I am Mother-Father: a Study of Intra-Family Perception and Identification by Oculography and Projection Methods

Abstract

Objective. Identification of the peculiarities of adult children’s perception of themselves and their parents, the study of identification as identification (similarity) of the image of the self of adult children with the image of the father and mother using the eye-tracking technology and the projective approach.Background. Context and relevance. In the modern world, the mechanisms of identification and social perception are changing, and numerous online interactions (with strangers, strangers) occur in parallel with offline interaction. Therefore, the question of the significance of the images of parents in family identification and perception becomes open.Study design. Using oculography technology and projective procedures determined characteristics of self-perception, and then by matching and comparison revealed the degree of identification (similarity) of the image I adult children with the image of the father and mother checked the relationship of the obtained images.Participants. The study involved 132 people studying in the bachelor’s and master’s degree programs of Moscow universities, including 94 (71%) female and 38 (29%) male students. The age of the subjects-from 16 to 46 years (M=20,9, SD=6,2).Measurements. Diagnostic (oculographic and projective), comparative analysis, and mathematical statistics.Results. As a result of the study, the diagnostic procedures were evaluated, a description of the revealed specifics of self-identification, social perception and family identification was presented, and a comparative analysis of the results of perceptual and identification processes in the study participants was made.Conclusions. The process of identification, despite the multiplying and deepening virtualization of the modern world, constantly occurs in significant, subject-subject relations. The modern urban family does not “break up” into individuals, but changes the levels and forms of integration between them. The increased importance of biological family and relations with parents shows a similarity in the reproduction of its parent image, gender performance and personal properties. The mother is a significant standard for emotional and personal identification (the private sphere of self-realization) of adult children, and the father becomes such a standard for the formation of an axiological orientation (the public sphere of self-realization). In the perception of parents, there are more imitative moments, in the identification — explicative ones.