Level of education and attitude to health. Humanity's attitude to health in a historical perspective

their ability to influence their own health.
Thus, the attitude towards health may well be considered as one of the main “targets” to which the psychocorrectional influence of a specialist working in the field of health psychology should be directed. At the same time, a differentiated approach to psychocorrectional work should be based on a comprehensive study of the characteristics of a person’s attitude towards his health. And the concept of “relationship psychology,” in turn, can be chosen as a theoretical methodological basis studying human health, since the attitude towards health, on the one hand, is a reflection of a person’s individual experience, and on the other, has a significant impact on his behavior.

The concept of “attitude psychology”
“Relationship psychology” as a concept originated at the beginning of the 20th century. at V.M. school
Bekhterev. Its first strokes were sketched by A.F. Lazursky and S.P. Frank in the “Program for Research of Personality and Its Relation to the Environment,” published by them in 1912. Considering personality as a biosocial organism, A.F. Lazursky emphasized the neuropsychic organization as its main basis
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. Another important aspect he considered the individual’s attitude towards external environment(nature, people, social groups, spiritual values, etc.). He attached special importance to relationships in achieving spiritual harmony of the individual, by which he meant the versatility, completeness and harmony of a person’s mental functions. The premature death of A.F. Lazursky did not allow him to give this theory a finished form. Further
“relationship psychology” was developed by Vladimir Nikolaevich
Myasishchev, whose work represents the pinnacle of development of the idea of ​​relationships in Russian psychology. This is one of the conclusions that E.V. Levchenko comes to, completing his detailed study of the history of the psychology of relationships
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One of the key provisions of the concept developed by V. N. Myasishchev is formulated as follows: The essence of personality is the attitude towards reality. And the category “relationships” is one of the central concepts of the concept. In psychological analysis, a personality, whole and indivisible by nature, appears before the researcher as a system of relationships; and relationships, in turn, act as structural primary elements of personality. “A person’s psychological relationships in a developed form represent an integral system of individual, selective, conscious connections of the individual with various aspects of objective reality.” In other words, relationships are considered as a mental expression of the connection between subject and object.
Psychological relationships can be described and analyzed using three components identified by V.N. Myasishchev, namely emotional, cognitive and volitional. It should be noted that the named components of the relationship correspond in modern psychology identifying three mental spheres: emotional, cognitive and motivational-behavioral. The components of a relation are not components, elements included in their structure. The concept of “attitude components” reflects the possibility of its scientific and psychological analysis from three different semantic perspectives.
In accordance with the theoretical concept, an attitude is the fruit of individual experience and is formed according to the mechanism of temporary connection. All components are closely interconnected and have a mutual influence on the formation of each of them separately. There is no consensus in the literature regarding the sequence in which the above levels are formed in the process of individual development. The results of a number of studies suggest that their formation occurs, on the one hand, in parallel, and on the other hand, at each stage of human life some kind of
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Lazursky A. F. Classification of personalities. – L., 1925.
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Levchenko E. V. History of the psychology of relationships: Author's abstract. dis.... doc. psychol. Sci. – St. Petersburg, 1995.

level comes to the fore and plays a decisive role in determining the characteristics of the two Others, modifying and developing them.
To analyze the attitude category, it is also important to take into account the time factor.
Consideration of a relationship in projection onto the time axis is a consideration of the formation and dynamics of the relationship. The attitude that arises in the process of individual development of a person does not remain unchanged; it continuously changes on the basis of new life experiences. Since each relationship arises and develops in unity with other relationships, when one relationship changes, all others change.
The variability of personality is the rule, not the exception. At the same time, one should pay attention to the fact that the variability of relationships that differ in content is very different. Relationships can be stable and unstable, ranging from momentary situational lability to high stability. But stable relationships can also be inertly persistent. The relationships included in the superficial layers of the personality structure are constantly changing to one degree or another.
And the closer to the core of the personality, the more static and intractable the relationship is to changes in the environment and in inner world person. It is important to note that changes in these deep personality relationships, if they occur, cause significant changes in other relationships as well.
Relationships act as an internal mechanism of self-regulation of activity and behavior in a particular area (by analogy with the psychological mechanism of self-esteem), and therefore, their study reveals the potential plan of the individual, its system of internal mechanisms of behavior. However, the regulatory function of attitude comes into effect only at a certain stage of ontogenesis: with the accumulation of social and professional experience, the regulatory function of attitude improves. Thus, according to V.S. Merlin, a person manifests himself as an individual only in the process of realizing consciously set goals and actively influencing the world around him. At the same time, individual methods of action to realize any goals are always determined by the active relationships of the individual. They appear in every individual trait character and individual style of human activity. If relationships as a property of consciousness as a whole are not violated, then this in itself allows a person to remain an individual, even if his basic mental processes are damaged. And on the contrary, the deformation of the relations of consciousness as a whole inevitably leads to the disintegration of the personality, even if the characteristics of mental processes remain normal. A personality can degrade or change if its relationship to people, to work or to the team changes. Only the stability and constancy of active relationships allows an individual to maintain his own reliability and resist environmental influences, overcome the resistance of external conditions, fight obstacles and ultimately achieve his goals and realize his intentions.
Currently, the concept of “relationship psychology” is quite widely used in various fields. psychological research: general psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology, medical (clinical) psychology, psychotherapy. This concept can also be used as a theoretical and methodological basis for research in the field of health psychology, since the problem of relationships has a direct connection with ensuring mental health and personal reliability.

