?!

This seemingly strange reaction is explained by the current level of aspirations.

After all, if the expectation was for great successes, then there is no reason to rejoice, and if successes were not expected, then there is nothing to be upset about. That's the whole secret!

How important it is to adequately assess your ability to achieve your goals!

You CANNOT grasp the reasons for the difficulties and “bad luck” that arise on the way to realizing your goals?! Now is a good chance to try it! To do this, honestly and calmly answer yourself the following questions: Are your abilities real?! Adequately evaluate your aspirations! Analyze your goals! Are you really capable of achieving them?! Do you adequately assess your capabilities?!

The fact is that we rarely ask ourselves such questions, and even less often, for fear of being “disappointed” in ourselves, we answer truthfully and realistically.

You can deceive and “persuade” yourself as much as you like, but you will never get a positive result at a reasonable level!

We often begin to get nervous, offended and look for those “to blame” for what actually depends only on our thoughts and self-esteem!

People with a realistic level of aspirations are distinguished by confidence, persistence in achieving their goals, and greater productivity compared to people whose level of aspirations is not adequate to their abilities and capabilities.

Most people tend to rate themselves slightly above average. This allows us to conclude that a person has a characteristic need for fairly high self-esteem, that is, everyone wants to respect themselves.

A sober and objective attitude towards oneself forms the basis of normal self-esteem. In our environment there will always be people who are superior to us in some way: stronger, more beautiful, charming, intelligent, successful or popular. And in the same way, there will always be those who are inferior to us in this.

The discrepancy between CLAIMS AND REAL POSSIBILITIES leads a person to the fact that he begins to “incorrectly” evaluate himself, his behavior becomes inadequate, emotional breakdowns and increased anxiety occur.

Carefully analyze your behavior and emotional state?! Do you have any of the listed signs?! Don’t you “find” similar reaction reactions in yourself?!

In our modern life, the concepts of “self-esteem” and “success” have long gone hand in hand!

Psychologist James developed a formula that shows the DEPENDENCE of a person’s SELF-ESTEEM on his aspirations.

SELF-ESTEEM = Success/Aspiration.

It follows from this that the level of aspirations is closely related to an individual’s self-esteem and motivation to ACHIEVE SUCCESS in various types of activities.

What else does this formula “tell” us?!

It shows that the desire to increase self-esteem can be realized in two ways: a person can either increase aspirations in order to experience maximum success, or lower them in order to avoid failure.

In case of success, the level of aspirations usually increases, the person shows readiness to solve more complex problems, and in case of failure, it decreases accordingly.

The level of a person’s aspirations in a specific activity can be determined quite accurately.

American scientists D. McClelland and D. Atkinson developed the THEORY OF MOTIVATION FOR ACHIEVEMENT OF SUCCESS in various types of activities.

According to this theory, people who are motivated to succeed set goals, the achievement of which they clearly regard as success.

They strive to achieve success in their activities at any cost, they are courageous and decisive, and expect to receive approval for actions aimed at achieving their goals.

People who are MOTIVATED TO AVOID FAILURE behave completely differently.

For them, the explicit goal of activity is not to achieve success, but to avoid failure.

This is a fundamental difference in the approaches to formulating personal goals.

A person who is initially motivated to fail exhibits self-doubt, does not believe in the possibility of success, is afraid of criticism, and does not enjoy activities in which temporary failures are possible.

So, from the above we can conclude that the behavior of those people who strive for success and those who try to avoid failure differs significantly.

People motivated to succeed usually set themselves certain positive goals, the achievement of which is clearly regarded as success. They try their best to succeed. A person actively engages in activities, chooses appropriate means and methods in order to achieve the goal in the shortest possible way.

The opposite position is taken by people motivated to avoid failure.

The goal of their activities is not to achieve success, but to avoid failure. All their actions are primarily aimed at achieving this goal. Such people are characterized by self-doubt, disbelief in the possibility of achieving success, and fear of criticism. Any job, especially one that is fraught with the possibility of failure, causes negative emotional experiences in them. Therefore, a person does not experience pleasure from his activity, is burdened by it, and avoids it.

