What is character in psychology?
Human character is influenced not only by psycho-emotional factors, but also by the functioning of the nervous system, habitat and social circle. A person’s temperament is a set of individual factors that determine the specifics of her behavior, lifestyle and interaction with others.
From the point of view of psychology, character combines specific mental and human traits that are constant and stable. In most cases, it is formed throughout life and may undergo some changes depending on lifestyle and environment.
How to recognize high sensitivity
Elaine Aaron developed a sensitivity level test. Answer yes or no to these questions:
- I notice even minor changes in my surroundings.
- I am influenced by other people's moods.
- I have extreme sensitivity to pain.
- I notice that on stressful days I need to hide somewhere: in bed, in a darkened room, in any other place where I can be alone and take a break from stimuli.
- Caffeine affects me greatly.
- I quickly feel confused by bright flashes, strong smells, rough fabrics, and the sudden sound of car sirens or horns nearby.
- I have a rich and complex inner life.
- I find loud noise very unpleasant.
- I am deeply moved by painting/music.
- I am a conscientious person.
- I get scared easily.
- I lose my cool when I have to deal with too many things in a short time.
- When the physical environment makes people uncomfortable, I usually know how to improve the situation (such as changing the lighting or moving to a different seat).
- I get irritated when I am forced to do too many things at once.
- I try my best to avoid mistakes and forgetfulness.
- I avoid films and programs with scenes of violence.
- I get nervous when there is too much going on around me.
- Severe hunger prevents me from concentrating and affects my mood.
- Changes in life become a strong shock for me.
- I enjoy noticing delicate and refined smells, tastes, sounds, works of art.
- I strive to organize my life in such a way as to avoid shocks and situations that deprive me of peace of mind.
- When I have to compete with someone or perform a task under supervision, I become so nervous and trembling that my performance is much lower than usual.
- When I was a child, my parents and teachers thought I was impressionable, sensitive, or shy.
If you agreed with 12 or more statements, you are likely highly sensitive. However, these questions are averaged rather than individually compiled, so a highly sensitive person may score lower.
Human character types
The following character types are distinguished:
- Choleric
is often unbalanced, enthusiastic, with sudden mood swings, and quickly emotionally exhausted. - A sanguine person
is active, productive, immerses himself in interesting work, loses interest in boring work, quickly reacts to changes in the situation and easily puts up with failures. - A melancholic person
is often worried, vulnerable, impressionable, and does not depend much on external factors. - Phlegmatic
- calm, hiding emotions, with a stable mood, balanced, calm, with high productivity.
Types of human temperament
Temperament is the constant characteristics of the individual behavior of a particular person, which are equally manifested in various activities. There are four types whose definitions are:
- A sanguine person is distinguished by increased mobility, efficiency, pronounced facial emotional manifestations in facial expression, responsiveness, sociability, poise, optimism, cheerful disposition, rapid fatigue from hard work, carelessness.
- Choleric – sudden changes in mood, short temper, hysteria, quick response, impetuosity, outbursts of anger.
- Melancholic – anxiety, pessimism, vulnerability, excessive worries about any reason, restraint, self-control, lack of trust in others.
- Phlegmatic - cold-blooded, low activity, prudence, creates the impression of a wise person, always gets things done.
Human temperaments. 4 types of temperament: choleric, sanguine, melancholic, phlegmatic
Strengths of a person's character
Positive qualities of a person’s character can be an advantage:
- honesty;
- hard work and integrity;
- stress resistance;
- independence;
- discipline and diligence;
- communication skills, resourcefulness and self-confidence;
- punctuality.
With the help of the qualities under consideration, a person is able to achieve his goals, interact with others, and be a reliable comrade, life partner or partner. The development of such properties can help expand your horizons, career growth and the emergence of new acquaintances.
Classification of personality traits
Conventionally, the main character traits are divided into three main groups.
The first characterizes emotions, the second – will, and the third – intellect. There is also a division according to the direction of impact.
First of all, this is characterized by the attitude towards the external environment - society and the people around.
Secondly, by the attitude towards one’s own person, and thirdly, by the attitude towards activity, that is, work and learning.
