People are different in temperament. Types of human temperament and their brief psychological characteristics

Types of temperament are a combination of subjective characteristics of an individual’s personality, which have stability and a certain degree of innateness, associated with dynamic manifestations rather than meaningful ones. They are the basis for the development of the subjective character of the individual. Types of temperament are determined by the typology of higher nervous activity of subjects and reflect the emotional sphere of individuals.

The types of temperament reflect the entire psychological and physiological activity person. The ancient physician K. Galen was the first to identify types of temperament. He divided four main types of temperament, depending on the predominance of one or another juice (for example, bile) in the human body.

Types of human temperament

Today there is the following division into personality temperament types: choleric type; melancholic type; sanguine type; phlegmatic type.

♦ People of the choleric type of temperament are usually not very balanced, they are characterized by intemperance, hot temper, and sometimes unbridled temper. Choleric people are characterized quite hot temper along with quick release after expressing violent emotions. They are easy to piss off. They say about them that they flash like a torch. However, just like a torch, they are easy to extinguish. In such a person, all emotional experiences are clearly expressed, characterized by great intensity and transience.

Cholerics are ardent and passionate people, characterized by a sharp change in feelings that differ in depth. Such feelings capture the choleric person completely and completely for a while. He can experience both sorrows and joys equally deeply. All his experiences are expressed in facial expressions and gestures, sometimes even very violently. Choleric is characterized by strength and speed of reactions. Such a person is simply not able to do monotonous work. He often takes on work with great enthusiasm, but is prone to quickly cooling down the fuse. Then he may treat the work with disregard, “carelessly.”

In communication it is characterized by harshness and impatience. His gestures and facial expressions are quite energetic, and the pace of his work is quite fast. Often teenagers with a choleric type of temperament during puberty bring a lot of trouble to teachers and parents. They can disrupt lessons, be rude, get into fights, and the like. They can be characterized as children prone to activity and mobility. Such children are perky and militant leaders, capable of involving their peers in various adventures.

♦ Individuals of the melancholic type of temperament are characterized by an imbalance of character, a depth of experience of absolutely any event with a completely weak and sluggish external manifestation. The reaction of such people is slow. Melancholic people are easy to notice by their facial expressions and movements. They are characterized by inexpressiveness, slowness, monotony, restraint, and poverty.

People of the melancholic type have an inexpressive and quiet voice. Such people are characterized by excessive sensitivity and vulnerability. A melancholic person is always afraid of difficulties and is characterized by high anxiety. Such people try to avoid any difficulties and unforeseen situations. For them, it is preferable to perform actions that do not require mental stress.

His moods and feelings are quite monotonous, but they are stable. Their character is rather asthenic. Therefore, when they talk about a melancholic person, they always imagine a rather gloomy and eternally sad person. Melancholic people are very vulnerable, they react painfully to external stimuli, and experience any life difficulties. They are unsociable and reserved.

Melancholic people are quite characterized by a lack of determination and strength, constant decadence, and frequent hesitation. In a deeper manifestation, melancholic manifests itself in passivity, lethargy, and disinterest in affairs. Melancholic people are usually represented as people “not of this world,” airy and ephemeral creatures, people who are not very adapted to life.

Children of a melancholic type of temperament cannot and do not know how to resist injustice, they are often teased and offended, and they tend to fall under the influence of other people or children. It is quite difficult for such children to work in a group. In adolescence, the melancholic type manifests itself in timidity and shyness, often tearfulness.

♦ The sanguine type of temperament is characterized by balance, speed and moderate strength of reactions along with a relative weakness of intensity mental processes. This type of temperament differs fast transition one mental process into another. A sanguine person tends to work for a long time without getting tired; if the activity is varied, he quickly learns new professional skills and knowledge. It is characterized by the ease and rapidity of the emergence of new emotional states, which do not differ in depth, as they quickly replace each other.

Sanguine people can easily be identified by their expressive and rich facial expressions, by emotional manifestations, which are always accompanied by various expressive movements. Such people are characterized by cheerfulness and mobility. A sanguine person is quite impressionable, his brain quickly responds to any external stimuli and has much less concentration and depth in his subjective experiences.

People with this type of temperament can easily cope with solving problems that require quick thinking, provided that such a decision is not particularly serious or difficult. Sanguine people easily take on all sorts of things, but also quickly abandon them when interest in others appears; they are often hasty in making decisions.

A person of the sanguine type is quite sociable and easily makes contact. However, his relationships with other people are often characterized by superficiality, since a sanguine person calmly and easily partes with attachments, and quite quickly forgets joys and sorrows, reconciliations and resentments. Their gestures, facial expressions and other movements are very expressive, and their speech is fast. Sanguine people are prone to leadership and can take responsibility and command. They love to be in front, in the spotlight.

♦ People of the phlegmatic type of temperament are, first of all, characterized by low mobility, their gestures and movements are quite slow, even sluggish. You should not expect quick actions from such people, as they are not energetic. Such people have weak emotional excitability. Phlegmatic people are distinguished by their evenness of feelings and moods, which change rather slowly. They are characterized by equanimity, regularity, and calmness. It is quite difficult to get such a person out of his calm and even emotional state. He is rarely excited and emotional manifestations are far from him.

In external manifestation it is characterized by monotony, inexpressiveness of facial expressions and gestures. His speech is slow, not lively, and not accompanied by expressiveness or gestures.

Before doing anything, phlegmatic people can think about future actions for a long time and very thoroughly. However, if a phlegmatic person has made a decision, he will carry it out calmly and purposefully. Such people usually become very attached to work, which is more familiar to them, and with with great difficulty can switch to other types of activities. They are able to change lanes only if they are warned in advance, and they can comprehend, think through and get used to this idea. When a phlegmatic person has gotten used to and thought about the upcoming change of activity, such a change itself will be much simpler and easier for him.

