Personality in simple words. The concept of personality in psychology

Knowledge of the basic principles of psychology can play an important role in the life of any person. In order for us to most productively fulfill the goals we have set for ourselves and effectively interact with the people around us, we need to have at least an idea of ​​what personality psychology is, how personality development occurs and what are the features of this process. It is important to know what the constituent elements and personality types are. By understanding these issues, we get the opportunity to make our lives more productive, comfortable and harmonious.

The following lesson on personality psychology is designed to help you understand these important fundamentals and learn how to use them in practice as effectively as possible. Here you will get acquainted with how a person and the problem of personality are viewed in psychology: you will learn its foundations and structure. And also gain insight into personality research and many other interesting topics.

What is personality?

In the modern world there is no unambiguous definition of the concept of “personality” and this is due to the complexity of the personality phenomenon itself. Any currently available definition is worthy of being taken into account when compiling the most objective and complete one.

If we talk about the most common definition, we can say that:

Personality- this is a person who has a certain set of psychological properties on which his actions that are important for society are based; the internal difference between one person and the rest.

There are several other definitions:

  • Personality it is a social subject and the totality of his personal and social roles, his preferences and habits, his knowledge and experience.
  • Personality- this is a person who independently builds and controls his life and bears full responsibility for it.

Together with the concept of “personality” in psychology, such concepts as “individual” and “individuality” are used.

Individual- this is an individual person, considered as a unique set of his innate and acquired qualities.

Individuality- a set of unique traits and characteristics that distinguish one individual from all others; the uniqueness of the human personality and psyche.

In order for anyone who shows interest in the human personality as a psychological phenomenon to have the most objective idea about it, it is necessary to highlight the key elements that make up the personality, in other words, to talk about its structure.

Personality structure

The structure of a personality is the connection and interaction of its various components: abilities, volitional qualities, character, emotions, etc. These components are its properties and differences and are called “traits.” There are quite a few of these features, and to structure them there is a division into levels:

  • Lowest level of personality These are sexual properties of the psyche, age-related, innate.
  • Second level of personality These are individual manifestations of thinking, memory, abilities, sensations, perceptions, which depend on both congenital factors and their development.
  • Third level of personality This is an individual experience that contains acquired knowledge, habits, abilities, and skills. This level is formed in the process of life and is social in nature.
  • Highest level of personality- this is its orientation, which includes interests, desires, inclinations, inclinations, beliefs, views, ideals, worldviews, self-esteem, character traits. This level is the most socially determined and formed under the influence of upbringing, and also more fully reflects the ideology of the society in which a person is located.

Why is it important and necessary to distinguish these levels from each other? At least in order to be able to objectively characterize any person (including yourself) as a person, to understand what level you are considering.

The differences between people are very multifaceted, because at each level there are differences in interests and beliefs, knowledge and experience, abilities and skills, character and temperament. It is for these reasons that it can be quite difficult to understand another person, to avoid contradictions and even conflicts. In order to understand yourself and others, you need to have a certain amount of psychological knowledge, and combine it with awareness and observation. And in this very specific issue, knowledge of key personality traits and their differences plays an important role.

Key personality traits

In psychology, personality traits are usually understood as stable mental phenomena that have a significant impact on a person’s activity and characterize him from the socio-psychological side. In other words, this is how a person manifests himself in his activities and in his relationships with others. The structure of these phenomena includes abilities, temperament, character, will, emotions, motivation. Below we will look at each of them separately.

Capabilities

When understanding why different people in the same life conditions have different results, we are often guided by the concept of “ability,” assuming that it is they who influence what a person achieves. We use the same term to find out why some people learn something faster than others, etc.

The concept " capabilities" can be interpreted in different ways. Firstly, it is a set of mental processes and states, often called the properties of the soul. Secondly, this is a high level of development of general and special skills, abilities and knowledge that ensure the effective performance of various functions by a person. And thirdly, abilities are everything that cannot be reduced to knowledge, skills and abilities, but with the help of which their acquisition, use and consolidation can be explained.

A person has a huge number of different abilities that can be divided into several categories.

Elementary and complex abilities

  • Elementary (simple) abilities- these are abilities associated with the functions of the senses and simple movements (the ability to distinguish smells, sounds, colors). They are present in a person from birth and can be improved throughout life.
  • Complex abilities- these are abilities in various activities related to human culture. For example, musical (composing music), artistic (the ability to draw), mathematical (the ability to easily solve complex mathematical problems). Such abilities are called socially conditioned, because they are not innate.

General and special abilities

  • General Abilities- these are abilities that all people have, but are developed in everyone to varying degrees (general motor, mental). They determine success and achievements in many activities (sports, learning, teaching).
  • Special Abilities- these are abilities that are not found in everyone and for which, in most cases, the presence of certain inclinations is required (artistic, visual, literary, acting, musical). Thanks to them, people achieve success in specific activities.

It should be noted that the presence of special abilities in a person can be harmoniously combined with the development of general ones, and vice versa.

Theoretical and practical

  • Theoretical abilities- these are abilities that determine an individual’s propensity for abstract logical thinking, as well as the ability to clearly set and successfully carry out theoretical tasks.
  • Practical abilities- these are abilities that are manifested in the ability to set and perform practical tasks associated with specific actions in certain life situations.

Educational and creative

  • Study Abilities- these are the abilities that determine the success of learning, assimilation of knowledge, skills and abilities.
  • Creativity- these are abilities that determine a person’s ability to create objects of spiritual and material culture, as well as influencing the production of new ideas, making discoveries, etc.

Communicative and subject-activity

  • Communication skills- these are abilities that include knowledge, skills and abilities related to communication and interaction with other people, interpersonal assessment and perception, establishing contacts, networking, finding a common language, liking oneself and influencing people.
  • Subject-related abilities- these are abilities that determine the interaction of people with inanimate objects.

All types of abilities are complementary, and it is their combination that gives a person the opportunity to develop most fully and harmoniously. Abilities influence both each other and a person’s success in life, activity and communication.

In addition to the fact that psychology uses the concept of “ability” to characterize a person, terms such as “genius”, “talent”, “giftedness” are also used, indicating more subtle nuances of a person’s individuality.

  • Giftedness- this is the presence in a person from birth of the inclinations for better development of abilities.
  • Talent- these are abilities that are revealed to the fullest extent through the acquisition of skills and experience.
  • Genius- this is an unusually high level of development of any abilities.

As we mentioned above, a person’s life outcome is very often related to his abilities and their application. And the results of the vast majority of people, unfortunately, leave much to be desired. Many people begin to search for solutions to their problems somewhere outside, when the right solution is always found within a person. You should just look inside yourself. If a person in his daily activities does not do what he has inclinations and predispositions for, then the effect from this will be, to put it mildly, unsatisfactory. One of the options to change things is to accurately determine your abilities.

If, for example, you have an innate ability to lead and manage people, and you work as a goods receiver in a warehouse, then, of course, this occupation will not bring any moral, emotional, or financial satisfaction, because you are doing something completely different from yours. business. In this situation, some kind of management position would be more suitable for you. You can start by at least working as a middle manager. Innate leadership abilities, when systematically used and developed, will take you to a completely different level. Set aside time in your schedule to determine your inclinations and abilities, study yourself, try to understand what you really want to do and what will bring you pleasure. Based on the results obtained, it will be possible to draw a conclusion on the direction in which to move further.

To determine abilities and inclinations, there are now a huge number of tests and techniques. You can read more about abilities.

An aptitude test will appear here soon.

Along with abilities, as one of the main personality traits, temperament can be distinguished.

Temperament

Temperament call a set of properties that characterize the dynamic features of mental processes and human states (their occurrence, change, strength, speed, cessation), as well as his behavior.

The idea of ​​temperament goes back to the works of Hippocrates, an ancient Greek philosopher who lived in the 5th century. BC It was he who defined the different types of temperaments that people use to this day: melancholic, choleric, phlegmatic, sanguine.

Melancholic temperament- this type is characteristic of people of a gloomy mood, with a tense and complex inner life. Such people are distinguished by vulnerability, anxiety, restraint, and also by the fact that they attach great importance to everything that concerns them personally. With minor difficulties, melancholic people give up. They have little energy potential and get tired quickly.