Attitude to health
The study of the problem of attitude to health involves defining the very concept of “attitude to health.” Attitude to health is a system of individual, selective connections of the individual with various phenomena of the surrounding reality that contribute to or, conversely, threaten the health of people, as well as a certain assessment by the individual of his physical and mental state.
Attitude to health is one of the elements of self-preservation behavior.

Possessing all the characteristics inherent in a mental attitude, it contains three main components: cognitive, emotional and motivational-behavioral.
Cognitive component characterizes a person’s knowledge about his health, understanding of the role of health in life, knowledge of the main factors that have both negative (damaging) and positive (strengthening) effects on human health, etc.
Emotional component reflects a person’s experiences and feelings related to his state of health, as well as features of the emotional state caused by the deterioration of a person’s physical or mental well-being.
Motivational-behavioral
component
determines the place of health in the individual hierarchy of a person’s terminal and instrumental values, features of motivation in the field of a healthy lifestyle, and also characterizes the features of behavior in the field of health, the degree of a person’s commitment to a healthy lifestyle, and features of behavior in case of deterioration of health.
It should be noted that the concept of “attitude to health” is still relatively new to psychological science. Along with it, such terms (or concepts) are used as
“belief”, “attitude”, “internal picture of health”, etc. This reflects, on the one hand, the growing interest in this issue, and on the other hand, the variety of principles and ways of research and the instability of the conceptual apparatus that is used in the area under consideration. All this is quite natural for a new, intensively developing research area, which is currently health psychology.
Let us dwell in more detail on the comparison of the two most frequently used concepts in the literature: “attitude to health” and “internal picture of health.”
The latter was proposed by V.M. Smirnov and T.N. Reznikova in 1983 by analogy with the concept of “internal picture of the disease.” The authors consider the internal picture of health as a kind of standard of human health, which can have a rather complex structure and include both figurative and cognitive ideas of a person about his health. Ananyev V.A. defines the internal picture of health, on the one hand, as a set of intellectual descriptions (perceptions) of a person’s health, a complex of emotional experiences and sensations, as well as his behavioral reactions, and on the other
– as a special attitude towards health, expressed in awareness of its value and an active and positive desire for its improvement.
Table 12.1
Comparative analysis structural components concepts of “attitude to health” and
"internal picture of health"
Concept “Attitude to health”
"Internal picture of health"
Cognitive component: health knowledge,
awareness of its role and influence on the basic functions and life activity of a person as a whole, understanding of the main risk and anti-risk factors.
Rational
side:
a set of ideas, conclusions and opinions of a person about the causes, content, possible prognoses, as well as optimal ways to preserve and strengthen health.
Emotional component: feelings, emotions and characteristics of experiencing health conditions and situations associated with it.
Sensual
side:
emotional experiences and a complex of sensations,
forming the general emotional background of a healthy person.
Main structural components
Behavioral
component:
behavioral features that contribute to a person’s adaptation or maladaptation to changing environmental conditions, as well as the development of behavioral strategies associated with changes in health status.
Motor-volitional
side:
a set of efforts, aspirations and specific actions of a person aimed at achieving subjectively significant goals.
Comparative analysis of the structural components of the concepts of “attitude to health” and “internal picture of health”, presented in Table. 12.1 allows us to consider them as synonymous. However, from a theoretical point of view, it seems to us that preference should be given to the category “attitude to health”, since it is most justified from the position of personality theory. Attitude to health, in essence,

integrates all psychological categories within which the concept of the internal picture of health is analyzed. This includes knowledge about health, awareness and understanding of the role of health in the process of human life, its influence on social functions, emotional and behavioral reactions. In addition, the category of “relations” has a rich history of development, relatively clearly defined content, structure, and dictates a well-known logic of analysis. It is possible to use the experience accumulated in the study of self-relationships, as well as relationships to other objects of the surrounding reality.
Attitude to health is one of the central, but still very poorly developed issues of health psychology. The search for an answer to it comes down, in essence, to one thing: how to ensure that health becomes the leading, organic need of a person throughout his entire life. life path how to help people form an adequate attitude towards their health. At the same time, it is more accurate to talk about the degree of adequacy or inadequacy, since in real life it is almost impossible to distinguish diametrically opposed types of attitudes towards health - adequate and inadequate.
Empirically fixed criteria for the degree of adequacy/inadequacy of attitudes towards health can be:
at the cognitive level - the degree of awareness or competence of a person in the field of health, knowledge of the main risk and anti-risk factors, understanding of the role of health in ensuring efficiency and longevity;
on an emotional level - optimal level of anxiety in relation to health, the ability to enjoy and enjoy the state of health;
at the motivational-behavioral level – the high importance of health in the individual hierarchy of values, the degree of formation of motivation to preserve and strengthen health, the degree of compliance of a person’s actions and actions with the requirements of a healthy lifestyle, as well as the normatively prescribed requirements of medicine, sanitation and hygiene; correspondence self-esteem the individual's physical, mental and social state of health.
Summarizing the results of experimental studies, it should be noted the paradoxical nature of the attitude towards the health of modern man, i.e. the discrepancy between a person’s need for good health, on the one hand, and his efforts aimed at maintaining and strengthening his physical and psychological well-being, on the other. Apparently, the origins of the discrepancy lie in the fact that a number of already identified reasons prevent the formation of an adequate attitude of a person towards his own health. We will try to reveal their content below.
The need for health is actualized, as a rule, in the event of its loss or
as lost. A healthy person does not notice his health, perceives it as a natural given, as a self-evident fact, without seeing it as a subject of special attention. In a state of complete physical and mental well-being, the need for health is as if not noticed by a person and falls out of his field of vision. He believes in its indestructibility and does not consider it necessary, since everything is fine, to take any special actions to preserve and strengthen health.
The action of psychological defense mechanisms, the purpose of which is justification
unhealthy behavior. In the field of health, the most common types of psychological defenses are denial and rationalization. Thus, the mechanism of action of psychological defense according to the type of denial is to block negative information “at the input” (for example, “this cannot be”) or in an effort to avoid new information(e.g., “I don’t need to undergo a medical examination because I am completely healthy”). Rationalization is mainly used to justify inadequate attitudes towards health at the behavioral level.