Usually, as a result, he turns out not to be a winner, but a loser.

Such people are often called “losers”!

Surely you have encountered such people?!

Another important psychological feature that affects a person’s achievement of success is the REQUIREMENTS THEM places on HIMSELF.

The one who places high demands on himself tries harder to succeed than the one whose demands on himself are low. Of course, as in any issue, here too there must be adequacy and realism of one’s ideas about the existing abilities necessary to solve problems.

It has been confirmed that people who have a high opinion that they have such abilities are less worried in case of failure than those who believe that their corresponding abilities are poorly developed.

The results of most authoritative psychological studies in this area have confirmed the assumptions that a person sets the level of his aspirations somewhere between too “difficult” and too “easy” tasks and goals - so as to maintain his self-esteem at the proper height.

In the formation of aspirations, an important role is played by both the anticipation of success or failure, and the consideration and evaluation of all past successes and failures.

However, in general, people are characterized by a certain overestimation of their abilities, attributing to themselves uniqueness and dissimilarity from others.

Thus, a survey of the adult population by psychologists at the University of California at Berkeley, which is the oldest public research university in the United States, showed that, regardless of social status and gender, the majority of those surveyed consider themselves smarter than the average person; every driver says that he is more careful and careful than the others; women believe that they are more beautiful than most of their friends and the like.

One should ask oneself the question: “If everyone has indicators “above average,” then who then still has “average”, if not “low”?

A stunningly interesting fact that is not realized by our consciousness - intentionally or not, but we ourselves often compare ourselves with the people around us. As a result, we develop for ourselves a fairly stable and “deserved” opinion about our intelligence, appearance, health, position in society, that is, we form for ourselves a “set of self-esteem” on which we will depend: are we modest or arrogant, demanding of ourselves or complacent, shy or arrogant. Many people live with this “set”, “piously” believing in everything that they have created for themselves... The life of such a contingent of the population, frankly speaking, is not the most “fun”!

Is it difficult to live and believe in something that is not true?! Difficulties and difficulties in communicating with other people are an integral part of the lives of people with high self-esteem about themselves!

A person who considers himself much smarter than others, and especially deliberately emphasizes this, inevitably causes, to put it mildly, irritation of those around him. Do you agree that this is logical?!

This is natural, because the thought: “see how super smart I am” implies a dismissive and sometimes contemptuous attitude towards others. And who will like it?! Who likes to feel like a fool at something, in the opinion of a colleague who understands it far “no better”?!

Inadequate self-esteem, emphasizing one’s merits, arrogance, and disregard for others are an inexhaustible source of negativity from others.

Surely you have had to communicate with people who, due to inadequately high self-esteem, were jealous and envious of the successes of their colleagues?!

“The worst and most malicious kind of envy is envy of mental superiority,” said the famous English writer and playwright of the 18th century, Henry Fielding.

I would like to draw the attention of readers to another very important, relevant and always burning topic - human touchiness

So, it is precisely high self-esteem that contributes to such a character trait as excessive touchiness.

Resentment, as a rule, is a feeling that arises in response to the unfair treatment of others.

But what does “unfair” mean to a person?

AND THE FACT THAT SOMEONE'S OPINION ABOUT HIM IS LOWER THAN HIS OWN OPINION ABOUT HIMSELF!!!

From here it is clear that HIGH self-esteem PROMOTES touchiness, intolerance to the slightest remarks (however, there is another extreme - a person from the height of his “I” does not even take serious AND CONSTRUCTIVE criticism to heart).

You need to understand that a person with inadequately high self-esteem (!!!) is potentially conflicted in situations when it comes to rewards and incentives for work!

Such nuances must be taken into account in the work of large teams with a “motley” contingent in relation to personal ambitions, self-esteem and the adequacy of the perception of one’s own abilities.

Although such reasons can provoke personal conflicts among close people.

