Affiliation: what is it in psychology? affiliative need and motives for affiliation

Achievement and affiliation motivation

People need the desire for success in society for self-realization. Motivation for affiliation and achievement are interrelated and depend on the individual’s need to become successful through establishing contacts and connections. Psychologists have identified 3 degrees or motives of affiliation:

High affiliation
means that the motive for wanting to be accepted is high, and the fear of being rejected is low. Prevails in people with an extroverted orientation, with a demonstrative or hysterical character, and sanguine in temperament. Such individuals need a lot of attention from others, loneliness is unacceptable for them, all achievements occur only in close cooperation with people.
Average (intermediate) affiliation
- characterized by low levels of desire to be accepted and fear of rejection. These people feel equally calm in a large company and alone.
Low affiliation
– high fear of rejection. The affiliation motive is low. In childhood, the individual experienced the sad experience of rejection by parents or loved ones, traumatization. Low affiliation is not always an alarming indicator; there are introverted people for whom loneliness is comfortable - they are self-sufficient and productive in creativity: writers, scientists, artists.

Affiliation in Psychology

How is affiliation characterized in psychology? This is a person’s desire to establish an emotional connection with people, where acceptance and affection are the main ones. Affiliation in psychology is the desire to earn trust and be accepted by other people. Typically, deep and trusting relationships are built between people who mutually exhibit the following qualities:

Emotional appeal.
Ease.
Understanding.
Confidence.

All people need communication. This desire arises especially acutely when a person is in a state of danger. Why do people seek relationships? This allows them to:

Increase performance, which arises from feelings of joy and happiness.
Experience mental satisfaction.
Overcome stress. At the same time, it is close people who become the first source of anxiety, complexes, stress and other negative experiences.
Increase self-esteem if you have good relationships with the right people.

Friends are not needed just because everything they can give you can give to yourself! According to this principle, self-sufficient people live who can do without outside help. That’s why many people may not worry that they don’t have friends: they, most likely, simply don’t need them, because they can help themselves, support themselves, have fun, and keep company! The issue of friendship can be of concern only because it is customary in society to have friends. But if you don’t have them, then don’t be upset. Perhaps you just need a beloved partner with whom you will start a family, as well as just acquaintances with whom you can meet and chat once every five years.

There are two leadership positions that a person takes in relation to those who have become his followers: when he leads and when he simply tells people where to go, and they themselves act in this direction. The second leadership position is uncommon and new. Usually in companies, the leader leads people, directing and subordinating them. But there are also those who have already seen the positive sides of another leadership position, where sometimes it becomes unclear who the leader is.

In this position, the leader creates a team, distributes powers between people, loads them with responsibility, trains them or gives them the opportunity to learn - and becomes unnecessary. The leader gives a guideline, a goal to which his followers must reach. An approximate time frame is also set so that the path to achieving the goal does not take years and centuries. And how the followers will go to it, in what ways, this is left to the will of the choice of the followers themselves. The leader does not give orders or instructions. He simply selects those people who will know their responsibilities, solve all work issues themselves, develop or get an opportunity for development, without having any contact with the leader at all.

The leader in such an organization practically becomes unnecessary. All that is required of him is availability, goal setting (where everyone will go) and deadlines. Sometimes money and other resources are needed so that people can use them to do their jobs. But the work, actions, steps are chosen by the people who carry them out. The leader does not tell his subordinates what to do; they decide for themselves how to achieve the goal that the leader has set for them. The main task here is only one - to select people who are ready to think, act, develop, take responsibility, be proactive, flexible and go towards the goal that he sets for the entire team. A leader does not point or point. He sets a goal, and the followers decide for themselves how they will achieve this goal.

High and low affiliation

In psychology, affiliation is understood as the level of a person’s social needs. Each of us needs communication to varying degrees. Some people want to always be in society, see friends and colleagues at various events or parties. For others, it is enough to use the Internet to communicate - it is not for nothing that social networks and various communication programs have become so widespread, which provide not only text communication, but also allow you to see and hear the interlocutor. Still others, on the contrary, prefer privacy to noisy companies, do not like to attract attention to themselves, and even choose to work remotely in order to limit contact with others. Of course, as many people there are as many options. Affiliation is the concept that determines how excited a person is by the prospect of communicating with others.