There is a “fashion” for health, but there are no attempts to set the task of preserving and strengthening health in the long term as a state problem.
In conclusion, I would like to once again draw attention to the fact that the correction of unfavorable features of a particular relationship, as is known, is a long and often painful process for the individual, associated with overcoming internal conflicts and negative emotional experiences. In this regard, the purposeful formation of a correct attitude towards health in the early stages of personality development: in the process of upbringing in the family and education in primary school is of particular importance.
Forming an attitude towards health is a very complex, contradictory and dynamic process; it is determined by 2 groups of factors:
internal factors: demographic (including gender, age, nationality), individual psychological and personal characteristics of a person, health status;
external factors: characteristics of the environment, including features of the social micro- and macroenvironment, as well as the professional environment in which the person is located.
Let's take a closer look at how some of them influence attitudes toward health.
Factors influencing attitudes towards health
Gender characteristics of attitudes towards health. When talking about the influence of gender on the formation and manifestation of attitudes towards health, we will use the term
"gender characteristics". The use of this term when describing the characteristics of attitudes towards health is not only legitimate, but also necessary, since it emphasizes, first of all, the sociocultural, and not the biological, determination of differences between men and women.
Data from numerous epidemiological studies indicate
0
that for several decades economically developed countries, including in Russia, the gap in the average life expectancy of men and women is increasing, which currently reaches 10 years or more.
It is known that the following factors influence the state of health: environmental conditions, socio-economic conditions (including the quality of medical care), genotype (or congenital features body), as well as lifestyle. Let us dwell on them in more detail: the direct influence of socio-economic living conditions as a factor determining the health and life expectancy of the population by gender is unlikely, since modern level the development of society is characterized by an increase in the well-being of the population, an improvement in the culture of life, constantly improving medical knowledge and services for all people, regardless of their gender; men and women living in the same region (country, city) are also exposed to environmental influences to the same extent; the biological advantage of the female body, according to various researchers, ranges (or is) from 1.5 to 2.5 years; It remains to look for an explanation in the action of psychological factors, which can rightfully include attitudes to health.
What are the main differences in the attitude of women and men to their health? Before we begin to consider them, I would like to note that, despite the prevailing opinion about the “opposite” of the sexes, there are more similarities than differences between men and women in relation to health. Both of them are characterized by a discrepancy between normative ideas about health and a healthy lifestyle, on the one hand, and real behavior, on the other.
We begin our analysis of gender differences by considering the characteristics of self-esteem.
Data from numerous experimental studies indicate that

Women have a higher self-assessment of health compared to men.
Thus, 48% of women and 30% of men rate their health as “good”; as "bad" -
4% women and 10% men. Consequently, men in general are more pessimistic about their health.
Another generally accepted and experimentally proven fact: the terminal value of health in women is higher than in men: a high value of health is characteristic of 50% of men and 65% of women. These differences, which seem insignificant at first glance, become more pronounced when comparative analysis hierarchies of terminal values, which shows: the dominant need in the system of terminal values ​​of women is health, and that of men is work (career). Health as a value in the system of terminal values ​​of men is only in third or fourth place. At the same time, the instrumental value of health is higher in men.
Consequently, it can be assumed that they are more inclined to sacrifice their health for the sake of a professional career and are ready to “burn out at work”; this reflects existing sociocultural norms.
Despite the fact that health as a value occupies a fairly high place in the hierarchy of individual values ​​of both men and women, both are generally characterized by a fairly low level of behavioral activity aimed at preserving and strengthening health. However, it should be noted that women’s attitude towards their health is more active and more consistent with the requirements of a healthy lifestyle: they begin to take care of their health earlier, pay more attention to proper nutrition, more often visit doctors for preventive purposes, and are also less likely to practice harmful health habits. And among men, especially young men, due to a false understanding of masculinity, there is often a tendency to accept and implement a life program that in the future worsens (or undermines) their health. Following cultural stereotypes of “male” behavior, they behave in accordance with the principle “it is better to live less, but for your own pleasure.”
In a situation of deterioration in health, both men and women in most cases prefer to take measures on their own to improve their health.
But there are some differences: women, in case of malaise, are more likely to turn to the help of non-specialists (friends, acquaintances, relatives), and for men it is more common to not pay attention to the malaise, i.e. to react according to the principle of denial.
Interesting gender features are revealed during analysis emotions,
arising in connection with deteriorating health conditions. For both men and women, the most common feelings in this situation are concern, frustration, and regret.
How do the experiences of men and women differ? Statistically significant differences are that in case of deterioration of health in women, the level of anxiety increases, and in men, on the contrary, it decreases. Women are more sensitive to changes in their well-being; they often experience a feeling of fear upon learning about the deterioration of their health, while men are more relaxed about the deterioration of their health. It is possible that the results obtained are associated with socially approved stereotypes of male and female behavior, according to which a man should always be strong and not be afraid of anything, while a woman can easily allow herself to be weak.
Summarizing the consideration of gender characteristics of attitudes towards health, we can note the following: in general, women are characterized by a higher level of adequacy of attitudes towards health compared to men.
The influence of age on attitudes towards health. As is known, mental attitude
is a dynamic personal formation that undergoes certain changes in the process of life. Therefore, there are probably some patterns in the development of health attitudes depending on a person’s age. The specialized literature provides a description of such patterns,