Choleric temperament- most typical for hot-tempered people. People with this type of temperament are unrestrained, impatient, hot-tempered and impulsive. But they quickly cool down and calm down if someone meets them halfway. Cholerics are characterized by persistence and stability of interests and aspirations.

Phlegmatic temperament- These are cold-blooded people who are more prone to being in a state of inactivity than in a state of active work. They are slow to excite, but take a long time to cool down. Phlegmatic people are not resourceful; it is difficult for them to adapt to a new environment, adapt to a new way, and get rid of old habits. But at the same time, they are efficient and energetic, patient, have self-control and endurance.

Sanguine temperament Such people are cheerful, optimistic, humorists and jokers. Full of hope, sociable, easy to get along with new people. Sanguine people are distinguished by their quick reaction to external stimuli: they can easily be cheered up or angered. They actively take on new endeavors and can work for a long time. They are disciplined, can control their reactions if necessary and quickly adapt to new conditions.

These are far from complete descriptions of temperament types, but contain the most characteristic features of them. Each of them is neither good nor bad in itself unless linked to requirements and expectations. Any type of temperament can have both its disadvantages and its advantages. You can find out more about human temperament.

Having a good understanding of the influence of the type of temperament on the speed of occurrence of mental processes (perception, thinking, attention) and their intensity, on the pace and rhythm of activity, as well as on its direction, you can easily and effectively use this knowledge in everyday life.

To determine the type of temperament, it is best to use specialized tests compiled by experts in the field of personality studies.

A test for determining temperament will appear here soon.

Another fundamental property of a person’s personality is his character.

Character

Character are the methods of human interaction with the outside world and other people, acquired in certain social conditions, that constitute the type of his life activity.

In the process of communication between people, character is manifested in behavior, ways of reacting to the actions and actions of others. Manners can be delicate and tactful or rude and unceremonious. This is due to the difference in people's characters. People with the strongest or, conversely, weak character always stand out from the rest. People with strong character, as a rule, are distinguished by perseverance, perseverance, and focus. And weak-willed people are characterized by weakness of will, unpredictability, and randomness of actions. Character includes many traits that modern experts divide into three groups: communicative, business, and strong-willed.

Communicative traits are manifested in a person’s communication with others (withdrawal, sociability, responsiveness, anger, goodwill).

Business traits are manifested in everyday work activities (neatness, conscientiousness, hard work, responsibility, laziness).

Volitional traits are directly related to a person’s will (commitment, perseverance, perseverance, lack of will, compliance).

There are also motivational and instrumental character traits.

Motivational traits are those that encourage a person to act, guide and support his activity.

Instrumental traits - give behavior a certain style.

If you can get a clear idea of ​​the traits and characteristics of your character, this will allow you to understand the motivating force that guides your development and self-realization in life. This knowledge will allow you to determine which of your features are most developed and which need to be improved, as well as understand through which features of yours you interact more with the world and others. A deep understanding of yourself provides a unique opportunity to see how and why you react to life situations and events in this way, and what you need to cultivate in yourself so that your lifestyle becomes as productive and useful as possible and you can be fully realized. If you know the characteristics of your character, its pros and cons, and begin to improve yourself, you will be able to react best in a given situation, you will know how to respond to harmful or beneficial influences, what to say to another person in response to his actions and words .

A test to determine character traits will appear here soon.

One of the most important personality traits that has the most serious impact on the process of human life and its results is will.

Will

Will- this is the property of a person to consciously control his psyche and actions.

Thanks to will, a person is able to consciously control his own behavior and his mental states and processes. With the help of will, a person consciously influences the world around him, introducing into it the necessary (in his opinion) changes.

The main sign of will is associated with the fact that, in most cases, it is associated with a person making reasonable decisions, overcoming obstacles and making efforts to realize his plans. A volitional decision is made by an individual in conditions of contrasting, multidirectional needs, drives and motives that have approximately the same driving force, due to which a person always needs to choose one of two/several.

Will always implies self-restraint: acting in one way or another to achieve certain goals and results, realizing certain needs, a person acting according to his own will must always deprive himself of something else, which perhaps seems more attractive and desirable to him. Another sign of the participation of will in human behavior is the presence of a specific plan of action.

An important feature of volitional effort is the absence of emotional satisfaction, but the presence of moral satisfaction that arises as a result of the implementation of the plan (but not in the process of implementation). Very often, volitional efforts are directed not at overcoming circumstances, but at “defeating” oneself, despite one’s natural desires.

Mainly, will is what helps a person overcome life's difficulties and obstacles along the way; something that helps you achieve new results and develop. As one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, Carlos Castaneda, said: “Will is what makes you win when your mind tells you that you are defeated.” We can say that the stronger a person’s willpower, the stronger the person himself (this means, of course, not physical, but internal strength). The main practice for developing willpower is its training and hardening. You can start developing your willpower with very simple things.

For example, make it a rule to notice those tasks, the delay of which devastates you, “sucks energy” and the implementation of which, on the contrary, invigorates, charges and has a positive impact. These are the things that you are too lazy to do. For example, tidying up when you don’t feel like it at all, doing exercises in the morning by getting up half an hour earlier. An inner voice will tell you that this can be postponed or that it is not necessary to do this at all. Don't listen to him. This is the voice of your laziness. Do it as you intended - after that you will notice that you feel more energetic and alert, stronger. Or another example: identify your weaknesses (this could be aimless spending time on the Internet, watching TV, lying on the couch, sweets, etc.). Take the weakest one and give it up for a week, two, a month. Promise yourself that after a designated period you will return to your habit again (if you want, of course). And then - the most important thing: take the symbol of this weakness and keep it with you at all times. But do not give in to the provocations of the “old you” and remember the promise. This is training your willpower. Over time, you will see that you have become stronger and can move on to giving up stronger weaknesses.

But nothing can compare in the power of influence on the human psyche as another property of his personality - emotions.

Emotions

Emotions can be characterized as special individual experiences that have a pleasant or unpleasant mental coloring and are associated with the satisfaction of vital needs.

Among the main types of emotions are:

Mood - it reflects the general state of a person at a certain moment

The simplest emotions are experiences that are associated with the satisfaction of organic needs

Affects are violent, short-lived emotions that are especially manifested externally (gestures, facial expressions)

Feelings are a spectrum of experiences associated with certain objects

Passion is pronounced feelings that cannot (in most cases) be controlled

Stress is a combination of emotions and the physical state of the body

Emotions, especially feelings, affects and passions, are an invariable part of a person’s personality. All people (personalities) are very different emotionally. For example, by emotional excitability, duration of emotional experiences, predominance of negative or positive emotions. But the main sign of difference is the intensity of the emotions experienced and their direction.

Emotions have the characteristic feature of having a serious impact on a person’s life. Under the influence of certain emotions at certain moments, a person can make decisions, say something, and perform actions. As a rule, emotions are a short-lived phenomenon. But what a person sometimes does under the influence of emotions does not always give good results. And because our lesson is devoted to how to improve your life, then we should talk specifically about ways to influence it favorably.

It is important to learn to control your emotions and not give in to them. First of all, you need to remember that an emotion, whatever it is (positive or negative) is just an emotion, and it will soon pass. Therefore, if in any negative situation you feel that negative emotions are beginning to prevail in you, remember this and restrain them - this will allow you not to do or say something that you may later regret. If, thanks to some outstanding positive events in life, you experience a surge of joyful emotions, then also remember this; this practice will allow you to avoid unnecessary energy costs.

Surely, you are familiar with the situation when, some time after a moment of intense joy or delight, you feel some kind of inner devastation. Emotions are always a waste of personal energy. It’s not for nothing that the ancient Jewish king Solomon had a ring on his finger with the inscription: “This too shall pass.” Always in moments of joy or sadness, he turned his ring and read this inscription to himself in order to remember the short duration of emotional experiences.

Knowledge of what emotions are and the ability to manage them are very important aspects in the development of personality and life in general. Learn to manage your emotions and you will know yourself to the fullest. Such things as introspection and self-control, as well as various spiritual practices (meditation, yoga, etc.) allow you to master this skill. You can find information about them on the Internet. You can learn more about what emotions are in our acting training.