High and low affiliation are two extremes that rarely occur in their pure form. In the first case, these are unconditional extroverts. They are open to communication, can easily start a conversation with strangers, and are often the life of the party. They cannot stand loneliness and achieve better results only when surrounded by people. The exchange of ideas and opinions “live” is important to them.

A low level of affiliation is more typical of introverts. Such people, as a rule, are independent and self-sufficient; personal space is important to them. Long communication with others exhausts them, and peace of mind is restored only in solitude. It's not a lack of social skills, but a desire to establish and maintain close relationships with a small circle of friends rather than constantly meeting new people.

General information

If we open the psychological dictionary, we will see that affiliation refers to an emotional connection with other people, as well as the desire to establish it, to have mutual trusting relationships. Thus, the concepts of “affiliation”, “need for affiliation” and “motive for affiliation” are often confused and replaced with one another. One way or another, affiliation (less commonly, affiliation) implies the relationship of a person with society, because the word itself is derived from the English affiliation, which means “connection”, “connection”.

Since our school days we remember that man is a biosocial being.

Let us pay attention to the second root of this complex word: the need to exist in society, in the circle of other people, is inherent in each of us from birth

We are not designed to live alone. And if we do have to, then it makes us suffer—scientifically speaking, it causes frustration—a mental state in a situation of discrepancy between desires and possibilities, which is expressed in depression, anxiety, and despair. Let's remember Robinson and his passionate desire to find at least some kindred soul on a desert island!

We can talk about affiliation in relation not only to one person, but also to a group. Everything is similar: group affiliation implies that a small group seeks to become part of a larger one and, therefore, act according to its laws and rules

In the same way, a person strives to feel like he belongs to some social community, to understand what is an element of a large and important whole (most often, the role of such communities is a family or ethnic group (people)

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As a rule, affiliation increases when we experience stress and/or find ourselves in an extreme situation. This is due to two reasons. Firstly, finding himself in an unfamiliar, or even potentially dangerous, environment, a person looks for some kind of reference point, a role model, tries to understand how he should behave, and uses the example of those around him to check whether his reactions are adequate. And secondly, being close to others has been proven to calm you down, reduce anxiety and reduce the effects of stress.

Moreover, a certain interdependence between affiliation and health has been revealed. American researchers conducted surveys for several years, the results of which showed: people who communicate closely with relatives or are members of certain communities live longer and have fewer health problems. It turns out that affiliation not only helps to gain peace of mind, but also plays a more important role: it contributes to the preservation of the very existence of an individual or group.

But not everything is so rosy. A situation is quite possible (and probably familiar to everyone) when, on the contrary, society, including the closest people (family or friends), becomes a cause of stress and irritation. The fact is that the number of contacts everyone needs is strictly individual and depends on two general factors: the desire to be accepted and the fear of being rejected.

What is the role of affiliation

Affiliations of people have been studied by psychologists for a very long time, and they came to the conclusion that: Close relationships between individuals contribute to improving their health; People with weak social connections are at greater risk of premature death than those who maintain relationships with friends and family. Finnish researchers once studied cases in which one of the spouses lost his other half. So, they found that the risk of sudden death for a widower/widow doubles (!) literally a week after the death of his wife/husband.

Affiliation in Psychology

Today, the leading role is played by interpersonal relationships, the ability to interact effectively, quickly and competently with various people. Understanding the basic principles of communication, especially emotional and trusting, is of great importance not only for obtaining more optimal results from the activities of various social groups and teams, improving relationships between their members, but is also of great importance for each participant in such a process. This is due to the fact that through emotional and trusting communication an individual has the opportunity to get to know himself more, understand and, as a result, become less lonely in our changing world. Subsequently, the quality of contacts, rather than their quantity, becomes more important.

Affiliative interaction is the sum of behavioral reactions expressed in actions, development and maintenance of interpersonal relationships, the main goal of which is the formation of fairly close and trusting relationships. Such interaction differs from affiliative behavior in the presence of a clearly manifested need for affiliation, including the need for trusting and emotionally charged communication.

The main characteristics accompanying affiliative interaction are trust, ease, emotional appeal and understanding. These components are important for the development of trusting and close relationships, but depending on the development of the relationship, the importance of each component changes. In business communication, these components may be present, but the main thing will not be their combination, but the dominance (significance) of one of them. For example, in interaction with superiors, understanding will be a significant component, and in interaction with a doctor, trust will be a significant component.

So, affiliation is an emotional relationship between individuals and other subjects, which is characterized by mutual acceptance and affection.

