Risk (psychology)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dare is a psychological phenomenon. As a science of the human psyche, differential psychology deals specifically with the mental, emotional and volitive requirements of the ability to take risks, the willingness to take risks, risk behavior and the effects on the personality structure of the individual. It is about the mostly unconscious decision-making processes in dangerous actions or in threatening situations and the driving forces and defenses that become visible, specifically about specific personality traits, cognitive potentials, motives, drives, will structures, which have significant consequences for life courses, quality of life and life success or not daring people.

Their findings lead to practical areas of application such as wagon training ( e.g. for young entrepreneurs, military or police special units , bodyguards ) or risk education (in children and youth education). The term risk encountered accordingly in such diverse research sectors such as Persönlichkeitspsychologie , the development of psychology , the psychology of motivation , the behavioral psychology or experimental psychology .

Risk and personality

The personality psychology examines the wide range of human manifestations in dangerous situations and analyzes it becomes recognizable mentalities with regard to their attitude to risk and their specific risk behavior. Based on the first research in psychoanalysis at the beginning of the 20th century, various risk typologies with different priorities emerged:

In his psychology of the unconscious, Freud differentiates between the “sex drive” or “eros” and an inner urge that he calls the “death drive”. While he ascribes the first instinct to the preservation of life, the second seems to him directed towards returning organic life to the lifeless state (307). This predisposition, which he also referred to as the “destructive instinct”, which manifests itself in an overpowering willingness to take risks and constantly repeated risky acts, is especially visible in severe neuroses , such as obsessional neurosis , according to Freud .

The depth psychologist Balint distinguishes in his widespread dual typology, which is largely still valid today, between the “ philobatist ” who tends to take risks and the “oknophile” who avoids the risk: while the philobatist has more in view of the gain that can be achieved through risk and of one high confidence in success is inspired, the oknophile-influenced person primarily fears the risk of failure and sees himself constantly inhibited in his dynamic of action. Both character traits are considered to be extreme forms of Balint and are classified by him as pathological and accordingly in need of treatment.

In contrast to the pathological interpretations of the risk disposition advocated by joyful psychoanalysis, the American happiness researcher Czikszentmihalyi comes to the conclusion that when dealing with difficult and risky extreme situations, particularly intense feelings of happiness can be experienced, which he describes as the flow effect . According to Czikszentmihalyi, the extremely positive mood that can be achieved in this way naturally urges repetition and intensification. This can have a lasting impact on the actor.

Beyond this observation, Warwitz differentiates between people who consciously enter dangerous situations: He distinguishes the “risk taker” who strives for a short-term, intense kick from the “daring” who is oriented towards permanent added value and acts according to ethical standards. He also calls them thrill seekers or skill seekers in international dialogue . In addition, Warwitz makes a further distinction, graded according to the degree of willingness to take risks, between the “high-spirited gambler”, the “faint-hearted refusal to take risks” and the “responsible daring” with a medium attitude, on whose personality development the risk education is geared.

Risk and Development

The developmental psychology deals with the effects of daring and risk aversion on the development and the CV of the people and came to the conclusion that risk willingness is an indispensable basic ability for the further development of man and mankind:

If the toddler does not 'dare' to sit up for fear of falling, it cannot become a two-legged friend, cannot get its hands free for high-quality activities and will keep its close eye on the ground. It would lag behind the development of its more courageous conspecifics physically, psychologically and intellectually. B. the examinations of so-called ' wolf children ' or the analyzes of disease-related impairments suggest. In researching famous careers and biographies, the careers of successful people were analyzed. The willingness and ability to take appropriate risks was recognized as essential for successful CVs. It is the independent, active contribution that individuals can and must make to find their optimal potential and meaning in life. In the opposite case, insufficient risk-taking skills or the shyness and fear of failure in exams, applications, competitions play a decisive role in the failure of life plans and livelihoods.

The ability to take risks is seen as having different dispositions. However, it is largely learnable. The risk education offers aids to a development-oriented training of the risk ability and promotes a supporting value awareness .

Risk and motivation

The motivational psychology is concerned with the inner human processes and the motives that cause individuals and groups to voluntarily suspend risk-prone situations to choose risk containing occupations to get into trouble geratenen weaker despite its own risk to help or to refuse to. She comes to the conclusion that the great majority of people take risks less reflectively than instinctively.

This makes well-founded knowledge about the path of pure surveys difficult. In addition, instinctual dependence often has the consequence that many dangerous actions lack a value basis and allow them to slide into mere risky actions. The intrinsically value-free tendency to take risks can take on destructive forms, can be lived out in the value-neutral area of kick hunting , but also prove to be extremely useful, valuable and desirable in socially beneficial areas for humanitarian reasons (dangerous helper services). For this reason, motivational psychology calls for political and educational value-oriented influences.