But, despite the importance of all the personality properties discussed above, perhaps the dominant role is occupied by another of its properties - motivation, since it influences the desire to learn more about oneself and immerse oneself in the psychology of personality, interest in something new, hitherto unknown, even if you are reading this lesson.

Motivation

In general, in human behavior there are two sides that complement each other - incentive and regulation. The incentive side ensures the activation of behavior and its direction, and the regulatory side is responsible for how behavior develops under specific conditions.

Motivation is closely related to such phenomena as motivations, intentions, motives, needs, etc. In the narrowest sense, motivation can be defined as a set of reasons that explain human behavior. This concept is based on the term “motive”.

Motive- this is any internal physiological or psychological urge responsible for the activity and purposefulness of behavior. Motives can be conscious and unconscious, imaginary and really active, meaning-forming and motivating.

The following phenomena influence human motivation:

Need is a state of human need for anything necessary for normal existence, as well as mental and physical development.

A stimulus is any internal or external factor, coupled with a motive, that controls behavior and directs it to achieve a specific goal.

Intention is a thought-out and consciously made decision that is consistent with the desire to do something.

Motivation is a person’s not fully conscious and vague (possibly) desire for something.

It is motivation that is the “fuel” of a person. Just as a car needs gasoline so that it can go further, a person needs motivation in order to strive for something, develop, and reach new heights. For example, you wanted to learn more about human psychology and personality traits, and this was the motivation for turning to this lesson. But what is a great motivation for one may be an absolute zero for another.

Knowledge about motivation, first of all, can be successfully used for yourself: think about what you want to achieve in life, make a list of your life goals. Not just what you would like to have, but exactly what makes your heart beat faster and makes you emotional. Imagine what you want as if you already have it. If you feel that it turns you on, then this is your motivation to act. We all experience periods of ups and downs in activity. And it is precisely in moments of decline that you need to remember what you should move forward for. Set a global goal, divide its achievement into intermediate stages and start taking action. Only the person who knows where he is going and takes steps towards it will reach his goal.

Also, knowledge about motivation can be used in communicating with people.

An excellent example would be a situation where you ask a person to fulfill some request (for friendship, for work, etc.). Naturally, in exchange for a service, a person wants to receive something for himself (as sad as it may be, most people are characterized by selfish interest, even if it manifests itself in some to a greater extent and in others to a lesser extent). Determine what a person needs; this will be a kind of hook that can hook him, his motivation. Show the person the benefits. If he sees that by meeting you halfway, he will be able to satisfy some essential need for him, then this will be an almost 100% guarantee that your interaction will be successful and effective.

In addition to the above material, it is worth mentioning the process of personality development. After all, everything that we considered before is closely interconnected with this process, depends on it and at the same time influences it. The topic of personality development is very unique and voluminous for describing it as a small part of one lesson, but it cannot be ignored. And therefore we will touch on it only in general terms.

Personality development

Personality development is part of overall human development. It is one of the main themes of practical psychology, but it is understood far from ambiguously. When scientists use the phrase “personal development,” they refer to at least four different topics.

  1. What are the mechanisms and dynamics of personality development (the process itself is studied)
  2. What does a person achieve in the process of his development (results are studied)
  3. In what ways and means can parents and society form a child’s personality (the actions of “educators” are examined)
  4. How can a person develop himself as a person (the actions of the person himself are studied)

The topic of personality development has always attracted many researchers and was considered from different angles. For some researchers, the greatest interest in personality development is the influence of socio-cultural characteristics, the methods of this influence and models of education. For others, the subject of close study is a person’s independent development of himself as an individual.

Personal development can be either a natural process that does not require outside participation, or a conscious, purposeful one. And the results will differ significantly from each other.

In addition to the fact that a person is able to develop himself, he can also develop others. Practical psychology is most characterized by assistance in personal development, the development of new methods and innovations in this matter, various trainings, seminars and educational programs.

Basic theories of personality research

The main directions in personality research can be identified starting around the middle of the 20th century. Next we will look at some of them, and for the most popular (Freud, Jung) we will give examples.

This is a psychodynamic approach to the study of personality. Personality development was considered by Freud from a psychosexual perspective, and he proposed a three-component personality structure:

  • Id - “it”, it contains everything inherited and embedded in the human constitution. Each individual has basic instincts: life, death and sexual, the most important of which is the third.
  • Ego - “I” is a part of the mental apparatus that is in contact with the surrounding reality. The main task at this level is self-preservation and protection.
  • Super ego - “super ego” is the so-called judge of the activities and thoughts of the ego. Three functions are performed here: conscience, introspection and the formation of ideals.

Freud's theory is perhaps the most popular of all theories in psychology. It is widely known because it reveals the deep characteristics and incentives of human behavior, in particular the strong influence of sexual desire on a person. The basic tenet of psychoanalysis is that human behavior, experience and cognition are largely determined by internal and irrational drives, and these drives are predominantly unconscious.

One of the methods of Freud's psychological theory, when studied in detail, says that you need to learn to use your excess energy and sublimate it, i.e. redirect to achieve certain goals. For example, if you notice that your child is overly active, then this activity can be directed in the right direction - by sending the child to the sports section. As another example of sublimation, we can cite the following situation: you were standing in line at the tax office and encountered an arrogant, rude and negative person. In the process, he yelled at you, insulted you, thereby causing a storm of negative emotions - an excess of energy that needs to be thrown out somewhere. To do this, you can go to the gym or pool. You yourself will not notice how all the anger will go away, and you will again be in a cheerful mood. This, of course, is a completely trivial example of sublimation, but the essence of the method can be grasped in it.

To learn more about the sublimation method, visit this page.

Knowledge of Freud's theory can also be used in another aspect - the interpretation of dreams. According to Freud, a dream is a reflection of something that is in a person’s soul, which he himself may not even be aware of. Think about what reasons could lead to you having this or that dream. Whatever comes to your mind first as an answer will make the most sense. And based on this, you should interpret your dream as a reaction of your unconscious to external circumstances. You can read Sigmund Freud's work “The Interpretation of Dreams”.

Apply Freud's knowledge in your personal life: in exploring your relationship with your loved one, you can put into practice the concepts of “transfer” and “counter-transference”. Transfer is the transfer of feelings and affections of two people to each other. Countertransfer is the reverse process. If you look into this topic in more detail, you can find out why certain problems arise in relationships, which makes it possible to resolve them as quickly as possible. It has been written about this in great detail.

Read more about Sigmund Freud's theory on Wikipedia.

Jung introduced the concept of “I” as the individual’s desire for unity and integrity. And in the classification of personality types, he put a person’s focus on himself and the object - he divided people into extroverts and introverts. In Jung's analytical psychology, personality is described as the result of the interaction of aspiration for the future and individual innate predisposition. Also, special importance is attached to the movement of the individual along the path of self-realization through balancing and integrating various elements of personality.

Jung believed that every person is born with a set of certain personal characteristics and that the external environment does not give a person the opportunity to become a person, but reveals the characteristics already inherent in it. He also identified several levels of the unconscious: individual, family, group, national, racial and collective.

According to Jung, there is a certain mental system that a person inherits at birth. It has developed over hundreds of millennia and forces people to experience and realize all life experiences in a very specific way. And this specificity is expressed in what Jung called archetypes that influence the thoughts, feelings and actions of people.

Jung's typology can be applied in practice to determine your own type of attitude or the types of attitudes of others. If, for example, you notice in yourself/others indecision, isolation, sharpness of reactions, a prevailing state of defense from the external, distrust, this indicates that your attitude/the attitude of others is of the introverted type. If you/others are open, easy to make contact, trusting, involved in unfamiliar situations, disregard caution, etc., then the attitude belongs to the extroverted type. Knowing your type of attitude (according to Jung) makes it possible to better understand yourself and others, the motives for actions and reactions, and this, in turn, will allow you to increase your effectiveness in life and build relationships with people in the most productive way.