The emotional group, which includes such traits as aggressiveness, apathy, artistry, quick temper, impressionability, good nature, cheerfulness, isolation, impulsiveness, capriciousness, love of love, melancholicity and others, are formed in early childhood, when the child’s psyche undergoes a stage of formation under the influence of many various factors.
Strong-willed character traits are acquired throughout life - these are power, masculinity, assertiveness, resourcefulness, obsession, prudence, pedantry, devotion, etc. The intellectual group includes insight, rationality, prudence, independence, savvy, intelligence, intelligence, integrity, etc.
The decisive factor here is natural predisposition, which is influenced by hereditary genes and temperament.
However, the child’s environment cannot be discounted: it would be more correct to say that it plays the same role in the development of personality as what is inherent in nature.
The baby grows, gains experience in interacting with the outside world and a set of positive and negative personality traits. This process continues throughout life and the list of existing character traits is constantly updated with new personality traits. And if at first this process occurs unconsciously, reflexively, then later, when a person realizes his actions, he can already make a choice. This conscious choice opens up opportunities for character transformation, that is, personal growth.
Basic personality traits
Today, the list of character traits consists of several hundred different definitions.
Their very different combinations can be found in the same person. But in general, the personal qualities that exist today are divided into positive and negative.
However, it is impossible to say with one hundred percent certainty that this is a bad character trait and that is a good one.
For example, adventurism can be called both a negative and a positive trait, depending on the impact it has on a person’s behavior.
If he is excessively and thoughtlessly carried away by various adventures of an incomprehensible nature, then this most likely will not bring him any good.
The healthy adventurism inherent in a successful businessman allows him to move forward, invest money in promising projects and prosper. Or, for example, envy. Everyone will say that this trait is extremely negative.
But psychologists say that it is the engine of progress, forcing people to strive forward and achieve more than others have. In most cases, it is worth talking about certain sets of properties that, depending on the current situation, can have a greater impact on a person. But from a social and moral point of view, they can all be divided into positive and negative.
Negative character traits
Here are some of them:
Negative personality traits also include rudeness, boasting, familiarity, gloominess, vanity, obstinacy, bitchiness, arrogance, promiscuity, etc.
List of positive human character traits
Here are some of them:
Positive personality traits also include meekness, sincerity, caring, trustfulness, restraint, politeness, nobility, accuracy, etc.
For those who do not like their own “psychological portrait”, there is consolation: deficiencies in temperament can be compensated for by positive character traits.
It is the understanding that one can change oneself for the better that is the most attractive feature of science.
So, if temperament is an innate personality trait, then a person develops character himself. Every time we perform an action, we strengthen or weaken some of its features.
In this way, even the worst disposition can be corrected.
Regarding temperament, we can only recall that Hippocrates divided it into four types, which are still used today:
- Phlegmatic people are unhurried and unperturbed;
- Cholerics are hot-tempered and unbalanced;
- Melancholic people are impressionable and vulnerable;
- Sanguine people are lively, active and cheerful.
Recording the results
It is better to write down the results of your struggle. You can make a table and record successes and failures there every day. Or do this: mark two cities on a geographical map. One will conditionally indicate your current state, the second will indicate your goal.
Every time you do something to improve your character, put a new point on the path between these cities. And if you miss something, go back to the point.
It seems very interesting in terms of plan. Be sure to read about this great man, whose experience can be of invaluable help to you.
Surely the reader may have a question: do the formation of personality and its individual traits influence?
It is quite difficult to give an unambiguous answer to this question. A certain connection in the inclinations and characteristics of behavior between children and parents can certainly be traced.
However, to claim that “I am like this and cannot be different, because this is how my mom or dad is”
, for an adult, at least not serious.
It is believed that it is impossible to change temperament, but character traits are within the power of anyone. You just need to have the determination to do this.
Accentuation of character
Accentuation of character is a character trait that is within the clinical norm, in which individual character traits are excessively enhanced, as a result of which selective vulnerability to certain psychogenic influences is revealed while maintaining good resistance to others.
The definition of accentuation may seem a little complicated to you, but in fact it is quite simple.
The word “accentuation” itself (from the Latin accentus - emphasis) means a pronounced emphasis on something.