The main instinctual impulses mentioned on the anthropological side are the urge for tension and adventure , which is present in most people and is particularly pronounced in dynamic people, and the longing for a more intensive life and personal challenge. On the factual side, attractive offers from the environment must meet this requirement and be accessible. The impetus to take risks can either come from a human tension of needs that seeks corresponding challenges. But there can also be an impulse from the factual side, which then triggers a latent need (the paragliding scene in the neighborhood or the bond with a religious community).

Risk and Security

The behavioral psychology observed the effects of risk propensity and risk denial of the individual and social context. For this purpose, biographies are studied, the effects of personalities on their environment are documented and group dynamic processes are analyzed.

In the individual area , behavioral psychology comes to the astonishing result that those willing to take risks achieve considerably higher safety standards than those who abstain from taking risks. This is explained by the improved level of competence in dealing with hazards. It applies to mountaineers who are exposed to climbing risks as well as to speakers, politicians or journalists who present themselves in public.

In the social area, those willing to take risks can expect better career prospects. Top positions in business, politics, science, the military or culture are usually not occupied by those who refuse to venture, but by the more daring personalities who are ready to expose themselves to the possibility of failure, failure or embarrassment. Even in schools it can be observed that mostly those who dare to speak out with commitment are elected as class representatives or parents' representatives.

Risk and explanatory models

The experimental psychology is empirically the question of whether relevant statistically, let the various risk areas and risk levels across structures and approaches to risk behavior and determine whether a transfer of learning between these is visible or accessible. The venture research examined while the venture mentality and the risk behavior of such diverse human risk species such as those of the punters , the extreme sportsman , the expedition adventurer , the research-based in border areas scientist , the stuntman , the circus acrobats , walking in combat action soldiers of the crime-fighting police, of itself to capture social workers moving in a dangerous milieu , entrepreneurs, revolutionaries, civilly courageous citizens, nuns who renounce children, priests who commit themselves to celibacy, or children and adolescents looking for courage. She comes up with nine explanatory models of general general meaning:

  • The neurosis theory (Freud, Balint et al.)

can be seen as the result of first systematic attempts to empirically and scientifically develop a sector of the problem area:

The depth psychological interpretation bases the risk behavior on a previous trauma (mostly early childhood) , which is followed by a psychological imbalance, which leads to post-traumatic states (Balint) and further to pathological sensitivities which are diagnosed by the psychoanalysts as risk neuroses .

  • Ordal theory (Le Breton et al.)

goes one step further. She sees people who seek extreme risk, based on medieval judgments of God, in the psychological predicament of having to repeatedly expose themselves to a self-chosen judgment of fate under the greatest risk, which should decide about their human value and their right to survive.

Such a mentality is often found in suicidal adolescent tests of courage, but also in literary personal testimonies such as that of Heinrich v. Kleist or occupied by Graham Greene .

  • The fear-pleasure theory (Balint, Piet, Zuckerman and others)

is based on the observation that some “risk takers” specifically seek out or create fearful situations in order to gain feelings of pleasure from overcoming them happily. It is about the transformation of negative into positive sensations, whereby the previous fear is needed as a stimulus for subsequent pleasure. This can also be experienced and widespread in computer games .

  • The counteraphobia theory (Aufmuth, Warwitz et al.)

recognizes in the type of the counter-phobics an unwilling person (Warwitz) who, in order not to be considered a coward in his environment, lets himself be carried away by inferiority complexes or under the psychological pressure of a community to actually unwanted tests of courage . In his bestseller The flying classroom , the children's book author Erich Kästner vividly illustrated the type of the counter-phobic with the figure of the pathologically anxious pupil Uli, who outgrew himself with an oversized demonstration of courage in front of his school community.

  • The fear coping theory (Zuckerman, Semler, Aufmuth et al.)

understands the decision to venture as a methodical measure to "take the bull by the horns":

Those who venture under this motivation expose themselves to dangerous situations in order to master their fears. By gradually learning and practicing how to successfully counter dosed dangers in this way, he proves his ability to control fears and can build up a corresponding self-confidence.

  • The flow theory (Csikszentmihalyi)

takes the interpretation that the daring is a luck seeker. He seeks the dangerous challenge in order to find his flow experience, the exhilarating experience of perfect harmony between difficult tasks and his own ability. The experience of happiness is always more intense, the higher the level of requirement and competence. But it also depends largely on the subjective expectations and possibilities of the individual personality. It is essential that the task and performance are in harmony.