Jung's analytical method can also be used to analyze your behavior and the behavior of others. Based on the classification of the conscious and unconscious, you can learn to identify the motives that guide your behavior and those of the people around you.

Another example: if you notice that your child, upon reaching a certain age, begins to behave hostilely towards you and tries to abstract himself from people and the world around him, then you can say with a high degree of confidence that the process of individuation has begun - the formation of individuality. This usually occurs in adolescence. According to Jung, there is a second part of the formation of individuality - when a person “returns” to the world and becomes an integral part of it, without trying to separate himself from the world. The observation method is ideal for identifying such processes.

Wikipedia.

William James' theory of personality

It divides personality analysis into 3 parts:

  • Components of personality (which are grouped into three levels)
  • Feelings and emotions evoked by constituent elements (self-esteem)
  • Actions caused by constituent elements (self-preservation and self-care).

Read more about this theory on Wikipedia.

Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler

Adler introduced the concept of “lifestyle”; it manifests itself in the attitudes and behavior of a particular individual and is formed under the influence of society. According to Adler, the personality structure is uniform, and the main thing in its development is the desire for superiority. Adler distinguished 4 types of attitudes that accompany lifestyle:

  • Control type
  • Receiving type
  • Avoidant type
  • Socially useful type

He also proposed a theory whose purpose is to help people understand themselves and those around them. Adler's ideas were the forerunners of phenomenological and humanistic psychology.

Read more about this theory on Wikipedia.

Psychosynthesis by Roberto Assagioli

Assagioli identified 8 zones (substructures) in the basic structure of the psyche:

  1. Lower unconscious
  2. Middle unconscious
  3. Higher unconscious
  4. Field of consciousness
  5. Personal "I"
  6. Higher Self
  7. Collective unconscious
  8. Subpersonality (subpersonality)

The meaning of mental development, according to Assagioli, was to increase the unity of the psyche, i.e. in the synthesis of everything in a person: body, psyche, conscious and unconscious.

Read more about this theory on Wikipedia.

Physiological (biological) approach (type theory)

This approach focused on the structure and structure of the body. There are two main works in this direction:

Ernst Kretschmer's typology

According to it, people with a certain body type have certain mental characteristics. Kretschmer identified 4 constitutional types: leptosomatic, picnic, athletic, dysplastic. Read more about this theory on Wikipedia.

Work by William Herbert Sheldon

Sheldon suggested that body shape influences personality and reflects its characteristics. He distinguished 3 body types: endomorph, ectomorph, mesomorph. Read more about this theory on Wikipedia.

Eduard Spranger's concept of personality

Spranger described 6 psychological types of man, depending on the forms of knowledge of the world: Theoretical man, Economic man, Aesthetic man, Social man, Political man, Religious man. In accordance with the spiritual values ​​of a person, the individuality of his personality is determined. Read more about this theory on Wikipedia.

Gordon Allport's Dispositional Direction

Allport put forward 2 general ideas: trait theory and the uniqueness of each person. According to Allport, every personality is unique and its uniqueness can be understood by identifying specific personality traits. This scientist introduced the concept of “proprium” - something that is recognized as one’s own in the inner world and is a distinctive feature. Proprium guides a person's life in a positive, creative, growth-seeking and evolving direction in accordance with human nature. Identity here plays the role of internal constancy. Allport also emphasized the indivisibility and integrity of the entire personality structure. Read more.

Intrapsychological approach. Kurt Lewin's theory

Lewin suggested that the driving forces of personality development are within oneself. The subject of his research was the needs and motives of human behavior. He tried to approach the study of personality as a whole and was a supporter of Gestalt psychology. Lewin proposed his own approach to understanding personality: in it, the source of the driving forces of human behavior is in the interaction of a person and a situation and is determined by his attitude towards it. This theory is called dynamic or typological. Read more about this theory on Wikipedia.

Phenomenological and humanistic theories

The main causal means of personality here is faith in the positive principle in every person, his subjective experiences and the desire to realize his potential. The main proponents of these theories were:

Abraham Harold Maslow: His key idea was the human need for self-actualization.

The existentialist movement of Viktor Frankl

Frankl was convinced that the key points in personal development are freedom, responsibility and the meaning of life. Read more about this theory on Wikipedia.

Each of the existing theories has its own uniqueness, significance and value. And each of the researchers identified and clarified the most important aspects of a person’s personality and each of them is right in their own area.

For a more complete introduction to the issues and theories of personality psychology, you can use the following books and textbooks.

  • Abulkhanova-Slavskaya K.A. Personality development in the process of life // Psychology of personality formation and development. M.: Nauka, 1981.
  • Abulkhanova K.A., Berezina T.N. Personal time and life time. St. Petersburg: Aletheya, 2001.
  • Ananyev B.G. Man as an object of knowledge // Selected psychological works. In 2 volumes. M., 1980.
  • Wittels F. Z. Freud. His personality, teaching and school. L., 1991.
  • Gippenreiter Yu.B. Introduction to general psychology. M., 1996.
  • Enikeev M.I. Fundamentals of general and legal psychology. - M., 1997.
  • Crane W. Secrets of personality formation. St. Petersburg: Prime-Eurosign, 2002.
  • Leontyev A.N. Activity. Consciousness. Personality. M., 1975.
  • Leontyev A.N. Problems of mental development. M., 1980.
  • Maslow A. Self-actualization // Personality Psychology. Texts. M.: MSU, 1982.
  • Nemov R.S. General psychology. ed. Peter, 2007.
  • Pervin L., John O. Psychology of personality. Theory and research. M., 2000.
  • Petrovsky A.V., Yaroshevsky M.G. Psychology. - M., 2000.
  • Rusalov V.M. Biological bases of individual psychological differences. M., 1979.
  • Rusalov V.M. Natural prerequisites and individual psychophysiological characteristics of personality // Personality psychology in the works of domestic psychologists. St. Petersburg, Peter, 2000.
  • Rubinshtein S.L. Fundamentals of general psychology. 2nd ed. M., 1946.
  • Rubinshtein S.L. Being and consciousness. M., 1957.
  • Rubinshtein S.L. Man and the world. M.: Nauka, 1997.
  • Rubinshtein S.L. Principles and ways of development of psychology. M., Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1959.
  • Rubinshtein S.L. Fundamentals of general psychology. M., 1946.
  • Sokolova E.E. Thirteen dialogues about psychology. M.: Smysl, 1995.
  • Stolyarenko L.D. Psychology. - Rostov-on-Don, 2004.
  • Tome H. Kahele H. Modern psychoanalysis. In 2 volumes. M.: Progress, 1996.
  • Tyson F., Tyson R. Psychoanalytic theories of development. Ekaterinburg: Business book, 1998.
  • Freud Z. Introduction to psychoanalysis: Lectures. M.: Nauka, 1989.
  • Kjell L., Ziegler D. Theories of personality. St. Petersburg, Peter, 1997.
  • Hall K., Lindsay G. Theories of personality. M., 1997.
  • Kjell L., Ziegler D. Theories of personality. St. Petersburg: Peter, 1997.
  • Experimental psychology. / Ed. P. Fresse, J. Piaget. Vol. 5. M.: Progress, 1975.
  • Jung K. Soul and Myth. Six archetypes. M.; Kyiv: JSC Perfection "Port-Royal", 1997.
  • Jung K. Psychology of the unconscious. M.: Kanon, 1994.
  • Jung K. Tavistock lectures. M., 1998.
  • Yaroshevsky M.G. Psychology in the twentieth century. M., 1974.

Test your knowledge

If you want to test your knowledge on the topic of this lesson, you can take a short test consisting of several questions. For each question, only 1 option can be correct. After you select one of the options, the system automatically moves on to the next question. The points you receive are affected by the correctness of your answers and the time spent on completion. Please note that the questions are different each time and the options are mixed.

Psychologist guest

S.Yu. Golovin. Dictionary of a practical psychologist.