The discrepancy between the expected and real rewards naturally results in resentment and envy, which gradually accumulate and grow like a “snowball” and, finally, break through with a sharp accusation, and sometimes even an insult addressed to someone.

Personal problems, inability to behave in certain situations, as well as a lack of everyday skills also form a person’s unflattering opinion of himself.

Let's talk a little about the difficulties in communicating with a person with low self-esteem. The set of “bad” and “unworthy” qualities in such people, in their personal opinion, is “abundant” (and they will not always clearly confirm this).

Ideas about oneself as less capable, ugly, unlucky, unhappy, sick are inherent mainly in people with an anxious, stuck and pedantic type of character accentuation; they create a low background mood and perpetuate an “inferiority complex.” Persistent, excessively low self-esteem forms the image of a “worthless” person and carries with it the likelihood of excessive dependence on the opinions and desires of others, lack of independence and even ingratiation (plebeian ingratiation), timidity, isolation, and even a distorted perception of others appear.

The next personality trait that follows from the previous ones is RESPONSIBILITY for one’s life.

“Every person is responsible to all people for all people and for everything,” wrote the great Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Having ADEQUATE ideas about their abilities, RESPECTING their needs, APPRECIATING the natural features of temperament and physique, NOT FEARING mistakes, OPINIONS AND FEEDBACK from others and subjective negative attitudes towards themselves, misunderstandings from loved ones, HAPPY people do not deprive themselves of the RIGHT OF CHOICE, or rather the right at your own WILL, which, by the way, everyone always has!

It should be noted that a happy person makes his choice consciously, not under the pressure of circumstances, but consciously, thoroughly, and not in passing. After weighing all the pros and cons, for your own benefit, protecting your interests and principles.

At the same time, understanding the value of what they want and consciously depriving themselves of something, they understand for what (what more significant values) this choice was made.

The Spanish playwright, poet and prose writer Lope de Vega wrote: “Birth does not add merit to a person and does not take it away from him, for it does not depend on his will, but he is completely responsible for his actions, both good and bad.”

If you want more, you need to thank God for what you have...

It is possible and necessary to ask God for what you want, but only by accepting what is already there with gratitude (deserved) and a conscious sense of the need to learn to recognize and correct mistakes that hinder the development of goodness, “light”, FAITH in oneself - all that does not come with an academic education, but is comprehended over the years through the personal choice of the soul...

M. Veritax.

And, at the end of our acquaintance with the world of personal qualities and human self-esteem, let's talk about another feature of happy people - SELF-REFLECTION.

self-reflection so important ?

In fact, it gives us the opportunity to see the true state of things and even reduce the intensity of passions... Yes, yes!!

SELF-REFLECTION makes it possible to move from fruitless experiences - in the event of a crisis situation - to a constructive search, active and productive solution to the problem.

And in the event of a joyful event, you can better understand yourself, your needs, goals, and value system.

In other words, this term implies that we are aware of our feelings, thoughts, are able to objectively look at ourselves from the outside, observe and purposefully describe our experiences and behavior in the third person. That is, not “I feel good or bad,” but “he (s) felt joy, sadness, for this reason and for that reason.” This, if you like, is a conscious “split personality”!!

Self-reflection is most developed and accessible to a person who has a sense of self-esteem, self-confidence and adequate positive self-esteem.

Self-reflection saturates and makes our positive emotions brighter, but at the same time it has the ability to highlight those emotions that are not “welcome” by society’s stereotypes!

The entire spectrum of human feelings and emotions is accessible to almost any person; another thing is that not everyone realizes or understands their “legitimate” natural right to any emotions, as well as the right to express them. Think about it!?

And now the most interesting and long-awaited...

Let's return to the test with the letter "E", which we looked at in the first part of this topic . You all successfully “drew” this letter, and maybe more than once - great! Now check “how” you did it?!

If you wrote the letter “E” in such a way that it was convenient for you to read and, for example, for the interlocutor opposite, it is visible as a mirror image, then in this case self-esteem is dominant; if, on the contrary, the letter is written correctly from the point of view of someone looking at you from the outside, the opinion of others is more significant. Hope this helps you!