But you should not think that any person can be classified into one of these four types of temperament. The types of personality temperament described above are in real life They are quite rare in their pure form. Typically, each person combines different traits of these types. This is called a mixed type of temperament. Only if a person has clearly expressed certain traits of temperament, then he can be classified as one of the above types of temperament.

Psychological types of temperament

Psychological main types of temperament are characterized by the following characteristics: sensitivity, reactivity, activity, the ratio of activity and reactivity, rigidity and plasticity, rate of reactions, introversion, extraversion, emotional excitability.

Sensitivity is characterized by the amount of the smallest forces of external actions that are necessary for the appearance of any, even the most insignificant, mental reaction.

Reactivity is determined by the level of unintentionality of reactions or manifestations to internal or external actions equal strength(for example, offensive words, critical remarks, etc.).

Activity shows how energetically (intensively) a person can influence the world around him and overcome obstacles that arise in achieving various goals (for example, determination, perseverance, focus, etc.).

The ratio of activity and reactivity characterizes the degree of dependence of people's activities. Activity can depend both on external stimuli and on internal ones (for example, random events).

Rigidity and plasticity show the degree of a person’s adaptability to external stimuli, circumstances (plasticity) or the inertia and rigidity of a person’s behavior.

The pace of reactions determines the speed of various reactions and mental processes, such as the pace of speech or the dynamism of gestures, the speed of the mind.

Introversion and extraversion show the predominant dependence of people's reactions and activities. The reactions and activities of subjects may depend either on external manifestations that arise precisely at this moment (extroversion), or on ideas, images, thoughts that are directly related either to the future or to the past, but not to the present (introversion).

Emotional excitability is determined required quantity weak impact for the occurrence of any emotional reaction, and how quickly it can occur.

Based on all of the above properties, Strelyau gave psychological characteristics to the main classical types of temperament identified by Galen.

So, according to his theory, a sanguine person is a person characterized by increased reactivity and balanced activity and reactivity. His movements are fast, his mind is flexible, he has resourcefulness and a fast pace of speech, as well as quick involvement in work. It is distinguished by high plasticity, which manifests itself in changes in feelings, interests, mood and aspirations. The sanguine type of temperament is characterized by extraversion.

A choleric person is a person who is characterized by rather low sensitivity, along with increased activity and reactivity. Since in such people reactivity clearly prevails over activity, they stand out for their unbridled temper, lack of restraint, impatience, and hot temper. The choleric person is not particularly flexible and is rather inert when compared with the sanguine person. Therefore, he has a fairly greater stability of interests and aspirations, and perseverance. He has difficulty switching attention. Choleric refers more to extroverts than introverts.

A phlegmatic person is a person who has high activity, which very significantly prevails over minor reactivity, sensitivity and emotionality. Characterized by slow speech and movements. A phlegmatic person is also quite difficult to switch attention and adapt to new situations. Along with this, he is distinguished by his efficiency and energy. A phlegmatic person may respond rather weakly to external stimuli. Refers to introverts.

A melancholic person is a person who has very high sensitivity along with very little reactivity. Also characterized by inexpressiveness of gestures, facial expressions, movements, in a quiet voice, poverty of movements. He is not energetic and does not have persistence, and is characterized by fairly rapid fatigue and low performance. His attention is easily distracted and unstable. The pace of absolutely all mental processes is characterized by slowness. Melancholic is an introvert.

Pavlov derived and proved the theory that the basis of the physiology of temperament is precisely the type of higher nervous activity, which is determined directly by the ratio of the defining properties of the nervous system, such as: strength, mobility and balance of the processes of inhibition and excitation occurring in the nervous system. But the typology of the nervous system depends on the genotype, i.e. heredity. He identified four subtypes of the nervous system:

The weak subtype consists in the weakness of both inhibitory and excitatory processes; melancholic belongs to it;

The unbalanced strong subtype consists of the strength of the irritable process and the comparative strength of inhibition; this subtype includes the choleric person or the “uncontrollable type”;

Balanced, agile and strong type– this is a sanguine person or “living type”;

Balanced and strong along with inertia nervous processes- This is a phlegmatic or “calm type”.

Wundt admitted that fundamental in those psychological properties, the connections of which form different types of temperament, there are two main (basic, basic) characteristics that are associated with the dynamics of the emotional sphere of subjects. These included: the strength of emotional reactions, on the one hand, and the degree of stability of emotional manifestations, on the other. It is the strong emotional manifestations along with emotional instability and contribute to the formation of those mental properties that can usually be attributed to an individual with a choleric type of temperament. But instability, along with insignificant strength of emotional manifestations, is characteristic of owners of the sanguine type of temperament.

It was in this way that Wundt moved away from specifically descriptive typological characteristics of temperament and introduced two characteristics that can serve as an object experimental analysis and research. And since the stability of emotional manifestations and their strength can be measured empirically, then the assignment of a personality to one or another typological characteristic of temperament can be based on objective information and research data.

A distinctive feature of Wundt’s theory is that the typology is no longer tied only to those extreme manifestations of psychological characteristics characteristic of various types temperament. According to his theory, people who have different emotional strength can be equally classified as both the choleric type and the melancholic type. The main thing is that they maintain a balance between weakness and strength, emotion towards strength.

Determining the type of temperament

Different types of temperament can be determined using specialized techniques based on the use of tests and questionnaires. There are a huge variety of such methods. They consist in the fact that each person who wants to determine his typological characteristics of temperament is asked to answer a number of questions that are aimed at recognizing in him his usual way of responding to internal and external stimuli, as well as his behavior. Basically, the questions are quite simple and relate to the personal qualities of the subjects, behavior in specific situations from life.

