The concept of personality. Basic concepts of personality

In modern psychology there is no unified theory of personality development. The secrets of the inner world of man are not fully understood. Each concept contributes to understanding its essence. Studying the basic theories of personality will allow you to get a complete picture of it.

Despite their diversity and sometimes inconsistency, it is possible to identify common basic features in approaches to the analysis of the human psyche:

• taking into account the biosocial nature of homo;
• division of the mental microcosm into two spheres - the unconscious and the conscious;
• the relationship of will, cognition and emotions;
• self as the quintessence of personal structure.

Idealist theory

The idealistic theory is that the basis of society, its core, is formed by the spiritual principle, enlightenment and the height of the moral qualities of the units that make up a given society. Often the core was understood as God, pure reason, world intelligence or human consciousness. The main idea is the thesis that the world is ruled by ideas. And that by “putting” thoughts with a certain vector (good, evil, altruistic, etc.) into people’s heads, it was possible to reorganize all of humanity.

Undoubtedly, such a theory has certain grounds. For example, the fact that all actions performed by a person occur with the participation of the mind and consciousness. Before the division of labor, such a theory might have been taken for granted. But at the moment when the mental sphere of life was separated from the physical, the illusion appeared that consciousness and idea are higher than the material. A monopoly on mental work gradually developed, and hard work was done by those who were not included in the elite circle.

Psychological theories of personality

Research into personality structure is based on specific results from personality studies that reflect seven main approaches to the problem. Each approach has its own theory, its own ideas about the properties and structure of personality, and its own methods for measuring them. Each theory allows you to build one or more structural models of personality. One of the works of V.M. is devoted to the analysis of the main theories of personality. Ru-salova [243]. Let us briefly consider the main theories of personality.

1. Psychodynamic theory of personality. Developed by 3. Freud, according to whom the main source of personality development is innate biological factors (instincts), or more precisely, general biological energy - libido (from Latin libido - attraction, desire). This energy is aimed, firstly, at procreation (sexual attraction) and, secondly, at destruction (aggressive attraction).

Freud identifies three main conceptual blocks, or levels of personality:

· id (“it”) – the main structure of the personality, consisting of a set of unconscious (sexual and aggressive) impulses;

· ego (“I”) – a set of cognitive and executive functions of the psyche that are predominantly conscious by a person, representing in a broad sense all our knowledge about the real world;

· superego (“super-ego”) – a structure containing social norms, attitudes, social values ​​of the society in which a person lives.

Thus, within the framework of psychodynamic theory, personality is a system of sexual and aggressive motives, on the one hand, and defense mechanisms, on the other, and the structure of personality is an individually different ratio of individual properties, individual blocks (instances) and defense mechanisms.

2. Analytical theory of personality. The founder of the analytical approach to the study of personality is C. Jung. He considered innate psychological factors to be the main source of personality development. A person inherits from his parents ready-made primary ideas - “archetypes”, and the meaning of each person’s life is to fill the innate archetypes with specific content. The main elements of personality are the psychological properties of individual realized archetypes of a given person (character traits).

The analytical model distinguishes three main conceptual blocks, or areas of personality:

· the collective unconscious is the focus of all cultural and historical experience of humanity;

· individual unconscious – a set of emotionally charged thoughts and feelings (“complexes”), repressed from consciousness;

· individual conscious – a structure that serves as the basis of self-awareness and conscious activity.

The integrity of the individual is achieved through the action of the “self” archetype, which ensures the “individuation” of a person (or exit from the collective unconscious). The “Self” organizes, coordinates, integrates all the structures of the human psyche into a single whole and creates its uniqueness. This is achieved in two ways of such integration:

· extraversion – an attitude towards filling innate archetypes with external information;

· introversion – orientation towards the inner world, towards one’s own experiences.

3. Humanistic theory of personality. There are two main directions: “clinical” (K. Rogers) and “motivational” (A. Maslow). Representatives of humanistic psychology consider innate tendencies towards self-actualization to be the main source of personality development.

