Lecture
The Plutchik Kellerman Conte Questionnaire - Life Style Index (LSI) Methodology was developed by R. Plutchik in collaboration with G. Kellerman and H. R. Kon in 1979. The test is used to diagnose various psychological defense mechanisms.
Psychological defense mechanisms develop in childhood to contain, regulate a certain emotion; all defenses basically have a repression mechanism, which originally appeared to defeat the feeling of fear. It is assumed that there are eight basic defenses that are closely related to the eight basic emotions of psycho-evolutionary theory. The existence of protections makes it possible to indirectly measure the levels of intrapersonal conflict, i.e. Disadapted people should use protections to a greater degree than adapted individuals.
Protective mechanisms are trying to minimize negative, traumatic personality experiences. These experiences are mainly related to internal or external conflicts, states of anxiety or discomfort. Protection mechanisms help us maintain the stability of our self-esteem, ideas about ourselves and the world. They can also act as buffers, trying not to let the frustrations and threats that life brings to us be too close to our consciousness. In cases where we cannot cope with anxiety or fear, defense mechanisms distort reality in order to preserve our psychological health and ourselves as an individual.
Questionnaire Plutchik Kellerman Conte. / Methodology Index of life style (Life Style Index, LSI). / A test for diagnosing psychological defense mechanisms:
Instructions.
Carefully read the statements below, describing the feelings, behavior and reactions of people in certain life situations, and if they relate to you, then mark the corresponding numbers with a "+".
Questions test R. Plutchik.