PERSONALITY
- a phenomenon of social development, a specific living person with consciousness and self-awareness. Personality structure is an integral system formation, a set of socially significant mental properties, relationships and actions of an individual that have developed in the process of ontogenesis and determine his behavior as the behavior of a conscious subject of activity and communication. Personality is a self-regulating dynamic functional system of continuously interacting properties, relationships and actions that develop in the process of human ontogenesis. The core formation of personality is self-esteem, which is built on the assessment of the individual by other people and his assessment of these others. In a broad, traditional sense, personality is an individual as a subject of social relations and conscious activity. The personality structure includes all the psychological characteristics of a person, and all the morphophysiological characteristics of his body - right down to the characteristics of metabolism. The popularity and persistence of this expanded understanding in literature seems to be due to its similarity to the ordinary meaning of the word. In a narrow sense, it is a systemic quality of an individual determined by involvement in social relations, formed in joint activities and communication.

According to A.N. Leontiev, personality is a qualitatively new formation. It is formed through life in society. Therefore, only a person can be a person, and then only after reaching a certain age. In the course of activity, a person enters into relationships with other people - social relationships, and these relationships become personality-forming. From the side of the person himself, his formation and life as an individual appear primarily as development, transformation, subordination and resubordination of his motives. This concept is quite complex and requires explanation. It does not coincide with the traditional interpretation - in the broad sense. The narrowed concept allows us to isolate a very important aspect of human existence associated with the social nature of his life. Man as a social being acquires new qualities that are absent if he is considered as an isolated, non-social being. And each person from a certain time begins to make a certain contribution to the life of society and individuals. That is why, next to the concepts of personality and personal, the concept of socially significant appears. Although this significant thing may be socially unacceptable: a crime is as much a personal act as a feat. To psychologically concretize the concept of personality, it is necessary to answer at least questions about what the new formation called personality consists of, how personality is formed, and how the growth and functioning of his personality appears from the position of the subject himself. The criteria for a mature personality are:

1) the presence of hierarchy in motives in a certain sense - as the ability to overcome one’s own immediate motivations for the sake of something else - the ability to behave indirectly. It is assumed that the motives, thanks to which immediate impulses are overcome, are social in origin and meaning (simply indirect behavior may be based on a spontaneously formed hierarchy of motives, and even “spontaneous morality”: the subject may not be aware of what exactly forces him to act in a certain way" but act quite morally);

2) the ability to consciously manage one’s own behavior; this leadership is carried out on the basis of conscious motives, goals and principles (in contrast to the first criterion, here it is precisely the conscious subordination of motives that is assumed - the conscious mediation of behavior, which presupposes the presence of self-awareness as a special authority of the individual). In didactic terms, all properties, relationships and actions of an individual can be conditionally combined into four closely related functional substructures, each of which is a complex formation that plays a specific role in life:

1) regulation system;

2) stimulation system;

3) stabilization system;

4) display system. In the course of human social development, systems of regulation and stimulation constantly interact, and on their basis, increasingly complex mental properties, relationships and actions arise that direct the individual to solve life problems. The unity of the personality throughout the entire life path is ensured by the memory-continuity of goals, actions, relationships, claims, beliefs, ideals, etc. Western psychology considers the personality as an “entirely mental being.” In hormic psychology and psychoanalysis, personality was interpreted as an ensemble of irrational unconscious drives. The concepts of K. Levin, A. Maslow, G. Allport, and K. Rogers, which are very productive in terms of specific methodological solutions, also show certain limitations. But in the field of personality psychotherapy, communication training and other things, the successes of Western empirical psychology are very noticeable. In Russian psychology, personality is considered in the unity (but not identity) and sensory essence of its bearer - the individual and the conditions of the social environment. The natural properties and characteristics of the individual appear in the personality as its socially conditioned elements. Personality is the mediating link through which external influence is connected with its effect in the individual’s psyche. The emergence of a personality “of systemic quality is due to the fact that an individual, in joint activities with other individuals, changes the world and through this change transforms himself, becoming a personality. A personality is characterized by:

1) activity - the desire of the subject to go beyond his own limits, expand the scope of activity, act beyond the boundaries of the requirements of the situation and role prescriptions;

2) orientation - a stable dominant system of motives - interests, beliefs, ideals, tastes and other things in which human needs manifest themselves;

3) deep semantic structures (dynamic semantic systems, according to L. S. Vygotsky), which determine her consciousness and behavior; they are relatively resistant to verbal influences and are transformed in the activities of joint groups and collectives (the principle of activity mediation);

4) the degree of awareness of one’s relationship to reality: attitudes, attitudes, dispositions, etc. A developed personality has developed self-awareness, which does not exclude the unconscious mental regulation of certain important aspects of its activity. Subjectively, for an individual, personality appears as his Self, as a system of ideas about himself, constructed by the individual in the processes of activity and communication, which ensures the unity and identity of his personality and reveals itself in self-esteem, in a sense of self-esteem, level of aspirations, etc. The image of the Self represents that how the individual sees himself in the present, in the future, what he would like to be if he could, etc. Correlating the self-image with the real circumstances of the individual’s life allows the individual to change behavior and realize the goals of self-education. An appeal to the self-esteem and self-respect of an individual is an important factor in the directed influence on the individual during upbringing. The personality as a subject of interpersonal relations reveals itself in three representations that form a unity:

1) personality as a relatively stable set of its intra-individual qualities: symptom complexes of mental properties that form its individuality, motives, and personality orientations; personality structure, temperamental characteristics, abilities;

2) personality as the inclusion of an individual in the space of interindividual connections, where relationships and interactions that arise in a group can be interpreted as carriers of the personalities of their participants; This is how, for example, the false alternative is overcome in understanding interpersonal relationships either as group phenomena or as personal phenomena: the personal acts as a group, the group as a personal;

3) personality as the “ideal representation” of an individual in the life activities of other people, including outside their actual interaction; as a result of semantic transformations of the intellectual and affective-need spheres of other individuals, actively implemented by a person. An individual in his development experiences a socially determined need to be a person - to place himself in the life of other people, continuing his existence in them, and discovers the ability to be a person, realized in socially significant activities. The presence and characteristics of the ability to be a person can be identified using the method of reflected subjectivity. Personality development occurs in the conditions of socialization of the individual and his upbringing.

Concepts of human personality and activities are the most important in psychology. Psychology studies not consciousness in general, but the psyche of a specific person in his specific activity.

A personality is a person living in society, possessing consciousness and being an active figure in social development.

From the definition it is clear that the concept of personality cannot be identified with the concept of a person, an individual. A newborn child is not yet a person. Mentally ill people temporarily lose essential personality traits, and with severe mental illness, a “disintegration” of personality occurs.

To become a person, a person must reach a certain level of mental development.

A bearer of qualities formed personality is a mentally healthy adult.

The personality is characterized, first of all, by its belonging to society. Man does not exist outside of society, he is an integral part of society. From the first years of life, a child is surrounded by people and things created by their labor. When raising a child, adults teach him to speak, use various objects, impart knowledge and skills to him, and involve people in work and other types of social activities. But everything that a child is taught and what he practically uses bears the stamp of social relations. Things, ways of acting with them, language, morality, science are generated by society and represent its property. Thus, the emerging personality, regardless of his will, is influenced by established social relations, and then participates in them. Those thoughts, feelings and desires that a person considers to be his own are ultimately generated by the life of society, its needs, although they are of a subjective, individual nature. K. Marx, revealing the essence of personality, argued that “... it is the totality of social relations.” This should be understood both in the sense that the individual is inseparable from society, and in the fact that his consciousness and behavior depend on the specific social conditions in which he develops. It is well known, for example, that often a person brought up in an environment of exploiters has personality traits characteristic of exploiters: disdain for work, selfishness, stinginess or wastefulness, callousness, etc. And vice versa, a person brought up in an environment of exploited people most often possesses such personality traits as a sense of fraternal solidarity, collectivism, the desire for freedom and independence, respect for work and working people, and self-esteem.

However, the question of the influence of society on the formation of a person’s personality is much more complicated than it seems at first glance. The social conditions in which people live are diverse and differ in varying degrees of generality. There are social conditions that persist always and everywhere where people live, for example, communication between people through language, the productive labor necessary for society, the presence of tools and material and spiritual values ​​created by labor. These conditions for the existence of the individual are universal.

