Nothing excites the human psyche so much as relationships with each other. Particular attention is paid to inter-gender relations. Confirmation of this is the national creativity of the nation. A huge number of ditties, songs, proverbs are devoted specifically to the relationship between a woman and a man. For some, building a family and the ability to communicate with the opposite sex is elevated to a degree of art. Let's talk about such a thing as family psychology. We will find out how important the knowledge of its basic principles is for each of us.
Why is family psychology needed?
Very often new concepts are heard. This, for example, "family crisis and psychology" or "problems of the institution of marriage." This is due to the fact that in our days by divorce you will not surprise anyone. Every year, fewer couples live together for more than 10 years. Therefore, the techniques of family psychologists are becoming so relevant and popular. For such courses, young (and not so) people are clutching, like a straw in the ocean of problems and joint insults. Why is it so that the newlyweds loving and dreaming of joint happiness are not able to build harmonious, long-lasting relationships that bring happiness to both?
Before starting any business - whether hiking in the forest or traveling to another unknown country - everyone is trying to thoroughly study the issue, to find out all the subtleties and possible pitfalls. So it should be in family life. It should, but in fact it looks different. Therefore, family psychology (as the science of family relationships) is so important for each individual. After all, many marry, having:
- incomplete or not quite adequate representation of oneself as a full-fledged partner;
- not quite indicative examples of relationships among relatives, relatives, acquaintances;
- ignorant behavior towards the opposite sex, etc.
What do family psychologists learn?
Psychology studies interpersonal conflicts in the family. The family is a small social group based on the unification of spouses, which provides for joint living and household activities. A public cell is characterized by functions, dynamics and structure. We consider each characteristic in more detail.
Family Functions
The family has a certain sphere of life processes, which is associated with some needs of each individual in the family circle. This is its main function.
In psychology, there are classifications of family needs. The main ones are three:
- security;
- attachment;
- achievements.
American psychologist Abraham Maslow invented a whole pyramid of human needs, in which there are 7 main steps. We will consider family functions due to needs.
Parenting
It consists in satisfying the psychic maternal and paternal instincts of each of the spouses, as well as in raising children and self-realization in them.
The psychology of family relations begins with the individual needs of each member, but besides them, there is also a society that dictates its own rules of behavior. A family that has children and brings them up, kind of socializes the younger generation. After all, they are engaged in the educational process of a daughter or son, adults educate a member of society. This function is very long, because it lasts from birth to adulthood, when the adult is able to give offspring.
Household and household
The main task of the household function is to please:
- basic needs: food, sleep, food;
- material goods: food, clothing, comfort items;
- the health of the whole organism.
This function of family psychology also provides for the restoration of mental and physical resources that are spent on the work.
Exchange of emotions
What is the family made up of? From individuals capable of experiencing positive emotions to each other, which eventually develop into attachment. The manifestations of such feelings are the experiences of one spouse in relation to another, in the expression of certain emotions, which becomes a kind of rule. This turns into a necessity: to be understood, loved by a loved one, in mutual respect and in the manifestation of tender feelings, love. In other words, the function of exchanging emotions in family psychology, in which husband and wife occupy the main positions, provides for an understanding of the definitions of feelings, the ability to experience and transmit them.
Communication
The meaning of this function is the spiritual growth of each member of the family circle. This is achieved through communication, recreation and spending free time, cultural development. Thanks to the spiritual growth of each cell of the family, not only the growth of an individual person takes place, but society as a whole also develops spiritually.
Control in society
The goal of any society is to help people survive. This is achieved through the introduction of certain rules of behavior between individuals. Hence the control function arises.
Family in family psychology is considered as a small collective in society. Not all members of such a group are able to adhere to social norms. Factors on which their inability depends:
- Age (old age or vice versa - infancy). Parents control their children and elderly family members.
- Disability of someone from relatives. In this case, the control function is performed by the guardians.