1. It's easy to get along with me
2. I sleep more than most people I know.
3. There has always been a person in my life whom I wanted to be like
4. If they treat me, then I try to find out what the purpose of each action is.
5. If I want something, I can’t wait for the moment when my wish will come true
6. I blush easily
7. One of my greatest virtues is the ability to control myself.
8. Sometimes I have a strong desire to punch the wall.
9. I easily lose my temper.
10. If someone pushes me in a crowd, then I am ready to kill him.
11. I rarely remember my dreams.
12. People who command others annoy me.
13. I am often ill at ease
14. I consider myself an extremely fair person.
15. The more things I get, the happier I get
16. In my dreams I am always in the center of attention of others
17. It upsets me even the thought that my household can walk around home without clothes
18. I am told that I am a boaster
19. If someone rejects me, then I may have the thought of suicide.
20. Almost everyone admires me
21. It happens that I break something in anger or hit
22. I'm very annoyed by people who gossip
23. I always pay attention to the better side of life.
24. I put a lot of effort and effort to change my appearance
25. Sometimes I want the atomic bomb to destroy the world.
26. I am a man who has no prejudices
27. They tell me that I am being too impulsive
28. People annoy me in front of others.
29. I don’t like ill people
30. I always try not to offend anyone
31. I am one of those who rarely cry
32. Perhaps I smoke a lot
33. It is very difficult for me to part with what belongs to me.
34. I don’t remember faces
35. I sometimes masturbate
36. I hardly remember new surnames
37. If someone bothers me, then I do not inform him, and complain about it to another
38. Even if I know that I am right, I am ready to listen to the opinions of other people.
39. People never bother me
40. I can hardly sit still for a short time.
41. I have little that I can remember from my childhood
42. I have not noticed the negative features of other people for a long time.
43. I think that you should not get angry in vain, but rather calmly think things over
44. Others see me as overly gullible.
45. People who achieve their goals with a scandal cause me unpleasant feelings
46. The bad I try to get out of my head
47. I never lose optimism
48. Leaving to travel, I try to plan everything to the smallest detail.
49. Sometimes I know that I am angry at another beyond measure.
50. When things go wrong, I get gloomy
51. When I argue, it gives me pleasure to point the other at errors in his reasoning.
52. I easily accept the challenge
53. I am off balance with obscene films.
54. I am upset when no one pays attention to me
55. Others think that I am an indifferent person.
56. Having decided something, I often, nevertheless, doubt the decision
57. If someone doubts my abilities, then I will show my capabilities out of the spirit of contradiction.
58. When I drive, I often have the desire to break someone else's car.
59. Many people delude me with their egoism.
60. When I leave for a vacation, I often take some work with me.
61. Some foods make me sick.
62. I gnaw my nails
63. Others say I avoid problems.
64. I like to drink
65. Indecent jokes confuse me
66. I sometimes see dreams with unpleasant events and things.
67. I do not like careerists
68. I tell a lot of lies
69. Movies for adults make me disgusted
70. Troubles in my life are often due to my nasty temper.
71. Most of all I do not like hypocritical insincere people.
72. When I am disappointed, I often become discouraged.
73. The news of the tragic events do not cause me excitement
74. Touching something sticky and slippery, I feel disgust
75. When I have a good mood, then I can behave like a child
76. I think I often argue with people in vain over trifles
77. The dead do not "touch" me
78. I do not like those who always try to be the center of attention.
79. Many people annoy me
80. To wash in my bath is not a big torture for me.
81. I can hardly pronounce obscene words
82. I get annoyed if you can’t trust others
83. I want to be considered sensually attractive.
84. I have the impression that I never finish the job I started.
85. I always try to dress well to look more attractive.
86. My moral rules are better than most of my friends.
87. In a dispute, I have a better command of logic than my interlocutors.
88. Moralless people repel me
89. I’m furious if someone hits me.
90. I often fall in love
91. Others think that I am too objective.
92. I stay calm when I see a bloody man
The key to the technique of Robert Plutchik. Processing test results Plutchik Kellerman Conte.
The eight mechanisms of psychological defense of a person form eight separate scales, the numerical values of which are derived from the number of positive responses to the specific statements stated above, divided by the number of statements in each scale. The intensity of each psychological defense is calculated using the formula n / N х 100%, where n is the number of positive answers on the scale of this protection, N is the number of all statements relating to this scale. Then the total intensity of all protections (ONZ) is calculated by the formula n / 92 x 100%, where n is the sum of all positive answers on the questionnaire.
The rate of Plutchik test values.
According to V.G. Kamensky (1999), the normative values of this value for the urban population of Russia are 40 - 50%. ONZ, exceeding the 50 percent mark, reflects real, but unresolved external and internal conflicts.
Protection names | Claim Numbers | n | |
one | crowding out | 6, 11, 31, 34, 36, 41, 55, 73, 77, 92 | ten |
2 | Regression | 2, 5, 9, 13, 27, 32, 35, 40, 50, 54, 62, 64, 68, 70, 72, 75, 84 | 17 |
3 | Substitution | 8, 10, 19, 21, 25, 37, 49, 58, 76, 89 | ten |
four | Negation | 1, 20, 23, 26, 39, 42, 44, 46, 47, 63, 90 | eleven |
five | Projection | 12, 22, 28, 29, 45, 59, 67, 71, 78, 79, 82, 88 | 12 |
6 | Compensation | 3, 15, 16, 18, 24, 33, 52, 57, 83, 85 | ten |
7 | Hypercompensation | 17, 53, 61, 65, 66, 69, 74, 80, 81, 86 | ten |
eight | Rationalization | 4, 7, 14, 30, 38, 43, 48, 51, 56, 60, 87, 91 | 12 |
Negation. The mechanism of psychological defense, by means of which a person either rejects some frustrating, alarming circumstances, or some internal impulse or a party denies itself. As a rule, the action of this mechanism is manifested in the negation of those aspects of external reality, which, being obvious to others, nevertheless are not accepted, are not recognized by the person. In other words, information that is disturbing and can lead to conflict is not perceived. This refers to the conflict arising from the manifestation of motives that contradict the basic attitudes of the individual, or information that threatens its self-preservation, self-esteem or social prestige.