The main recommendations for passing the tests are that the individual is asked to answer clearly, accurately, quickly, trying not to think too much, whatever comes to mind first is the answer. In such tests there are no known good or bad answers. Therefore, subjects are advised not to be afraid to answer correctly or incorrectly, bad or good. After all, determining the type of temperament largely depends on the honesty of the answers.

Why is it necessary to determine types of temperament? Psychologists still recommend determining your typological characteristics of temperament in order to know your strengths and weaknesses, and have the opportunity to correct them throughout life. It is also good to understand temperaments in order not to demand the impossible from the people around us or from children. So, for example, you cannot demand that a phlegmatic person do his work quickly. You should not rush a slow phlegmatic person, as this will not add speed to execution, but will only cause his aggression towards you.

Knowing temperaments will help a lot in family life. For example, let’s take a phlegmatic person again; before any work he needs to first tune in, so it’s better to inform him in advance about the upcoming spring cleaning or a shopping trip. It takes him some time to get used to the thoughts of the upcoming, albeit small, but still changes in his life. But, over time, he will create the right mood for himself, and all changes will be more comfortable.

Also, the type of temperament can be determined by activity, appearance, facial expressions and gestures.

If there is a person among you who easily adapts to an unfamiliar environment, easily communicates with other people and can quickly switch from one type of activity to another, and does not like monotony in work, then most likely this is a person of a sanguine type of temperament.

If you see in front of you a person who is characterized by excitability and imbalance, increased irritability, rapidity of action, often under the influence of impulse, then this will be a choleric person.

If your colleague annoys you with his slowness, unhurriedness and amazes you with his calmness, then most likely a phlegmatic person works with you.

If you meet a person who seems to always be within himself, is overly touchy, prone to strong feelings over the slightest troubles, does not get along well with others, is withdrawn, then this is a melancholic person.

However, in real life, identifying a true melancholic person or, for example, a sanguine person is quite difficult. Mostly we are surrounded by people mixed type. A slow person may well have the excitability of a choleric person and vice versa.

Temperament type test

As already written above, there are many tests and techniques that determine the types of temperament and their properties. Basically, the study of personality temperament can be aimed at either general characteristics, or aimed at an in-depth study of its properties.

Using Rusalov's questionnaire, one can determine the formal dynamic properties of individuality. The questionnaire consists of 150 questions that are aimed at clarifying the individual’s usual behavior. The subjects are presented with a series typical situations, where they need to give one answer, the first one that comes to mind.

The method for determining the type of temperament that predominates in a particular individual is presented by Belov and consists of sequentially presenting four cards to the subject. Each of the proposed cards contains twenty properties that are characteristic of a particular type of temperament. The subject will need to mark on each card those features that are most characteristic of him.

The most popular method for determining temperament types is a test in the form of questions developed by Eysenck. It involves diagnosing the types and properties of temperament. This technique consists of asking subjects 100 test questions that characterize the characteristics of their behavior and feelings. In cases where a feature or property described in the test coincides with the subjects’ ideas about themselves, then they are recommended to put a “plus” sign; if it does not correspond, then a “minus” sign. These questions should also be answered quickly, honestly and without thinking. This questionnaire is designed to determine the level of neuroticism, introversion and extraversion, and psychoticism.

The study of the psychological structure of temperament according to the Smirnov questionnaire allows us to detect polar properties of temperament, such as: extroversion and introversion, balance and excitability, rate of reactions - slow and fast, activity - low and high. This questionnaire additionally developed a sincerity scale, which allows one to assess the truthfulness and reliability of the answers received and the results in general.

Using the Smishek questionnaire, you can diagnose types and identify accentuations of temperament and character traits. This questionnaire is based on Leonhard's theory of accentuated personalities. Accented personalities are those who have individual traits that have high degree expressiveness. Leonhard identified 10 such types of accentuations: demonstrative, emotive, excitable, pedantic, affective-exalted, stuck, cyclothymic, hyperthymic, anxious-fearful, dysthymic.

In psychology, along with the term “temperament,” the term “character” is widely used, which literally means a sign, trait, seal. Character is a set of subjective characteristics of an individual that are stable, develop and manifest themselves in the process of communication and activity, thereby determining typical behavior patterns. Among the variety of character traits, a distinction is made between leading and secondary traits. If these traits are in harmony with each other, then such a person can be considered the owner of such a quality as integrity of character. And if such traits sharply contrast with each other, then this means the presence of inconsistency in character.

In the process of socialization, an individual, in addition to such personality traits as honesty, deceitfulness, rudeness, politeness, tactfulness, also acquires such temperamental properties as introversion and extroversion. This is why psychologists raise the question of the relationship between character and temperament. That is why many questionnaires are also equipped with an introversion and extraversion scale (for example, the Eysenck test).

There is also a method for determining the type of temperament according to Obozov. It uses fifteen empirical characteristics in which temperament manifests itself. This technique allows you to determine the type of temperament even without the participation of the subject. To determine its type, a line-by-line selection of the level of manifestation of each of the given fifteen characterological characteristics is made. So, for example, in the “balanced behavior” scale, the line “well balanced” is more appropriate for the subject, and the line “excellently balanced” is slightly less suitable. In this case, the first line is assigned two points, and the second line is assigned one point. The remaining lines in this scale are marked with “0” points. Other indicators are also assessed for all remaining characterological characteristics. Next, you should calculate the number of points for each column separately. The type of personality that scored more points and is the main one for the test taker.

You must always remember that it is impossible to completely calculate the type of temperament using one or another of the above methods. Temperament is not a completely innate property. Also, temperamental traits can be strengthened and reduced in the process of human life. After all, temperament is just the biological basis of all personal qualities that a person cultivates and develops in himself in the course of his life. And knowing your personal characteristics and yourself as a whole will allow you to choose a style of interaction with others and an activity that will bring more greater success and realization of personal potential.

Temperament.