And most importantly, remember:

NO ONE WILL EVER LIVE YOUR LIFE FOR YOU!

NO ONE WILL EVER CHANGE ANYTHING from the reality that YOU CREATE...

NO ONE WILL EVER MAKE YOU HAPPY AND COMPLETELY SATISFIED!!! But there is always a grain of Wisdom in everything and it is GIVEN TO EVERYONE, which means to you too...

If you haven’t seen it yet and haven’t been able to “germinate” it, DO IT!!!

God gives you a choice, which means YOU HAVE A WAY...

It is difficult to resist foundations, systems, attitudes and even traditions... But that’s why we and people are multifaceted particles of the Universe, to search and find, fight and win!

Decide in the name of the “light” in yourself, and not in spite of the “darkness” in others!!!

What does everyone want to get for themselves?!

This is exactly “what” he can have only by defeating “everything” in himself that is on the opposite side of the scale of his Choice!

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF... AND LIFE WILL BELIEVE IN YOU!... AND THE WORLD WILL BELIEVE IN YOU!

Good luck to you, CO-creation and Blessings!

The concept of imagination and its types

Imagination is the mental process of creating an image of an object or situation by restructuring existing ideas. Images of the imagination do not always correspond to reality; they contain elements of fantasy and fiction. If the imagination draws pictures to the consciousness that nothing or little corresponds in reality, then it is called fantasy. If the imagination is directed to the future, it is called a dream. The process of imagination always occurs in inextricable connection with two other mental processes - memory and thinking.

Types of imagination

Active imagination - using it, a person, by force of will, at his own request evokes appropriate images in himself.
Passive imagination - its images arise spontaneously, regardless of the will and desire of a person.
Productive imagination - in it, reality is consciously constructed by a person, and not simply mechanically copied or recreated. But at the same time, she is still creatively transformed in the image.
Reproductive imagination - the task is to reproduce reality as it is, and although there is also an element of fantasy, such imagination is more like perception or memory than creativity.

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Examples of real and inflated claims

If a person is purposeful, active and successful, then his level of aspiration is not too high, but not low either. His goals are quite realistic and most often come true. Unlike dreamers, such people set themselves real goals that correspond to their qualities. Such people have a high level of motivation, which is why they achieve what they want. These are successful businessmen, doctors, artists, etc.

But those who have too high and unrealistic aspirations are most often poorly motivated and unable to realize their aspirations. An example of this is that provincial girls believe that they deserve a luxurious life in the capital or abroad. But in most cases they do not seek to leave, get an education or learn a foreign language.

What characterizes a person’s level of aspirations?

This indicator characterizes the following:

the level of difficulty overcoming which a person will pursue his ideal future goal;
choosing the goal of the next action, which is formed against the background of the experience of success or failure in the future and is the current level of aspirations;
a person's desired self-esteem.

This category is interconnected with a person’s self-esteem and is formed against the background of subjective experiences of victories and defeats. However, if a person wants to increase his self-esteem when he can choose the degree of difficulty of subsequent actions, then this can lead to a conflict of such aspirations:

increasing aspirations in order to achieve success;
reduce them to avoid danger.

When a person experiences success and failure after achieving or not achieving one or another level of aspiration, a shift may occur towards more difficult or easier goals. So, if the desired goal decreases and an anti-typical change in the level of aspirations occurs, then this indicates inadequate self-esteem or the fact that his aspirations are not entirely realistic.

And if they are realistic, then the person is confident in his abilities, perseverance, he is productive and critical of what has been achieved. And if self-esteem is inadequate, then the goals are overestimated, underestimated or unrealistic. The behavior then becomes like this:

too difficult or very easy goals are chosen;
increased anxiety;
lack of self-confidence;
avoidance of competitive situations;
uncritical attitude towards achievements;
errors in forecasts.

What is self-esteem

Self-esteem is a person’s level of understanding of himself, his positive and negative qualities, assessment of his personality, part of the self-concept.
Self-perception is inextricably linked to the degree of self-love. The more a person loves himself, the more adequate and higher his self-esteem.