As a process directed outward, denial is often contrasted with repression as a psychological defense against internal, instinctive demands and impulses. It is noteworthy that the authors of the IH methodology explain the increased suggestibility and credulity of hysterical individuals by the action of the mechanism of denial, by which the social environment is denied undesirable, internally unacceptable features, properties or negative feelings to the subject of the experience. As experience shows, denial as a mechanism of psychological protection is realized in conflicts of any kind and is characterized by an outwardly distinct distortion of the perception of reality.
Crowding out. S. Freud considered this mechanism (its analog is suppression) as the main way to protect the infantile “I”, unable to resist the temptation. In other words, repression - the defense mechanism by which impulses unacceptable for a person: desires, thoughts, feelings that cause anxiety - become unconscious. According to most researchers, this mechanism underlies the actions and other protective mechanisms of the individual. Repressed (suppressed) impulses, not finding permission in behavior, nevertheless retain their emotional and psycho-vegetative components. For example, a typical situation is when the content side of the stressful situation is not realized, and the person supersedes the fact of some unseemly act, but the intrapsychic conflict persists, and the emotional tension caused by them is subjectively perceived as outwardly unmotivated anxiety. That is why repressed drives can manifest themselves in neurotic and psycho-physiological symptoms. As studies and clinical experience show, many properties, personality traits and actions that do not make a person attractive in their own eyes and in the eyes of others, such as envy, hostility, ingratitude, etc., are most often crowded out. It should be emphasized that traumatic circumstances or Unwanted information is really crowded out of human consciousness, although outwardly it may look like an active opposition to memories and self-analysis.
In the questionnaire in this scale, the authors included questions relating to the less well-known mechanism of psychological protection - isolation . With isolation, the traumatic and emotionally supported experience of the individual can be realized, but at the cognitive level, in isolation from the affect of anxiety.
Regression. In classical concepts, regression is considered as a psychological defense mechanism, by means of which a person, in his behavioral reactions, seeks to avoid anxiety by moving to an earlier stage of libido development. With this form of defensive reaction, a person exposed to frustrating factors replaces the solution of subjectively more complex tasks with relatively simpler and more accessible situations. The use of simpler and more familiar behavioral stereotypes substantially impoverishes the general (potentially possible) arsenal of the prevalence of conflict situations. This mechanism includes the “ implementation in action ” defense mentioned in the literature, in which unconscious desires or conflicts are directly expressed in actions that impede their awareness. The impulsiveness and weakness of emotional-volitional control inherent in psychopathic personalities are determined by the actualization of this particular defense mechanism against the general background of changes in the motivational-need sphere towards their greater simplification and accessibility.
Compensation. This mechanism of psychological protection is often combined with identification . It manifests itself in attempts to find a suitable substitute for a real or imaginary defect, a defect of an unbearable feeling with another quality, most often with the help of fantasizing or appropriating to oneself the properties, merits, values, behavioral characteristics of another person. Often this happens when it is necessary to avoid conflict with this person and increase the sense of self-sufficiency. At the same time, borrowed values, attitudes or thoughts are accepted without analysis and restructuring, and therefore do not become part of the personality itself.
A number of authors reasonably believe that compensation can be considered as one of the forms of protection against an inferiority complex , for example, in adolescents with asocial behavior, with aggressive and criminal actions directed against the individual. Probably, here we are talking about hypercompensation or regression similar in content with a total immaturity of the inventories.
Another manifestation of compensatory defense mechanisms may be the situation of overcoming frustrating circumstances or over-satisfaction in other areas. - for example, a physically weak or timid person who is unable to respond to the threat of reprisal finds satisfaction in humiliating the offender with the help of a sophisticated mind or cunning. People for whom compensation is the most characteristic type of psychological defense often turn out to be dreamers seeking ideals in various spheres of life.
Projection. The basis of the projection is the process by which unconscious and unacceptable for the individual feelings and thoughts are localized outside, attributed to other people and thus become as if secondary. The negative, socially unsuitable shade of feelings and properties experienced, for example, aggressiveness is often attributed to others to justify their own aggressiveness or ill-will, which manifests itself, as it were, for defensive purposes. Well-known examples of bigotry are when a person constantly ascribes his own immoral aspirations to others.