Scientists have conducted studies that have revealed that students who prefer professional success and high income to interpersonal relationships are twice as likely to consider themselves very unhappy. In turn, closer and closer relationships relieve stress and depression. Feeling happy is closely related to trusting relationships with a large number of people, i.e. people who have trusting relationships with 5-6 individuals feel happier than people who have trusting relationships with one person. Also, the need for affiliation increases when there is danger for the individual or in a stressful situation.

In psychology, the term affiliation refers to an individual’s initial desire to be accepted by other people who surround him and to earn favor. Blocking this need can cause a feeling of alienation, loneliness, and frustration. And, conversely, relationships with trust cause mental satisfaction and increase the vitality of subjects and groups. That is why people spend so much money and effort to maintain and establish close and trusting relationships, and then suffer greatly if they are forced to break such relationships.

The paradox of this situation is that close people can subsequently act as a source of stress and frustration for affiliation partners. It has been proven that people who have close and trusting relationships have better health and are less susceptible to premature death than individuals who have weaker ties.

Ethnic affiliation

Ethnic affiliation (group affiliation) lies in the need of representatives of an ethnic group to be in a society of representatives of complementary ethnic groups and an orientation towards their support. For example, the residents of Belarus strive for an alliance with the residents of Russia. Group affiliation is a relationship between some groups that think that one of them is an integral part of another. In other words, it is the interaction of groups of various sizes and volumes, when a smaller group is absorbed by a larger one and begins to function according to its rules and laws.

In accordance with the current theory of affiliation, any individual has a more or less pronounced need to belong to a certain group. For a significant mass of people in the unstable situation of a transitional society, ethnic and family affiliation (perceiving oneself as a member of society or “family”) becomes a more acceptable method of once again feeling like some part of the whole, finding psychological help and support in traditions.

This leads to increased interest in ethnic identification, the need to consolidate the ethnic community, attempts to form an integrating national idea and ideal in new social conditions, isolation and preservation of national mythology, history, culture, etc. from the influence of other ethnic groups.

Self-identification by an individual occurs not only according to ethnic signs and characteristics, therefore ethnicity itself may be on the periphery of a person’s motivations. The importance of ethnicity is influenced not only by impartial social reality (conflicts, migrations, etc.), but also by some subjective factors, for example, the level of education of an individual.

The meaning of ethnic identification depends on the situation. Basically, the ethnic consciousness of the individual and groups is not actualized in conditions of existence in a monoethnic environment or constant ethnic relations. A factor that can increase the possibility of ethnic conflicts and increase the importance of ethnic identification is migration. It is a logical fact that the sense of ethnicity is mainly developed among non-dominant communities.

Equally important is the feeling of ethnic unity, which arises spontaneously and is formed purposefully. The belief in the existence of natural connections between members of the same ethnic society is much more important than the actual presence of such connections.

So, ethnic identity is the most important component of an individual’s social identity, the comprehension of one’s belonging to a specific ethnic society. In the structure of ethnic identity, two main components are usually distinguished: affective - assessment of the qualities of one’s group, the significance of membership in the group and the immediate attitude towards membership; cognitive – ideas and knowledge about the characteristics of one’s group, understanding oneself as a member of such a group.

Ethnicity begins to form at the age of 6-7 years. At this age, children acquire some fragmented knowledge about ethnicity. At 8-9 years old, a child already clearly identifies himself with an ethnic group, based on the place of residence, language and nationality of his parents. At the age of 10-11, ethnic identity is fully formed.

Soldatova and Ryzhova developed a methodology designed to study ethnic tendencies towards affiliation. For the empirical basis of studying the severity of the ethnic affiliation motive, they used three criteria that were previously identified by Triandis as the basis of an allocentric personality type. The first criterion is the subordination of one's own goals to group goals. The second is a pronounced identification with the ethnic group to which the individual belongs. The third is the perception of oneself as part of a group, and not the group itself, as an extension of oneself. According to the listed criteria, they selected nine pairs of evaluative opinions in accordance with the principle of contrasting group orientation and individual orientation.

What's the point?

The motive of affiliation in psychology is motivation and actions aimed at establishing new and terminating old relationships between people. An individual may have excellent communication skills, which enable him to make new acquaintances and establish informal relationships without problems. But despite this, a person may experience fear of misunderstanding, failure or rejection. That is why a person feels the need to create not one-time acquaintances, but full-fledged, long-term, close relationships. Affiliation develops over time into a person's character traits.