but only in connection with the attitude towards the disease. Thus, it is argued that the attitude towards the disease tends to change from underestimation at a young age to an adequate understanding of it in adulthood, overestimation in the elderly and again underestimation in old age
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It is possible that attitudes toward health are undergoing similar changes. Let's look at some of these features in more detail.
First of all, it should be noted that there is age dynamics of significance
health. Representatives of the middle and especially older generations most often give it a priority role. Young people usually treat the problem of health as something quite important, but abstract and not directly related to them. Their hierarchy of values ​​is dominated by material goods and career. If they pay attention to health, it is mainly its physical component. The role of mental and social health does not find its due place in their understanding.
One of the most pronounced age-related patterns is the following: there is an inverse relationship between age and the level of responsibility for maintaining one’s health. So, for example, in age group up to 35 years of age, about 25% of respondents associate their health status mainly with internal (personal) characteristics. As the age of respondents increases, the responsibility index decreases
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. In other words, young people are characterized by an internal orientation of consciousness in explaining emerging health problems, and for people in the older age group, on the contrary, it is external.
Internality/externality in the field of health characterizes the level of development of a person’s sense of personal responsibility for the state of his health (well-being). In the first case, a person interprets significant events as a result of his own activities, he believes that he can control them, and therefore feels his own responsibility for these events. In the second case, a person believes that what is happening to him is the action of external forces (chance, other people, etc.); he does not see the connection between his own actions and the events that happen to him.
There is reason to believe that this generalized characteristic has a regulatory influence on many aspects of human behavior and plays an important role in shaping attitudes toward health.
Concerning age characteristics health-related behavior, it is important to take into account the fact that the degree of regularity of a person’s care for his health largely depends on his age. Thus, in the first half of life (up to 30 years) it is determined mainly by the formation of the need for self-preservation, and in the second half - by the actual state of health. After 30 years, caring for health becomes more forced and associated with the need to correct “poor” health.
Age and self-rated health are inversely related. For example, with age, the number of negative self-evaluations increases and the number of positive ones decreases. Moreover, the line at which the “leap” in the deterioration of health occurs is approximately 35 years old, evidence of which can be significant differences in self-assessment of health between the age group of 30-34 years and the group of 35-39 years (Table 12.2). This means that when planning preventive measures aimed at improving health, this age group needs to be given increased attention.
Table 12.2
Distribution of health scores by age
Self-rated health
Age
good
Satisfactory
Bad
Don't know
30-34 37,9 41,4 3,4 17,2 64
Kvasenko A. V., Zubrev Yu. G. Psychology of the patient. – L.: Medicine, 1980.
65
Brown J., Rusinova N. L. Sociocultural orientations of consciousness and attitude towards individual responsibility for health, patient autonomy and medical paternalism // Quality of the population
St. Petersburg/Rep. ed. B. M. Firsov - St. Petersburg, 1996. - P.132-159.

35-39 14,0 67,4 7,0 11,6
Thus, we can conclude that with age, attitudes towards health become more controversial nature. So, on the one hand, as age increases, the value of health (both terminal and instrumental) increases, and on the other hand, the level of behavioral activity aimed at maintaining and strengthening it decreases. At the same time, a decrease in the level of internality in the field of health is the result of psychological defense mechanisms aimed at masking true experiences related to health.
The influence of professional activity on attitudes towards health. The attitude towards health of modern executives or managers has its own characteristics.
Numerous studies indicate that management activities are currently characterized by big amount stressors: handling large amounts of information; the need to make decisions under time pressure; the burden of responsibility; constant neuropsychic stress; conflicts with subordinates and senior management; long working hours, physical inactivity, etc. It has also been established that such practices are widespread among managers psychosomatic diseases such as chronic headaches, insomnia, digestive disorders; in addition, an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Despite all of the above, the health of managers, according to foreign studies (mainly), is subject to the so-called class gradient i.e., always better than other employees in the organization. And attention to the professional health of managers is thus not due to its worse condition compared to other employees, but to the fact that even a slight violation of neuropsychic health has a significant impact on both the efficiency of the functioning (or life activity) of the organization as a whole, and on well-being of individual employees. Consequently, the ability to take care of one’s health – both physical and mental – can be considered today as a professionally important quality of a Manager, ensuring high efficiency of management activities. In this case, the effectiveness of professional activity means not only high productivity and quality of work, but also their relationship with the efforts that a person expended to achieve the result. And a situation where health becomes the “price” of professional success cannot be considered the norm of modern life.
Let us proceed directly to the consideration of the peculiarities of attitudes towards health.
yu of modern leaders.
At the cognitive level of attitude towards health, modern managers are characterized by a fairly adequate understanding of health. Thus, the results of ranking factors that influence health, such as the environmental situation, lifestyle, professional activity and quality of medical care, basically coincide with the generally accepted point of view on this issue.
According to managers, the most significant influence on health status is exerted by lifestyle, and the least important is the quality of medical care.
It should be noted that managers are characterized by a one-sided idea of ​​the impact of professional activity on health. On the one hand, they have a completely adequate understanding of the factors that have a negative impact on professional health, and on the other hand, they have practically no idea of ​​the factors that contribute to its maintenance and strengthening. Installed:
A negative impact on health is exerted, first of all, by such features of managerial activity as emotional stress, lack of time, burden of responsibility, as well as long working hours.
The results of experimental studies in the field of studying managerial stress generally confirm the data obtained.
The following features have a positive impact on the health of managers:

management activities, as the ability to independently plan one’s activities and show initiative, the ability to use one’s official position, as well as the ability to receive pleasure (or joy) from the work performed.
To maintain health, according to managers, it is necessary to regularly engage in sports or physical exercise (26%), eat right (18%), take care of your nerves (12%), and avoid bad habits (10%). Thus, managers' normative beliefs about healthy lifestyles are generally consistent with contemporary beliefs about health-related behavior.
It was also revealed that among sources of information about health (newspapers/magazines, doctors, popular science books about health, friends/acquaintances, radio/television), managers give preference to information received in the process of direct communication. Thus, their level of health awareness is primarily influenced by doctors, and then by friends and acquaintances. The data obtained confirm the important role of the social microenvironment (family, work team, informal groups) for the transfer and promotion of knowledge in the field of health. It has been shown that information received through television and radio broadcasting has the least significant impact on managers.
Data from experimental studies show that managers are characterized by a fairly low level of activity in health-related behavior.
Managers' Self-Report Data on Regularity of Use in various ways health improvement evidence: quite often, some elements of a healthy lifestyle are considered by them, apparently on an unconscious level, as a way to satisfy other needs that are currently more important and significant for them than maintaining and strengthening their health. For example, visiting a bathhouse can be considered not only as a way to maintain and strengthen health, but also as an opportunity to communicate with friends, relax in an informal setting, etc. Physical activity or sports, which, according to respondents, play a significant role in maintaining health, in turn, can be identified with a certain social status and serve as an attribute of prestige; and dieting is an important factor in maintaining good shape and a respectable appearance (in a business environment, image sometimes plays a very important role).
An analysis of the behavioral characteristics of managers in the event of a deterioration in their physical and mental well-being revealed that most managers are not inclined to seek professional help (both medical and psychological), preferring to solve their health problems on their own.
In addition, a fairly large number of managers (about 30%) prefer to simply not pay attention to it if their health worsens.
Thus, they react according to the principle of problem denial, i.e. they tend to avoid new information about their health that is incompatible with the idea that they are absolutely healthy, or they believe that deterioration in well-being is most likely the result of fatigue or overwork , and not the onset of any disease.
The majority of managers (about 50%) in a situation of illness are not inclined to seek professional help (both medical and psychological), but prefer to solve their health problems on their own: about 60% of managers engage in “self-medication” based on their past experience or following the advice of friends and acquaintances. The results obtained may indicate either a lack of trust in doctors and psychologists, a negative experience of contacting them, or ignorance of their capabilities in providing the necessary assistance.
At the same time, managers strive to explain insufficient care about health primarily by objective circumstances (lack of time, presence of more important things to do, etc.), and not by subjective factors (lack of willpower or ignorance of what needs to be done to maintain health). Let's look at the above reasons in more detail and analyze the three most important of them.

Thus, the main reason for managers’ inattention to their health is the “lack of time” factor. The first three factors also include
“there are other more important things to do.” Indeed, the combination of these factors quite accurately describes the main distinctive features of management activities in modern conditions: “time shortage” is one of the main stressors for managers, and their busyness during the working day is well known. Perhaps the above arguments would have looked more convincing if leaders had not put “lack of willpower” in second place among the reasons for insufficient health care. This prioritization allows us to put forward the hypothesis that it is subjective reasons that underlie the irresponsible and passive attitude of managers towards their health, and objective reasons are more likely a way of psychological defense according to the type of rationalization, which involves, first of all, a justificatory attitude towards their behavior or towards their principles . Moreover, harmony between a person’s real behavior and his ideas about what should be (or normative ideas) can be achieved using two options for reasoning: lowering the value of an action that failed to be performed (for example, “I don’t care about my health, because when I’m healthy , this is not necessary" or
“I have more important things to do”; 32% and 40% of managers, respectively, think this way); increasing the value of the action being performed (for example, an “unhealthy” lifestyle, including bad habits, is considered as the ability to enjoy life, and taking care of health, on the contrary, as limiting oneself in something; this point of view is shared by about 20% respondents).
Thus, it has been established that modern managers are characterized by a discrepancy between normative ideas about a healthy lifestyle and actual health-related behavior.
Perhaps the low level of activity in health-related behavior is due to the characteristics of the motivational structure of managers. As is known, in the process of individual development, each person develops his own value system and what is especially significant for him becomes the strongest or dominant motive. Let's try to understand what needs dominate the value system of a modern leader and how this affects their daily behavior. In the system of such terminal values ​​as family, material well-being, friends, health, work, recognition of others, independence,
“health” ranks second after “work (career).”
The need for health for most managers is actualized, as a rule, in the event of its loss or deterioration. Thus, about 80% of respondents begin to think about their health when their health worsens. And since managers in general are characterized by a fairly high level of self-assessment of their health (for example, 5% of respondents identified their current state of health as “excellent”, 27% – as “good” (or very good), and 37% – as “normal”), then perhaps this explains the low level of activity of behavior aimed at maintaining health.
The results of experimental studies also suggest that the most significant influence on managers’ attitude towards their health is exerted by their job status. It has been established that the lower level of behavioral activity in the field of health among senior managers is due to their inherent lower value of health (both terminal and instrumental). The dominant terminal value for senior managers is “work
(career)".
So, summing up the consideration of the characteristics of managers’ attitude towards their health, we can note that modern managers are characterized by a discrepancy between normative ideas about a healthy lifestyle and real