According to Rogers, there are two innate tendencies in the human psyche: the first (“self-actualizing tendency”) initially contains future personality traits in a compressed form; the second (“organismic tracking process”) is a mechanism for monitoring personality development. Based on these tendencies, in the process of development a person develops a personal structure of “I”, which includes the “ideal I” and the “real I” and is in complex relationships - from complete harmony (congruence) to complete disharmony.

A.G. Maslow identified two types of needs that underlie personality development: “deficit” needs, which cease after their satisfaction, and “growth”, which only intensify after their implementation. Five levels of motivation act as personality blocks: 1) physiological; 2) security needs (at home, at work); 3) the need for belonging (to another person, family); 4) self-esteem (self-esteem, competence, dignity); 5) the need for self-actualization (creativity, beauty, integrity, etc.). The author formulated the law of progressive development of motivation - from the lower level to the highest (self-actualization).

According to humanists, personal integrity, the basic quality of a “fully functioning personality,” is achieved when the congruence between the “real self” and the “ideal self” approaches one. A holistic personality is characterized by an effective perception of reality; spontaneity, naturalness and simplicity of behavior; orientation to solving a problem, to business; constant “childishness” of perception; frequent experiences of “peak” feelings, ecstasy; a sincere desire to help all humanity; deep interpersonal relationships; high moral standards.

Thus, within the framework of the humanistic approach, personality is the inner world of the human “I” as a result of self-realization.

4. Cognitive theory of personality. According to its founder J. Kelly, the main source of personality development is the environment, the social environment. This theory emphasizes the influence of intellectual processes on human behavior. The main concept in this theory is “construct”, which includes the features of all cognitive processes. A construct is a kind of classifier-template for our perception of other people and ourselves. The fundamental postulate of the theory states that personal processes psychologically provide a person in such a way as to create the possibility of maximum prediction of events. Each person has his own system of personal constructs, the joint functioning of which ensures the holistic properties of the personality.

A cognitively complex person differs from a cognitively simple person in the following characteristics: 1) has better mental health; 2) copes better with stress; 3) has a higher level of self-esteem; 4) more adaptive to new situations.

5. Behavioral theory of personality. The founders of the social direction of this theory are A. Bandura and J. Rotter. In their opinion, an important role in personality development is played not so much by external as by internal factors, for example, expectation, goal, significance, etc. Bandura called human behavior self-regulation, the main task of which is to ensure self-efficacy, that is, to perform only those forms of behavior , which a person can implement based on internal factors (imitation, experience, self-instruction, etc.).

The integrity of personality properties is manifested in the unity of action of the blocks of subjective significance (a structure that evaluates upcoming reinforcement) and accessibility (a structure associated with the expectation of receiving reinforcement based on past experience). People who do not see a connection (or see a weak connection) between their behavior and their results (reinforcements), according to J. Rotter, have an external, or external “locus of control” (“externals” do not control the situation). People who see a clear connection between their behavior and its results have an internal, or internal, “locus of control” (“internals” control the situation).

According to the behavioral theory of personality, personality structure is a complexly organized hierarchy of reflexes or social skills, in which the leading role is played by the internal blocks of self-efficacy, subjective significance and accessibility.

6. Dispositional theory of personality. According to the dispositional theory (from the English disposition - predisposition), the main source of personality development is the factors of gene-environment interaction. Thus, E. Kretschmer established a connection between bodily structure and character type, as well as between physique and a tendency to a certain mental illness.

G. Eysenck suggested that such a personality trait as “introversion-extraversion” (closedness-sociability) is determined by the functioning of the reticular formation of the brain. For introverts, it provides a higher tone of the cortex, so they do not need excessive sensory stimulation, they avoid unnecessary contacts with the outside world. Extroverts, on the contrary, are drawn to external sensory stimulation because they have reduced cortical tone. He identified personal properties with the properties of temperament. His personality model presents three fundamental properties: 1) introversion-extroversion; 2) neuroticism (emotional instability - emotional stability); 3) psychoticism.

