Why do people like to shock?
ALL WE HAVE GROWN THE MASS OF QUESTIONS TO THEMSELVES AND THE WORLDwith which there seems to be no time or need to go to a psychologist. But convincing answers are not born when you talk to yourself, or to your friends, or to your parents. We started a new regular section where professional psychotherapist Olga Miloradova will answer pressing questions. By the way, if you have them, send to [email protected].
Why do people like to shock and how to distinguish natural originality from hypocrisy?
The Eurovision final and Conchita Wust’s victory again raised an important question: where is the line between speculation on originality and freedom of expression of your inner world? How to treat people, cats, bearded women, informal and lovers of shocking statements, and if they have something in common?
Olga Miloradova psychotherapist
If you do not talk about such transient phenomena as puberty and adolescent protest, as well as extremes in the form of mental illness and its manifestations, the constant desire for outrageous is most often associated with personal characteristics of a person. There are many different classifications of personality types, invented by different authors, but one way or another, each of them described individuals seeking to be the center of attention, in plain sight. Most often, this type of personality is called a demonstrative, histrionic, or simply hysteroid. According to the psychodynamic concept, such a personality is formed in a child who grew up in a family of cold and powerful parents, unfamiliar with disinterested love. Since the already disliked child, among other things, was afraid that he would be completely rejected, he was forced to invent crises, to dramatize the situation, to organize a kind of presentation. Since such a person does not know how to love and be loved, he simply continues to try to play a bright and colorful performance, so as not to get lost, to attract fans and admirers to himself.
Until recently it was encouraged that a woman was immature and dependent
There is a more social explanation for the formation of a similar nature and behavior. Initially, the word "hysterical" comes from the Latin "hister" - the queen. At the time of Freud, for example, in principle, it was believed that only those who have this body, respectively women, could possess such a radical. Although this relationship directly with the body was eventually rejected, in general, such personal characteristics continued to be attributed primarily to women. Socio-cultural theorists suggest that the problem is not in the female field as such, but in the norms and expectations of society. Until recently, it was encouraged that a woman was immature and dependent, inconsistent and unbalanced, that is, in fact, such personality traits are hypertrophied feminine features. At the same time, even if the behavior of such people may look quite feigned and pretentious, due to excessively violent, sometimes not corresponding to what is happening reactions, it is not false, no matter how irritating it sometimes is.
In order not to have a false opinion that such features carry one negative, I would like to say in justification that they are simply indispensable in an acting career, and in all activities related to public speaking, which, by the way, everyone was convinced managed and bearded woman. But I hope that you all understand that shocking outrageous, the desire to shine on stage is just one facet of personality, and gender issues are much more difficult and not everyone is ready to fit into a feminine or masculine canvas, even if changing one to the other. There are many more shades in the middle.