In what way do you think the lives of people in Russia have changed?
More than half of Russian residents believe that life in the country has changed for the worse over the past five years. These are the results of a survey conducted by the Research Center of the recruiting portal Superjob.ru. This opinion is shared by 56% of respondents, and the share of those sharing this point of view is growing every year.
Survey participants cite various reasons: high levels of corruption, low incomes, crime, government encroachment on democratic rights and freedoms, a growing number of migrants, etc. “The rise in prices significantly outpaced the growth in wages”; “The country has been filled with guest workers, it has become dangerous to walk the streets”; “Corruption is flourishing, and corrupt officials are not held accountable, but ordinary people are imprisoned for several years for hooliganism,” respondents share their observations.
At the same time, every year the share of respondents who note deterioration in the reality around them is growing significantly: if in 2006 21% of respondents thought so, then in 2009 - already 44%, and in 2011 - 52%. Most often, men (58% versus 53% among women), respondents over 45 years of age (70%) and respondents with an income of over 45 thousand rubles per month (59%) have a negative assessment of the changes taking place in the country.
At the same time, according to the survey results, 24% of Russian residents believe that life in the country has improved over the past five years. In their opinion, positive changes are evident: people’s well-being is growing, the economy is developing.
Those who have no doubts about the improvement of Russian reality are more numerous among young people under 24 years of age (30%) and among women (27% versus 22% among men). However, every year fewer and fewer respondents think so: in 2006 - 64%, in 2009 - 37%, and in 2011 - only 26%.
Every fifth resident of the Russian Federation believes that over the past five years life in the country has not changed either for the better or for the worse. “Somewhere it has become better, but somewhere it’s the other way around. In general, in five years we have not moved much,” commented those surveyed.
Respondents assess the future of the country pessimistically: 45% of Russian residents are confident that life in Russia will worsen in the next five years. In their opinion, there are enough prerequisites for this: the stratification of society is great, the fight against corruption does not bring tangible results, the economy remains raw materials. “The authorities do one thing, tell the people something completely different, and keep their children and money in the West. Another heavy snowfall, and the country will fall to pieces, and the prime minister will talk about iPhones and aliens,” the respondents sneered.
The level of pessimism in society is growing every year: in 2006, only 21% of Russians foresaw changes for the worse, in 2009 - already 30%, and in 2011 - 42%. Non-optimistic forecasts are more often made by respondents over 45 years of age (64%), men (50% versus 40% among women) and respondents with a monthly income of over 45 thousand rubles (49%).
However, more than a quarter of Russian residents (29%) tend to look to the future with optimism - they believe that the situation in the country will improve in the next five years. At the same time, judging by the comments, optimists largely rely on their own strengths: “Life will change for the better for everyone who is used to working, developing and achieving!”; “Everything will be wonderful if you want it yourself.” Most often, respondents aged 25 to 34 think this way (among them this figure is 33%) and representatives of the fair sex (31% versus 27% among men).
Every fourth respondent (26%) does not believe in changes in the country at all - neither good nor bad: “The changes that our government is carrying out are bureaucratic in nature and exist only on paper”; “The mentality needs to change”; “For the better - I don’t believe it. For the worse, I don’t want to!”
Psychologist's comment:
Character is a set of stable mental properties and habitual standard ways of behavior. Very often, character is described through a set of “character traits.” Is it possible to change your character at all? The answer is yes, although it is not an easy task. Character is a secondary formation and depends on personal development. A personality can, in its development, overcome those traits that are unacceptable to it, for example, as the author of the article writes, when “character is the cause of difficult relationships in the family or at work.” Please note that there is a difference between personality, what a person lives for (what is important to him, what is indifferent) and character, which determines exactly how the process of interaction with the world is realized. There is even an expression: “A good person with a bad character.”
Why does a person need character? It is necessary to preserve the personality itself and the motives that drive a person, i.e. it has a protective function. In order to systematize and simplify life in society, a person accumulates a set of habits - stereotypical ways of behavior (in order not to constantly encounter situations of uncertainty and not to solve constant intrapersonal problems in everyday life).
Remember the beginning of the well-known proverb: “If you sow an action, you will reap a habit...”. Character begins with action in an uncertain situation. “Basically, a bad character is like a bad habit,” in principle, this is true. But we must remember that character begins to be built from childhood around a person’s innate properties: the type of nervous system, temperament.
The author of the article points out that the desire to change character comes, as a rule, in adulthood with the emergence of problems in communication, when “a person realizes that everyone around him does not have to love him if he does not love himself, constantly whines and complains about life, gets angry or being lazy." The main reason why a person wants to change is to receive love, respect, recognition from other people. What lies even deeper? It can be difficult to figure this out on your own. It may be a fear of loneliness or emotional dependence on another person who wants you to change. There is a danger here to please others, to ignore your own needs, interests, even fears, i.e. actually “not loving yourself.”
Even if you have independently analyzed the causes and consequences of your behavior and got to the bottom of the truth, implementing changes in your life can be difficult. A psychologist will spot pitfalls and create a supportive environment for you to try new behaviors and gain new experiences in a safe but meaningful environment.