A representative of this direction is also G. Allport, the founder of the trait theory (a trait is a person’s predisposition to behave in a similar way at different times and in different situations). He is a proponent of identifying three types of traits: 1) a cardinal trait, inherent only to one person and permeating all his actions; 2) common traits characteristic of most people within a given culture (punctuality, sociability, conscientiousness, etc.); 3) secondary traits, less stable than general ones.

Research by domestic psychologists B.M. Teplova, V.D. Nebylitsyna, V.M. Rusalov and others are devoted to the development of the formal-dynamic direction of the dispositional theory of personality. The main distinctive feature of this direction is the assertion that in a person’s personality there are two levels, two different aspects of personal properties - formal-dynamic, determined by the relationship between the properties of the nervous system, temperamental characteristics, and content (knowledge, skills, abilities, intelligence, character, attitudes , meanings, etc.).

V.M. Rusalov identifies four formal-dynamic properties as the main element of personality [243]:

· ergicity – level of mental stress, endurance;

· plasticity – ease of switching from one behavior program to another;

· speed – individual pace of behavior;

· emotional threshold – sensitivity to feedback, to the discrepancy between real and planned behavior.

Each of these properties can be distinguished in three areas of human behavior: psychomotor, intellectual and communicative.

7. The activity theory of personality has become most widespread in Russian psychology (S.L. Rubinshtein, A.N. Leontyev, K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, A.V. Brushlinsky). The main source of personality development, according to this theory, is activity, which is understood as a complex dynamic system of interaction between the subject (active person) and the world (society), in the process of which personality properties are formed [150]. Within the framework of the activity approach, individual properties or personality traits act as elements of personality; It is generally accepted that personality traits are formed as a result of activities that are always carried out in a specific socio-historical context. In this regard, personality traits are considered socially (normatively) determined.

The list of personality properties is virtually limitless and is determined by the variety of activities in which a person is included as a subject [1].

In the activity approach, the most popular is the four-component model of personality, which includes orientation, abilities, character and self-control as the main structural blocks.

Materialistic theory

The materialistic theory can be divided into two parts. The first draws a parallel between the place where a group of people lives and the formation of society. That is, the geographical location, landscape, minerals, access to large water reservoirs, etc. determine the direction of the future state, its political system, and the stratification of society.

The second part is reflected in the theory of Marxism: labor is the basis of society. Because to practice literature, art, science or philosophy, vital needs must be satisfied. This is how a pyramid of four steps is built: economic - social - political - spiritual.

Naturalistic and other theories

Lesser-known philosophical concepts: naturalistic, technocratic and phenomenological theory.

The naturalistic concept explains the structure of society, referring to its nature, that is, to the physical, biological, and geographical patterns of human development. A similar model is used in biology to describe the habits within a pack of animals. A person, according to this theory, differs only in behavioral characteristics.

The technocratic concept is associated with spasmodic stages of development of science and technology, the widespread introduction of the results of technical progress and the transformation of society in rapidly changing conditions.

Phenomenological theory is the result of the crisis that befell humanity in recent history. Philosophers are trying to derive the theory that society is generated from itself, without relying on external factors. But it has not yet received distribution.

Picture of the world

Basic philosophical concepts state that there are several most probable pictures of the world. These are sensory-spatial, spiritual-cultural and metaphysical, they mention physical, biological, philosophical theories.

If we start from the end, then philosophical theory is based around the concept of being, its knowledge and relationship with consciousness in general and man in particular. The history of the development of philosophy shows that with each new stage the concept of being was subject to rethinking, new evidence of its existence or refutation was found. At the moment, the theory states that existence exists, and its knowledge is in constant dynamic equilibrium with science and spiritual institutions.

The concept of personality. Basic concepts of personality

The concept of “personality” is one of the main ones in sociology, as well as “society” and “social”. After all, it is the personality that is the source of all social life, its main element.