Section three. Psychological characteristics of personality

Definition of Temperament. You cannot find two people who are identical in their mental properties. Each person differs from others in many ways, the unity of which forms him individuality.

Temperament(from lat. temperamentum – ratio, mixing of parts, proportionality) – a complex of psychodynamic properties of an individual, manifested in the characteristics of his mental activity - intensity, speed and pace of mental reactions, emotional tone of life.

Temperament – an individual's natural tendency to a certain style behavior. It reveals the individual’s sensitivity to external influences, the emotionality of his behavior, impulsiveness or restraint, sociability or isolation, ease or difficulty of social adaptation.

In the psychological differences between people, a significant place is occupied by the so-called dynamic features of the psyche. As you know, people differ markedly from each other in the strength of their response to environmental influences, in the energy they display, in the pace and speed of mental processes. These kinds of features significantly characterize the mental activity of an individual, his motor skills, and emotional manifestations. So, for one person passivity is more characteristic, for another - tireless initiative, one is characterized by the ease of awakening feelings, and another - composure, one is distinguished sharp gestures, expressive facial expressions, the other - restraint of movements, very little facial mobility.

The dynamic traits inherent in an individual are internally interconnected and constitute a unique structure. An individually unique, naturally determined set of dynamic manifestations of the psyche is called human temperament.

History of ideas about temperament. The term “temperament” goes back to the views of ancient science on the nature of individual psychological differences. Ancient Greek medicine represented by its largest representative Hippocrates (5th century BC) believed that the condition of the body depends mainly on the quantitative ratio of “juices” or liquids present in the body. Blood, bile, black bile and mucus (phlegm) were considered such “juices” necessary for life, and it was assumed that their optimal ratio was necessary for health. Roman doctors, working several centuries later, began to use the word temperamentum to denote “proportion” in the mixing of liquids, which means “proper proportion of parts,” from which the term “temperament” is derived. Gradually, ancient science gained recognition of the idea that not only bodily functions, but also mental characteristics of people are an expression of their temperament, i.e. depend on the proportion in which the main “juices” are mixed in the body. Roman anatomist and physician Claudius Galen, lived in the 2nd century. BC, for the first time gave a detailed classification of different types of temperament. Subsequently, representatives of ancient medicine reduced the number of temperament types to four. Each of them was characterized by the predominance of one liquid.

The mixing of fluids in the body, characterized by a predominance of blood, was called sanguine temperament (from Latin word"sangvis" - blood); mixing in which lymph predominates - phlegmatic temperament (from the Greek word “phlegm” - mucus).; mixture with a predominance of yellow bile - choleric temperament (from the Greek word “chole” - bile) and, finally, confusion with the predominance of black bile - melancholic temperament (from Greek words"melaina chole" - black bile).

These names of temperaments have been preserved to this day, but previous ideas about the organic basis of psychological differences between people are now primarily of historical interest. Over the many centuries that have passed since ancient science, various new hypotheses have been put forward that seek to explain the reason for the differences in the dynamic manifestations of the psyche. In the history of the study of this problem, three main systems of views can be distinguished. The oldest of them, as we already know, connects the cause of individual differences with the role of certain liquid media body. To these humoral theories(from the Latin humor - moisture, juice) include ideas about special meaning blood.

So, the German philosopher I. Kant ( late XVIII V.), who made a great contribution to the systematization of psychological ideas about temperaments, believed that natural basis temperament are individual characteristics blood. The idea of ​​the Russian teacher, anatomist and doctor is close to this point of view P.F. Lesgafta, wrote (in late XIX- early 20th century) that the manifestations of temperament are ultimately based on the properties of the circulatory system, in particular, the thickness and elasticity of the walls of blood vessels, the diameter of their lumen, the structure and shape of the heart, etc., with which speed is associated and the strength of blood flow and, as a consequence, a measure of the excitability of the body and the duration of reactions in response to various stimuli. Long-standing ideas about the importance of body fluids have received partial confirmation in modern endocrinological studies, which have shown that such properties of the psyche as this or that dynamics of reactivity, sensitivity, emotional balance, largely depend on individual differences in the functioning of the hormonal system.

Psychodynamic features of human behavior are determined by the characteristics of his higher nervous activity. I. P. Pavlov identified three main properties of nervous processes - strength, balance and mobility. Their various combinations form four types of higher nervous activity, which underlie the four temperaments .

The set of properties of nervous activity, integrated in temperament, determines a number of mental characteristics of the individual:

1. Speed ​​and intensity of mental processes, mental activity, muscle-motor expressiveness.

2. Predominant subordination of behavior to external impressions (extroversion) or its primary subordination inner world person, his feelings, ideas (introversion).

3. Plasticity, adaptation to external changing conditions, mobility of stereotypes, their flexibility or rigidity.

4. Sensitivity, sensitivity, receptivity, emotional excitability, strength of emotions, their stability. Emotional stability is associated with levels of anxiety and tension.

IN certain types temperament there is a “mixing” of the considered qualities in individual proportions. As already noted, there are four main types of temperament: sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic.

Sanguine temperament. I.P. Pavlov gives the following characteristic features of the sanguine temperament: “A sanguine person is an ardent, very productive worker, but only when he has a lot of interesting things to do, that is, constant excitement. When there is no such thing, he becomes boring and lethargic.” A sanguine person is distinguished by easy adaptability to changing living conditions, increased contact with people around him, and sociability. The feelings of a sanguine person arise easily and quickly change, his stereotypes are quite flexible, conditioned reflexes fasten in place. In a new environment, he does not feel constrained, is capable of quickly switching attention and activity, and is emotionally stable. People with sanguine temperament Activities that require quick reactions, significant effort, and distributed attention are most suitable.