More rarely, another type of projection is encountered in which positive, socially approved feelings, thoughts or actions that are capable of exalting are attributed to significant individuals (most often from the micro-social environment). For example, a teacher who has not shown special abilities in professional activity tends to endow his beloved student with talent in this particular area, unconsciously elevating himself to the same (“the winner is a student from a defeated teacher”).
Substitution A common form of psychological protection, which in the literature is often denoted by the concept of " displacement ". The action of this defense mechanism is manifested in the discharge of repressed emotions (as a rule, hostility, anger), which are directed at objects that are less dangerous or more accessible than those that caused negative emotions and feelings. For example, an open manifestation of hatred towards a person, which may cause undesirable conflict with him, is transferred to another, more accessible and harmless. In most cases, the substitution resolves the emotional stress that has arisen under the influence of a frustrating situation, but does not lead to relief or the achievement of the goal. In this situation, the subject may perform unexpected, sometimes meaningless actions that allow internal stress.
Intellectualization. This defense mechanism is often denoted by the concept of " rationalization ." The authors of the methodology combined these two concepts, although their essential meaning is somewhat different. Thus, the action of intellectualization manifests itself in a fact-based, overly “mental” way of overcoming a conflict or frustrating situation without feelings. In other words, the person stops the experiences caused by the unpleasant or subjectively unacceptable situation with the help of logical installations and manipulations even with the presence of convincing evidence in favor of the opposite. Intellectualization differs from rationalization, according to F. Vasilyuk , in that it essentially represents “the departure from the world of impulses and affects into the world of words and abstractions”. When rationalizing, a person creates logical (pseudo-prudent) but plausible substantiations of his or others behavior, actions or experiences caused by reasons that she (the person) cannot recognize because of the threat of losing self-esteem. With this method of protection, obvious attempts are often observed to reduce the value of experience inaccessible to the individual.
Thus, finding himself in a conflict situation, a person protects himself from its negative impact by reducing the significance for himself and other reasons that caused this conflict or psychotraumatic situation. Sublimation was also included in the intellectualization-rationalization scale as a mechanism of psychological defense, in which repressed desires and feelings are hypertrophied by others that correspond to the highest social values professed by the individual.
Reactive education. This type of psychological defense is often identified with overcompensation . Personality prevents the expression of unpleasant or unacceptable thoughts, feelings or actions by exaggerated development of opposing aspirations. In other words, there is a transformation of internal impulses into their subjectively understood opposition, as it were. For example, pity or concern can be viewed as reactive formations with respect to unconscious callousness, cruelty, or emotional indifference.
Isolation is the separation of a traumatic situation from the emotional experiences associated with it. The replacement of the situation occurs as if unconsciously, at least it is not connected with one's own experiences. Everything happens as if with someone else.
Isolation of the situation from one's own Ego is especially evident in children. Taking a doll or a toy animal, a child in a game can allow it to do and say everything that he himself is forbidden: to be reckless, sarcastic, cruel, to swear, to ridicule others, etc.
Sublimation is the most common defense mechanism when we, trying to forget about a traumatic event (experience), switch to various types of activity acceptable to us and society. A type of sublimation can be sports, intellectual work, creativity. Introspection is a process as a result of which what comes from the outside is mistakenly perceived as happening inside.
Thus, small children absorb all sorts of positions, affects and forms of behavior of significant people in their lives, subsequently passing this off as their own opinion.
Formation of defense mechanisms.