  • The theory of the protective framework (Apter)

describes those willing to take risks as people who, motivated by curiosity and accompanied by prudence, approach their personal limits. In doing so, he carefully installs safety measures that minimize the risk of failure and make his car likely to be successful.

  • The theory of the security instinct (v. Cube, Warwitz)

adds an aspect that at first glance appears counterproductive to the risk statements. The behavioral researcher V. Cube has conclusively shown that the controlled handling of risk does not lead to less, but to more security and is therefore required of every person who does not want to live without life in protected rooms. Humans are dependent on improving their safety standards by taking risks in various areas in constant and even steadily increasing risks. The less the unknown, the unknown, the uncontrolled the environment contains for him, the safer it is for him. Even for children, the way to more safety cannot be to avoid and forbid the use of “knife, fork, scissors, light”, but to explore and learn in daring confrontation. Step by step, the unknown is transformed into the known, the uncontrolled into the controlled, and thus more security is achieved.

With extensive studies on the road safety of children, Warwitz was able to statistically prove that it is not the sheltered child who is withdrawn from active traffic in buses and his parents' vehicles, but rather, conversely, the daring child who is exposed to traffic hazards and who is thus trained and experienced in handling the higher level of safety.

  • The theory of life in growing rings (Warwitz)

understands the car from an ethical and educational point of view as an opportunity to break the supposed limits of personal development, to realize material and ideal values ​​that can only be achieved under danger, to provide high-risk socially beneficial social services, to actively perfect one's own personality and thus to increase one's quality of life and meaning to experience.

This explanatory model also takes into account the high-quality risk motivations in social helper areas (mountain rescue, sea rescue services) and ethically demanding professional decisions characterized by great willingness to make sacrifices (doctor in epidemic areas, paramedic in war). It records the courageous act of the man who was beaten to death by two thugs in Solln in September 2009 for his moral courage to protect himself from threatened children in the subway . It also does justice to the extremely daring lifetime achievement of the Arnstein religious, Father Damian de Veuster , who, out of religious conviction , cared for lepers on the island of Molokai (Hawaii) for sixteen years and paid for his daring with his own infection and premature death on April 15, 1889. He was on October 11, 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI. canonized in Rome.

The theory of life in growing rings was named after a picture from Rilke's Book of Hours (1899. First book). This symbol illustrates the constant daring striving of dynamic people for ethical value creation and the growing self-perfection that is pushed to the personal performance limits.