Personal self-esteem is a very significant indicator and influences how a person’s life will turn out. Confidence in your merits, faith in your own strengths allows you to achieve success. On the contrary, humiliation, feelings of guilt and shame, and unjustified shyness prevent internal needs from manifesting and being realized. Basic self-esteem is formed in childhood, but this is a category that can change over time and is subject to correction.

Features of frustration

Frustration is a traumatic mental state that occurs in a person when he cannot do something or thinks that he cannot achieve his own desires and goals.

At the same time, very often the cause of this condition is too high, or, conversely, low self-esteem, as well as inflated claims. In this case, you can solve the problem only by completely getting rid of your complexes, regaining confidence in your abilities and a sober view of the things around you.

In the life of a modern person there is a constant struggle: for a place in the sun, for one’s family, as well as a normal attitude, success at work - such factors can be listed for a very long time. By correctly setting all your priorities in life and goals, and getting rid of difficulties with your own self-esteem, you can gain a new positive character trait - self-esteem.

Private and general level

It is also possible to distinguish between a particular and a general indicator of the development of self-esteem in an individual. Partial claims relate to achieving one’s goal in the field of activity (music, sports, cinema) or in human terms (the need to take the right place in family, friendly or industrial relationships, as well as in the team). The basis of this claim is one’s own self-esteem in a certain area.

Claims can also be general; they will relate immediately to many areas of a person’s life and, above all, to those in which his moral and intellectual manifestations are involved. Such an indicator will be very closely associated with a person’s self-esteem indicator, and will be formed under the influence of subjective experiences of success or failure of one’s goal.

The desire to increase the level of one’s self-esteem in conditions where a person is free to choose the difficulty of his subsequent action leads to the development of a conflict between two tendencies:

increase aspirations in order to achieve maximum success in the situation;
reduce it to avoid possible failure.

Receiving failure or success after achieving (or not achieving) a certain level of aspiration as a result leads to its shift to the area of more difficult or easier tasks. A decrease in the difficulty of the task being performed or an increase in the level after failure - an atypical change in aspiration - indicates unrealistic aspiration indicators and inadequate self-esteem.

How to get it back to normal

To improve your PM, it is important to think about your self-esteem. To improve it, you can visit a psychologist and undergo individual training, but group classes, seminars and other events will be much more effective, since it is important for a person to get out of his comfort zone. Such meetings are held in all cities. An expert in applied psychology will be able to teach a person to independently increase self-esteem in 2-3 months by doing exercises at home or on the way to work.

If you don’t want to spend money on a psychologist or seminars or there is no such opportunity, you can turn to literature. For example, effective exercises are described in Brian Tracy's book Self-Esteem. It's also worth reading advice from Sharon Wenshida-Cruz and the book How Much Are You Worth? Women will benefit from the work of Helen Andelin. Her book “The Charm of Femininity” contains a lot of useful recommendations for the fairer sex.

The level of aspiration is a concept that in psychology is closely related to ambition, self-esteem and other personal characteristics that motivate a person to set goals and move towards them. It all depends on what kind of UE indicator an individual has. If it is normal, then there is nothing to worry about. An overestimated or underestimated level of claims requires adjustment.

Classification of the level of claims

The level of claims can be private or general.

The private level refers to aspirations in different activities or relationships, for example:

achievements in sports or music;
relationships with parents, children or the opposite sex.

These levels are based on one or another self-esteem of an individual in a specific area.

If we talk about the general level, then here it refers to different areas of a person’s activity and life, where he demonstrates his moral and mental abilities. It is based on a holistic assessment of a person’s own personality.

This concept was introduced into use by K. Levin and his students in order to explain the individual’s desire for a goal that is complex in accordance with the person’s abilities

Here it is important to identify the correspondence of a person’s abilities and capabilities to what he strives for.

Research has shown that this indicator is formed under the influence of successes or defeats, but neither successes nor defeats are the decisive factor in its formation; rather, it is the individual’s experience of his achievements, both successful and failed.

