Unyielding Standards: Characteristics and Effects on the Human Mind

Everyone likes certainty, in the sense that there are things we don't like that give us surprises. There are things in our day to day that we want to remain the same and, to achieve this, we do the same thing every day, what we call routine.

However, we also value open-mindedness. The novelty brings us a breath of fresh air in the form of greater imagination, creativity and new experiences that usually arouse good emotions.

Mental rigidity is the opposite of open-mindedness, and open-mindedness is shaped by inflexible standards, patterns of thought that are very impervious to any change for the better. Let's reflect on what it means to have too many of these standards.

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What are the inflexible standards in psychology?

We have all heard that of being closed-minded, an expression that is very widespread in popular parlance. As a general rule, it is used to refer to someone who has a lot of mental rigidity, who does not depart from a specific pattern of thought

. He or she has his own standards, inflexible and very impervious to any new idea or way of getting him out of his everyday life.

It also applies to someone who does not understand or does not want to understand a point of view other than his own, which in his world things are as they are, and that any idea outside their standards has to be out of necessity wrong.

We understand that a person has too many inflexible standards when rejects approaches, ideas or perspectives different from those you usually use in your day to day. It accommodates and closes in its own ideas and mental schemes, it does not leave them.

Deep down, you may know that certain strategies you apply in your day-to-day life are incorrect and dysfunctional, but as you afraid of change and does not know if the new involves more risks than the old, does not risk throwing off his standards inflexible.

People with too inflexible standards, of an excessively solid and fixed nature, have trouble assessing other perspectives or points of viewNot only those that come from others but also are not able to get out of that vision that they have been applying for a long time to the world around them.

They do not like the novelty for fear that they do not know if it will bring good results or, if not, it will bring them worse consequences than those obtained with the old methods. They follow the maxim of "better known bad than good to know."

Everyone has inflexible standards to some degree, and we shouldn't worry about simply having them.. Each one is at a point within a gradient that goes from the most absolute cognitive flexibility to the most static mental rigidity.

There are things in our day to day in which it is very difficult for us to question or change them, without this being a symptom of any mental disorder. We can see it with an everyday example with which surely everyone feels identified.

Think about how many times you have tried to solve a problem in the same way, over and over again, despite the fact that on more than one occasion that system has not worked for you. You know beforehand that this is a bad option, but you are afraid to try new things, it is not going to make you waste more time or give you worse results but, of course, you do not win if you do not risk.

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Characteristics of mental rigidity

The inflexible standards, and in general the mental rigidity, may acquire varying degrees of importance from a clinical psychology perspective. Being too closed-minded or systematically rejecting new ideas and behaviors can be described as troublesome phenomena, symptoms, or obsessive personality traits.

For example, from psychoanalysis, mental rigidity and inflexible standards are taken as something typical of a patient who resists change or does not want to talk about a topic that causes discomfort or afraid. This idea is closely related to the one we usually use in popular language, since the patient resists change for fear that the new will cause him some kind of existential crisis.

Too we can relate the standards to the idea of ​​the comfort zone. A person who has been following the same guidelines for years to do the things of their day to day or who have a very fixed belief system, it will not be comfortable for you to doubt them at this point in your life. her life. The comfort offered by thinking in a certain way for a long time is very great, and Any change that you want to introduce will mean going through a period of instability and uncertainty.

But despite its apparent comfort, having extremely inflexible standards has its downsides. The main ones are to always think in the same way, see the world from the same prism and not doubt ideas own works by cutting the wings for imagination, personal improvement and the discovery of new experiences and ideas. Open-mindedness is radically opposed to having inflexible standards.

As a symptom, inflexible standards, rather mental rigidity in a broader sense, can be seen in psychological conditions such as Asperger's syndrome, dementias or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (TOC).

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Characteristics of a person with too many inflexible standards

As we said, everyone has some inflexible standards, because it is inevitable that our mind is rigid in certain aspects, especially in those that have to do with our day to day. No matter how open-minded we are, we need a certain daily stability, certain guidelines that change little and that give us security knowing that they will always bring us the same results.

However, as we have also discussed, having too much mental rigidity is a problem that limits our imagination, depriving us of trying new strategies to see if, opting for a new method, we have better results than we used to have. Having too many inflexible standards does not allow us to adapt to the environment.

There are several characteristics that we can find in a person who follows too many inflexible standards:

• Refusal to open up to new perspectives
• Reluctance to change
• Rejection of new perspectives
• Rumination
• Refusal to live in the present
• Rejection of uncertainty, even if what is known implies damage

People with too many inflexible standards they get caught up in patterns of thinking and behavior that they have forged themselves, of which they refuse to let go, even though they know that it will always bring negative results.

Although they know that having too rigid a thought makes it impossible for them to develop healthy and happy bonds with others by depriving themselves of new experiences, they remain trapped in it. Excessive inflexible standards keep their victims from giving in and being held captive by their own ideas and attitudes.

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Consequences of having too many inflexible standards

When we are people with extreme cognitive rigidity, our minds are closed to new possibilities, which brings with it a series of consequences that all cause us dissatisfaction with life. Among the emotional, social and physical consequences of having too many inflexible standards are:

• Trouble adjusting to adversity
• Difficulties growing as a person
• Difficulties to grow intellectually
• Trouble make new friends
• Work problems due to not knowing how to adapt to changes at work
• Problems enjoying sex

Most of these problems are related to the idea of ​​not being able to get out of the comfort or safety zone that the person It has been created following your uncompromising standards. As he is not capable of innovating or trying anything new, at the least that there is something that is far from what is part of his daily routine or what was expected, she is confused and feels a lot of anxiety, so much that it makes it impossible for her to adapt to the new situation.