Personality is studied by the entire complex of humanities. Philosophy studies the relationship between the natural (biological) and the social in man, man’s place in the world; psychology – the inner world of a person, the state of his “I”; ethics – “the world of what should be.” In sociology, the problem of personality is usually viewed from two main perspectives:

a) how social life is structured, how social institutions and communities function, and how this relates to the needs of a particular individual;

b) how a person interacts with other individuals, how he shows his essence, independence, autonomy.

In the first case, we consider the individual as a subject of activity , in the second - communication . But what is personality ? In social disciplines we come across many related concepts: man, individual, individuality, subject. To understand the essence of personality, we cannot do without their definition.

Man is the most fundamental concept of social science, meaning not only the highest level of development of living organisms, but also a subject of socio-historical activity and culture. Man is a biosocial being in the unity of his physical, natural, spiritual and social qualities. This concept is generic, fundamental.

An individual is a separate representative of the human race.

The subject is usually considered in relation to the object and means the direction of activity (we say: a person is a subject of labor, education or an object of education).

Speaking about individuality , we mean the uniqueness or originality of a particular person. After all, every person is individual and unique in some way. And finally, personality . K. Marx noted that the essence of a person is “... not her beard, not her blood, not abstract physical nature, but her social quality” (K. Marx, F. Engels, Works. Vol. 1. P. 242)

Famous psychologist S.L. Rubinstein believed that the actual personal properties of a person are those that determine “socially significant behavior and human activity” [42. pp. 119-120].

So, personality is a measure of a person’s sociality , his social characteristics. German philosopher G.F.W. Hegel noted that a person, having fingers, can pick up a brush and paints, but this does not mean that he has become a painter. So a person becomes a person to one degree or another, to one degree or another. What should a person take from society to become an individual? First of all, the variety of social roles, the direction of abilities and the possibility of their implementation, value orientations, etc. The core of a personality is its consciousness and self-awareness , the ability for self-realization . Personality is the integrity of a person’s social properties, a product of social development and the inclusion of the individual in the system of social relations through active substantive activity and communication . [54. P. 357].

Personality is an integral concept that characterizes a person:

a) as a subject and object of social relations;

b) uniting in it the universal, socially specific and individually unique (see diagram No. 2).

Scheme No. 2

Sociological concepts of personality are a collective concept that unites a variety of theories that explain the phenomenon of personality, its structure, socialization, and interaction with society.

The theory of the “mirror self” is one of the first theories in sociology, based on the principle of the decisive role of interaction between individuals (W. James, C. Cooley, J. Mead). Thus, James (an American philosopher and pragmatist psychologist) singled out the “I” - what others recognize as a person. Personality in this theory is the sum of a person’s psychological reactions to the opinions of people around him. “I” includes: a) ideas about how I appear to another person; b) ideas about how this other perceives me, perceives “my image”; c) one’s own sense of “I” – a sense of personal certainty (satisfaction, pride, humiliation, self-esteem, etc.). The core of personality here is self-awareness.

social exchange theories have become widespread in sociology . These theories are based on the idea of ​​"economic man" seeking maximum benefit at minimum cost. According to, for example, J. Homans and P. Blau, social behavior is considered as personal contact between two individuals, in which reward or loss determines their behavior according to the principle “you - to me, I - to you.” By exchange we mean, of course, not only the exchange of material values, but also spiritual ones. The most influential of the theories of exchange is the theory of “fair exchange”, that is, the proportional reward of an individual for certain results of his activities. The factors of exchange are: expectation of benefit from the other, the number of rewards in the exchange, violation of mutual obligations, compliance with fairness in the exchange and other factors. These theories focus on the idea of ​​social communication as an exchange of activities between individuals. Exchange theories have stimulated a large amount of applied research examining pay factors, distributions, personality types, leadership, power, and management-subordinate relationships.

