Have you ever come across stubborn people who are difficult to convince about anything? Or perhaps you yourself are not flexible and hardly change your beliefs, behavior, perception? Stubbornness is often considered a stupid whim, a whim, a manifestation of egocentrism, etc. But in fact, this is a manifestation of a special personality trait called rigidity. It can control our life, but getting rid of it is not so easy, because rigidity is associated with many mental processes, and often we are predisposed to it from birth.
What is rigidity
If you just translate this term from Latin, you get “rigidity”, “immutability”, “immobility”. In everyday life, rigid people are called stubborn, stubborn or obsessive. It can be difficult to interact with them, and it is far from easy for them themselves, since they do not adapt well in society and achieve success only when the methods they have chosen are effective. And if the available means do not help to achieve the goal, they remain “at the bottom of the trough”, since they cannot abandon the already chosen, but ineffective methods of activity.
Signs of rigidity
In psychology, this personality trait is associated with a delayed reaction of the psyche to changes in external circumstances. It is far from always related to a stubborn desire to simply insist on one’s own. The manifestations of rigidity are very diverse and can be observed in different areas of life. It is rather difficult to list them all. But here are some of the more notable ones:
- Failure to change the strategy of behavior, even if it is ineffective.
- Stubborn defense of your point of view, unwillingness to admit your mistakes and the correctness of the interlocutor.
- Obsession with some idea, theory, conviction, even to the detriment of not only common sense, but also the well-being of one’s own and those of those close to him.
- The inability to give up a desire, even if it is clearly unrealizable.
- Monotonous, constantly repeating rituals, including in everyday life. Violation of them or not corresponding to the “template” situation causes confusion, irritation and negativity. If the morning has to start with washing your face and brushing your teeth, losing your toothbrush can lead to a spoiled mood all day.
- Each action is built according to a certain scheme, violation of one of its elements leads to the impossibility of performing the entire action. So, if a rigid person before starting work is used to making a plan, writing it down in a special notebook, then his absence can lead to a feeling of impossibility to start a business.
- Despite a rather strong impressionability, a rigid person often cannot evade a sudden danger, since this requires a sharp change in behavior strategy.
- In communication, rigidity is especially noticeable in the desire to dominate and in dictatorial inclinations.
The variety of manifestations of this personality quality does not mean that all of them should be present in the behavior of one person. More often than not, rigidity is most noticeable in one area. For example, with inflexible behavior, an individual subject to habits and stereotypes may exhibit relative flexibility in thinking. For example, a retired person with his mind perfectly understands that there is no need to get up on an alarm clock, but he cannot rebuild his daily routine. This one-sided rigidity can be a source of intrapersonal conflict.
Causes of rigidity
Before talking about the reasons, it should be noted that rigidity can be a personality trait and not go beyond the generally accepted norms of behavior. This is such a manifestation of individuality, although not always pleasant.
But rigidity can also be associated with mental pathologies. The nature and causes of these pathologies are different: from genetic abnormalities and senile dementia, to head trauma and alcoholism. I will not talk about them – this is the sphere of psychiatry.
Therefore, I will dwell on the reasons for the rigidity that we constantly encounter at work, school, at home, sometimes we suffer from the stubbornness of our loved ones, and sometimes we ourselves demonstrate it. The reasons for this rigidity can be divided into two types: psychophysiological and social.
Psychophysiological reasons
These reasons are associated with the peculiarities of the psyche and higher nervous activity of a person and are often congenital in nature.
- Features of higher nervous activity: low speed of mental processes, poorly expressed reactivity, etc.
- Features of temperament – the predominance of phlegmatic traits in the structure of personality.
- Age features – at certain periods of life, the level of rigidity increases. Such periods include age-related crises: a 3-year-old crisis (remember how stubborn three-year-olds are), a transitional age crisis (adolescent stubbornness has long been the talk of the town), a midlife crisis. And in general, with age and closer to old age, rigidity increases.
- Character accentuations – excessive dominance of a number of personality traits, in this case such as isolation, pedantry, over-punctuality, perfectionism, overestimated self-esteem, etc.
Especially often, these reasons become the basis for the development of rigidity when they are combined with a social factor.