Motives for affiliation acquire their significance in the process of building communications. Internally, a person experiences affection and loyalty, externally this manifests itself in the desire to build cooperation, friendly relations, the desire to constantly be close to another individual. The concept of affiliation, motives for affiliation and loneliness are interconnected definitions.

How does affiliation affect health?

It is difficult to unequivocally answer why human health depends on affiliation; there are many assumptions on this matter, and most of them are at the level of common everyday sense.

According to one assumption, this is explained by the fact that people in close relationships lead an orderly lifestyle, eat better, are less susceptible to bad habits, and are more organized in their work.

It is possible that the attention of our relatives makes us take more care of our health, which those who are left to their own devices do not pay due attention to until a certain time. Perhaps a supportive society helps us to more easily overcome stressful situations and evaluate current events

Perhaps a supportive society helps us to more easily overcome stressful situations and evaluate current events.

Perhaps family and friends help maintain our self-esteem. After all, when a person is hurt by incorrect criticism or someone’s hostility, then friendly advice, consolation and encouragement can be the best medicine.

Thus, those people who have an affiliation or, in other words, an emotional connection, are happier and healthier, because their family gives them the feeling of being respected, loved and accepted. And those who solve all their problems alone and cannot speak out have a risk of developing health problems, because they keep their experiences to themselves (and all diseases, as we know, are caused by nerves).

Affiliation in Psychology

Concept of affiliation

Photo by Rheza Aulia: Pexels
Psychology textbooks say that every individual is an integral part of society, but if we talk about a person as an individual, then completely different opinions on this matter may arise.

An individual has his own set of needs and one of them is affiliation. This is an internal desire and, even more, a focus on building friendly, emotionally strong and trusting relationships with other people. This motive manifests itself in different ways at different stages of a person’s growing up, this is due to the fact that the older a person gets, the more needs, experience and motives he has.

Need for affiliation

All people entering into relationships have different goals. Difficulties in relationships arise when partners have different needs for affiliation, and also do not agree to fulfill the expectations that are imposed on them by their partners.

A relationship involves at least two people. Each of them has his own needs, which prompted him to establish connections. A person who wishes to satisfy his need for affiliation must:

Realize your desire.
Communicate his intention to the partner he has chosen.
Show that the partner is perceived as an equal, respected and accepted.

At the same time, the partner must also be in the role of someone who wants to establish contact, express their desires and positive emotions towards the partner. When reciprocity reigns, then partners are able to build stable relationships. When their needs are the same, and each takes on the role designated by the partner, this also contributes to the establishment of strong bonds.

A union develops completely unfavorably when people have different needs and demand from each other what their partners do not want to accept. Relationships become harmonious when partners understand that in order to maintain them it is necessary to take care not only of their own needs, but also to satisfy the needs of the other.

A person strives for affiliation because he wants to receive support, sympathy, love and understanding. Problems in relationships appear when people think about how to get what they want, ignoring the moment of how to give them something good in return.

One of the characteristics of love is its active and giving nature. If this is not so, and a person strives only to receive, then he loses the ability to love. Giving does not mean “I will give you if you give me,” but “I give to you without expecting anything in return.” How many of those who think they love can give without expecting anything in return? Unrequited love brings no joy, and no one encourages you to engage in emotional masochism

However, it is also important to avoid commercialism in love and not treat it only as an equal exchange

A person either loves or doesn't. His love cannot depend on how much he received in return. Naturally, in a fruitful and positive relationship there should be a balance that is born through the effort of personal will, and not as a result of mercantile claims. It is logical to assume that dedication will cause a response in the partner, although this may not happen immediately. However, in order for the fire of love to ignite, an active initial impulse of a loving person is necessary. Often love does not receive an immediate response, but over time a balance is established. This would be impossible if the initiator stopped giving and began demanding returns. Love also cannot flourish if both partners are only capable of demanding. Love cannot be demanded, it must be a voluntary act of self-giving. You cannot strive to possess a partner, you need to give yourself, only hoping for a return.

It is a mistake to think that a person is obliged to respond with emotional dedication. Sometimes people bitterly reproach their lovers for changing their minds and deciding to end the relationship. They feel robbed, as if they paid money for a low-quality product or did not receive it at all.