behavior related to health, i.e., the culture of self-preservation behavior is practically absent among most of them. Modern managers are characterized by a rather passive and consumerist attitude towards their health.

Control questions
1.
Name the main provisions of the concept “psychology of relationships” by V. N. Myasishchev.
2.
Give a definition of the concept of “attitude to health.”
3.
Name the main components of attitude towards health.
4.
Name the criteria for the degree of adequacy/inadequacy of attitude towards health.
Describe the main gender characteristics of attitudes towards health.
5.
What influence does a person’s age have on their attitude to health?
Literature
1.
Ananyev V. A. Introduction to health psychology: Textbook. allowance. – St. Petersburg: Publishing house
BPA, 1998.
2.
Gurvich I. N. Social psychology of health. – St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg State University Publishing House, 1999.
3.
Deryabo S, Yasvin V. Attitudes towards health and a healthy lifestyle: measurement methods // School Director. – 1999. – No. 2. – P. 7-16.
4.
Zhuravleva I.V., Shilova L.S., Antonova A.I. et al. Human attitude to health and life expectancy. – M., 1989.
5.
Lichko A. E. Psychology of relationships as a theoretical concept in medical psychology and psychotherapy // Journal of Neuropathology and Psychiatry named after. Korsakova S.S. -
1977. - No. 2. - S. 1883-1888.
6.
Loransky D. I., Vodogreeva L. V. A person’s attitude to health – M.:
TsNIISP, 1984.
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Myasishchev V. N. Personality and neuroses. – L.: Leningrad State University Publishing House, 1960.

Throughout the history of human existence, his attitude to his health has been determined by his ability to preserve life, to fulfill his biological and social purpose.

In the distant past, when a person felt defenseless against the forces of nature, he associated his physical state with mystical ideas. Thus, in the primitive communal system, these ideas were deified in the form of amulets, and the health measures themselves had the character of religious rites. However, in the process of evolution, man observed and drew conclusions, noted cause-and-effect relationships between health, lifestyle, environmental factors, and the healing and healing properties of nature. Already at this stage of development, there was a direct relationship between the state of a person’s health and the physical activity that he had to perform in the course of his life, the life of his family and community.

In the slave system, there is a gradual systematization of knowledge on the problems of preserving human health. It is noteworthy that even then the efforts of scientists were aimed at creating health-improving systems, such as, for example, the Chinese “Kon-fu” (about 2600 BC), the Indian “Ayur-Veda” (about 1800 BC) .), “On a healthy lifestyle” by Hippocrates (about 400 BC). In particular, a harmonious system of health improvement existed in Ancient Sparta, where physical exercise was prescribed and strictly controlled by the state, being mandatory for all citizens. High level The physical health of the Spartans still remains the standard for all subsequent generations.

Familiarity with the basic provisions of the listed systems shows that their main idea is not the treatment of diseases, but the formation, preservation and strengthening of health, as well as the use of the body’s reserve capabilities for its restoration.

Consequently, the culture of physical and mental health, hygiene of food, housing, clothing, organization of disease prevention activities, culture of reproductive behavior is one of the most ancient institutions of human society. However, as the property and social stratification of people in slave-owning communities increased, attitudes toward health gradually changed. Slave owners, indulging in excess and comfort, paid less and less attention to their health and relied more and more on doctors and treatment painful conditions. It was this circumstance that, apparently, contributed to the fact that medicine began to gradually lose its preventive purpose and began to pay primary attention to the treatment of diseases. At the same time, the luminaries of medical science back in the Middle Ages pointed out that the most effective way to longevity is maintaining health, and not treating diseases. An active preacher of this trend in medicine was Avicenna (980-1037), who in the “Canon of Medical Science” devoted the entire first volume to the formation and preservation of health.

The rulers of the Ancient East paid their doctors only for those days when they were healthy. It is well known that in ancient and modern traditional medicine of the East and South America Numerous medicines from plants and animal organs are used not only to treat diseases, but also to maintain and improve health.

More on the topic Humanity’s attitude to health in a historical perspective:

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Institutions for the formation of attitudes towards health: the state.