In other words, this feature consists in the fact that some character traits are unusually developed, which causes the inferiority of other, less developed traits.
Probably everyone has seen how small children, at the sight of strangers, warm up to some and begin to smile, but at the sight of others they frown and run away.
This is due to the fact that facial features are very closely related to our character traits. Children intuitively sense this when they “scan” a stranger’s face.
Yes, and adults, on a deeply subconscious level, can “feel” whether a person in front of them is good or bad. This also happens because our brain can “read” information from the characteristic features of a person’s face.
It is important to understand that a person’s character largely determines how his life will turn out and whether he will achieve success.
The 19th century English writer William Thackeray wrote:
“Sow an action and you will reap a habit; sow a habit and you will reap a character; sow a character and you will reap a destiny.”
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Each person has a unique set of qualities that define his personality. I wonder what character traits there are, what types of qualities there are and how they influence a person’s character?
What are the character traits?
Why bother understanding what character traits exist? In order to be able to determine the type of character of the interlocutor. And knowing what type of character a person has, it is easier to predict his actions, and this will help to avoid various unpleasant situations.
Even without being familiar with the topic, you can name many character traits, but how can you understand which of them are defining for a particular person? In psychology, there are concepts of leading and secondary character traits. That is, not every trait will manifest itself with equal force in a person’s behavior. For example, a truth-loving and fearful person will constantly endure ridicule from others, privately reasoning with himself how wrong they are if his fearfulness is the leading one. But if the love of truth prevails, then he will tell everyone who they really are, deep down fearing the consequences.
Therefore, character traits are classified in relation to different aspects of life.
- Attitude towards other people: rudeness, truthfulness, tactfulness, deceit, isolation, sociability, friendliness.
- Attitude to work: conscientiousness, responsibility, hard work, laziness.
- Attitude towards oneself: narcissism, self-criticism, modesty, pride, self-confidence.
- Attitudes towards property: greed, frugality, generosity, wastefulness, sloppiness, neatness.
The main group is the attitude towards other people, because it is in society that the main character traits are formed; without assessing behavior with other people, a person’s character cannot be understood. If a person has overly developed certain character traits, then this is called accentuation.
What kind of character does a person have with accentuation?
The most well-known division is into introverts and extroverts, reserved and sociable people, respectively. But there is also such a classification of the types of human character with accentuation.
Feminine character traits.
Femininity is manifested in the following traits:
Flexibility and spontaneity.
These qualities are the opposite of male predictability and consistency. To be called feminine, a girl should learn to switch quickly, be mobile in actions, fluid in thinking.
Dependence on feelings.
There is such a pattern: when a man is doing well at work, he achieves success more easily in his personal life; for women it’s the other way around - they feel more confident when they have order in their love rear. There is another extreme when a girl throws herself into work due to a lack of emotions or lack of healthy relationships.
Subjectivity.
Girls rely more on emotions and intuition, therefore, when making judgments, they tend to follow their own experience and opinions more than analyze the facts.
Increased emotionality.
And again about emotions! The tendency to hyperbolize, be hysterical, and rejoice violently belongs to ladies.
Empathy.
Such enormous experience in the emotional sphere gives girls the ability to sensitively guess other people’s feelings and experience them.
Mystery.
It is not for nothing that the image of a mysterious stranger is considered one of the most beloved by men; they associate it with femininity. While women will be more comfortable with an “understandable” man.
Insight.
It is difficult to hide something from girls; they have a built-in radar that senses lies and understatement. True, sometimes he gives himself, and the girl begins to “perceive” what is not there, but this is a slightly different quality. In general, girls are able to accurately analyze a situation, although this analysis may be far from male logic.
Vulnerability.
It is born out of a tendency to fantasize and create illusions. To prevent the harsh reality from frightening and consuming, many women want to have a strong shoulder nearby.
Modesty.
One of the classic features that is known to make a girl beautiful.
Compliance.
Many girls (some unconsciously) show a tendency towards submission. This does not mean that the girl will allow herself to be indulged, but she will happily give the reins of power to men’s hands, and she herself will receive emotional dividends from this, including in the role of a gray eminence.