Choleric temperament.“The choleric type,” notes I.P. Pavlov, “is clearly a fighting type, perky, easily and quickly irritated. “Being carried away by some task, he puts too much emphasis on his means and strength and in the end breaks down and becomes more exhausted than he should.” , he gets worked up to the point where everything is unbearable for him.” A choleric person is characterized by increased emotional reactivity, fast pace and abruptness in movements; Increased excitability choleric under unfavorable conditions can become the basis of hot temper and even aggressiveness. With appropriate motivation, a choleric person is able to overcome significant difficulties, devoting himself to work with great passion. It is characterized by sudden changes in mood. A person with a choleric temperament achieves the greatest effectiveness in activities that require increased reactivity and significant simultaneous effort.

Phlegmatic temperament.“A phlegmatic person is a calm, always even, persistent and persistent worker of life.” The reactions of a phlegmatic person are somewhat slow, the mood is stable. The emotional sphere is outwardly little expressed. In difficult life situations, a phlegmatic person remains quite calm and self-possessed; he does not allow impulsive, impetuous movements, since his processes of inhibition always balance the processes of excitation. Correctly calculating his strength, a phlegmatic person shows great persistence in seeing things through to the end. His switching of attention and activity is somewhat slow. His stereotypes are inactive and his behavior in some cases is not flexible enough. The phlegmatic reaches greatest success in those activities that require uniform effort, perseverance, stability of attention and great patience.

Melancholic temperament.“The melancholic temperament,” notes I.P. Pavlov, “is clearly an inhibitory type of nervous system. For a melancholic person, obviously, every phenomenon of life becomes an agent inhibiting him, since he does not believe in anything, does not hope for anything, sees in everything and only bad and dangerous things await.” A melancholic person is characterized by increased vulnerability and a tendency to experience deep emotions (sometimes even for minor reasons). His feelings arise easily, are poorly contained, and outwardly clearly expressed. Strong external influences hinder his activities. He is introverted - busy with his own experiences, withdrawn, refrains from contact with strangers, avoids new situation. Under certain living conditions, he easily develops shyness, timidity, indecisiveness and even cowardice. In a favorable stable environment, a melancholic person can achieve significant success in activities that require increased sensitivity, reactivity, quick learning, and observation. .

General activity and emotionality as aspects of temperament. The central place in the characteristics of temperament is occupied by the general mental activity. What is meant here is not the content of activity, not its direction, but rather its dynamic features, itself energy level behavior. The differences between people in this regard are very great. The degree of activity is distributed from lethargy, inertia at one pole to violent manifestations of energy at the other. Differences in activity related to temperament appear mainly in following forms: the severity of the need itself, the desire to be active (the desire to continue the activity started; the force of pressure, the energy of the actions performed; endurance in relation to the stress associated with activity); variety of actions performed, tendency to vary them; speed characteristics of reactions and movements (their pace, its increase and decay, sharpness and swiftness or slowness of movements).

It has been established that dynamic manifestations of activity are determined in a certain way by the properties of the nervous system type. Thus, the intensity and stability of activity significantly depend on the strength of the nervous system, and the variability of activity and some of its speed characteristics depend on mobility and lability. Other studies have shown that mental activity as a temperamental trait directly depends on special properties nervous system - activation(data E.A. Golubeva).

Of great interest are the results of studies showing that weakness type of nervous system means not only a lack of strength, low endurance, but also increased sensitivity, reactivity, those. readiness to respond to minor stimuli (a weaker nervous system gets tired and exhausted faster because it is relatively easier to excite). And reactivity is also one of the types of activity. In this regard, persons with a weakness of the nervous system have their own special prerequisites for manifestations of activity. Based on reactivity (within the endurance of the nervous system), quickly emerging, inventive forms of activity that subtly take into account circumstances can develop.

It should be noted that the features of general mental activity appear noticeably in speech and motor characteristics and in handwriting. The pace and rhythm of oral speech, movements when writing can tell a lot about this side of temperament. However - as well as about its other side - emotionality.

Dynamic differences in emotionality manifest themselves in the degree impressionability(it is not difficult to discover that in some people the slightest thing is enough to provoke an emotional reaction, while in others it will require a stronger influence), in impulsiveness(this term refers to the speed with which emotion becomes the motivating force of actions, without prior thought and decision to carry them out), in emotional lability(meaning the speed with which the emotional state ceases or one experience changes to another).

Thus, the dynamic features of the psyche reveal both features of aspirations, actions, and experiences. The sphere of manifestations of temperament is general mental activity and emotionality

Good day everyone! Temperament is given to us by nature, and we are not able to change it, the only thing we can do is understand about the characteristics, then it will be easier to live. There will be fewer complaints about loved ones, about yourself, and sometimes about children, who, due to their temperament, are often unable to sit very quietly for a long time. And today I will talk about the most ancient Hippocratic typology about the 4 types of temperament, which is already two thousand years old, but it does not lose its uniqueness.

About the theory

Hippocrates himself had interesting theory that a person behaves in certain situations depending on which liquid predominates in him. For example, if there is a lot of lymph, then this indicates balance, yellow bile, then such a person is usually very impulsive. It happens that blood predominates, which adds cheerfulness and activity, but black bile, on the contrary, tends to cause depressive states when a person gets stuck in experiencing sadness. But one day Ivan Pavlov slightly modernized the typology “according to Hippocrates,” emphasizing that temperament is closely related to the nervous system, which is innate, proving once again that we cannot change temperament.

Types

Sanguine

Brief description

They are very active, sometimes it is difficult for them to sit still for half an hour. Routine and monotony are terrifying. So they try to fill their lives vivid impressions and events. They travel, attend exhibitions, concerts, or anything where there are people and where they can be the center of attention. People with this type make excellent speakers; they can easily lead a crowd, because their irrepressible energy simply attracts people to themselves. In addition, they find common language with almost any person, and are often able to resolve the most protracted conflicts, and even more so find a compromise. Due to their sociability large number friends, but sometimes personal life doesn’t work out because they are very fickle and crave variety.