SIGNALS OF PEACEFUL INTENTIONS

What about our pets? It is very important for dogs to be in a group, and therefore they need to be able to show their friendly intentions. Touching, pushing with the muzzle, leaning sideways, maintaining a close distance, resting, clinging closely to the owner, if you are not being chased and stroked, tell the animal: “You belong” - and this calms you down. Dogs shorten their distance from their owners and cling to them in situations that they consider threatening or uncertain.

It's more difficult with cats. However, even a cat “living on its own” has forms of affiliative behavior that allow it to declare its peaceful intentions and, if possible, reassure a potential aggressor.

The approach of a cat with its tail raised almost vertically, the tip of which is bent towards the one to whom it is heading, I think is known to everyone. Scientists have shown that the tail-up approach is most often demonstrated by a lower-ranking individual in relation to higher-ranking cats (or owners). An animal, by raising its tail up, conveys specific information: it recognizes the higher rank of the signal recipient or doubts his intentions, but just in case, informs him of his desire to interact peacefully. The recipient of the signal may not respond, and the interaction ends. If the other animal also raises its “tail up,” then, most likely, the interaction will continue, and it will be followed by “nose sniffing” and “mutual friction” (the cat rubs its body, head, neck along the body of another cat or on a part of the body of its beloved owner ). All of this adds up to greeting behavior. By the way, more often it is cats who take the initiative in affiliative interactions, not cats. Moreover, “tail up” and “rubbing” are more often demonstrated by females in relation to males, and “nose sniffing” is more often shown by males in relation to females.

Scientists believe that the “tail up” signal of peaceful intentions in cats evolved from the behavior of kittens greeting their mother (or other adult cats). When the kittens see their mother, they approach her with their tails raised, rubbing their foreheads and then the top of their heads against her chin. This sequence is usually associated with a food requirement. During domestication, due to increased interactions with other individuals, this infantile behavior may have been retained in adult cats to deter the aggressive intentions of others.

The only other feline that uses a raised tail and “rubbing” for greetings, besides cats, is the lion. And this is not surprising, since it is lions that are capable of living in groups consisting, like domesticated cats, of genetically related females, their offspring and some males.

Motivation

The motive of affiliation in psychology is maintaining relationships with others at a level that is comfortable for the subject and does not cause discomfort. The goals of cooperation are different - from showing your skills with the desire to get an assessment to managing another person.

Correct affiliation is equal cooperation between two or more people. If the roles differ greatly, the individual's emotional well-being may be harmed.

The motivation for the need for communication is manifested:

Internally - feelings of affection, loyalty.
Externally - the desire to spend time together, to cooperate profitably, to communicate more.

The motivation for affiliation maneuvers between the desire to show oneself, to receive approval from the interlocutor and the fear of being used and rejected. Any expectations from new acquaintances are formed on the basis of life experience.

Types

Psychologists distinguish 4 types of affiliation motivation:

Fear and rejection from society are clearly expressed. At the same time, there is no interest in new acquaintances or communication. A person expects a trick, hurtful words, betrayal from strangers. He begins to withdraw into himself, which causes his productivity to decrease and his interest in his own hobbies to disappear. The desire to communicate with loved ones remains, but the subject is not always able to fulfill it due to personal fears.
The motivation for acceptance is dominant. The subject is not against new acquaintances, loves communication, and cannot be alone for a long time. Sometimes this type of motivation becomes obsessive, which is why others may distance themselves from the individual.
Two main types appear clearly. Man lives in one big conflict. He wants to communicate with people, but does not trust them, he is afraid of being deceived. Actions become contradictory. Others cannot understand the goals that a person pursues.
The first two types are not expressed or appear very weakly. The subject may be alone for long periods of time. He can do without communication, but sometimes he wants to relax in the company of loved ones.

Diagnostics

To identify the predominant type of motivation, scientists have developed various diagnostic procedures. The most informative technique is affiliation motivation, which was improved by M. Sh. Magomed-Eminov. With its help, you can understand what is more dominant in a person - fear of communication or its acceptance. The technique consists of two forms with questions. One part relates to the question of acceptance, the other to the question of rejection.

What kind of theory is this?

Attachment theory was developed by psychologists John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth in the 1960s and 70s when they studied the relationship between mother and child. Before this, psychoanalysts believed that the baby maintains a relationship with its mother in order to survive, and does not experience any feelings. Bowlby and Ainsworth showed that infants do become attached to adults.