Levels of aspiration are also divided into those that are adequate to a person’s capabilities and those that are inadequate. If they are too high, they can be a source of inadequacy affect. When raising children, parents must certainly take them into account so that they correspond to their capabilities, this will contribute to the harmonious development of the child.

Classification

In psychology, there are 2 types of level of aspiration (LA), which are divided into 2 types.

Kinds:

Private - refers to the desire to be successful in a specific area of life (professional activity, sports career, personal life).
Social - refers to all spheres of life.

Types:

Adequate - when goals correspond to capabilities.
Inadequate, which is divided into 2 subtypes:

Understated. Example: a brilliant student does not apply to a prestigious university, fearing failure during admission.
Overpriced. Example: a child who does not know a subject well is sure that he deserves a high mark, without taking any action to obtain it.

Claims in light of real possibilities

American psychological scientists have developed a theory according to which individuals who are motivated to successfully complete a goal set tasks that they will complete successfully. Such people are courageous, determined and strive to achieve success in any situation.

They are able to mobilize their own internal resources and focus only on achieving their goals

People who expect failure from any action behave completely differently. Their main goal is to avoid failure. People who are set up to fail from the very beginning are unsure of their actions. They don't believe in their own strength

Expecting criticism, they take every step with caution. As a result, they do not enjoy their actions and do not believe in possible success.

We can say that they have a realistic level of personality aspiration. People preparing for failure most often have high or low aspirations. In behavior, unrealistic aspirations are manifested by the choice of labor-intensive or easy tasks, uncertainty and anxiety. Such people avoid competitive moments, they make mistakes more often and are not able to critically evaluate the result obtained.

How it manifests itself

The level of aspiration is manifested in the level of complexity of the upcoming tasks. Accordingly, the higher a person’s ambitions, the more difficult tasks he will choose to complete, even if it is obvious to everyone around him that he will not succeed.

Some people believe that PM is characterized solely by human abilities, but this is not so. Quite the contrary, people with increased EP tend to have lower abilities. But the individual at the same time evaluates his minimal skills as something extraordinary and unique. A striking example of this is a situation where a person who absolutely does not want to study or work, yet expects that he should have a high salary.

The manifestation of an inflated UP can often be observed in the children of celebrities and politicians. Such daughters and sons receive absolutely everything in their lives from early childhood. They are not ready to overcome obstacles, since they do not exist for them. But if at some point the parents of such a child go bankrupt, he will be completely unprepared for this.

Features of high self-esteem

Diagnosis of severely inflated self-esteem will include identifying signs such as:

Fanatical belief in one's capabilities. A person who is amazed by this feature does not miss the moment to convince people around him of his superiority over them and loves to show his self in any relationship (“I’m always right, I think so, I recommend it”).
Complete immunity to criticism and instructions from others. Any comments in this case bounce off him like peas off a wall; in addition, they cause strong discontent and intense hostility towards others.
Hostile behavior with others. Mistakenly thinking that attack tactics are the best way to resolve any situation, an individual with high self-esteem has the quality of usually starting scandals even over the most insignificant occasion.
The aspiration level is too high. Having a distorted idea of reality and the relationship between one’s desire and real possibilities, a person tries to achieve too high, while being unable to cope even with ordinary problems and difficulties.
There is strong emotional instability. It usually manifests itself in severe mood swings. A person can laugh hard at some joke, and after a short period of time he begins to tremble and begins to throw a tantrum, blaming the people around him and taking out his aggression on them.
Features of appearance. At the same time, you can notice an unnaturally straight posture in a person, a proudly raised head, a piercing gaze, as well as a voice in which there are notes of command.
Denial of loss or failure. For a person with a high level of self-esteem, the thought of possible failure is unacceptable. He continues to maintain faith in his own infallibility, he tries not to participate in conversations on such a topic and unceremoniously cuts off interlocutors who ask him uncomfortable questions.