Society

Speech is fast and clear, usually full of gestures and bright facial expressions. Have high level adaptability, that is, they adapt very quickly and easily to any conditions. They are usually called optimists and cheerful people, this happens because, according to Pavlov, they have a very high degree of excitement, and on the contrary, the inhibition threshold is low. They sometimes perceive this world illusorily, not noticing reality, which is why they believe in the beautiful and the good. Feelings can quickly replace each other, but if a sanguine person told you about his, for example, hatred, you should not despair, because usually their emotions are unstable and do not differ in depth.

Regarding emotionality, I would like to add that you should not be alarmed if you are hugged or kissed when you meet; sanguine people are very expressive and do not like to hide their emotions. This is especially good in the case that you will always know how such a person treats you, without expecting a dirty trick behind your back.

Performance

Excellent and active workers, but only until they get bored with their work, if it is monotonous or requires perseverance and a long wait for results. In this case, they feel boredom and loss of strength. But when they fail, they don’t give up, but on the contrary, they gain strength and move on, sometimes it seems that nothing can break them. The desire to diversify their everyday life also affects their appearance; they are ready to take risks and try on different images, just to see something new in the reflection.

Their willpower requires very active attention because modern world In order to achieve something, it is important to be able to wait, and when they take on work, they do not always complete it. Difficulties may arise in your career, because management will not be able to trust large projects, but only rely on quick wins and a bright presentation. In addition, due to an illusory perception of the world, they also cannot really evaluate themselves, sometimes exaggerating their capabilities. From which they can very often be disappointed because they failed to initially measure their strengths and resources. It’s good that they know how to quickly recover and rush back into battle, but if you initially calculate your capabilities, then life will become much easier.

Choleric

Brief description

Just like sanguine people, they are excellent speakers, very active and active, and resolve conflicts and disputes of any complexity. But regarding work, they are ready to take on an impossible task and see it through to the end. The main feature is imbalance, that is, absolutely all mental processes in them occur very quickly and intensely. Because of this, they are very active, mobile and cannot always control their actions. That is, if according to Pavlov, then excitation of the nervous system prevails over inhibition. Therefore, choleric people are sometimes very irritable, they can be rude, because it is difficult to restrain their emotions, and their mood changes very often. Overly pronounced gestures and facial expressions may be alarming, but this is also due to impetuosity and lack of restraint.

Society

Unlike a sanguine person, whom others love for his positivity and sociability, choleric people can sometimes repel and hurt with their temper and harshness. Create conflict situations. Being in the same team with them is sometimes very uncomfortable.

Performance

Considering the readiness to take on tasks of any complexity, a choleric person in the process of completing them may well lose his “combat” enthusiasm, which is why he loses interest and inspiration. In this case, he should recover and rest. And then he will be able to safely continue to “move mountains.” But as leaders they are excellent because they are fair, know how to organize the work process and take responsibility for their actions.

Relationship

It is important for them to learn to control themselves, slow down and expect. So, before you make any decision or express your point of view to someone else, especially in a rude manner, mentally count to 10, take a couple of breaths, and only then start speaking and acting. That's it in short. But I recommend starting to practice meditation, with the help of which you will learn to contemplate and thoughtfully approach issues. You can read how to do this in.

Phlegmatic person

Brief description

Well, phlegmatic people know how to realistically assess the surrounding reality. They look at the situation soberly and slowly, thoughtfully and calmly approach issues. And no matter how monotonous and difficult the work is, they will definitely finish it. Composure and calmness are the main traits of his character, since mental processes proceed very slowly. Because of this, he expresses emotions extremely rarely, and very weakly, remaining mostly calm. It is almost impossible to piss off a phlegmatic person; even in a stressful situation, he will show composure and balance.

Society

In life they prefer to “go with the flow” without being too active. But if you meet a person for whom you have feelings, you will make every effort to achieve reciprocity. Very reliable partners, both in friendship and in marriage. It is very difficult for them to adjust and adapt, so any changes in their usual routine can cause enormous stress. And given that a phlegmatic person rarely expresses his feelings and gives vent to his emotions, this can affect his physical health.

Relationship

Before letting another person get close to them, they will look closely for a very long time, which is why they have quite a few friends. But they don’t need much, because free time They like to spend time at home, alone with themselves or a loved one.

Performance

They can perform painstaking work indefinitely, and they usually have a good memory, capturing and remembering details and large amounts of information. Due to the fact that due to restraint in emotions, they have more developed attentiveness and concentration.

Brief description

Melancholic people have the slowest mental processes, the level of reaction to external stimuli is very low, so they are very slow and passive. some long-term stress can make them want to stop activities because they are very vulnerable. They may not express their feelings and emotions, especially as actively as choleric people. But at the same time, the level of depth of living sometimes exceeds their capabilities, therefore, if they feel melancholy and sadness, then for a long time, often living with depression. It is believed that a larger percentage of people who commit suicide are melancholic. And all because they restrain their emotions, are generally pessimistic and all their attention is directed deep into themselves. This accumulates irritation and aggression, which is difficult to direct outward, then they turn active actions in relation to yourself.

Society

Not sociable because new person causes too much anxiety, embarrassment and awkwardness. Sometimes they can even react very slowly to certain events. But, interestingly, they can choose the completely opposite sanguine person as a partner, having a subconscious desire to be led and admiring his activity.

Performance

The psychology of such people is that, due to pessimism and vulnerability, they have a very difficult time dealing with failures, which cultivate more and more complexes and take away the desire to act and try. From which the desire to feel sorry for oneself grows even more, and thoughts arise about the injustice of this world, in which there is nothing good.

There are no completely “pure” species; there is usually a characteristic of several types that predominates in human reactions and activities. But there are cases when 25% of each type is combined in one person, who in this case is called a tetravert.

How to determine your type?