An important criterion for the state’s attitude towards public health is the financial costs of healthcare. A characteristic trend in this indicator is that in last years The state is increasingly shifting the costs of this budget item onto the shoulders of the population. Another indicator of the financial security of the health sector is the degree of development of the material base of sports, recreation and leisure institutions. Along with official pedagogy and healthcare, the science of the health of a healthy person is developing - valeology. "In the practice of modern Russian education appeared in its various links new item"valeology", which defines itself as the science of health and a healthy lifestyle. Its introduction, according to the valeologists themselves, is due to the current need to protect children from the influence of dysfunctional ecological environment, information overload and some other factors leading to deterioration in physical and mental health, nervous stress and negative emotions. Curricula in valeology contain a fairly large volume of provisions of occult mysticism, theosophy, anthroposophy, Agni Yoga, Krita Yoga, and Dianetics. According to religious scholars, the science of valueology contains the provisions of the occult-mystical anti-Christian movement New Age (New Age; New Century), which unites various sects, occult and pseudoscientific mystical movements. The authors of curricula on valeology are extremely hostile to traditional Russian religious denominations, especially Orthodoxy, but at the same time advertise various occult practices in large volumes. In valeology textbooks one can also find sharp criticism directed at teachers who do not use the methods of non-traditional religions in their practice. For example, one of the main developers of valueology programs, L.G. Tatarnikova, complaining that Ron Hubbard’s dianetics programs are not used in schools, accuses teachers of incompetence, arguing that “teachers continue to not understand or cannot understand that jeopardize the future of the country, its gene pool." In the “Open Letter” of 139 leading Russian scientists to the Minister of Education V.M. Filippov. contains the conclusion that "valeology is in many ways a statement of the ideology of the New Age ("New Age", "New Time", "Era of Aquarius", " New Age"), which unites various sects, occult and pseudoscientific mystical movements." Scientists also pointed out that valeology is “an undisguised spiritual aggression against our country and poses a threat to the national security of the state.” Thus, valeology, which is actively being introduced into the Russian education system today, purposefully covers all aspects human life: physical, mental, intellectual and moral - and in fact is an instrument of spiritual intervention, an information weapon aimed at destroying traditional national values ​​and creating a society built according to occult-mystical schemes. In its content, methodology, goals and objectives, it remains alien to the principles and spirit of domestic pedagogy, which has always affirmed the need close connection education and moral education personality, was aimed at developing in a person responsibility for his every step and the ability to clearly distinguish between good and evil. Today, there really is a dangerous tendency for scientifically unsubstantiated and occult teachings, pseudoscientific “health” programs and technologies to penetrate into the educational environment, which are destructive for the individual and society as a whole. There is a need for coordinated activities of representatives of science, practical pedagogy, and medicine in preserving, strengthening and shaping the physical and spiritual health of the younger generation. http://miryanin.narod.ru/valeologija.html

It should be recognized that health and a healthy lifestyle are not always a value for a person, especially if he is 14-17 years old. During this period, a person cannot be focused on what he already has. During this period, other priorities dominate: active knowledge of the world around you and yourself in this world. Health is not an end in itself, but rather a means to achieve a goal: to become an independent person, a bright individual, a recognized authority and a successful professional.
Thus, it becomes obvious that an important role is played by the “education” of every member of society regarding health as one of the main human values.

Modern trends in morbidity in developed industrial societies have updated the idea of ​​“individual responsibility” for the state of one’s health. By the second half of the 20th century, acute, mainly infectious diseases ceased to dominate the causes of mortality; they were replaced by chronic diseases that were much more complex in nature and difficult to treat. For example, Doctor of Oriental Medicine D. Chopra believes that “For modern man, illness is not a matter of necessity, but of choice: nature does not impose on us bacteria or viruses that cause various diseases: diabetes, cancer, arthritis or osteochondrosis, they are the result of wrong actions and human thoughts."

An interesting fact is that in Russia, a significant part of the population is not yet aware of progressive values ​​that affirm the primary role of the individual in shaping their health. For example, the results of a mass survey conducted in St. Petersburg indicate that 54% of respondents tend to attribute responsibility for their health mainly to external life circumstances beyond their control. And only about 25% of respondents, in response to the question: “What determines the state of your health to a greater extent?” noted the decisive role of their own efforts in maintaining health.

The concept of “attitude to health” is still relatively new to psychological science. The study of the problem of attitude to health involves defining the very concept of “attitude to health.” Attitude to health from the point of view of psychology is a system of individual, selective connections of the individual with various phenomena of the surrounding reality that promote or, conversely, threaten the health of people, as well as a certain assessment by the individual of his physical and mental state.

An experimentally proven fact: the value of health for women is higher than for men. Health is in third or fourth place in the value system of men. This may indicate, for example, that men are more inclined to sacrifice their health for the sake of their career.

Attitude to health is one of the elements of self-preservation behavior. A person’s attitude towards his health contains three main components: cognitive, emotional and motivational-behavioral.
The cognitive component characterizes a person’s knowledge about his health, understanding of the role of health in life, knowledge of the main factors that have both negative and positive effects on health.
The emotional component reflects a person’s experiences and feelings associated with his state of health, as well as features of the emotional state caused by the deterioration of a person’s physical or mental well-being.
The motivational-behavioral component determines the place of health in a person’s individual hierarchy of values, features of motivation in the field of a healthy lifestyle, and also characterizes the features of behavior in the field of health, the degree of a person’s commitment to a healthy lifestyle, and features of behavior in case of deterioration of health.

