Daily Excerpt: Understanding the People around You - Preface
Excerpt from Understanding the People around You (Filatova) -
Preface
The modern man is a communicator. Every day we come in contact with dozens, sometimes even hundreds of people, from our friends to complete strangers. The efficiency of our business, as well as our social authority, leisure satisfaction, comfort and relaxation at home depend on our ability to communicate with business partners, colleagues, friends, relatives and just casual acquaintances. I would even pre- fer to say «the art of communication» instead of «ability to communicate», because true communication is a creative act rather than a craft skill. One can master rules of courtesy, but they are not enough to understand people’s motivation, to predict their reaction to our words and deeds. Too often we presume that other people would act in the same way as we do. Sadly, very often such presumptions result in frustration and disappointment. Other people’s souls are often hidden in «darkness». Is it really pos- sible to communicate with such «dark shadows»? How nice would it be to dissipate the mysterious darkness and to find a road map! Not too long ago there was no such map; now it’s available! A new science of interpersonal communication called Socionics offers us such a road map.
According to scientific tradition, communication is considered a subject of psychology. Social psychologists pay especially great attention to this subject. They have published large monographs, numerous manuals, hundreds of articles dedicated to problems of human communication; however, they wisely suspended direct advice, strict classifications, and algorithms of communication activities. For them, communication remains terra incognita, just like thinking, memory, and conscience. The young science Socionics was created not by professional psychologists, but by economists, mathematicians, and physicists who think in terms of models and theories, not single facts. The result is an interesting scientific hybrid — a traditional Humanitarian subject researched by scientific methods. The hybrid proved to be not only viable but very productive as well. I believe that socionic formulae and schemes have the same meaning for human studies as the Periodical Table for chemistry.
However, it would be wrong to say that Socionics rejects the scientific background of the classical psychology. On the contrary, Socionics uses it in the most rational way.
The starting point of the socionic theory is the fundamental psychological typology proposed by Carl Gustav Jung, an established authority of 20th century psychology. In Socionics Jung’s ideas acquire a rational and logical shape. The most important achievement of Socionics is its theory of intertype relationships. This theory is a real scientific discovery. Psychology has not known anything like that before. The inter- type relationships determine the nature of interpersonal communication from aggressive and conflicting to peaceful and comfortable. By knowing your own psychological type and being capable of determining those of other people, by knowing how these types work together, you will be able to predict with whom you can or cannot easily get along. Young women who understand Socionics make correct choices of their partners to create happy families.
The author of this book Ekaterina Filatova is one of the pioneers of Socionics in Russia. She began her scientific career in physics, for many years she lectured in various fields of physics at several universities, and became an experienced and established university professor. Still, she felt that she was missing something really important in her professional self-fulfillment. She was introduced to Socionics in the late 1980s, and this acquaintance completely changed her life. Her intellectual, emotional, and moral potential found a great field of application. A university professor became a pioneer and discoverer of perspectives of a new science. Numerous experiments with participation of hundreds of enthusiastic students attracted by Filatova’s lectures became sources of valuable socionic knowledge. Critical study of publications, discussions with colleagues, preparation and publication of six monographs in Socionics, as well, as multiple theoretical and popular scientific articles — this was Ekaterina Filatova’s way toward the book you are holding in your hands.
This book is not a compilation of various authors’ works but a complete study of a single author that is able to meet expectations of the most demanding reader. Ekaterina Filatova represents the humanistic trend in the modern Socionics. She treats Socionics as a science of understanding and agreement between people. For every human being, humanistic communication with other people is a true island of salvation in the cruel world of competition, uncertainty, threats, and stresses. For this reason, everybody needs Socionics. The modern human needs three kinds of literacy: orthographic literacy, computer literacy, and communicative literacy. Ekaterina Filatova’s book is an excellent manual in communication addressed to people of all ages, occupations, and with different life experience.
Member of the Russian Academy
of Natural Sciences, Professor
A.V.Sokolov
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