During the first months, babies really don’t care which adult is caring for them. They cry, laugh and babble to get attention. This is how the survival mechanism works: if they look at me, most likely they will also feed me.

But from two to six months, the child learns to distinguish between adults and determines the most significant one: the person who cares about him the most - even if he is angry or rarely changes his diaper. The baby does not have the opportunity to choose, so he adapts to any adult. This is how attachment is formed.

Scientists conducted an experiment with children aged six months to one and a half years and looked at how babies react to different situations - with and without their mother. Research has shown that children feel emotional attachment and there are four types:

Reliable. The child is confident that an adult close to him will be able to help, and reaches out to him if he encounters something unpleasant. Such children boldly explore everything because they feel safe. In the future, a child with a secure attachment type will become independent and self-confident, and will value love and trust.

Anxiety-resistant . It is formed if the child is not sure that an adult will come to the rescue in a difficult situation. Such children react sharply to separation from their mother, are wary of accepting strangers and are afraid to explore the world around them. When a significant adult returns, the child experiences both joy at the reunion and anger at being abandoned. With an anxious-stable attachment style, children grow into insecure adults who need constant confirmation of reciprocity from other people.

Anxious-avoidant . The child is independent and independent, does not get upset if the mother is not around, but is not happy about her coming either. Most often, these are children who early faced the indifference of adults. They stop waiting for love and affection, they try not to get attached to anyone, because they understand that in the future this will bring disappointment.

Disorganized. This group included children with contradictory behavior. They are either afraid of adults, or, on the contrary, drawn to them. Usually this type of attachment is associated with psychological trauma.

The behavior of children from the 1970s study is still being studied now that they are adults. It turned out that attachment to an adult in childhood is reflected in the relationship in a couple. Over time, attachment theory began to be considered both in the relationship between mother and child, and between lovers.

What is affiliation in psychology?

Affiliation is a natural human need to be part of a society and spend time in that society. Each of us needs to build relationships with other people, receive various emotions from communicating with them, experience affection, trust, mutual respect and other feelings.

This need is formed in us in early childhood when communicating with family and peers. For a small child, the presence of other people creates a feeling of calm and security. If he is often alone, he becomes anxious. An adult also experiences comfort when surrounded by close people, but from prolonged loneliness he can become depressed.

Psychologists believe that affiliation is a consequence of upbringing and has a reasonable cause. For a child, being constantly surrounded by family is the key to safety and well-being. This perception is reinforced in him, and in the future an adult will also constantly need the presence of close people. At the same time, he strives to be part of several independent groups: family, circle of friends, work team.

Definition of the concept

Affiliation is a person’s need to be accepted into a reference group, based on his desire to establish trusting, close relationships with other people. This is due to the fact that man is a social being. Affiliation in psychology is characterized by mutual disposition and unconditional acceptance that arises in the process of interaction between two or more individuals.

The presence of interpersonal psychological attachment helps a person to more easily endure difficult life situations and deal with stress. If for some reason a person fails to satisfy his need to make a good impression, he becomes alienated, suffers from loneliness, and becomes depressed.

Psychologists are confident that such a social phenomenon as affiliation grows out of the characteristics of child-parent relationships and the structure of the family system, since the child copies the model of interaction with parents within the family. In the future, it is implemented in the process of cooperation with peers. An adult, showing prudence, tries to satisfy the expectations of his sponsors and employers through the desire to be attractive.

Abuse

One type of violence that is psychological in nature. Goal: to lower the partner’s self-esteem as much as possible, insult, force him to obey. This behavior is usually typical of domestic tyrants. All phrases are pronounced in the imperative mood and do not imply any objections. Other characteristic features of an abuser are harshness and ultimatum.

Many people confuse abuse with care, naively believing that all ridiculous taboos are made with the best intentions. This is not true: the abuser simply wants to dominate.

Abuse can also have other forms: physical (violence), sexual (forced intimacy), economic (total control over finances).

Higher affiliation motivations

Love for another individual is the highest manifestation of affiliative motives. This category is determined by ease in communication, confidence in one’s actions and words, courage, sincerity and openness. Motives for affiliation are closely related to the basic human need to gain social approval, the desire to assert oneself and realize oneself. Psychologists note that people with an increased need for communication usually evoke positive emotions and sympathy in others, because relationships with them are of a trusting nature. In contrast to affiliation is the motive of rejection. This category manifests itself in the fear of being misunderstood and not accepted by the people most important to a person. If this motive dominates, then the person’s character is replete with such traits as uncertainty, isolation, and constraint.