If you read the characteristics, but could not understand what prevails, then there are many different methods with which you can easily determine your affiliation. The most popular is the Eysenck test. There are also various projective techniques, where you will be offered options for the development of events in any stressful situation. You can take all these tests online; there are enough resources on the Internet with automatic calculations.

Conclusion

That's all, dear readers! Knowledge about psychotypes greatly simplifies life, because knowing your weaknesses and characteristics, you will know which direction to move. What you need to pay attention to and what to rely on in case of complex and unforeseen situations. You will better understand how to establish a workflow so that all mechanisms work smoothly and without interruptions. Add the article to your social media. network, I will be pleased that you share it, and you will not forget what is written in the article. See you soon.

Introduction

Even in ancient times, scientists, observing external features behavior of people, drew attention to large individual differences in this regard. Some are very active, emotionally excitable and energetic. Others are slow, calm, unperturbed. Some are sociable, easily make contact with others, and cheerful, while others are reserved and secretive.

Mental characteristics human personality characterized by various properties that manifest themselves during human social activities. One of the mental properties of a person is a person’s temperament.

Character is the framework of the personality, which includes only the most pronounced and closely interrelated personality traits, clearly manifested in various types of activities. All character traits are personality traits, but not all personality traits are character traits.

§1. The concept of temperament and its physiological basis.

Temperament is those innate human characteristics that determine the dynamic characteristics of the intensity and speed of reaction, the degree of emotional excitability and balance, and the characteristics of adaptation to the environment.

There are no better or worse temperaments - each of them has its own positive aspects Therefore, the main efforts should not be aimed at remaking temperament (which is impossible due to the innateness of temperament), but at the reasonable use of its advantages and leveling out its negative facets.

Academician I.P. Pavlov studied the physiological foundations of temperament, drawing attention to the dependence of temperament on the type of nervous system. He showed that two main nervous processes - excitation and inhibition - reflect the activity of the brain. From birth, they are all different: in strength, mutual balance, mobility. Depending on the relationship between these properties of the nervous system, Pavlov identified 4 main types of higher nervous activity:

1) “unrestrained” (strong, mobile, unbalanced type of nervous system - corresponds to the temperament of a choleric person);

2) “alive” (strong, mobile, balanced type of nervous system - corresponds to the temperament of a sanguine person);

3) “calm” (strong, balanced, inert type of nervous system - corresponds to the temperament of a phlegmatic person);

4) “weak” (weak, unbalanced, sedentary type of nervous system - determines the temperament of a melancholic person).

§2. Basic types of temperament.

Choleric- this is a person whose nervous system is determined by the predominance of excitation over inhibition, as a result of which he reacts very quickly, often thoughtlessly, does not have time to slow down or restrain himself, shows impatience, impetuosity, abruptness of movements, hot temper, unbridledness, lack of restraint. The imbalance of his nervous system predetermines the cyclical change in his activity and vigor: having become carried away by some task, he works passionately, with full dedication, but he does not have enough strength for long, and as soon as they are depleted, he works himself to the point that everything is unbearable for him. An irritated state appears Bad mood, loss of strength and lethargy (“everything falls out of hand”). The alternation of positive cycles of uplifting mood and energy with negative cycles of decline and depression determines uneven behavior and well-being, and an increased susceptibility to neurotic breakdowns and conflicts with people.

Sanguine– a person with a strong, balanced, mobile nervous system, has a quick reaction speed, his actions are thoughtful, cheerful, due to which he is characterized by high resistance to the difficulties of life. The mobility of his nervous system determines the variability of feelings, attachments, interests, views, and high adaptability to new conditions. This good mixer, easily gets along with new people and that’s why he has wide circle acquaintances, although he is not distinguished by constancy in communication and affection. He is a productive worker, but only when there are a lot of interesting things to do, that is, with constant excitement, otherwise he becomes boring, lethargic, and distracted. In a stressful situation, he exhibits a “lion reaction”, that is, he actively, deliberately defends himself, fights to normalize the situation.

Phlegmatic person– a person with a strong, balanced, but inert nervous system, as a result of which he reacts slowly, is taciturn, emotions appear slowly (it is difficult to anger or cheer); has a high performance capacity, resists strong and prolonged stimuli and difficulties well, but is not able to react quickly in unexpected new situations. He firmly remembers everything he has learned, is unable to give up acquired skills and stereotypes, does not like to change habits, routines, work, friends, and adapts to new conditions with difficulty and slowly. The mood is stable and even. And in the event of serious troubles, the phlegmatic remains outwardly calm.

Melancholic– a person with a weak nervous system, who has increased sensitivity even to weak stimuli, and a strong stimulus can already cause a “breakdown”, “stopper”, confusion, “rabbit stress”, therefore in stressful situations (exam, competition, danger, etc. .) the results of a melancholic person’s activity may worsen compared to a calm, familiar situation. Increased sensitivity leads to rapid fatigue and decreased performance (longer rest is required). A minor reason can cause resentment and tears. The mood is very changeable, but usually a melancholic person tries to hide, not show his feelings outwardly, does not talk about his experiences, although he is very inclined to give himself up to emotions, is often sad, depressed, unsure of himself, anxious, and may experience neurotic disorders. However, having a highly sensitive nervous system, they often have pronounced artistic and intellectual abilities.

§3. The connection between temperament and personality traits.

It is difficult to answer exactly what type of temperament a particular adult has. The type of nervous system, although determined by heredity, is not absolutely unchangeable. With age, as well as under the influence of systematic training, upbringing, and life circumstances, nervous processes can weaken or strengthen, and their switchability can speed up or slow down. For example, choleric and sanguine people predominate among children (they are energetic, cheerful, easily and strongly excited; after crying, a minute later they can be distracted and laugh joyfully, i.e. there is a high mobility of nervous processes). Among older people, on the contrary, there are many phlegmatic and melancholic people.

