The laws of management psychology operate regardless of external conditions, as a natural component of the management process. There are several such laws. Everyone matters to successful leadership. The subject of this article is the law of compensation.
Compensation acts as an additional effort in human activity. In psychology, it is a defense mechanism that works as an unconscious desire to overcome existing shortcomings and those that the person has only imagined. A defense mechanism is a psychological process necessary to mitigate or completely remove negative states: tension, worries, anxiety, when there is a conflict between the individual and external conditions. The concept itself was introduced by S. Freud in 1894 in one of his works devoted to neuropsychosis. Within adaptation theories, compensation is considered as a means of “restoring the disturbed balance of mental and psychophysiological processes by creating an oppositely directed reaction or impulse” [3, P. 271].
Let's find out the meaning of the term
From Latin - “compensation”. Compensation in psychology is the reanimation of the destroyed balance of mental and psychophysiological processes by reviving the opposite reflex or stimulus. The term “defense mechanisms” was introduced by the Austrian psychologist S. Freud in 1923.
Many experts believe that compensation in psychology is an autonomous model of protection from existing complexes. The individual will try to fill with triumph the area in which he felt inferior. From the position of compensation, the immorality of adolescents and their behavior with hostile illegal actions aimed against the individual are also analyzed.
Another demonstration of the defense mechanism will be the replenishment of unfulfilled desires and unrealized events through over-realization in other areas of life. For example, a frail, physically undeveloped person who is unable to fight back “with his fists” gains moral pleasure by humiliating his pursuer with the help of his sharp mind and erudition. People who use compensation as the most appropriate type of psychological defense, as a rule, are dreamers who are in search of an ideal in different areas of life.
This is nothing more than a protective mechanism of the psyche, which independently eliminates or replenishes negative character traits of a person. By resorting to this method, a person either compensates for negative characteristics or develops new ones. Let's say a short person suffering from this complex directs all his efforts to the status growth of his personality. Achieves this goal thanks to his high motivation.
Compensation as a type of protective psychological mechanism
Compensation is one of the most complex psychological defense mechanisms. The author of the theory is the Austrian psychologist and psychiatrist A. Adler. The scientist noted that some human organs function better than others. Or, some are less developed than others and are more susceptible to disease. Using the law of compensation, it is possible to develop a weak point and thus eliminate the defect. When something imperfect becomes perfect (or better than before) due to effort, this is called “supercompensation.” A person usually uses the law of compensation consciously - this is the difference between this law and others. The purpose of compensation is to reduce feelings of inferiority and emotional devastation. For example, playing sports or dancing for a person with a disability is compensation. Compensatory behavior of an individual takes different forms: socially acceptable if someone with certain characteristics, for example, with Down syndrome, becomes a model. Socially unacceptable - if a person “compensates” for his physical weakness by cruel treatment of even weaker ones.
To date, there is no unified classification of psychological defense mechanisms. At the same time, they are divided into projective and definitive (starting with sublimation):
- projection;
- negation;
- identification;
- sublimation;
- rationalization;
- regression.
The purpose of projective defense mechanisms is to ensure that the necessary information is conveyed to the consciousness of the individual. Definitive mechanisms operate in such a way that information can be distorted.
Student and follower of S. Freud - Alfred Adler
Alfred Adler, like his colleague, believed that a child develops as a personality until the age of five. But contrary to Freud, he considered man in the context of social relations, from the very beginning classifying him as a social being. He believed that the social factor in the development of personality prevailed over biological instincts (as Freud believed). He viewed the individual as one with society.
The theory of compensation and overcompensation is his main work, according to which compensation in psychology is the formation of an individual as a personality, through overcoming inferiority by making up for deficiencies. Thanks to compensation, he believed, it was possible to compensate for missing character traits, real or imaginary mental illness.
The Law of Compensation and the Psyche
A person feels psychological inferiority if he believes that he lacks any qualities (skills). When he begins to develop something that he did not possess before, the process of overcompensation begins. It can be dangerous because it excessively replaces an existing deficiency or dysfunction. For example, a person with low body weight exhausts himself for days with loads in the gym, ignoring walks in the fresh air and proper sleep. This may worsen his condition, since excessive compensation provokes new deviations and leads to an unstable psychological state. It happens that the psychological defense mechanism does not work adequately: the person is not able to switch to a more positive state or activity. Then the pathological negative state is “overshadowed” by alcohol consumption, conflict, forms of fanaticism, and shifting responsibility for what is happening to another person.
In psychology there is also the concept of “pseudo-compensation” or “false compensation”. When this process starts, for a certain time the negative ones are compensated by distraction to positive phenomena, and then decompensation occurs: the opposite of compensation, when a repeated violation of the restored state of the psyche occurs.
What is the point of the theory?
It lies in a person’s readiness and desire to overcome his inferiority with the help of overcompensation. There is a possibility of several outcomes for this type of defense, the outcome will depend on the level of development of the sense of community.
A child who grew up in a healthy psychological family and was not deprived of love, care and attention will gain a developed sense of community. In adulthood, he will improve himself in order to benefit society.
If a sense of community is not developed, overcompensation will be aimed at achieving dominance and power, with the goal of subjugating society through the use of aggression and other anti-moral norms of behavior and means. As an example, A. Adler presented the activities of A. Hitler and N. Bonaparte.
Let's give an example of compensation in psychology. “Since I can’t draw, I’ll put all my efforts into a new business where it works out better, and I’ll start studying chemistry.”