The features of the manifestation of the motives of affiliation and power differ from the motive of achievement and anxiety primarily in their social nature. That is why a person can satisfy affiliative motives through interaction with others.

What is affiliation?

A person feels the need to build relationships with other people. This is exactly what is meant by affiliation - the desire to contact others through building friendship, love or business relationships with them. Everyone wants these relationships to be rich, close, trusting and positively emotionally charged. Although even the appearance of enemies can have its advantages - a person does not remain alone.

Affiliation is determined by the nature of the relationship that a person had with his parents in childhood. In adulthood, a person simply repeats the model of relationships that he had with his parents as a child:

If the parents treated the child coldly, then in the future he will also treat others.
If the parents loved the child completely, then he will also love his friends and loved ones.
If the parents constantly demanded something from the child, then he will also show demanding behavior in the future.

However, children often act in exactly the opposite way than their parents. For example, with excessive parental love, children grow up who selfishly build relationships with others.

Motivation

In psychological research and direct diagnostics, much attention is paid not only to the severity, but also to the motives of affiliation. Even with an identical level of sociability, the goals of making contacts themselves can be very different. Some people simply build equal interactions. Others seek to assert themselves emotionally. Still others try to put pressure on others and use them for their own purposes.

Real affiliation presupposes equal cooperation. When the scales tip towards one of the participants in the communication process, this is immediately recognized. Of course, there can be no talk of any trust and mutual respect after this.

What is important is that past experience of interaction during communication directly determines expectations. If they have repeatedly tried to “use” a person for some of their own purposes, it will be very difficult to avoid mistrust and destroy it

Conversely, those who interacted with positive, friendly people henceforth default to greater acceptance. When both expectations are low, a person is simply not interested in further interpersonal interaction, he is reluctant to engage in it. It is also obvious that affiliation greatly increases or decreases the chances of new successful communication, depending on the prevailing stereotype.

The survey involves clarifying points such as:

preferred behavior in a bad mood;
ease of establishing contacts;
what brings more positivity - a pleasant film (book) or friendly company;
tendency to talk to others about your emotions;
preferred vacation spot (quiet corner or bustling resort);
craving for personal or team work;
level of fear when speaking up;
priority of independence and freedom or close attachment;
number of close friends;
everyday entertainment - in a group or not.

The scale of the strength of the desire to communicate is supplemented with a scale of fear of being rejected by other people. Questions that might be asked for assessment include:

whether the person will go on a visit or somewhere else where there are people who are ill-disposed towards him;
Are there any concerns when visiting unfamiliar people;
how strong is the negativity from negative statements made by friends in the presence of other people;
how inclined a person is to express his own opinions, assessments and judgments to poorly acquainted or even strangers;
what is the tendency to open criticism and expectations of it from others;
whether the desire to use the help of others is expressed;
how long do experiences from negative statements from strangers last;
whether a person’s thoughts are on the correct behavior when communicating with someone who was previously unfamiliar.

Affiliation motivation

The content of motivation for affiliation is to maintain relationships with such a degree of intimacy that suits the person and does not cause discomfort. The goals in this case can vary significantly - from attempts to impress another person to the desire to exert an influence of power.

Affiliation presupposes partnership, and an asymmetrical distribution of roles destroys it, leading in severe cases to social phobias. If a person perceives that an attempt has been made to humiliate him or to use him to satisfy someone else's needs, this may harm his need for affiliation. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the value of communication in the eyes of a partner, establish a trusting relationship and ensure that sympathy and friendly support are mutual. Achieving and maintaining relationships of this kind is facilitated by many verbal and non-verbal means - the number and positive content of statements, a friendly facial expression, the duration of eye contact, posture, gestures and other modes of behavior.

Affiliation motivation correlates, on the one hand, with the need to assert oneself and gain approval, and on the other, with the fear of rejection. Based on past experience, appropriate expectations are formed. For example, if the need to communicate with strangers is associated with the expectation of success, then the attractiveness of this situation will be high, and vice versa. Accordingly, a person either strives for other people, looks for comrades in them and trusts them, or treats them with suspicion and avoids them. If both types of expectations are low, then disinterest and indifference are manifested in interpersonal interactions.

