What does fortune-telling psychology mean _ psychological explanation of fortune-telling

Explain the fortune-telling phenomenon in society from the psychological point of view

Fortune-telling is an activity to analyze a person's overall fate, which belongs to the category of metaphysics. Fortune telling exists because people are afraid of an uncertain future. Individuals hope that fortune-telling can predict their own life course, so as to avoid misfortune and control their own destiny. Influenced by the concept of destiny, fortune-telling has an important influence among the masses in China. Some people even regard it as an important guide to life. They believe that mysterious providence controls their uncertain future, and if they can predict it, they can know their own destiny. With the continuous development of our society, social competition is becoming more and more fierce, and people's uncertainty about the future is also increasing, which drives more people to engage in fortune-telling activities. But fortune telling is not a positive way to help individuals effectively cope with the pressure of survival and development, but why do so many people want to cope with the pressure of life through fortune telling? This paper attempts to analyze the motivation behind fortune-telling from the perspective of social psychology.

First, turn to the fortune-telling team for analysis.

The group seeking help for fortune telling is mainly composed of people with the following characteristics:

(1) Young people who are caught in employment or marriage problems are about to enter the society, or young people who have just entered the society need to face life alone. Love, marriage and career choice are important life development tasks in this period. The success or failure of this period will affect the individual's future development. In today's increasingly competitive society, it is difficult to find an ideal job, and there is a conflict between reality and ideal, which has become an important issue for young people's career development. More and more college students turn to fortune telling, and the questions they ask are mainly about their future, especially employment. In addition, there are some people who consult about love and marriage, and they are basically in the trouble of being single or in love. Many young people often have to face the forced marriage of their parents and elders after working for one or two years, and it is hard to find an ideal partner. Even if individuals fall in love, it is inevitable that conflicts and frictions will not occur, and individuals have not learned enough ways to get along with each other in their previous growth experiences. Individuals often fall into powerlessness when facing emotional conflicts and frictions.

(2) Middle-aged people in career difficulties are at the turning point from youth to old age, and middle-aged people easily feel that time is getting more and more urgent. On the other hand, middle age is also the golden age of production and creation in life. As children grow up, parents no longer need to devote too much energy to take care of them. Middle-aged people have more time and energy to develop their talents, so as to achieve something and gain a certain social status. In the modern society with fierce competition, social resources are limited and the working-age population is increasing day by day. In order to get more resources and higher social status, middle-aged people have to work harder. Facing the competitive pressure of the times, middle-aged people will also feel at a loss, confused and at a loss. Some middle-aged people will turn to fortune telling to help them face their troubles. The main questions they usually ask are career and promotion.

(3) Older people who are worried about the development of their children and grandchildren in their later years are a life stage in which individuals are gradually aging, and individuals need to adapt to life after retirement. At this stage, the elderly will focus on family life, pay attention to the relationship with children and grandchildren, and pay attention to the development of children and grandchildren. Parents are particularly worried about their children whose careers or marriages are not yet stable, but they often feel powerless. Children's marriage and career development have become the main questions asked by the elderly in fortune telling. Old people with grandchildren will expect their grandchildren to have a bright future. In China, people think that a name symbolizes a person's life and destiny, and contains profound meanings. Old people think that fortune-tellers' names seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, which represents the blessings of their elders to their children and reflects that many people are full of hesitation and helplessness in the face of social competition.

Second, the social motivation analysis of fortune-telling phenomenon

In social life, people's behavior is influenced by social motives. Social motivation is an internal force that causes, maintains and promotes individual behavior based on social and cultural needs, and is obtained through learning. Professor David of Harvard University, USA. In 1950s, McLelland proposed that human social behavior is mainly dominated by three social motivations: achievement motivation, affinity motivation and power motivation.

In today's society, people's turn to fortune telling is closely related to these three motives:

(1) Young people who are troubled by employment and turn to fortune telling are closely related to their behavior and achievement motivation. Achievement motivation is a kind of motivation to do good deeds, which is related to personal high demands and standards and the level of personal revenge. Young people who come to tell fortune are generally full of confidence and hesitation about their future. In a highly competitive society, personal success is valued, and it is difficult for individuals without autonomy and perseverance to overcome difficulties. Moreover, the traditional social environment in China needs to cultivate children's obedience and dependence, which makes the individual's achievement motivation general, and when the social competition is fierce, he has no independent ability and poor survival ability. Moreover, what college students learn in school is inconsistent with what they use in society, which also brings difficulties to employment and enhances their anxiety.

Young people who come to tell fortune because of love and marriage problems all want to be affirmed, liked and accepted by others, which is dominated by personal affinity motivation. Affinity motivation is the internal strength and need of individuals to form groups, communicate with others and hope to be accompanied. More and more single men and women are eager to meet their affinity needs through love and marriage. However, today's popular free love mode, with individualism, intensifies the risk of marriage and greatly reduces the sense of marriage security of young people. Therefore, single men and women are eager to get married on the one hand and hesitant for various reasons on the other.

(2) Middle-aged people Middle-aged people hope to give full play to their talents, achieve social achievements and reach a certain social status, which is mainly dominated by personal achievement motives, especially power motives. Power motivation refers to people's motivation to dominate and influence others and the surrounding environment, which is related to whether individuals actively participate in social undertakings and try to play a dominant and leading role in them. Power is the power to dominate, control or influence, which symbolizes a social status. Most middle-aged people who come to fortune-telling show a desire for wealth and power, but their career development is not satisfactory. Middle-aged people with less developed careers are eager to have the power to represent social status, but when faced with limited competition for social resources, they are easily caught in a hopeless predicament.

(3) Influenced by traditional culture, the elderly who come to tell fortune usually pay close attention to their children and grandchildren, hoping that their children will have a happy marriage and a smooth career, and their grandchildren will also seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, and grow up smoothly in a highly competitive society. The elderly hope that by continuing to care for their children and grandchildren, they feel that they are still needed and immersed in close interaction with their children and grandchildren, which reflects the affinity motivation between the elderly and the elderly.

In a word, young people are facing the problems of employment, love and marriage, middle-aged people are facing the problems of career and promotion, and the elderly are worried about the growth of their children and grandchildren. This is actually a manifestation of people's inadaptability in the period of social transformation. In the period of social transformation, opportunities become more, but risks are also increasing. People are facing increasingly fierce and serious competition, and individuals will inevitably feel overwhelmed and fall into confusion and helplessness. If this anxiety mixed with confusion cannot be released through normal channels, individuals may turn to fortune tellers for help, pass on the crisis and relax themselves.

reference data

Analysis of fortune-telling from the perspective of social psychology. Academic Hall [citation time 20 18- 1-25]