In sociology and social psychology, a significant place is occupied by theories that consider personality in the traditions of behaviorism (from the English “behavior”). Behaviorism in sociology is a whole complex of theories based on the understanding of personality as a set of verbal reactions (responses) to the influence of the external environment: “stimulus” - “reaction”. Refusing to analyze the internal motives of an individual’s behavior, behaviorism studies only observable factors of behavior.

The development of this direction was significantly influenced, in particular, by the works of I.P. Pavlova and V.M. Bekhterev, who believed that already at birth a person has several “behavior patterns”, over which more complex ones are built during the learning process. The ideas of behaviorism as a theory of behavior have become firmly established in pedagogy, psychology, and social psychology.

A type of behaviorism is “field theory” , the essence of which is that if you know the human psyche well, his individual characteristics, then you can cause pre-planned reactions (under the influence of a certain “field” the expected reactions are obtained). In "psychotherapeutic" behavioral theories, much attention is paid to the past experience of the individual, which determines his current behavior.

Theories of “social learning” , training, which have become widespread in medicine, psychology, pedagogy, in addition to sociology, explain human behavior by his individual characteristics and environmental factors, which “teach” a person certain behavioral stereotypes. Thus, many doctors consider smoking, alcoholism, drug addiction, and the tendency to overeat as the result of “learning” and the influence of the social environment.

Psychologists S.L. Rubinstein, L.S. Vygotsky and J. Piaget criticized behaviorism for its primitivization of individual behavior, ignoring the social nature of man and his inner world. At the same time, behaviorism made a certain contribution to sociology, outlining a whole direction in it - the sociology of behavior.

The basis of the personalistic theory of personality (W. James, C. Cooley) is the philosophy of American pragmatism. In American personalism, the human “I” is divided into three elements:

1) material body and property;

2) social “I” - what a person receives from others;

3) spiritual “I” – the totality of one’s own abilities and inclinations.

On the basis of these three elements, a person’s life, his well-being, self-esteem and self-affirmation are formed.

The psychoanalytic personality theory of the famous Austrian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud . Freud was the first to try to describe the inner world of the individual as an energy system, the dynamics of which are based on the conflict between the conscious and the unconscious. He develops this theory in his works “Psychology of the masses and analysis of the human “I”, “Totem and taboo”, etc. Personality, according to Freud, consists of three substructures: “It” - “I” - “Super-ego”.

“It” is the reservoir of the unconscious in a person, her unconscious desires, drives, instincts, the main one of which is sexual (libido). “I” is actually a personality that is constantly under the control of the “Super-I” - those norms, values, restrictions that a person receives in social life. Thus, the personality is in constant conflict between its desires and drives (“It”) and social, moral norms (“Super-I”). Often a person is figuratively compared to a rider who bridles his horse (instincts, desires). We consider the sociological aspect of Freud's personality theory from the point of view of psychoanalysis. It is this conflict in the personality itself that is the source of neuroses and various types of mental illness. A person is constantly in conflict not only with himself, but also with society, since it is society that forces him to restrain desires and feelings, especially such as anger, hatred, aggression, and an unbridled craving for pleasure. Freudianism - this must be emphasized once again - as a sociological theory, should be distinguished from the method of psychoanalysis itself, the consideration of which is not the task of sociology. At the heart of Freud’s “sociological theory of personality” is the idea of ​​its internal inconsistency as the source of its development, self-realization, individualization and even creativity.

Following Freud, his follower A. Adler views the social life of the individual as self-affirmation and constant overcoming of the inferiority complex. Swiss psychologist and sociologist K. Jung develops Freud's ideas about the unconscious, highlighting the concept of the “collective unconscious” archetype (from arche - ancient). The collective unconscious is the experience of previous generations, traditions, innate images of the past for peoples, nations, certain communities of people. The center of personality, according to Jung, is the “self”, its internal certainty.