Affiliation significantly influences the process and result of communication - after all, making a new acquaintance will happen in a friendly and relaxed manner or, on the contrary, timidly, awkwardly and hostilely. Since positive experience increases affiliation, and negative experience decreases it, each time the previously established stereotype will be consolidated or gradually destroyed.

In psychology, affiliation and its motives can be measured - for example, using the Mehrabian technique. The projective technique is more reliable, but due to its complexity, a test is mainly used. His scale is divided into 2 parts, one of which is designed to assess the strength of the desire to communicate, and the other - the fear of being rejected.

As a result of scoring, 4 typical combinations of these two motives are possible with the following interpretation:

A strong desire to be accepted by others (SP) with a pronounced fear of rejection (FR). This combination of motives is characteristic of internal conflict in people who simultaneously want to be in society and avoid dating;
High SP and low CO. These people actively establish contacts and receive only joy from communication;
Small level of SP and large level of CO. This result occurs in those who seek solitude and avoid interpersonal interaction;
Low importance of both affiliation motives. It is common for everyone who lives among people, communicates with them, but does not experience either positive or negative emotions and feels normal both in company and without it.

If the test showed average motivation scores, then nothing definite can be said about the person’s expected social behavior and his experiences.

Based on the calculation of the level of affiliation, you can, for example, choose your occupation. For educators, teachers, doctors, lawyers and representatives of other professions related to communication, affiliation should be one of the main needs.

How to register an affiliation

Information about the organization is freely identifiable. All profiles will be correct only if the structure is correct. Careless and inattentive attitude of article authors and publishers to the compilation of initial affiliation information entails the loss of data from scientometric databases.

The scale of this problem is enormous in percentage terms. Here is just one fact: in 2014, 7,415 Russian articles were published in Scopus journals. Of these, 4,041 articles did not show a country. Subsequently, such articles were not included in the list of Russian publications. There are also so-called “homeless publications” with partial affiliation that are not indexed by scientometric databases. They do not appear in organization profiles and are not registered in author profiles. The annual share of such publications in Scopus journals from the entire body of Russian articles is 1.5%.

Affiliation determines the success of an organization and its employees. This is determined by many factors, the main one of which is citation. It helps prevent the loss of publications by scientists with common surnames.

There are generally accepted European standards for strict formalization of affiliation. In order for an article to be displayed in the profile of a scientific institution, it must contain the following information:

faculty or other structural unit;
scientific institution;
city;
postcode;
country.

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However, the order of this information may vary among different publishers. Here are some options for the sequence of information:

scientific institution, city, country;
scientific institution, city with zip code, country;
scientific institution, home address, city with zip code, country;
faculty or other structural unit, scientific institution, city, country;
faculty, etc., scientific institution, city with zip code, country;
faculty, etc., scientific institution, home address, city with zip code, country;

It is these variations in the order of data with punctuation that are generally accepted when writing affiliations based on foreign models.

Specificity of motives

Despite the fact that the motives for affiliation are viewed mainly from a positive position, the goals can be very different. For example, they may be based on the desire to impress people in order to gain power.

The basis of the affiliation motive is partnership; there is no place for an asymmetric division of roles. This category does not suggest using a partner to achieve personal goals, and on the contrary, such relationships destroy affiliation. For the most favorable development of affiliation relationships, the opinions of both partners must be taken into account; they must feel their own value. The features of the affiliation motive and its interaction with other motives are of paramount importance for the construction of communications.

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Who can be an affiliate

Legal entities can be affiliated with both organizations and individuals. Their list includes:

head of the executive body of a legal entity. For example, Vagit Alekperov, who formally owns 2.5% of Lukoil shares, is a person exercising the powers of the sole executive body of this company, and therefore affiliated;
member of the board of directors, supervisory board or other collegial body of a legal entity. Gregor Mowat or Timothy Demchenko do not have shares, but in 2021 are members of its board of directors, and, accordingly, are recognized as affiliates;
owners of more than 20% of shares or shares in the authorized capital. owns 50% of the shares of Rosneft PJSC and on this basis is an affiliate;
a dependent organization in which this legal entity owns more than 20% (for example, a subsidiary);
firms belonging to the same group of persons (more on this in the next chapter) as this company.

Individuals may be affiliated:

in organizations in which these individuals control more than 20% of shares in the authorized capital;
from other companies belonging to the same group as the individual.