Emotions Spontaneous expression |
Result |
Fear and its |
Defense mechanisms |
Re-evaluation of incentives |
Fear |
Depreciation |
Shame |
Suppression |
"I don't know this" |
Anger |
Revenge, Punishment, Devaluation |
Fear, shame |
Substitution |
"Here's who's to blame for everything" |
Joy |
Punishment, rejection |
Fear, shame |
Reactive formation |
"Everything about this is disgusting." |
Sorrow |
No result. Rejection. |
Fear, feeling of inferiority |
Compensation |
"But I... Still, I... Someday I..." |
Acceptance |
Indifference rejection |
Feeling of inferiority |
Negation |
No rating |
Rejection |
Rejection |
Fear of self-rejection |
Projection |
“All people are evil” |
Expectation |
Depreciation |
Confusion, panic, guilt |
Intellectualization |
“Everything is explicable” |
Surprise |
Depreciation |
Guilt, fear of autonomy and initiative |
Regression |
"You must help me" |
According to the research of Romanova ES, Grebennikova LR, the order of formation of defense mechanisms in ontogenesis occurs in the following order:
The tendency to join: from 0 to 1.5-2 years |
Negation Projection |
Tendency to separation: from 1, 5–2 to 11 years |
Regression Substitution Suppression Intellectualization |
Tendency to join: from 11 to 13 years |
Reactive education Compensation |
Psycho-evolutionary theory of emotions by Robert Plutchik.
The theory of emotions was developed as a monographic study in 1962. It received international recognition and was used to reveal the infrastructure of group processes, allowed to form an idea of the intrapersonal processes of the personality and the mechanisms of psychological defenses. At present, the main postulates of the theory are included in well-known psychotherapeutic directions and psychodiagnostic systems. The foundations of the theory of emotion are set out in six postulates:
1.Emotions are mechanisms of communication and survival based on evolutionary adaptation. They are preserved in functionally equivalent forms across all phylogenetic levels. Communication occurs through eight basic adaptive reactions, which are prototypes of the eight basic emotions:
2. Emotions have a genetic basis.
3. Emotions are hypothetical constructs based on obvious phenomena of various classes.
4. Emotions are chains of events with stabilizing feedbacks that maintain behavioral homeostasis. Events occurring in the environment are subject to cognitive evaluation, as a result of which experiences (emotions) arise, accompanied by physiological changes. In response, the organism carries out behavior designed to have an effect on the stimulus.
5. Relationships between emotions can be represented as a three-dimensional (spatial) structural model (see the figure at the beginning of the article). The vertical vector reflects the intensity of emotions, from left to right the vector of similarity of emotions, and the front to back axis characterizes the polarity of opposite emotions. The same postulate includes the position that some emotions are primary, while others are their derivatives or mixed.
6. Emotions are associated with certain character traits or typologies. Diagnostic terms such as "depression", "mania", "paranoia" are considered as extreme expressions of such emotions as sadness, joy and rejection (see Robert Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions).
Information that is undesirable for the psyche is distorted on the way to consciousness. Distortion of reality by means of defenses can occur as follows:
Manifestations of defense mechanisms depend on age development and features of cognitive processes. In general, they form a scale of primitiveness-maturity.
The wheel of emotion of Robert Plutchik.
In summary, protection mechanisms are the way in which we protect ourselves from internal and external stresses. They are formed initially in the interpersonal relation, then become our internal characteristics, that is, these or those protective forms of behavior. It should be noted that a person often uses not one defensive strategy to resolve a conflict or ease anxiety, but several. But despite the differences between specific types of protection, their functions are similar: they consist in ensuring the stability and immutability of the person’s self-image.
The Plutchik-Kellerman-Conte (PKC) Questionnaire is used in psychology, psychotherapy, personnel selection, medicine and criminology. Its purpose is to determine the emotional personality traits that can influence behavior, decision-making and mental state of a person.
Diagnosis of emotional disorders
Helps to identify a tendency to depression, anxiety disorders, aggression, phobias.
Can be used in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to assess the patient's emotional reactions.
Determination of psychological vulnerability
The test shows which emotions are most pronounced in a person (for example, the prevalence of fear in anxious individuals).
Used to prevent emotional burnout.
Behavior correction
Helps psychologists and psychotherapists correct the patient's emotional reactions. Allows you to understand which emotions need to be worked through to improve psychological well-being.
Determining predisposition to mental disorders
Used in psychiatry to diagnose affective disorders (depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders).