S. Freud's ideas were constantly criticized, but for several decades they have remained consistently attractive and fruitful. The limitations of Freudianism lie in its approach to the individual as a “cultivated animal” (through the Super-Ego), whose activity is based on instincts. What is attractive about S. Freud’s ideas is that he was the first to try to show the complex, contradictory and multifaceted inner world of the individual and the influence of the subconscious on it.

Human concept

The philosophical concept of man is now focused on the idealistic problem of man, the so-called “synthetic” concept. Philosophical anthropology strives to understand man in all spheres of his life, involving medicine, genetics, physics and other sciences. At the moment, there are only fragmentary theories: biological, psychological, religious, cultural, but there is no researcher who would connect them into a coherent system. The philosophical concept of man has remained an open question, on which the modern generation of philosophers continues to work.

Psychodynamic and analytical theories of personality

Psychodynamic personality theory is a personality theory developed by Z. Fred, according to which the main source of human personality development is his innate biological factors (instincts, libido).

In accordance with S. Freud’s theories of personality, there are three main conceptual blocks, which are the leading authorities of personality:

• ID (“It”) is the basis of the personality structure, consists of a set of unconscious impulses (aggressive and sexual).
• EGO (“I”) is a set of executive and cognitive functions of the psyche that are conscious of a person and consist of his knowledge about the world around him.
• SUPEREGO (“super-ego”) is a structure that includes various social attitudes, norms and values ​​of the society in which a person lives.

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Analytical theory of personality is a theory of personality developed by C. Jung, who believed that the main source of personality development is its innate psychological factors.

According to this theory, each person inherits primary ideas from his parents, which are called “archetypes.” The meaning of human life is to fill “archetypes” with certain content.

The main conceptual blocks (spheres of personality) in accordance with the analytical theory of personality:

1. The individual unconscious is a set of personal feelings and thoughts that are emotionally colored by a person’s consciousness.
2. The collective unconscious is the totality of all cultural and historical experience accumulated by humanity during its existence.
3. Individual conscious is a structure that acts as the basis of conscious activity and self-awareness of the individual.

Development concept

The philosophical concept of development is also dichotomous. It consists of two theories: dialectics and metaphysics.

Dialectics is the consideration of phenomena and events occurring in the world in all their diversity, dynamic development, change and interaction with each other.

Metaphysics considers things separately, without explaining their interconnection, without taking into account their influence on each other. This theory was first put forward by Aristotle, pointing out that, after going through a series of changes, matter is embodied in the only possible form.

Philosophical concepts develop in parallel with science and help expand our knowledge of the world around us. Some of them are confirmed, some remain only inferences, and some are rejected as having no basis.

Abstracts For You

Introduction Chapter 1. History and modern theories of personality 1.1 Theory of personality 3. Freud 1.2 Theory of personality of A. Adler 1.3 The concept of personality of G. Eysenck 1.4 Psychology of personality of Jung 1.5 Theory of personality of A. G. Maslow Chapter 2. Classification and content of the latest theories of personality 2.1 Classification the latest theories of personality 2.2 Model of personality K.K. Platonov 2.3 Theory of E. Bern 2.4 Theory of personality A.N. Leontyev Conclusion List of used literature

Introduction

The term "personality" has different meanings. The science of personality - personology - is a discipline that seeks to lay the foundation for a better understanding of human personality through the use of various research strategies. Modern personality psychology, being a scientific discipline, transforms speculative reasoning about human nature into concepts that can be confirmed experimentally.

Personality is, first of all, an abstract concept that combines many aspects that characterize a person: emotions, motivation, thoughts, experiences, perceptions and actions. The conceptual meaning of personality covers a wide range of internal mental processes that determine the characteristics of human behavior in various situations. Theories of personality vary widely, so it is almost impossible to simply assign a conceptual definition to the word “personality.” Within psychology, there is no single generally accepted meaning - there are as many meanings as there are psychologists and personality theories that solve this problem.

1. History and modern theories of personality

1.1 3. Freud's theory of personality

Today in psychology there is no single generally accepted theory of personality, but there are a great many different theories, concepts and models of personality that have significant influence and a large number of supporters.