Connection with self-esteem

The level of aspirations directly depends on how a person evaluates himself. As a rule, people with high self-esteem have big plans for life. They certainly will not be satisfied with minor achievements and low incomes. Such individuals claim high-quality products and strive for career growth.

A person with low self-esteem cannot realize all his strengths and advantages. He often finds himself in a situation of internal conflict with himself; he does not know what is best for him. He often lives by the principle “as long as they don’t touch me” and is even ready to endure significant inconvenience. This worldview makes his life very difficult. Such a person does not believe in himself, nor in the fact that other people can truly love him. Somewhere in the depths of his soul, he doubts himself and the possibilities that life opens up for him. This is what low self-esteem may indicate. The claim merely reflects its essence.

Differences in levels

In this case, the most interesting thing happens: why some people have a high level of aspiration, while others have a low level; some people have quite adequate desires, while others have unrealistic ones.

Claims are, in psychology, a person’s internal right to obtain certain life priorities and satisfy their needs. In this case, we can talk about success in a career, travel, a profitable bank account, as well as academic performance at school, college, or a city meeting. Regardless of this, different levels of claims are distinguished. A high level of aspirations is most often characteristic of a person with high self-esteem, which directly affects the level of aspirations. It is still unclear whether self-esteem influences claims, or vice versa, claims to self-esteem, but the connection between these two phenomena has been clearly established.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Bkqn3O18fvw

The level of aspiration is characterized by:

the level of difficulty in achieving the goal and projecting one’s future actions;
a person’s choice of the next action and the next goal, which arises as a result of experiencing success or failure after a series of past actions - claims at the present moment;
the desired level of self-esteem is your own self.

If a person can set himself significant and adequate tasks that correspond to his capabilities, then this indicates normally developed goals and views.

Self-esteem and aspirations

In a set goal, an individual can pursue the goal of raising his self-esteem or once again confirming it. If we talk about it in detail, it represents a person’s attitude towards his personality, an attempt to evaluate his strengths, advantages, qualities and shortcomings, as well as his influence on other people in society.

Depending on a person’s characteristics, self-esteem can be divided into reasonable, underestimated or overestimated.

There is no doubt that there is a close connection between the indicators of claims, since none of these concepts can normally exist without the other.

When the level of expectations increases or decreases, a person gets the opportunity to manage his self-esteem, which some, unfortunately, cannot always adequately apply. As a result of this, internal conflicts and acute psychological discomfort can very often occur, which will be accompanied by long-term depression, nervous breakdowns and a state of strong anger towards others and the whole world.

What is a claim?

This concept is understood as the desire and desire of an individual to obtain what she desires as possible and worthy of herself. At the same time, some have quite modest and adequate claims, while others have clearly exaggerated claims and have little connection with real life.

A claim in psychology is considered the personal right of each person to receive certain life benefits, for example:

career success;
successful personal life;
trips;
academic performance and much more.

Self-esteem is too low

Scientists who are well versed in the field of psychology have long identified specific signs of low self-esteem:

Great timidity and caution in action. A person with an inferiority complex cannot be expected to be straightforward and firm in his answers.

There is a regular fear of hurting the feelings of others; he most often fusses and mumbles, but never expresses his point of view. Excessive demands. People with strong complexes try to carefully achieve perfection in everything, meticulously evaluating not only their own, but also those of others. This behavior very often leads to the fact that even those closest to them begin to avoid them. Trying to earn approval. Numerous experiments have revealed that an insecure person is very dependent on the opinions of the people around him. For him, disapproving glances and conversations from the outside are considered not only a problem, but a whole tragedy, which subsequently leads to the emergence of new complexes and signs of inferiority. In this case, the aspirations are too low. Self-awareness plays a major role in this case and forces the individual to rush in the opposite direction from his real desires and capabilities. Such a person simply cannot adequately assess his abilities and skills; very often he continues to remain “at his beck and call,” even when he actually deserves a higher position in his career. Excessive love for constant complaints. In this case, it does not matter how justified a person’s suffering is, the main thing is that the world around him knows that he is unhappy, sick, dissatisfied and irritated. Special appearance. At the same time, there is an indecisive and shuffling gait, a head pulled into the shoulders and a quickly running gaze, in which one can read guilt and some kind of premonition of bad things. Such a person strives to fulfill the wishes or instructions of others. Not trusting his own judgment, a complex individual easily and easily succumbs to influence from the outside, and can also with great joy shift all his responsibility for actions onto another person. If a person, under someone else’s pressure, does something illegal or bad, then he is relieved to first of all think that everything that happens around is not his fault.