The essence of compensatory behavior in management
Management psychology, as a branch of practical psychology, studies the laws of management psychology, which manifest themselves in interaction, in interpersonal relationships and in group communication and act like any law. Personnel management should be based on principles such as methodicality and psychology [1, p. 4]. In philosophy, development is characterized as “an irreversible, directed, natural change in material and ideal objects” [3, P. 561]. The consequence of these changes is a qualitatively new state of the object. Likewise, compensatory changes in personality become the result of development.
If a person develops a quality or trait that was initially well developed in him, this is called compensation. Compensation is divided into direct and indirect. Direct compensation is a process in which a person strives for success in an area where he feels a certain uncertainty and lack. Indirect compensation suggests that success is achieved in a different, new area. The use of the law of compensation is characteristic of an adult and mature person. This type of psychological defense is most common in a professional environment: compensatory behavior is characteristic of people who are aimed at achieving a specific status. Status is one of the needs of the individual, because a person’s work in production is multi-motivated, and a person strives to satisfy not only his economic needs at work [2, pp. 297-309].
The purpose of compensatory behavior is to help the individual maintain self-esteem at a normal level. To achieve this, you should learn to switch your attention from a lack or negative experience to already developed qualities, to experiences that evoke associations with positive emotions. If the compensatory mechanism is very well developed, even negative experiences can motivate a person to self-development, a multifaceted process of personality formation.
Nathan Rothschild once said: “Whoever controls the information controls the world.” Already now you have everything to start: information, faith, action. Be firmly confident in your capabilities and get results. Be yourself, that is, an individual: manage events, use your capabilities. Avoid useless criticism of yourself and others. Understand what values are significant to you and defend them. Write down the goals you set for yourself. Act in the present tense, observing the seven principles of success: 1) do not be afraid to do the right thing; 2) rely on yourself: 3) be honest; 4) listen to reason; 5) remain calm; 6) do not focus on the mistakes of others; 7) Make success your strategy.
Kinds
Compensation in psychology is the replenishment, smoothing and formation of destroyed or underdeveloped functions, the reorganization of preserved options for the renovation of disturbed ones, the acquisition in the process of formation and learning of ways of activity and behavior that will contribute to getting used to society and merging with it.
There are two types of it:
- Systemic. When one component has lost its function, and the rest take over it. For example, restoration of speech in the event of its local absence or impairment is at the biological level.
- Intersystem. Here there is a breakdown in the functioning of the entire system, and the remaining components take over its functions. The functional system is rebuilt, and new elements from other nervous structures are included in the interaction.
Damage to any organ or function in tandem with the body’s ongoing vital activity indicates the well-coordinated work of compensatory mechanisms. In this situation, life continues in new uncomfortable conditions simultaneously with the compensation process.
Compensation - what is it?
In psychology, compensation is one of the methods of psychological defense in which a person replaces shortcomings with something. They come in three types:
- Visible. These are the shortcomings that clearly catch your eye. These include: absence of limbs, various neoplasms on open parts of the body, scars, consequences of burns, etc. Most people form an opinion about themselves based on what society says. And if we take into account the fact that society is rarely tolerant and tactful, we can conclude that such people almost always live in a state of stress.
- Invisible. Such disadvantages include disturbances in the functioning of internal organs, which negatively affect the functioning of the body as a whole and the psychological state.
- Imaginary or fictitious. A person invents shortcomings for himself or they are the result of psychological trauma that happened in childhood. So, for example, someone considers himself very ugly, although in fact his appearance is no worse than that of the people around him.
Compensation is required for each of the listed types of deficiencies. It is interesting that it can be connected both with the deficiency itself and with the aspirations that replace it. In the first case, Paralympic athletes can be used as an example, and in the second, blind musicians, etc.
Alfred Adler was the first to talk about compensation mechanisms. According to him, compensation for inferiority is a normal phenomenon in the life of every person. Inferiority, as Adler believed, is of three types:
- Physiological - absence of body parts, hearing, vision, etc.
- Socio-cultural - these are age, gender, political and economic differences that can make you feel inferior.
- The original one is biological inferiority, which throughout the history of mankind has encouraged people to develop science, technology, art and other areas.
Sigmund Freud did not agree with Adler's words. He said that inferiority does not always deprive a person of a happy life. As an example, he cited people who, even in the absence of any parts of the body, or, for example, vision, did not lose self-confidence, did not feel discriminated against or offended by fate. Freud believed that it is easier to find someone who is prone to narcissism than those who consider themselves inferior people.
Trying to object, Adler argued that the inferiority complex is only an idea that can explain the psychological processes occurring in the body. There is no need to talk about actual usefulness here, because it is relative. For each individual, nation and culture, the concept of a full-fledged personality may change.
In fact, inferiority is a so-called motivator that prompts us to action and activates the compensation process.
Let's talk about the main categories of special psychology
The latter studies the principles of psychological development and activity of people with mental and physiological disabilities. So, the concept of compensation in psychology is as follows. This is the process of replenishing existing disrupted or underdeveloped functions, with the help of intact ones or reorganization of partially destroyed ones. Let's talk about the tandem of compensation and correction in special psychology.
Let's define correction. This procedure for editing various transformed human functions refers to external influences. It implies a certain method of influencing an individual in order to correct defects. Her methods are used to restore various dysfunctions of the body.