There are theories of personality that are known not only to psychologists, but are also popular among the general population. One of these concepts is Z. Freud's psychodynamic theory of personality. According to Freud, personality is formed by three structural components: id (it), ego (me) and superego (super-ego). The id sphere is the instinctive core of personality. Powerful instincts located in the id sphere require their implementation and determine (directly or indirectly) the behavior of the individual. In general, the functioning of the id sphere is subject to the pleasure principle. In Freud's psychodynamic theory, two basic instincts are distinguished - the sexual instinct, also interpreted as the life instinct (libido, eros), and the destructive, destructive instinct, interpreted as the death instinct (mortido, thanatos). This form of human behavior, such as aggression, is considered in this concept as an instinctive form of behavior, as a manifestation of the destructive instinct of the individual.

Psychodynamic concept 3. Freud has as many opponents as supporters. Perhaps this is the theory about which the largest number of extreme, radical value judgments are expressed - from enthusiastic acceptance to unconditional rejection. In its most extreme form, the rejection of psychoanalysis by scientific psychology was perhaps formulated by the world-famous psychologist P. Fresse, who once stated that psychoanalysis is faith, and in order to believe, you must first “get on your knees.”

1.2 A. Adler’s theory of personality

A. Adler's personality theory is known as individual personality theory or individual psychology. This theory is also traditionally attributed to the psychoanalytic direction (Adler is one of Freud’s first and favorite students), although in fact most of the provisions of individual psychology developed as antitheses of Freud’s theory. A. Adler's theory, paradoxical as it may sound, in its spirit and basic conceptual provisions can be considered as a harbinger and forerunner of modern humanistic psychology.

The essential foundations of Adler's theory are associated with such concepts as 1) fictitious finalism; 2) the desire for superiority; 3) feelings of inferiority and compensation; 4) social interest; 5) lifestyle; 6) creative “I”.

Fictitious finalism. According to Adler, the main goals of a person, i.e. those goals that determine the direction of an individual’s life are fictitious goals - their correlation with reality cannot be verified. But, despite the fictitiousness, it is the presence of such final goals that is the real stimulus for human activity and explains his behavior.

Some people, for example, may structure their lives around the idea that hard work and a little luck can achieve almost anything. This statement (according to Adler) is just a fiction, since many of those who work hard do not get what they deserve. Other examples of fictitious beliefs that can influence a person's life are the following: “honesty is the best policy,” “all men are created equal.” The belief that the righteous will go to heaven and the wicked will go to hell undoubtedly also influences human behavior. And this belief is also an example of fictitious finalism. The final goal, being a fiction, a kind of ideal idea, despite this, plays the role of a real incentive, a motive for a very specific sustainable human behavior.

Individual psychology strongly insists that psychological phenomena cannot be understood without the principle of finalism. Reasons, forces, instincts, motives cannot be the basis for explanation. Only final goals can explain human behavior.

Striving for excellence. Initially, Adler called the desire for power as the ultimate goal to which all people strive. He later abandoned the term "will to power" in favor of the term "desire for superiority." The desire for superiority is not limited to achieving high social status or leadership. The pursuit of excellence is a general desire for growth, a movement in a bottom-up direction. Thus, the desire for excellence can be expressed in a huge number of different ways, and each person realizes this desire in his own way.

Feelings of inferiority and compensation. A feeling of inferiority is a feeling that arises in connection with the experience of one’s own social or psychological failure. It arises from a feeling of defectiveness or imperfection in any area of ​​life. The feeling of inferiority is inherent in almost all people. Essentially, at the core of everything people do is the desire to overcome feelings of inferiority and to strengthen a sense of superiority. Therefore, feelings of inferiority are not a sign of pathology. On the contrary, it is the cause of human improvement. At the same time, the feeling of inferiority under certain circumstances (for example, associated with improper upbringing) can intensify and reach an abnormal level.