But there are also conditions of lesser generality, for example those that are characteristic of a certain historical time. The labor activity of people, the nature of communication between them, tools of labor, etc. were different under the primitive communal system, in the era of slavery, feudalism, etc. Again, slavery, feudalism, and capitalism have different forms and stages of development, territorial options .

In a class society, a person belongs to a certain class and nation, which inevitably influences the formation of his personality.

But even people belonging to the same class, nations, living in the same state, city or village, engaged in the same type of labor, have their own, even more specific, narrow social environment: they are brought up in families that are different in composition, traditions, material and cultural levels, have different friends, different responsibilities. Different relationships are established between the developing personality and the people around them, which change depending on the age of the child.

In addition, a person does not passively perceive all these influences of different generality and content. As life experience increases, knowledge and skills accumulate, and independence develops, he himself increasingly influences people and certain life circumstances, strengthening or weakening their influence on himself and his personality.

Finally, being a natural being, a person has a number of innate properties- unique body structure, individual nutrition and life practices. Mental properties arise from states repeatedly experienced by a person. Thus, frequently repeated angry outbursts (affects) can turn into a negative personality trait - efficiency. Interrelated mental properties form the structure of the personality, its characteristic mental make-up. The question of personality structure has not yet been resolved in science. There are different approaches to it, indicating different structural elements. However, most often the personality structure includes orientation (i.e., stable needs and interests, beliefs and ideals, aspirations and inclinations, attitudes that form a system of basic motives (drives) and life goals of the individual), abilities, temperament and character. The central element of personality structure is direction. From it you can judge what life goals a given person sets for himself and why; why in his relationships with people he acts this way and not otherwise; what he is most interested in, what he values ​​most in life and what he condemns. Orientation determines a person’s selective attitude towards the world and the degree of his social labor activity. Orientation expresses a person’s characteristic life position. A person’s abilities indicate his innate and nurtured capabilities in acquiring knowledge, in mastering various professions and types of creativity. In temperament, personality manifests itself from the dynamic side, from the speed and strength of mental processes and actions. Thus, some people are characterized by liveliness, mobility, impressionability, and instability of moods; others - hot temper, energy, passion; the third - slowness, calmness, etc. Peculiarities of temperament affect all human activities and influence the formation of his character. As for character, it most clearly expresses the individual face of a person, his difference from other people. Personality character synthesizes and combines all the mental properties inherent in a particular person. It is formed in the specific conditions of his life and upbringing and manifests itself in the various relationships of this person to the world around him and to himself. The mental properties of a person influence all mental processes and actions of a person, which acquire an individual identity characteristic of each person. People perceive, remember, think, feel and act differently.

The course of each mental process and action is affected by its owner - a certain person, personality.

IN personality structure includes some of its natural properties (the originality of the body structure, innate properties, inclinations, the state of the senses and speech organs at the time of birth). However, congenital and hereditary factors, being the natural basis for the formation of the human psyche, do not influence the behavior of the individual directly, but only through those specific social relationships in which the individual develops. It is known that a teenager with a very ugly face, severe speech impediments, and an adult with dwarf stature feel and behave differently than other children and adults.

The most important condition for existence and personality development and at the same time, the most characteristic feature expressing the essence of the personality is its activity, which is the ability of the individual to influence the world around him with the aim of changing it, with the aim of creation.

Personality- an active participant in the activities of society, primarily in labor activities.

What kind of affairs does this person consider vitally important for himself, how serious are his social responsibilities, who is he - a creator, an initiator or just a performer, does he complete the things he has started, how does he experience successes and failures, how does he treat his comrades in joint activities - all this characterizes a person's personality.

The source of a person’s activity is his needs, interests, beliefs, moral feelings, passions, inclinations, habits, and attitudes. A person’s motives for activity can vary in degree of awareness, in their significance for the individual and in their social value.

The real position of an individual in society is reflected in his consciousness.

A personality expresses itself at a certain level of consciousness and self-awareness. What does a person think about the world around him, how rich, varied and deep his knowledge is, what makes him happy and sad, to what extent he is aware of his needs, capabilities and responsibilities, his strengths and weaknesses - all this characterizes him as a person. The consciousness of a person is his knowledge about the world and himself, as well as an active attitude towards the surrounding reality. “My relationship to my environment is my consciousness,” wrote K. Marx. A person is very characterized by his attitude towards individuals and society as a whole, towards his own work and the work of other people, his attitude towards the material and cultural values ​​of society, towards its present and future, and finally, his attitude towards himself, which is expressed in a certain self-esteem. A person manifests his relationships in different forms: in the form of judgments, opinions, in the form of experiences, feelings and in the form of actions and deeds. The richer the mutual relationships between a person and other people, the richer the mental world of this person. One of the most important tasks of the Soviet family, school and public organizations is to educate the younger generation in communist attitudes towards people, public property and labor.

Characteristic a sign of personality is its unity, which is understood as a person’s unique experience of the inseparability of his psyche and at the same time the delimitation, isolation of his “I” from the outside world. The unity of personality is formed gradually. First, the child’s body, their movements and functions are combined into a holistic experience of his body, then in the process of life activity, mastering objective actions and speech, the child’s ability to relate his actions, emotions, thoughts, desires to his “I” (“I did this” , “I’m scared”, “I think”, “I want”). The unity of personality is manifested in the inseparability and unity of cognitive, emotional and volitional processes and motivations for them. Any mental act, for example a mental act, exists for the individual not only as an act of cognition, but simultaneously as a special experience (intellectual feeling) and an act of will (intellectual action).

The unity of personality is preserved when experiencing not only the present, but also the past and the future.

A person is aware of himself in time, distinguishing his memories and aspirations from the memories and aspirations of other people.

A person occupies a certain position or position in the system of social relations available to him, which is practically realized in the form of social roles performed by a person in various social groups and situations.

Each person can simultaneously be part of several social groups, such as a family, a production team, a socio-political organization, a sports team, etc.

In these associations, he performs different roles, different social functions: in the family - the role of a father or mother, whose main responsibility is raising children; in production - the role of the shop manager, whose social function is to organize the work of workers, etc. Members of the social groups to which the individual belongs expect her to perform certain duties and a certain form of behavior. Therefore, social groups have a significant influence on the formation of individual personality traits. Through roles, a person is involved in the life of society, assimilates social experience, changes, improves, and at the same time actively influences other people and their activities.

A person can “get used to” his role and get used to it. In other cases, on the contrary, some of the roles weigh on her. There may also be cases of conflict experiences when performing various social roles.

Closely related to the concept of social role is the concept of individual claims. Personality claims- these are the roles that she considers possible and desirable for herself, and the results (goals) that she would like to achieve. The level of a person’s aspirations can be revealed by offering him tasks of varying difficulty. One person immediately takes on difficult tasks, another prefers easy ones. There is also a type of aspiration when a person strives not so much to achieve success as to avoid failure. In this case, he chooses a task either very easy or very difficult: by doing an easy task, he will definitely achieve success, but by doing a very difficult one, he has the opportunity to refer to its excessive difficulty, and his pride will not suffer.

The level of a person’s aspirations depends on several factors:

  1. from the real difficulty of tasks;
  2. on the significance of these tasks (and all activities) for the individual, taking into account the attitudes of certain people (comrades, teachers) towards her;
  3. from experiencing successes and failures in the past when performing similar tasks;
  4. from self-esteem and the entire personality make-up.

So, there are people whose level of aspirations only moves upward; for others, there are no shifts in the level of aspirations, regardless of the results of completing tasks; for others, it changes all the time, “adjusting” to the level of previous performance of tasks of the same type, etc. (research by A. I. Samoshin). It also happens that the level of aspirations decreases. A student who is among the underachievers initially experiences his failures deeply, and then, if he is not helped in time, gets used to the new role and can reduce the level of aspirations in achieving educational goals.

Characterizing the personality of an adult or a child from the level of aspirations, it is necessary to find out how acceptable the aspirations are for society in terms of the content of the goals that the subject is achieving, as well as how effective they are.