It should be especially noted that the nature of the attitude towards the health of modern people is paradoxical, namely:
- the need for health is actualized, as a rule, in the event of its loss or as it is lost;
- the action of psychological defense mechanisms, the purpose of which is to justify unhealthy behavior. For example, denial: “this cannot be” or “I do not need to undergo a medical examination because I am healthy.” Rationalization mainly manifests itself in justifying one’s inadequate attitude towards health;
- installation of a passive attitude towards health;
- the influence of a person’s past experience;
- features of the social micro- and macroenvironment;
- the effect of the reactivity theory: when people feel that their freedom to act as they wish is being “infringed” in a “danger” (a ban is imposed), a person experiences an unpleasant state of reactivity, and one can only get rid of it by committing a forbidden act (for example, smoking) and so on.
Thus, each of us should understand our “attitude towards health”, evaluate it adequately and behave accordingly.

R. A. Berezovskaya
Introductory remarks. The concept of “attitude to health” is a system of individual, selective connections of a person with various phenomena of the surrounding reality that contribute to or, conversely, threaten people’s health, and also determine the individual’s assessment of his physical and mental state.
The category of “relationships” is one of the central concepts in the concept of “relationship psychology”, which originated at the beginning of the 20th century. at the school of V. M. Bekhterev. It was initially outlined by A.F. Lazursky and S.P. Frank in their “Program for Research on Personality and Its Relation to the Environment,” published by them in 1912. The premature death of A.F. Lazursky did not allow him to give this theory a finished form. Subsequently, the psychology of relationships was developed by V. N. Myasishchev. The main point of this concept is that psychological relationships human beings represent an integral system of individual, selective, conscious connections of the individual with various aspects of objective reality. In other words, during psychological analysis, a personality, whole and indivisible by nature, appears before the investigator as a system of relationships that are considered as a mental expression of the connection between subject and object.
According to this concept, health attitudes can be described using three components. It should be noted that the decree? The emotional, cognitive and volitional components of the relationship identified by V.N. Myasishchev correspond to the three mental spheres identified in modern psychology - emotional, cognitive and motivational-behavioral. However, the components of relationships are not elements included in their structure (the relationship has integrity and inseparability). Rather, they reflect the possibility of its scientific and psychological analysis from three different semantic perspectives.
When analyzing attitudes to health, it is also important to take into account the time factor, which involves considering its formation and dynamics. Forming an attitude towards health is a very complex, contradictory and dynamic process, which is determined by two groups of factors:

• external (characteristics of the environment, including features of the social micro- and macroenvironment, as well as the professional environment in which the person is located);
• internal (individual psychological and personal characteristics of a person, as well as his state of health).

• sociological studies of public health;
• study of attitudes towards health within the framework of clinical psychology;
• valeological research.

1. - completely disagree or completely unimportant;
2. - I don’t agree, it doesn’t matter;
3. - rather disagree;
4. - I don’t know (I can’t answer);
5. - more likely to agree than not;
6. - I agree, it is very important;
7. - I absolutely agree, it is definitely important.

• cognitive;
• emotional;
• behavioral;
• value-motivational (Table 16.1).

• each statement can be analyzed separately;
• data analysis can be carried out for each question (all statements included in the this question);
• each block of questions or scale can also be considered separately (all questions and statements included in this scale are analyzed).

• at the cognitive level: the degree of a person’s awareness or competence in the field of health, knowledge of the main risk and anti-risk factors, understanding of the role of health in ensuring an active and long life;
• at the behavioral level: the degree of compliance of a person’s actions and actions with the requirements of a healthy lifestyle;
• on the emotional level: an optimal level of anxiety in relation to health, the ability to enjoy and enjoy the state of health;
• at the value-motivational level: the high importance of health in the individual hierarchy of values ​​(especially terminal ones), the degree of formation of motivation to maintain and strengthen health.

• when analyzing the definitions of the concept of “health” obtained from a study of a group of subjects, essential health attributes are considered as semantic units of content elements, and the frequency of their occurrence is determined: (% of the total number of respondents);
• in the case of an individual survey, the results of a particular subject can be correlated with the content analysis data presented in table. 16.2.

1. The majority of respondents (32%) define health as a state characterized by good health and mood (for example, “Health is calmness and confidence in the future” or “Health is vigor and good mood”).

1. Health is defined as something that does not need to be thought about or cared about until symptoms of deterioration appear (for example, “Health is a state of the body in which you do not notice its presence” (23% of respondents) or “ Good health- this is a state when you don’t have to think about illnesses, since the body does not remind you of problems” (12% of respondents)).

1. Health is characterized as the absence of painful sensations or diseases (this is the opinion of approximately 21% of respondents who claim, for example, that “Health is the absence of diseases and fear of them” or “Health is when nothing hurts”).
2. Important characteristic health 18% of respondents believe harmonious combination in a person of spiritual and physical principles (for example, “Health is physical and moral well-being” or “harmony of body and spirit”).
3. Health is also considered as a necessary condition for achieving success in various fields of activity (for example, 15% of respondents defined health as “the ability to be active and live comfortably,” the same number believe that health is “the golden key to success in everything”).

1. What are the main components of health attitudes?
2. What factors influence the formation of attitudes towards health?
3. What are the main criteria for the adequacy of attitudes towards health?