Allows you to identify aggressive or suicidal tendencies.
Assessing the emotional state of patients with chronic diseases
Patients with cardiovascular and oncological diseases often experience fear, sadness, anxiety - the test helps to determine the level of their emotional stress.
Psychological testing during hiring
Used in personnel selection, especially for stress-resistant positions (Emergency Situations Ministry, police, medicine, aviation, army).
Allows you to determine the level of aggressiveness, anxiety, resistance to stress.
Evaluation of leadership qualities and teamwork
Used for managers and executives — the test determines their emotional stability and ability to interact with subordinates.
Important when forming cohesive teams in large companies.
Evaluation of criminal behavior
Used in forensics to analyze the personality traits of criminals.
Determines the tendency to aggression, impulsiveness, manipulative behavior.
Predicting recidivism
Helps determine how prone a person is to repeat offenses.
Often used in psychological examinations in courts.
Determining the stress resistance of athletes
Used to assess emotional stability before competitions.
Allows you to identify which emotions hinder or, conversely, help the athlete.
Determining the level of motivation
Evaluates how ready an athlete is for competitive struggle and overcoming difficulties.
Identification of emotional problems in children and adolescents
Used in schools and universities to diagnose anxiety, aggression, social adaptation.
Allows you to adjust your approach to learning and upbringing.
Career guidance and career choice
Shows the emotional inclinations of an individual, which helps in choosing a suitable profession.
7. Selection of candidates for the army and special forces
Psychological diagnostics of conscripts
Determines stress resistance, aggressiveness, level of fear and anxiety.
Helps identify psychological predisposition to military service.
Excludes candidates with increased anxiety, depression or excessive aggressiveness.
Selection for special forces (SOBR, OMON, special forces, airborne forces, marines)
Assesses the ability to quickly adapt to extreme conditions.
Analyzes the level of self-control, readiness for risk, ability to control emotions.
Looks for candidates with high volitional stability and low anxiety.
Assessment of psychological readiness for combat conditions
Allows you to predict how a person will behave under stress and combat.
Analyzes the tendency to fear, panic, aggression or depression.
Helps determine who can be admitted to complex operations.
Optimization of fighter training
If a fighter has a high level of fear or anxiety, the training program is adjusted.
If a fighter has increased aggression, they are taught methods of controlling emotions and managing conflicts.
Identifying a tendency to PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)
Allows you to predict psychological problems after combat.
Makes it possible to direct a soldier to psychological adaptation in advance.
Allows you to determine leadership qualities and the level of discipline.
Helps distribute fighters among units taking into account their emotional characteristics.
Appointment to command positions
To select officers, group and unit commanders, the test analyzes:
Self-confidence and stress resistance (low anxiety, high self-control).
Aggression and impulsiveness (the commander must be able to control emotions).
Ability to make decisions in extreme situations.
Determination of risk propensity
Soldiers with low anxiety and high determination are suitable for reconnaissance, airborne operations, special missions.
People with high anxiety and caution can be more effective in analytical and engineering troops.
10. Psychological support after service
Diagnostics of the emotional state of veterans
Allows you to determine the presence of PTSD, depression, anxiety disorders.
Helps psychologists work with former military personnel undergoing rehabilitation.
Behavior correction and reintegration into civilian life
Evaluation of the emotional background helps to select the optimal adaptation program.
Allows you to prevent aggressive or antisocial behavior after demobilization.
The Plutchik-Kellerman-Conte questionnaire is a universal tool for diagnosing emotional personality traits.
It is actively used in psychotherapy, psychiatry, HR, criminology, sports, education and medicine.
It allows you to identify emotional risks and correct human behavior.
It is used to select and evaluate conscripts (stress resistance, aggression, anxiety).
It is used to select fighters for special forces (resistance to extreme situations).
It is used to form effective units (leadership skills, emotion control).
Determining the risk of PTSD (psychological adaptation after service).
This test helps to form psychologically stable and trained military personnel.
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Psychology of emotions
Terms: Psychology of emotions