Temperament is external manifestation type of higher nervous activity of a person, and therefore, as a result of education, self-education, this external manifestation can be distorted, changed, and “masking” of the true temperament occurs. Therefore, “pure” types of temperament are rarely found, but, nevertheless, the predominance of one or another tendency is always manifested in human behavior.

Temperament leaves its mark on ways of behavior and communication, for example, a sanguine person is almost always the initiator in communication, he feels comfortable in company strangers casual, new unusual situation he only excites him, but melancholic, on the contrary, frightens him, confuses him, he gets lost in a new situation, among new people. A phlegmatic person also has difficulty getting along with new people, shows little of his feelings and does not notice for a long time that someone is looking for a reason to get to know him. He is inclined to begin love relationships with friendship and, in the end, falls in love, but without lightning-fast metamorphoses, since his rhythm of feelings is slowed down, and the stability of feelings makes him a monogamist. For choleric and sanguine people, on the contrary, love often arises with an explosion, at first sight, but is not so stable.

A person's work productivity is closely related to the characteristics of his temperament. Thus, the special mobility of a sanguine person can bring an additional effect if the work requires him to frequently move from one type of activity to another, efficiency in decision-making, and the monotony, regimentation of activity, on the contrary, leads him to rapid fatigue. Phlegmatic and melancholic people, on the contrary, under conditions of strict regulation and monotonous work, show greater productivity and resistance to fatigue than choleric and sanguine people.

In behavioral communication, it is possible and necessary to anticipate the peculiarities of the reaction of persons with different types temperament and respond appropriately to them.

We emphasize that temperament determines only dynamic, but not meaningful characteristics of behavior. Based on the same temperament, both a “great” and a socially insignificant personality are possible.

The famous psychologist C. Jung divides people according to their personality into extroverts (“outward-facing”) and introverts (“inward-facing”). Extroverts are sociable, active, optimistic, mobile, they have a strong type of higher nervous activity, and by temperament they are sanguine or choleric. Introverts are uncommunicative, reserved, separated from everyone, and in their actions they are guided mainly by own ideas, take decisions seriously, control their emotions. Introverts include phlegmatic and melancholic people. However, in life there are rarely absolutely pure extroverts or introverts. Each of us has traits of both, it depends on innate qualities nervous system, age, upbringing, life circumstances.

Each of us has huge amount acquaintances Some people like to complain about life, others serve as role models. They are all completely different individual personalities. But they also have similar traits and characteristics, which are called temperament. Do you know what type of temperament you have and what kind of people you get along with most easily? If not, then we will reveal to you all the details of this issue.

Temperament - its properties and types

Surely many have heard about a person that he is very temperamental personality. But what is behind these words and what characteristics allowed him to be given such an assessment? The study of temperament types helped psychologists conclude that human mental processes proceed in a certain rhythm, feelings can be expressed in varying degrees and the energy of action also varies. Temperament is closely related to the innate characteristics of human higher nervous activity. It is characterized by differences between people in the degree of emotionality, impressionability, behavior and any activity. In other words, this is the dynamics of personality, which is innate, manifests itself in childhood and cannot be educated. However, it is worth remembering that beliefs life principles and worldview have nothing to do with temperament.

Psychologists have divided the types of temperament into 4 parts, each of which is a characteristic whole personality, however, it is very rare in its pure form. So, the types of human temperament today are divided into choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic and melancholic.

1. Choleric. A person with a similar temperament tends to experience intensely various states and just as quickly forget them. Usually this is expressed in hot temper and immediately following it with quick release. Choleric temperament characterizes its owner as a very active and energetic person. In life, choleric people are very passionate people, whose experiences are always deep, feelings instantly replace each other, and their movements are sharp and swift.
2. Sanguine. It is similar to a choleric person, but if the first movements are sharp, then sanguine people make them easily and smoothly. People with a similar temperament can be called superficial. Emotional states, so quickly replacing each other, do not linger in the consciousness of a sanguine person. Therefore, he quickly forgets grievances and attachments. In general, he is a cheerful person with very active facial expressions, who is very impressionable and easily distracted by external stimuli.
3. Melancholic. This temperament can be found in people with slow movement of mental processes. Typically, a melancholic person can be called a person who most often has a sad or gloomy mood, his movements are slow and awkward, he himself is indecisive, withdrawn and not sociable. Such people experience life’s difficulties very hard, keep their feelings deep in their souls and often hesitate in making decisions.
4. Phlegmatic person. Like a melancholic person, such a person is primarily characterized by slowness in business and in his own speech. It is almost impossible to piss him off thanks to his even and calm character. Before taking any action, a phlegmatic person will think about it long and carefully. That's why people like this hold on tightly to theirs workplace and are strongly called to their work, having difficulty switching to another.

How to find out your temperament type?

Today, determining the type of temperament is a task that even a schoolchild can cope with. Some individuals only need to read the description of each type to understand which one they belong to. However, professional diagnosis of temperament type consists of a combination of various methods and techniques that are aimed at obtaining a holistic picture psychological characteristics personality.

One of the simplest is the method for determining the type of temperament N.N. Obozova. The subject is asked to choose one of 15 line by line characteristic features one temperament or another.

Suppose that in the question “Balance of behavior” the answer “excellently balanced” is closer to you and the answer “well balanced” is slightly untrue. In this case, the most successful answer is given a score of 2 points, less than 1 point, and the remaining values ​​are equal to zero.

The personality type that ultimately outperforms the others in terms of scores is the predominant one.

Having independently diagnosed yourself or one of the individuals of interest, do not forget that knowing how to determine the type of temperament does not guarantee a 100% hit. In nature, temperaments are found in a mixed form, in which one predominates. Thus, even if you are sure that you know a person well, do not forget about the pitfalls of his personality.