The personality experiences successes and failures in achieving goals with its inherent depth and strength. These experiences are most pronounced in conflict situations and in the presence of obstacles (“barriers”) that are really insurmountable or seem so to a given person. In such cases, some people experience a persistent mental state called frustration (see “Emotions and Feelings”). This condition occurs in active or passive form. With an active form of frustration, there is increased irritability, resentment, anger, persistent stubbornness, malice, and aggressiveness. In the passive form - isolation, “withdrawal”, lack of self-confidence, self-flagellation, indifference to the events of the surrounding life. The presence of frustration indicates trouble in a person’s life position and requires a sensitive, attentive attitude towards him and a thoughtful pedagogical approach.

An indicator of high personality development is its resistance to the random influences of other people and circumstances. Personal stability is possible only with the dominance of highly moral motives of behavior and activity over all other motives. First of all, they must be brought up in a person from the early years of his life.

Personality develops.

A person is not born with already established properties of his personality and with ready-made relationships to the world. The personality of each person is shaped by other people and life circumstances. From a certain age personality development It also depends on her own efforts in self-education.

Personal development always occurs in certain social conditions: economic, ideological, everyday. The leading role in this process is played by socially organized training and education.

Human development into personality goes in the following directions.

  • The real position of the individual among other people changes: with each year of a child’s life, the requirements for him become more complex, and his rights also change.
  • The sphere of activity of the individual is expanding; It also becomes more diverse in species and more productive. So, if the life of a preschool child is filled with games, then a schoolchild not only plays, but first of all learns, helps adults in their work, carries out public assignments, participates in subject clubs, plays sports, etc.
  • The level of individual consciousness increases. A child, assimilating the life experience of other people - knowledge, skills, socially useful forms of behavior - becomes more intelligent, more accurately understands the phenomena of the surrounding life, people and himself. This allows him to be more independent in his opinions and actions.
  • The individual's individuality develops. Under the influence of upbringing and life experience, a child’s mental processes improve, more complex needs and interests arise, beliefs, abilities, etc. are formed. The entire structure of the individual’s consciousness and behavior gradually changes. The activity of thinking in its most developed forms, moral feelings and volitional qualities of the individual are increasingly coming to the fore. All this allows a person to more successfully manage his behavior and more freely subordinate it to objective necessity and moral duty. The development of individuality consists in the fact that a person acquires his own, individual face, his own style of work and behavior.
  • Along with the development of a person’s consciousness and independence, the role of self-education of the individual also increases. Already a teenager is trying to independently strengthen his will and improve his character. Starting from adolescence, self-education becomes a constant concern for many people.

The ideal of humanity has always been a comprehensively developed personality

That is, a person in whom “spiritual wealth, moral purity and physical perfection” are harmoniously combined. When building a modern society, raising comprehensively developed people becomes a realistically feasible practical task.

Personality in psychology they call a person as a carrier of consciousness. It is believed that a person is not born, but becomes in the process of being and working, when, communicating and interacting, a person compares himself with others and distinguishes his “I”. Psychological properties (traits) of a person are fully and vividly revealed in activity, communication, relationships, and even in a person’s appearance.

Personalities can be different - harmoniously developed and reactionary, progressive and one-sided, highly moral and vile, but at the same time, each personality is unique. Sometimes this property - uniqueness - is called individuality, as a manifestation of the individual.

However, the concepts of individual, personality and individuality are not identical in content: each of them reveals a specific aspect of a person’s individual existence. Personality can only be understood in a system of stable interpersonal connections, mediated by the content, values, and meaning of the joint activities of each of the participants.

Interpersonal connections that form a personality in a team externally appear in the form of communication or a subject-subject relationship along with a subject-object relationship characteristic of objective activity.

The personality of each person is endowed only with his own inherent combination of traits and characteristics that form his individuality - a combination of psychological characteristics of a person that make up his originality, his difference from other people. Individuality is manifested in character traits, temperament, habits, prevailing interests, in the qualities of cognitive processes, in abilities, and individual style of activity.

Lifestyle as a socio-philosophical concept selects from the variety of qualities and properties inherent in a given person, only socially stable, socially typical, characterizing the social content of her individuality, revealing a person, his style of behavior, needs, preferences, interests, tastes not from his psychological characteristics that distinguish him from other people, but from those properties and traits of his personality that are given by the very fact of his existence in a certain society. But if individuality does not mean a peculiarity of a person’s external appearance or behavior, but a unique form of existence and unique manifestation of the general in the life of an individual, then the individual is also social. Therefore, a person’s way of life acts as a deeply individualized relationship between a person’s objective position in society and his inner world, that is, it represents a unique unity of the socially typified (unified) and the individual (unique) in the behavior, communication, thinking and everyday life of people.

In other words, a person’s worldview acquires social, practical and morally meaningful significance insofar as it has become a person’s way of life.

From a moral point of view, a sign of a person’s personal development is his ability to act according to inner conviction in the most difficult everyday situations, not to shift responsibility to others, not to rely blindly on circumstances, and not even just to “reckon” with circumstances, but also to resist them, to intervene in the course of life. events, showing your will, your character.

The importance and role of the team in the formation and education of the individual is great. The rule of education formulated by the wonderful Soviet teacher A.S. Makarenko: proceed from the recognition of the person being brought up. And this must be done with all seriousness, without denying to those being educated the possibility of them accomplishing those feats that the teacher speaks of as lofty images of achieving exceptional results in the field of production, science and technology, literature and art.

May not all dreams come true and not all plans come true. Let not all the young people with whom the teacher deals turn out to be gifted enough or be able to fully reveal their abilities. This is about something else. All of them will certainly be ennobled by being treated as the highest value, unique individuals who, with proper development, can reveal to the world all the achievements of the creative spirit accessible to man. In the worst case, a creative personality may not turn out, but a person will be formed who, at a minimum, will not prevent others from becoming creative personalities.

You cannot become a person by copying anyone else. Only wretched one-sidedness can result. The construction of one's own personality cannot be carried out according to some standard project. At most, you can only get general settings here. We must always count on the maximum realization of human capabilities, never saying in advance: “I won’t be able to do this,” and test your inclinations to the fullest.

That's why development human - the process of personality formation under the influence of external and internal, controlled and uncontrollable social and natural factors. Development manifests itself as progressive complication, deepening, expansion, as a transition from simple to complex, from ignorance to knowledge, from lower forms of life and activity to higher ones.

Nature has given man a lot, but has given birth to the weak. To make him strong and completely independent, we still need to work hard. First of all, ensure physical development. In turn, physical and physiological development underlies psychological development as spiritual development. The processes of a person’s reflection of reality are constantly becoming more complex and deepening: sensations, perceptions, memory, thinking, feelings, imagination, as well as more complex mental formations: needs, motives for activity, abilities, interests, value orientations. Human social development is a continuation of mental development. It consists of gradual entry into his society - into social, ideological, economic, industrial, legal, professional and other relations, in the assimilation of his functions in these relations. Having mastered these relationships and his functions in them, a person becomes a member of society. The crowning achievement is the spiritual development of man. It means his understanding of his high purpose in life, the emergence of responsibility to present and future generations, understanding of the complex nature of the universe and the desire for constant moral improvement. A measure of spiritual development can be the degree of responsibility of a person for his physical, physiological, mental and social development. Spiritual development is increasingly recognized as the core, the core of the formation of personality in a person.

Humanity ensures the development of each of its representatives through education, passing on the experience of its own and previous generations.

Upbringing - in a broad sense, it is a purposeful process of forming the intellect, physical and spiritual strength of the individual, preparing him for life, active participation in work. Education in the narrow sense of the word is the systematic and purposeful influence of the educator on the pupils in order to form in them the desired attitude towards people and phenomena of the surrounding world.

Parents pass on the experience of vertical walking and verbal communication to a newborn; to a younger schoolchild - the experience of mathematical transformations, written communication; to teenagers and young men - the experience of various activities, etc. Throughout his life, a person assimilates some experience and someone else’s and only on its basis creates his own. Only by becoming the heir of the past does he become a full-fledged member of his society. In this sense, education is a culturally formative process. In the process of educating a person, his development occurs, the level of which then influences education, changes, deepens it. More perfect upbringing accelerates the pace of development, which then again influences upbringing. Throughout a person’s life, these phenomena mutually support each other.