Erotica
The function of eroticism in the psychology of family life predetermines the satisfaction of the sexual needs of spouses, regulates their sexual behavior. Due to the ability to give offspring, the family grows into a clan, and then into a whole generation.
Each individual is born and dies. So, for each family group there is a date of foundation and disintegration. There are also stages of development.
Throughout life, the importance of a particular function becomes more, some - less. For example, at the initial stage of creating a family , the sexual erotic function comes first, which is subsequently replaced by an educational one. In adulthood, she goes into the background, or even the third plan, making room for the emotional or communicative.
Functional is considered a family that harmoniously combines the performance of all functions. If one of them is absent or its implementation is violated, the family gains dysfunctional status. It is these changes that family psychology is studying. The crises of family life consist in a disorder of functions and the task of a psychologist is to help all members of the family team, and not its specific individual. Since all functions are closely interconnected, in most cases it is necessary to disassemble not one of them, but the whole complex.
Family Structuring
It consists in determining the number of family members, as well as the interactions between them. Structuring is closely related to functionality. For example, if a family breaks up, all functions are violated.
The basics of family psychology distinguish these forms of families:
- The nuclear family is fundamental. It is based on a triangle - two parents and a child. Agents of this form appear two generations. Distinguish between complete and incomplete nuclear families.
- Extended. The principle of such a family team is based on combining several generations of blood relatives under one roof. The most common example is living with grandparents.
- Large family - is hierarchical in nature. The main principle is the unification of different generations of blood relatives who freely share a common household. At the head of such families must necessarily be the figure of the patriarch. An example of such a family is a settlement in a village or a small town, consisting of 3-5 houses in which families of subsequent generations live. Under such circumstances, the patriarch is the parental family, which sets the temperament of relations of the whole composition and has a dominant effect on all members.
- A clan is a group of blood relatives who are not burdened by the rules of cohabitation. There may be several leaders in such a family. A clear example of a clan is the mafia of Sicily.
- The yard. This type of family was common in the 17-18 centuries, now a rather rare case. The family yard team includes several tribes of the genus not bound by blood bonds (maidservants, servants).
Violation of the family structure also leads to various problems. The task of society is to harmonize and level the situation. This is possible in two ways:
- through psychics, dating services, religious figures, etc .;
- through psychologists.
Dynamic growth
Each family unit has its own founding date, which begins on the day of marriage. In family psychology, there are many different classifications of the stages of the existence of a family, each of which has its own difficulties and crises, as well as options for overcoming them. Consider the main steps:
- Young family (from 0 to 5 years of marriage). Its beginning lies in the marriage and until the birth of the first child. The main task in such a family is the question of adaptation of two essentially strangers to each other, which consists in sexual adaptation and the initial accumulation of material wealth. At this stage, relationships with other families are also laid, values and habits are formed, which are regulated by the ethics and psychology of family life. Psychologists say that this stage is most prone to divorce, as many young couples are not able to withstand strong emotional stress.
- Minor children in the family. This stage lasts at least 18 years, since it involves the period from the birth of the firstborn to the last adult child leaving the family. At this stage, the family team becomes mature. Household and educational functions come first. The most traumatic moment is the birth of a child. Men feel it especially sharply. Indeed, up to this point, all the love of the mother woman was given to them, and now it is distributed between the husband and firstborn, the distance between the spouses is increasing. The family is becoming more solid and stable. The greatest number of divorces occurs in the age of a child 2-5 years old.
- The final one, which is based on the syndrome of an empty nest. About 18-25 years of living together open a second family crisis. During this period, children enter adulthood, their own ego and worldview are formed. Parents need to adapt and find new values. Often the conflict is supported by other complexes (loss of career, crisis of achievement, etc.). Spouses also adapt to new roles: grandparents begin to look at each other in a new way. There are problems of rejection of adult children, impaired emotional exchange. There is also a need for physical rest amid weakening health.
It is important to understand that building a family is a purposeful process that involves the informed participation of all its members. For the harmonious coexistence of different people under one roof, it is necessary to work for all participants in this process in one direction and value each other.