What problems might a person face if he decides to change his character on his own? On his way, he will most likely encounter relapses, a return to the old, with a feeling of guilt about this, and as a result, a decrease in mood and motivation for change; he may have intrapersonal conflicts, a “rebellion” against a demanding “inner parent” , and he will also discover that self-hypnosis works for a limited time. And another important point - there will be other unexpected changes that will occupy your attention and time (by changing an element of the system, we affect the entire system). Remember that you need to give yourself time so that changes have time to integrate into your life.
Now let's look at several individual traits that the author suggests working on. If a person is “angry,” then it is possible that this is a signal that the situation does not suit him (he wants changes and even has the energy for this), perhaps he is carrying an excessive load, is overexerting himself, or those around him do not hear him.
You also need to understand what it means when a person is “lazy” in each specific case and the reasons for laziness. This can be either chronic fatigue or burnout syndrome. Laziness can be the cause of intrapersonal conflict when, for example, there are arguments for doing something, and others against resistance. Perhaps an internal feeling of the meaninglessness of any actions and at the same time hope for a miracle.
It may turn out that a person has a weak type of nervous system, he needs more rest (others see him as lazy), and this is an innate feature. You need to take into account your characteristics in shaping your individual style (then you can compensate for the innate qualities of the nervous system, such as fatigue, excitability, etc.). And here there are other tasks - to accept yourself, adapt and explain to others that everything is fine with you - you are just that way by nature. Try to declare love for yourself! Here a string of new problems and situations may arise when others do not allow you to be who you are. A person learns his character, as well as its changes, through other people. In terms of “seriously working on yourself,” you can completely agree with the author. And sometimes it may turn out that a person wants to change his environment, and not change his character.
The author of the article outlines a sequence of three steps for changing character - self-love and behavior analysis. In itself, positive thinking and self-love, the achievement of these states is already a goal and a great value. Here we can already talk about a change in character. “Your character is your idea of life. What you think about yourself will grow and develop in you.” I would say the first step is increasing awareness. You need to change your character by changing your attitude towards the world, towards yourself (I agree with the author), if this takes root, then we can consider that the character has changed.
We can agree with the phrase that “a happy person is confident in himself, he is happy for himself and for others, and gives a good mood to those around him.” And a happy person knows his own characteristics, weaknesses and strengths, and accepts himself. There is self-sufficiency and completeness here. Other people perfectly sense our mood, what can be expected from you, and try to be closer.
In conclusion, I would like to add that a person grows and changes - this is normal and natural. You can change spontaneously under the influence of your environment (the opinions of other people, society, circumstances), or you can cultivate what you think is important to develop or preserve in yourself. Train your skill like a muscle! Therefore, it is important to discuss with other people and experiment. The most effective way to do this is with a professional psychologist.
Psychologist-consultant Natalia Sushinina
If you are asking this question, then most likely you have difficulties communicating with other people, you are unable to build relationships, people do not pay attention to you, or they make complaints about your difficult character. In short, you cannot get along with other people because some of your character traits prevent you from doing so. Of course, there are other reasons why you want to change your character. Maybe you want to be like another person because someone who likes you likes him or her. There are many reasons, and in this article we will answer the question: “How to change your character?”
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To begin with, it would be nice to answer the questions of what character is, what character is made of, and how it is formed. “character” comes from the Greek
translated as
“imprint”
. From here everything becomes clear. A person’s character is very closely related to the type of temperament, since it is from him that specific reactions to any events occur. It is impossible to change, but with help you can reduce or even completely eliminate negative traits. Some character traits are innate and are inherited. But innate character traits have a small share. Most character traits are shaped by life experiences, upbringing, and surroundings or environment.
Agree, if you were born in another country or in another family, your character would be completely different. So remember, 95% of character traits are formed under the influence of the external environment. The remaining remaining percentages depend on genetics and temperament type.
As you have noticed yourself, a person’s character changes throughout life. These changes occur unconsciously, as if the program worked at the right time. After all, as a child you had the same values and hobbies, in adulthood they were completely different, and in old age they were also different. But the foundation of character is laid in childhood, and by the age of 4-5 we can safely say that the child already has his own character.
Then major changes occur during the school years. In adult life, changes in character will occur due to some events, under the influence of other people and age-related changes. By the age of 50, a person stops living in the future, stops making plans, and begins to think about the past. After 60 years, a person moves to a new stage of life, when the past and present become significant. Slowness and calm appear.
Every person has certain character traits. As you know, there are no absolutely identical people, even among twins (by the way, I have a twin brother), who at first glance seem absolutely identical. It is very good that all individuals are unique, otherwise it would be boring to live among the same people. If we talk about character traits, then according to Teplov’s system they are divided into four groups.
The first group includes general character traits, which are the psychological basis for a person.
This is sincerity, courage, activity, hard work and so on. There are also their opposites: insincerity, pessimism, cowardice, passivity.
The second group includes those character traits that express the individual’s attitude towards other people.
It is this group that is strongly associated with the type of temperament. This is either isolation, kindness or hostility, indifference or attentiveness, love or contempt, and so on.
The third group of character traits includes those traits that express a person’s attitude towards himself.
This category includes such character traits as pride, vanity, delusions of grandeur, self-esteem, selfishness, etc.
The fourth group reflects the individual’s attitude towards work.
Laziness or hard work, and overcoming difficulties, or fear of them, initiative and activity, or lack of initiative and passivity.