Social reasons
First, these reasons are related to the peculiarities of upbringing. Rigid adult behavior is often formed in childhood under the influence of numerous prohibitions and requirements. This is the case when the parents rigidly insisted on adherence to the daily routine, the exact schedule, timely fulfillment of duties, etc. And they themselves never changed their positions in relation to the child, for example, they did not cancel the punishment or some kind of requirement, even if the situation changed dramatically. A child, accustomed to such rigidity and inflexibility from childhood, considers it to be the norm of behavior.
Secondly, rigidity in an adult can be the result of unfavorable life circumstances:
- problems in personal life;
- mental trauma;
- failures in professional activity;
- impossibility of self-realization;
- intrapersonal conflicts, etc.
But in any case, for the development of rigidity, psychological prerequisites are necessary, such qualities of temperament and character that make a person more prone to stubbornness.
Types of rigidity
Since rigidity affects human behavior in different areas, in psychology there are three types of it.
Affective or emotional
This type of rigidity is associated with the peculiarities of the manifestation of emotions and reactions to external influences. Affective rigidity manifests itself as excessive stability and constancy of emotional states. Such people can replay the same episode of life in their heads for a very long time, experiencing all the same feelings that do not subside over time and can become obsessive.
Emotional reactions in rigid people are also of the same type, and in similar situations they behave the same. But such people are monogamous and do not change their affection, even if its object no longer reciprocates.
Motivational rigidity
Perhaps this is the most noticeable type of this personality trait. It is the people who possess them that are usually called stubborn. They can be divided into 3 types:
- Disappointed – those who, having failed once, give up, consider themselves to be failures all their lives and do not want to make an effort to change the situation in their favor.
- Stubborn – those who persistently “break into the wall”, not wanting to notice that there is an entrance nearby. They are not able to deviate from a predetermined path, change ineffective ways of activity, and they also cannot abandon the once set goal.
- Lazy people are those who have convinced themselves from childhood that career and success are not for them. In the absence of positive motivation, they do not seek to seek it. Since they still won’t succeed, why waste energy and try. These people go quietly with the flow and consider any changes a disaster.
People whose level of rigidity is normal are able to manage their motivational sphere and, if some motives are lost, actively seek others.
Cognitive rigidity
This is inflexibility, inertia of thinking and perception. It is characterized by a person’s lack of need, and often the ability to change the style of thinking, their views of the world, their beliefs and ideas, even if they are unproductive and obviously wrong.
Rigid people think in standard patterns and are completely reluctant to be creative. Cognitive rigidity interferes not only with solving non-standard tasks, but also with assimilating new knowledge, because they do not fit into the once created patterns and schemes. Therefore, everything new, original, unconventional is rejected and recognized as wrong, unnecessary and dangerous.
Why rigidity is bad, and how to get rid of it
Indeed, why is it bad, persistently overcoming all obstacles, to go towards the goal, to defend your beliefs or to be faithful to your beloved all your life? Not bad, of course. But unfortunately, rigidity is not limited to this and, like any personality traits, it has its negative sides, especially when dealing with its high level. And perseverance turns into stubbornness, the protection of one’s convictions – into fanaticism, and loyalty to the beloved – into the desire to keep her next to him, even against her wishes.
It turns out that rigidity often does not help a person in life, but hinders him:
- prevents the assimilation of new things, and, therefore, reduces the effectiveness of training and development;
- prevents a person from adapting in a rapidly changing world;
- is a source of interpersonal conflicts, when stubbornness makes a person irreconcilable and incapable of compromise;
- can provoke a life-threatening situation when an overly confident person ignores danger;
- often supports the passivity and inertia of lazy people;
- constant experience and “chewing” of emotions leads to emotional burnout, frustrations and neuroses.
As you can see, there is a lot of harm from rigidity. And even if a person himself feels that his own stubbornness and conservatism prevent him from developing and achieving success, then, undoubtedly, measures should be taken. In order to make your behavior more flexible and plastic, it is better to consult a psychologist or psychotherapist. (And if we are talking about pathology, then to a psychiatrist). Psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, psychocorrectional measures and communication trainings effectively relieve negative manifestations of rigidity.
But if rigidity manifests itself only as an insignificant background in human behavior, then it can simply be taken into account when choosing a field of activity or a circle of communication. A person’s awareness of their behavioral problems is already a way to resolve them.