K. Marx and F. Engels paid great attention to the problems of upbringing and education of youth. They approached them from different, but closely related sides - social, ideological, pedagogical, etc., assessing the role of education as the highest measure - the influence on the development of the individual, on the course of social progress.

They considered education as one of the most important means.

Taken together, the thoughts of Marx and Engels on education form an integral dialectical-materialist concept, which is based on the following provisions: education is determined by prevailing social relations; is historical and class in nature; has its own objective laws.

By education we mean three things:

Firstly: mental education.

Secondly: physical education.

Thirdly: technical training.

Marx and Engels paid great attention to ideological education, introducing young people to the history and traditions of the revolutionary struggle.

By mental (intellectual) education, the founders of Marxism understood “mental education”, which the younger generation should receive, first of all, at school. Marx and Engels called on young people to persistent, systematic study, to constant self-education, which is urgently dictated by life.

Marx and Engels called the combination of education with productive labor a necessary condition for the technical education of the younger generation.

In the system of youth education, the founders of Marxism assigned an important place to physical education. Engels also saw a great role for these classes in preparing young men for military service.

Whatever “components” of education the founders of Marxism spoke about, their thought was one way or another aimed at the most important problem - the comprehensive development of the individual. Each of these components, and the entire process of education as a whole, must ultimately serve its formation.

Experience, therefore, education, can be passed on through the media, in museums through art, through religion, in the management system through politics, ideology, directly in the family, in production through industrial relations, etc. Among them, education stands out.

Education - the process and result of mastering a certain system of knowledge and ensuring on this basis the appropriate level of personal development. Education is obtained mainly through the process of training and education in educational institutions under the guidance of teachers. Education in the literal sense means the creation of an image, a certain completion of education in accordance with a certain age level. Therefore, education is often interpreted as the result of a person’s assimilation of the experience of generations in the form of a system of knowledge, skills and abilities, and relationships. Then they talk about an educated person. Education is the quality of a developed personality who has acquired experience, with the help of which he becomes able to navigate the environment, adapt to it, protect and enrich it, acquire new knowledge about it and through this continuously improve himself, i.e. again, improve your education.

A person is born without knowledge and skills, but through upbringing and education he receives all this in accordance with his age. At each age stage, development receives its own degree of formation without exhausting itself. This is how ideals, motives for actions, relationships and other human properties are gradually formed.

But the person himself is active from birth. Its role in upbringing and education is enormous, if not decisive. The fact is that a person is born with the ability to develop. He is not a vessel into which the experience of humanity is “merged.” He himself is capable of acquiring this experience. Man himself created the external factors of his development.

The main factors of a person are self-education, self-education, self-training.

Self-education - this is the process of a person’s assimilation of the experience of previous generations through internal mental factors that ensure development. Self-education is a process that is part of education and is also aimed at human development. Thanks to him, a person in any educational system preserves himself as an independent natural and social being, despite all integration, i.e. its unity with nature and society.

Education, if it is not violence, is not possible without self-education. They should be considered as two sides of the same process, or as processes that mutually continue each other.

By self-education, a person can educate himself.

Self-education is a system of internal self-organization for assimilating the experience of generations, aimed at one’s own development.

Self-education is a powerful factor that fulfills and enriches the education organized by society.

Self-learning is an analogue of teaching.

Self-study - this is the process of a person directly gaining generational experience through his own aspirations and self-chosen means.

Here a huge role is played by the inner mental world of a person, not only consciousness, but also the unconscious factor, intuition, the ability to learn not only from a teacher, but also from other people, friends, and nature. People say about such self-education: “learn from life.” Self-learning is based on the need for knowledge, on the innate cognitive instinct.

The founders of Marxism deeply revealed such a complex problem as “man and circumstances.”

The character of each person is always composed of two elements: natural, rooted in the human body, and spiritual, developed in life, under the influence of upbringing and circumstances. But no matter how diverse the human types are among educated peoples, due to the infinite variety of tribal, family and personal types, nature always manages to highlight the nationality trait in the countless number of characteristic features in a person’s appearance.

The trait of nationality is not only noticeable in itself, but is mixed with all other characteristic features of a person and gives each of them its own special shade.

Public education, which strengthens and develops the nationality in a person, while developing at the same time his mind and his self-awareness, powerfully contributes to the development of national self-awareness in general.

If a person draws all his knowledge, sensations, etc. from the sensory world and the experience received from this world, it is necessary, therefore, to arrange the world around him in such a way that a person in it cognizes and assimilates what is truly human, so that he recognizes himself as a person. If a person’s character is created by circumstances, then it is necessary, therefore, to make the circumstances humane.

Teacher K.D. Ushinsky was deeply convinced that the education of a free, independent and active human personality is a necessary condition for social development.

CONCLUSION

A child will become a personality - a social unit, a subject, a carrier of social and human activity - only where and when he himself begins to perform this activity. At first, with the help of an adult, and then without it.

Personality arises when an individual begins independently, as a subject, to carry out external activities according to the norms and standards given to him from the outside - by the culture in the bosom of which he awakens to human life, to human activity. As long as human activity is directed towards him, and he remains its object, the individuality, which he, of course, already possesses, is not yet human individuality.

Therefore, personality exists only where there is freedom. Freedom is real, not imaginary, freedom of real development of a person in real affairs, in relationships with other people, and not in conceit, not in the pleasure of feeling one’s imaginary uniqueness.

Do you want a person to become an individual? Then place him from the very beginning - from childhood - in such a relationship with another person, within which he not only could, but was forced to become an individual.

in the broad sense of the word, this is a person from the moment of his birth. In a narrower sense, a person is a person as a representative of society, responsibly and freely determining his position in society.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

Personality

a person as a representative of society, freely and responsibly determining his position among people. It is formed in interaction with the surrounding world, the system of social and human relations, and culture. A person is not born L., but becomes one in the process of socialization. The concept of L. is one of the central ones in Russian psychology, and in connection with the humanization of the educational process it is becoming an actively used category in pedagogy. There are various classifications of L., knowledge of which will help the teacher more easily navigate the characteristics of his students. Thinking and feeling types are types of L., characterized by the dominance of the thinking, rational principle or the emotional, sensitive one. People belonging to M.t.l. trust more what is thought out and logically justified. They strive for truth without much concern for justice. They like to bring everything to complete clarity. Able to remain calm when others lose their composure. Representatives of Ch.t.l. They are distinguished by increased sensitivity to everything that pleases and everything that upsets. They are altruistic, always put themselves in the place of others, and are happy to provide help even to their detriment. They take everyone to heart, they are reproached for being excessively indecisive. Sado-masochistic type - type L., inclined to eliminate the causes of his failures in life through aggressive actions. Masochists try to take the blame upon themselves and at the same time revel in self-criticism and self-flagellation, admitting to their own inferiority and helplessness. Sadists make others dependent on themselves, acquire unlimited power over them, cause them pain and suffering, while experiencing pleasure. Extrovert-introvert - types of L., opposite to each other. An extrovert is not inclined to analyze his inner world, he is sociable, easily comes into contact with a large circle of diverse and unfamiliar people, and is proactive. An introvert is usually closed, uncommunicative, prone to introspection, and has difficulty adapting to new conditions. Externality-internality (from the Latin externus - external, internus - internal) is a person’s tendency to attribute responsibility for the results of his activities to external forces, circumstances (externality) or to his own abilities and efforts (internality). Ectomorphic-endomorphic types are morphological types of people, the characteristics of which are determined by a person’s physique (according to V. Sheldon’s classification). The ectomorphic type is characteristic of thin people with undeveloped muscles and a strong nervous system. People of this type show restraint in manners and movements, they are distinguished by stiff posture, a tendency to intimate communication, increased speed of reactions, hidden feelings, increased level of attention, anxiety, difficulty in establishing social networks. contacts, inability to foresee other people's attitude towards oneself, immense sensitivity to pain, chronic fatigue, etc. The endomorphic type is characteristic of overweight people who are distinguished by their sociability, desire for comfort and sensual pleasures.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓



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