friendliness
As a friendly call general use of language and social psychology the appreciative , respectful and benevolent behavior of people , but also the inner benevolent disposition towards his social environment. Its opposite is hostility or aversion .
Points of view
philosophy
According to Aristotle , friendliness forms the middle between the behavior of the complacent (ἄρεσκος) and the contentious (δύσερις) and determines the way people deal with friends and fellow men. “The friendly person is kind to his counterpart and shows him the interest he deserves. He shows consideration for others and tries to behave in such a way that nobody offends him. In general, then, as said, he will behave in the right way in traffic. ”(Aristoteles, 1985: Nicomachean Ethics , transl .: Rolfes, Eugen. 1126b27 ff.)
sociology
While “ friendship ” had long been a sociological topic (cf. 1887 Community and Society by Ferdinand Tönnies ), “friendliness” was operationalized late for empirical social research .
Here "friendliness " is treated as a special variant of facing social action and "positive social sanction ". The assessment of the use of friendliness shows that egoism and friendliness lead to cooperation. Heiner Meulemann substantiates this statement with the help of computer simulations of various game strategies in the so-called prisoner's dilemma . As part of this game theory, different social strategies can be reliably examined and compared with one another. For this purpose 63 different game strategies were played against each other. The strategy that scored the most points in the end was tit for tat . The criteria of this strategy are: start with cooperation, then reciprocate and take immediate retaliation for just one round. This is based on the logic of maximizing utility by combining it with value-rational action. The statement that unfriendliness leads to profit in individual games is overlaid by the knowledge that friendliness and cooperation are suitable in the long term to achieve the greatest success in this experiment. Compare also exchange (sociology) .
A friendly affection shows - in contrast to other components of social competence such as politeness or tact - a higher initiative for the communication process with the other person and thus takes more interest in the personal factors of the relationship level . The friendly approach always contains personal or personalized elements. It requires a certain amount of interest in the other person, but does not require the deep empathic empathy that z. B. is required for compassion, compassion, or selflessness. From a sociological point of view, friendly actions stand between the formal forms of expression of a certain minimum requirement for social encounters and friendly or intimate affection.
With regard to the sympathy- antipathy dimension (pleasant - unpleasant, friendly - hostile), the principle of reciprocity is considered to be secure. For example , friendliness by chance often induces friendliness , and hostility by chance often induces hostility.
Economy
In the personnel management assessment, friendliness is included in the area of social skills and assessed as part of the key qualifications in the context of aptitude diagnostics . So goes Verkaufspsychologie assume that friendliness forms a key success factor in achieving economic exchange processes. In economic trade all over the world, smiling represents the content of planned emotional work that has an exchange character in sales and diplomacy . Here, targeted friendliness is exchanged for wages and the improved option of concluding a contract. It does not matter what the respective retail culture interprets as a friendly gesture. The respective valid form of friendly behavior is usually expected and also offered. This friendliness as a service, marketing or negotiation strategy component can be practiced in the form of a smile training.
Both in internal exchange processes, in cooperation with others in a team or as a manager , as well as in the area of public relations or accounts receivable in connection with dunning and customers who are in payment difficulties, in the area of complaint processing and last but not least in negotiations with institutional Donors and private investors attach enormous importance to the friendliness in dealing with the respective counterpart in order to avoid conflicts and de- escalate.
The appropriate training in relationship management , rhetoric and body language for negotiation and presentation is part of the kfm. Further training from specialist level or for specialist salespeople with appropriately sensitized employers and is offered in the academic training framework in the form of optional additional courses at most business universities and technical colleges . In comparison with international standards, little friendliness is ascribed to the German retail trade, the German negotiating culture in the field of skilled trades and large parts of small and medium-sized companies . The metaphor of the service desert in Germany (trade journal Sales-Profi ) and bestseller titles in the field of marketing such as B. The only thing that bothers is the customer ( Edgar Geffroy , founder of clienting ).
Christian theology
The demand made by the Christian double commandment of love for a loving interaction with one another goes far beyond an instruction for friendly interaction with one another, although friendliness is of course mentioned as a desirable behavior of the Christian. ( You are loved by God, you are his chosen saints. Therefore clothe yourselves with sincere mercy, with kindness, humility, mildness, patience! Bear one another and forgive one another when one has something to reproach the other. As the Lord has forgiven you, so you too forgive! But above all, love one another, because love is the bond that holds everything together and makes everything perfect ( Col. 3: 12-14 EU ).)
In the context of Christian theology, however, kindness is above all an attitude of God towards the people to whom he shows himself kind. In the liturgy of the Lord's Supper or the Eucharist it says: Come, for everything is ready; see and taste how kind the Lord is . As a divine attribute, friendliness in this sense is already attested in the Old Testament. Thus the Psalter knows the praise adopted in multiple liturgical forms. Praise the Lord, for he is friendly and his kindness endures forever .
Quotes
- “Kindness in words creates trust. Kindness in thinking creates depth. Kindness in giving creates love. ”- Lao-Tse
- “Friendliness: a language that the deaf can hear and the blind can read.” - Mark Twain
See also
literature
- Piero Ferrucci: Only the friendly survive - why we have to learn to think with the heart if we want to have a future. Allegria, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-7934-2001-9 .
- Anton Mattes: Kindness. In: Christian Schütz (Abt) (Ed.): Practical Lexicon of Spirituality. Herder, Freiburg i.Br. u. a. 1992, ISBN 3-451-22614-6 , col. 411-413.
Web links
- Game theory as a model for assessing the benefit of friendliness (Point 3.2.6.3) ( Memento from October 11, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
- Ethics and politics: Aristotle and Martha C. Nussbaum (PDF p. 35) (811 kB)
- Vicki Haddock, The only thing we have to fear is cheer itself (" San Francisco Chronicle, " March 5, 2006)
Individual evidence
- ↑ U. Becker-Beck, Social Interaction in Groups. Structure and process analysis . Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag 1997.