The human body is quite flexible and can survive in a variety of conditions due to its ability to adapt.
Adaptation is a process that allows living organisms survive and evolve, adapting to a changeable external environment.
Concept and meaning
Adaptation - adaptation of the functions and structure of the organism, organs (including the senses) and cells under the influence of various stimuli and / or environmental conditions.
The success of adaptation depends on the functional and emotional / mental state of the individual.
AT Piaget theories The term “adaptation” has received a slightly different interpretation: the process during which the infant's basic schemes are refined, modified and improved.
Adaptation plays a big role in a person’s life as it allows you to safely transfer the variability of external factors and extreme effects, increase survival and competitiveness in relation to other individuals and populations.
Adaptation of sensations in psychology
Sensory adaptation - what is it in psychology?
Under the sensory adaptation should be understood as a change in the sensitivity of the analyzer as a result of increasing or reducing the irritant effect.
The process involves peripheral and central adaptation links. The result of the sensory device becomes physical restructuring, allowing to perceive the maximum amount of important information.
Those. with prolonged or continuous exposure to the stimulus, analyzers begin to perceive sharp and bright sensations not as sharply as at the very beginning.
As an example, unpleasant odors which over time a person ceases to catch, being in direct contact with the source of the repulsive aroma.
And in dark room conditions sensations sensitivity of the analyzers increases, and the person begins to see more clearly.
What is the principle of adaptability?
Adaptability requires flexibility from the individual, without which it is impossible quickly "switch." If flexibility is present, the response to new circumstances will not be resistance, but acceptance.
Adaptability is a reflection of the intellectual qualities of a person (because it is the intellect that allows you to change the course of thoughts in accordance with the set mental task).
In case a person does not adapt, he dies. This principle is fair not only in relation to people, but also in relation to any organisms.
Adaptation Factors
Adaptation factors - these are conditions that influence the adaptation process and its effectiveness.
They can be divided into two categories:
- external factors (natural, material, social, technological);
- internal factors (gender, age, upbringing and values, the psychological characteristics of the individual, etc.).
In nature, adaptation is influenced by three main factors:
- variability;
- heredity;
- natural selection.
Regulators individual adaptation:
- motives;
- skills and abilities;
- accumulated experience;
- knowledge;
- volitional qualities;
- abilities.
Classification, types and types
What kinds of adaptations exist? If we consider the adaptation at the natural level, we can distinguish three main categories:
- biological (process of adaptation within the framework of evolution);
- physical (the process of adaptation of a particular organism to changes in the external environment through the regulation of the work of the organs);
- psychological (the process of changing the depth of psychological involvement in certain social processes).
Psychological adaptation extends to areas:
- social
- socio-psychological;
- professional;
- ecological.
Types of adaptation by sensory basis:
- Positive. Increasing the sensitivity of the analyzers as a response to a weak stimulus signal.
- Negative. Reducing the sensitivity of the analyzers and dulling the sensations as a response to the intense and long-lasting effect of the stimulus.
Stages, levels, stages
Scientists distinguish three stages of adaptation:
- Going on disruption of an existing program homeostasis and the stability of physiological functions to the marginal limit (ie, not below the limit of the minimum life support). New programs have not yet passed the implementation stage or have not been created, but old programs have already been destroyed.
Therefore, the body goes into the mode of "temporary adaptation" to survive a critical period. The behavior of the individual is reduced to protection.
- Creating and implementing a new programwhich forms the structure of homeostatic regulation.
- The activity of the body goes into stable mode and new protocols "optimize the life" of the individual.
Levels adaptations:
- physiological adaptation (reaction of compensatory systems that support livelihoods in extreme conditions);
- social adaptation;
- psychological (development of new neural connections controlling the intensity and sequence of reactions of the individual);
- working adaptation;
- anatomical adaptation.
Stages adaptations:
- before adaptation;
- introductory stage (assessment of the situation);
- familiarization (the study of the situation and its attendant conditions);
- entry (integration into the current situation);
- action (dynamic process by which changes occur and the formation of a protocol of behavior / reactions);
- functioning (following a new protocol of behavior / reactions);
- completion (consolidation of the new protocol as the base).
Mechanisms and methods
Adaptive behavior of a person is of two types:
- Adaptive (when the person himself adapts to the external environment in order to find a point of comfort).
- Adaptive (when a person changes the external conditions, creating a comfortable environment for himself).
According to the mechanism of implementation, adaptation can be:
- voluntary (adaptation by personal request);
- forced (adaptation in case it is impossible to avoid unpleasant and traumatic changes in external stimuli / stimuli / conditions).