Examples

To better understand what a person’s level of aspiration is, let’s give examples of each of the three types.

Examples of an adequate level of aspirations:

A person wants to change his job to a more profitable one. He studies the vacancies and settles on one of them. He compares the requirements for the applicant with his skills, knowledge, and abilities. He has the experience that is required here: he knows English, “communicates” with a computer at the level of an advanced user, and generally corresponds to the described portrait. He comes for an interview and gets the job.
An ordinary hard-working guy is looking for a girlfriend among the same ordinary women. Yes, in appearance he likes well-groomed and sometimes inflated girls (he constantly admires their photos on Instagram), but he understands that he will not attract such a lady, and she is unlikely to even look at him.
Freelancer looking for orders. He is studying the requirements for one of the projects. All the concepts are familiar to him; he has already performed similar tasks. Only one program to work with is still unknown, but he is confident that he can figure it out because he has successfully worked with similar services. The freelancer submits an application for an order, and at the same time begins to study this program, because it will still be useful in the future.

Examples of an inflated level of claims:

A young man who barely completed the 9th grade, never studied further and never worked for a day, comes to get a job at a large company. He is applying for the role of director. Time after time he is refused, but he does not give up and presses with the authority of his successful father: “Do you even know who my father is! He will close your sharashka office!” The young man confuses his abilities and capabilities with his father's achievements.
A beautiful, but not the smartest and wisest, ill-mannered, uneducated girl (and sometimes not even beautiful, unable and unwilling to look after and care for herself) is waiting for the prince on a white horse. She is sure that some millionaire should take her under his wing and satisfy all her needs simply for the very fact of her existence. That is, she cannot offer him anything except her body (and even then not always), but she believes that this is quite enough to lead to a successful life.
A 25-year-old guy refuses to work for the minimum wage, because he believes that this is not his level - he needs at once and at least 50 thousand rubles per month. But at the same time, he has only school behind him, no official work experience, self-organization and discipline are lame, many other business qualities are undeveloped, and there are also no special skills for working for the desired pay. But he continues to ignore the real vacancies for him, refuses to work on himself and continues to go for interviews with large companies. And then he complains that the whole world is against him, there is no work, and the directors of these companies are completely insolent and greedy. From time to time he creates scandals right in the offices.

Examples of low level of claims:

The teacher tells the students: “Everyone who attended the lectures can automatically get C grades. If you want a different grade, pull out the ticket and take the exam. All those who study “poorly” and “satisfactorily” agreed to the machine gun, but among them there was one excellent student. Why? Because he is not sure that he can do well in the exam. He is never sure of this at all, but he always gets “good” or “excellent”. However, this does not change his attitude towards himself. “Lucky,” he always says.
For 10 years now, a man has been working in the same place in the same position. Responsibilities increase, salary does not change. Those around him convince him that he needs to ask for a raise or a promotion, or change jobs, because he clearly deserves more. But he doesn’t think so, he convinces himself and others that he is happy with everything and has enough income for everything. However, deep down he dreams of more, but is afraid to take risks and lose even what he has.
The student takes the Unified State Exam and hopes that he will score at least the minimum score - he does not expect more. Unexpectedly for himself, he scores 90 points out of 100, which is much more than the minimum. However, this does not reduce his general anxiety. Next comes university studies. And although the points are enough to enroll in the desired, prestigious field, the graduate chooses a simpler option, since he is sure that it will be difficult for him to study at his first university. Why take someone else's place?

Important! By the level of aspirations one can judge what a person considers possible and worthy for himself, how much he values and respects himself.