Rigidity of thinking: features, varieties and tips for overcoming

There are people who find it difficult to adapt to new circumstances. They cannot rebuild their thinking when the situation changes, they stubbornly defend the previously outlined plan, not wanting to make adjustments to it. The reason lies in the rigidity of the thought process.

Translated from the Latin language, rigidity means "rigidity", "hardness", "numbness". Physiologists define this phenomenon as follows: rigidity is understood as the lack of response to specific stimuli or resistance to them due to a sharp increase in the tone of anatomical structures.

People with such a thought process are inherent in inertia of thinking, inability to adapt to changing events. It is difficult for them to go beyond the norms of behavior, the rules established by society. They are not used to changing the once made decision.

The formation of rigidity begins in childhood. This is the result of excessive demands on the child, mistrust of his actions, manifestation of parental aggression. The baby has a fear of coming to the wrong result. He wants to constantly demonstrate his importance, strives for absolute superiority.

It is generally accepted that rigidity is a deficiency that interferes with the self-realization of the individual. People with moderate rigid thinking have good performance, the ability to seize leadership. Classes in the exact sciences are suitable for rigid people.They make wonderful accountants, economists, financiers, mathematicians. They do well monotonous work with the same type of documents or on a conveyor belt.

Among rigid people, adherents of a healthy lifestyle are often found. Such individuals are ready to eat healthy, but tasteless food. Teenage girls with aggression perceive malnutrition and can bring themselves to anorexia. Rigidity in its pure form can greatly complicate a person's life. High rigidity is often a source of excessive conflict and obsession with paranoid ideas.

Rigid individuals find it difficult to adapt to the environment. They are characterized by suspicion towards other people, distrust. They exercise discretion everywhere for fear that someone might deceive them. Self-esteem is usually overstated. Any criticism in relation to your own person causes severe irritation.

Although they themselves speak quite harshly about others. Interaction with people is often done through competition. They rarely seek help. Usually all problems are solved by themselves. They do not share their troubles with loved ones.

Outwardly, they try to keep cool, convince themselves that the events taking place around them do not concern them. Underneath insensitivity, vulnerable individuals hide their emotional experiences from prying eyes.

This mental type is characterized by the following qualities:

• adherence to established rules;
• the inability to give up long-term habits;
• unwillingness to admit their own mistakes;
• inability to analyze your behavior;
• excessive stubbornness;
• strong emotionality;
• increased impressionability;
• great suggestibility;
• excessive conservatism;
• rejection and fear of technical innovations;
• inability to adjust their actions;
• diligence and hard work;
• pedantry and accuracy;
• thoroughness;
• the ability to organize the material.

Rigid personalities are characterized by common sense and cold calculation. They love punctuality, but they themselves are often late due to protracted gatherings and preparations. Stereotyped thinking deprives them of the opportunity to improve themselves. Mastering new technologies is influenced by authoritative opinion, not through experience. Rigid individuals tend to be paranoid.

From a behavioral point of view in a conflict environment this type is distinguished by the complexity of nature. An example can be given: a rigid person is tuned in to a tough conversation, and the opponent shows restraint, calmness and politeness. It is difficult for a subject tuned in to a conflict to cope with his rudeness and move on to a peaceful dialogue.

His behavior reflects the surging emotions. He's always unhappy. All surrounding things, people, events are criticized and skillfully devalued by a rigid subject. He is able to split the team into warring groups. A rigid personality blocks the manifestation of his love and affection for loved ones, is afraid to open up in front of others and cannot fully accept their tender emotions due to fear of flaunting his sensitivity.

In people with rigid thinking lack of flexibility in terms of adjusting their actions under changed circumstances, which significantly reduces the chances of adaptation in extreme or unusual conditions. They constantly exhibit conservative behavior. Any changes in the situation cause rejection and put them into a stupor.