Forced adaptation always damages the individual's intellectual markers.
Mechanisms of adaptation on the principle of speed:
- Sprinter - increased resistance to overcoming short-term extreme conditions of high intensity, but with this reduced the ability to overcome long-term loads.
- Stayer - resistance to overcoming short-term and extreme loads is reduced, but resistance to long-term low-intensity loads is increased.
Peculiar to man active adaptationin which the internal environment with the deterioration of external conditions remains stable.
But this statement is true, rather, for the physiological adaptation, but not for the psychological.
Psychological adaptation in most cases unpredictable and purely individual.
Styles (mechanisms) to overcome stressful situations in the case of social adaptation can be very different: positive reinterpretation of the situation and subsequent progress, planning, search for support, offensive overcoming, acceptance, isolation, denial, deterrence, and so on.
Special features
Labor, professional
Labor (industrial) adaptation may be primary (employees starting work without experience) and secondary (employees who change jobs). And both cases require an individual approach by the authorities and managers.
An important stage of professional adaptation is the identification of the employee. Identification may be complete. In this case, the professional is interested in the success of its activities.
But if this stage has not been passed / learned / completed, the person will be indifferent to the results of his work and the success of the company / company / brand, etc. To complete the stage you need incentive to work, control at the introductory stage, preparing a person to work on the result.
How to make the adaptation process in a new workplace as comfortable and painless for all its participants as possible:
After army
Being in the army, a person undergoes adaptation. is he adjusts to the imposed mode and suppresses their own needs / desires / gusts.
Therefore, after the end of the service, it is necessary to go through the adaptation process again in order to live without disciplinary restrictions.
Soldier carries a pattern of behavior and relationshipsrelevant to the army, on civilians, resulting in dissonance and aggression.
Since the standards of behavior for recruits are imparted rather rigidly and categorically, the adaptation can be significantly delayed.
Separate behavior protocols fixed for the rest of your life.
After prison
How to adapt to living conditions after prison? Adaptation after prison is complicated by the fact that society refuses to meet criminals. Those. the fixture is one-sided and indulgent.
Persons released from the colony were condemned and stigmatized, therefore their self-esteem was significantly underestimated.
Human social expectations are destroyed., as he was forced to communicate with criminal elements.
Therefore, not understanding the principles of adaptation and not receiving psychological assistance, a former prisoner risks falling out of social life.
Methodology "Adaptability" - what is it and how does it work?
Adaptability technique - This is a multi-level test, adopted as the standard method of studying the adaptive potential of the individual. It is successfully used for professional selection, psychological support of the processes of study and professional determination.
The questionnaire "Adaptability" includes 165 questions and four levels:
- Typological personality characteristics.
- Disadaptation disorders.
- Behavioral regulation, communicative potential and moral standard.
- Potential for adaptation.
Luscher study
Maxi Luscher is a specialist in sociology, philosophy, law, religion and clinical psychiatry.
Using the method of Luscher, you can determine the emotional status of the child, his emotions in the process of the educational process and situations associated with school and self-esteem.
Psychodiagnostics is carried out through color test. The short version of the test consists of 8 colors (gray, dark blue, blue-green, red-yellow, yellow-red, red-blue, brown, black). The expanded version includes seven color simulation tables.
The child gives each color its own sequence number. based on personal subjective feelings (as far as each of the colors is pleasant to the eye).
Then the specialist conducts an additional survey, closing the colors according to a special scheme. The finished results are interpreted in accordance with the standards established by Luscher.
The author of the method produced experimentally selected colorsby selecting stimulus signals from 4500 potential choices.
Adapted version of Rene Gilles
Rene Gilles test designed to analyze the social fitness of children and schoolchildren.
The sphere of interpersonal relations, relationships within the family and individual behavioral characteristics of the child is being studied.
Test allows find the areas of conflict and find out why the baby is having difficulty adapting to the problem area. This knowledge gives impetus and an opportunity to further correct the situation.
Test includes 42 tasks. The tasks, in turn, consist of 25 images, a simplified test commenting on the situation in the picture, questions addressed to the subject and 17 test tasks.
Carefully studying the proposed pictures, the child answers the specialist's questions, shows the place he likes in the picture gives an assessment of the situation through the suggestion of behaviors (based on his own feelings).
Alternatively, the child can choose a behavior protocol from the protocol set proposed by the specialist. The technique must be accompanied by a clarifying conversation.
Successful adaptation allows a person to find his place in life and society fight negative factors and maintain your mental health.
