Rigidity in psychology implies the complexity, unwillingness or complete inability of the subject to change the intended program of activity in new situational conditions. This is the ability of the psyche and character of a person to firmly maintain a given mindset.
A rigid person is not inclined to change his habits. He is stubborn, seeks to defend his tactics in solving everyday issues. He is impressionable, retains his emotional state for a long time. The people around him have to put in a lot of effort to distract or convince him.
Varieties
The following types of rigidity in psychology are distinguished: cognitive, affective and motivational. Cognitive rigidity implies the difficulty of restructuring perception and ideas in changing situational conditions. This is the unwillingness of the subject to create a new conceptual picture of the world surrounding him when new information arrives that does not correspond to the previous one.
Affective rigidity in psychology is expressed in the invariance of responses (affective or emotional) to changing objectsemotions.
Motivational rigidity is manifested in the difficulty of restructuring the system of motives in circumstances that require flexibility and behavior change. The rigidity that the subject shows in a given situation largely depends on the complexity of the task, its attractiveness for him, the presence of danger, and so on.
Emotional rigidity
Lazursky A. F. called emotional rigidity in psychology the stability of emotions. It is characterized as follows: it is the largest time interval for a certain person, during which once an excited emotion is detected again, despite the fact that the pathogen has ceased to act, and the circumstances have changed. Rigidity of thinking is associated with the stability of emotions with fixation of attention on any important events, objects or circumstances, failures, insults, and so on.
Feature of rigid individuals
Dictionary of psychology characterizes a rigid person as a subject, little changeable even under the influence of external influences, incapable of self-regulation and correction. Moderately pronounced rigidity of the individual expresses the invariability of interests and attitudes, which are aimed at defending one's opinion, at the activity of a position, which only intensifies under the influence of external forces. This is practicality, accuracy, fidelity to one's principles. Such people are resistant to stress, as they are less subject to environmental changes.
More pronounced rigidity inpsychology is characteristic of psychopaths with signs of paranoia. Such personalities, as a rule, are distinguished by conflict, affective capture by the dominant idea. Correcting the behavior of individuals with a high level of rigidity is not an easy task. The strategy of interaction with a person of this type should be based on implicit conviction in the form of a recommendation, so that the individual himself gets the impression that the conviction comes from himself, and the psychologist only confirmed its correctness.