A rigid thought process has some characteristic features:

• the stability of beliefs, moral attitudes is not subject to outside influence;
• lack of plasticity in moments of changing circumstances, inability to accept the facts of change and restructure thinking;
• stubbornness, confidence in one's righteousness, defending one's own, including the wrong, point of view;
• the inability to objectively perceive criticisms in their address concerns the majority of rigid individuals;
• excessive impressionability from the most insignificant events can cause strong shocks that cannot be hidden from prying eyes.

A rigid person, having chosen a certain role for himself, does not want to consider all the others... For example, it is career-focused. His thoughts are completely focused on moving up the corporate ladder. Subject does not see himself as the head of the family or a good athlete. One-sided thinking does not allow a person to start a family, get carried away with any kind of sport.

Pending general acceptance in one area, other areas remain on the sidelines. Rigid thinking leads to exhaustion, disconnection from reality, worsening relationships and problems with self-esteem.

Inflexibility, lack of plasticity of the mental act is reflected in speech. Sometimes speech rigidity means slow speech, filled with frequent pauses and parasitic words. A rigid speech process is characterized by the use of monotonous words, formulaic expressions, stamped phrases.

The reasons may be difficulty in switching attention at moments of communication, low speed of mental transition from one object to another object, unconscious imitation of other people's conversations, poverty of vocabulary. Features of temperament can also affect speech behavior.

In psychology, there are 3 types of rigid personality.

It is difficult for people with rigid thinking activity to master and apply innovative technologies. New information is perceived by them through force. They do not adjust previously reconciled schemas to reflect updated information. No new plan will be drawn up. It is difficult for the owner of this thinking type to look at the world from a different angle. Independent decision-making is beyond his power.

Excessive focus on any phenomenon or object does not allow rigid people to grasp the connection between real events and fantasy. The subject follows the path of a previously tested algorithm, including previous experience of experienced experiences. The tendency to dwell on one object or action often leads to getting stuck on obsessions, to psychopathy.

It is unusual for rigid individuals to acquire new motives. It is difficult for them to abandon previously established needs and methods of meeting them. The admission of one's own mistake and its correction are given with great difficulty, as well as the knowledge of the unexplored sides of life. There is no desire to adjust any motivation when solving previously set tasks. For example, a bankrupt entrepreneur by inertia continues to live on a grand scale, mired in debts and loans.

Psychologists reveal the rigidity of thinking during the conversation. Individuals with a high degree find it difficult to switch to another topic. They find it difficult to maintain contact. Rigid people need a clear statement of the question, to which a specific answer sounds without slipping off the topic. The phrases are pronounced slowly, because they mentally analyze all the information. Their answers are logical.

By testing, the following properties are obtained that are characteristic of a rigid personality:

• the duration of the preservation of the sensation from any stimulus;
• prolonged experience of long past events;
• problems with the revision of habitual motor actions;
• unwillingness to change in order to achieve any goal;
• intrusiveness of representations.

It is difficult to correct the behavior of a rigid personality. A time-consuming process can only have an effect with a competent approach of the psychotherapist to the patient. A person must be sure that rational ideas come from himself, and not from a specialist.

To develop flexibility of thinking, a restructuring of neural connections is needed. The individual is able to push the boundaries, expand his horizons by gaining access to the outside world, increasing his own living space. To do this, you need to revise your previous attitudes. It is necessary to remember rejected desires and explore a new possible resource for their fulfillment. You need to try to look at the situation with a fresh eye and evaluate it from this position.

It is important for a person to learn to concentrate on the thought that everything is happening here and now.... A gradual departure from the system of established stereotypes occurs only among those who have got the hang of acting in the current time period. You should regularly reflect on the events that are taking place and those that have remained in the past. In this case, an understanding may come that life experience and theoretical attitudes do not always fit a specific situation.

Adapting to circumstances is more beneficial... Developing your own strategy, new formulas based on old knowledge makes it possible to achieve significant heights.