See also

literature

  • M. Apter: In the intoxication of danger. Why more and more people are looking for the thrill . Munich 1994 (Original title: The Dangerous Edge. The Psychology of Excitement . New York 1992)
  • U. Aufmuth: Risk sports and identity problems. In: Sports Science. 3, 1983, pp. 249-270.
  • U. Aufmuth: On the psychology of mountaineering. 2nd Edition. Frankfurt 1992.
  • M. Balint: Anxiety and Regression. 8th edition. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2014 (Original title: Thrills and Regressions . London 1959)
  • JG Bennet: Risk and Freedom. Hazard - the risk of realization . Zurich 2005.
  • M. Czikszentmihalyi: The flow experience. 6th edition. Stuttgart 1996.
  • F. v. Cube: Dangerous Security. Pleasure and frustration of risk. 3. Edition. Hirzel, Stuttgart 2000.
  • A. Engeln: Risk motivation - a pedagogical-psychological study on motorcycling . Marburg 1995.
  • S. Freud: Psychology of the Unconscious . Vienna 1923 (9th edition Frankfurt 2001 by Fischer)
  • A. Kraft, G. Ortmann (Ed.): Computer and Psyche. Fearfulness at the computer . Frankfurt 1988.
  • D. Le Breton: Pleasure in risk . Frankfurt 1995.
  • W. Lochner: Risk at the Atlantic. Adventurous crossings of the Atlantic under water, on the water, in the air . Wurzburg 1982.
  • J. Müsseler (Ed.): General Psychology. 2nd Edition. Heidelberg 2008.
  • K. Pawlik (Ed.): Handbook Psychology. Science application occupational fields . Heidelberg 2006.
  • S. Piet: What motivates stuntmen? In: Motivation and Emotion. 11, 1987, pp. 195-213.
  • S. Piet: Het loon van de angst (The reward of fear) Baarn 1987.
  • G. Semler: The pleasure in fear. Why people voluntarily expose themselves to extreme risks . Munich 1994.
  • G. Shelhy: Dare to break new ground . Munich 1981.
  • SA Warwitz: Search for meaning in risk. Life in growing rings . 2nd, expanded edition. Baltmannsweiler 2016, ISBN 978-3-8340-1620-1 .
  • SA Warwitz: The sense of the car. Why people face dangerous challenges. In: Deutscher Alpenverein (Ed.): Berg 2006 , Tyrolia Verlag, Munich-Innsbruck-Bozen, pp. 96–111, ISBN 3-937530-10-X .
  • SA Warwitz: Growing in risk. From the contribution to your own development. In: thing-word-number. 93, 2008, pp. 25-37.
  • SA Warwitz: Be brave . Basic item. In: thing-word-number. 107, 2010, pp. 4-10.
  • SA Warwitz: Traffic education from the child. Perceive-play-think-act. 6th edition. Baltmannsweiler 2009.
  • M. Zuckerman: Sensation Seeking. Beyond the optimal level of arousal . Hillsdale 1979.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hannelore Weber, Thomas Rammsayer: Differential Psychology - Personality Research. Hogrefe, Göttingen et al. 2012, ISBN 978-3-8017-2172-5 .
  2. ↑ J. Müsseler (Ed.): General Psychology. 2nd Edition. Heidelberg 2008.
  3. ↑ K. Pawlik (Ed.): Handbuch Psychologie. Science application occupational fields . Heidelberg 2006.
  4. ↑ S. Freud: Psychology of the Unconscious . Vienna 1923, pp. 304-314.
  5. ↑ a b c M. Balint: Thrills and Regressions . London 1959.
  6. ↑ a b M. Czikszentmihalyi: The flow experience. 6th edition. Stuttgart 1996.
  7. ↑ a b c d S. A. Warwitz: Search for meaning in risk. Life in growing rings . 2nd, expanded edition. Baltmannsweiler 2016.
  8. ^ SA Warwitz: Search for meaning in risk. Life in growing rings . 2nd, expanded edition. Baltmannsweiler 2016, pp. 296–308
  9. ^ SA Warwitz: Search for meaning in risk. Life in growing rings. 2nd, expanded edition. Baltmannsweiler 2016, pp. 1–12, pp. 26–32.
  10. ^ SA Warwitz: Growing in risk. From the contribution to your own development. In: thing-word-number. 93, 2008, pp. 25-37.
  11. ↑ G. Shelhy: Dare new ways. Munich 1981.
  12. ↑ a b S. A. Warwitz: Be courageous . Basic item. In: thing-word-number. 107, 2009, pp. 3-13.
  13. ^ SA Warwitz: Why people face dangerous challenges. In: DAV (Ed.): Berg 2006 . Munich / Innsbruck / Bozen, pp. 96–111.
  14. ↑ A. Engeln: Risk Motivation - an educational-psychological study on motorcycling . Marburg 1995.
  15. ↑ a b c M. Zuckerman: Sensation Seeking. Beyond the optimal level of arousal . Hillsdale 1979.
  16. ↑ JG Bennet: Risk and Freedom. Hazard - the risk of realization . Zurich 2005.
  17. ↑ a b F. v. Cube: Dangerous Security. Behavioral risk. 2nd Edition. Stuttgart 1995.
  18. ↑ U. Aufmuth: On the psychology of mountain climbing. 2nd Edition. Frankfurt 1992.
  19. ^ W. Lochner: Venture Atlantic. Adventurous crossings of the Atlantic under water, on the water, in the air . Wurzburg 1982.
  20. ^ S. Piet: What motivates stuntmen? In: Motivation and Emotion. 11, 1987, pp. 195-213.
  21. ^ SA Warwitz: Search for meaning in risk. Life in growing rings . 2nd, expanded edition. Baltmannsweiler 2016, pp. 98–308.
  22. ↑ S. Freud: Psychology of the Unconscious. Vienna 1923.
  23. ^ D. Le Breton: Pleasure at risk . Frankfurt 1995.
  24. ↑ G. Greene: A Kind of Life . Vienna 1971.
  25. ^ S. Piet: Het loon van de angst. Baarn 1987.
  26. ↑ A. Kraft, G. Ortmann (Ed.): Computer und Psyche. Fearfulness at the computer . Frankfurt 1988.
  27. ↑ a b U. Aufmuth: Risk sports and identity problems. In: Sports Science. 3, 1983, pp. 249-270.
  28. ↑ Erich Kästner: The flying classroom , 154th edition, Dressler, Hamburg 1998
  29. ↑ G. Semler: The pleasure of fear. Why people voluntarily expose themselves to extreme risks . Munich 1994.
  30. ↑ M. Apter: The Dangerous Edge. The Psychology of Excitement . New York 1992.
  31. ^ SA Warwitz: Traffic education from the child. Perceive-play-think-act. 6th edition. Baltmannsweiler 2009.
  32. ↑ a b ZDF report October 2009.