In this case, they talk about the formation of an inferiority complex. Adler identified three types of suffering experienced in childhood, which can lead to the development of an inferiority complex: inferiority of an organ, excessive care, and rejection by parents. The desire to compensate for inferiority leads a person to development - either in the area in which inferiority is felt, or in another. As a classic example of compensation for organ deficiency, one can recall Demosthenes, who suffered from a stutter as a child and later became one of the greatest orators. However, in certain cases, compensation may give way to overcompensation, as a result of which development may take an abnormal path and lead to the formation of a compensatory superiority complex.

1.3 G. Eysenck’s concept of personality

G. Eysenck's concept of personality has become widespread in psychology. It identifies two dimensions of personality: introversion-extraversion and neuroticism-stability. These two dimensions (or factors) are independent of each other. Each of the poles of these personality dimensions represents a kind of supertrait, since, according to Eysenck, each of them is based on a combination of several component traits. In addition, each supertrait (for example, introversion) is not a discrete quantitative indicator, but a continuum of a certain extent. Therefore, in Eysenck's theory, the term “type” is used regarding supertraits.

The extroverted type is characterized by the personality's orientation towards the surrounding world. Such people are characterized by: impulsiveness, initiative, flexibility of behavior, sociability, constant desire for contacts, craving for new experiences, relaxed forms of behavior, high motor and speech activity. They easily respond to various proposals, “get excited”, take on their implementation, but can just as easily give up what they started, taking on a new business.

The introverted type characterizes the personality’s focus on oneself, on the phenomena of one’s own world. Such people are characterized by low sociability, isolation, and a tendency to introspection and reflection. Before taking on anything, they analyze the conditions, situation, task; tend to plan their actions. The external manifestation of emotions is under control, but this does not indicate low emotional sensitivity; rather, the opposite is true.

Over the years of the existence of this concept, a huge amount of research has been carried out around the world, the purpose of which was to identify differences between types. It has been empirically established that:

• extroverts are significantly more tolerant of pain than introverts;

• extroverts pause more during work to chat and drink coffee than introverts;

• introverts prefer theoretical and scientific activities, while extroverts tend to prefer work related to people;

• introverts feel more alert in the morning, while extroverts feel more alert in the evening; accordingly, introverts work better in the morning, and extroverts work better in the afternoon;

• introverts are more likely to admit to the practice of masturbation than extroverts; but at the same time, extroverts have sexual intercourse at an earlier age, more often and with a larger number of partners than extroverts.

Much later after Eysenck described extraversion and introversion, he introduced another dimension into his theory - psychoticism.

Thus, at present, Eysenck’s theory distinguishes not two, but three orthogonal (independent) dimensions of personality. People with a high degree of expression of such a super trait as psychoticism are self-centered, impulsive, indifferent to others, prone to antisocial behavior, have difficulty communicating with people and do not find understanding from them, are characterized by conflict and inappropriate emotional reactions.

1.4 Jung's personality psychology

Jung considered the study of the psyche to be the science of the future. For him, the urgent problem of humanity was not so much the threat of overpopulation or nuclear disaster as the danger of a mental epidemic. Thus, in the fate of humanity, the decisive factor is the person himself, his psyche. For Jung, this "decisive factor" is focused in the unconscious psyche, which is the real threat; “The world hangs on a thin thread and this thread is the human psyche.”

The idea of ​​psychic energy, self-regulation, and compensation is closely connected in analytical psychology with the classification of “psychological types.” There are several different types. They refer to innate differences in temperament, an integral combination of enduring psychodynamic properties manifested in activities that cause individuals to perceive and respond in specific ways. First of all, we should distinguish between two stable types: extrovert and introvert.

An extrovert is characterized by an innate tendency to direct his psychic energy, or libido, outward, connecting the energy carrier with the outside world. This type naturally and spontaneously shows interest and pays attention to the object - other people, objects, external manners and landscaping. An extrovert feels best—what is called “at ease”—when he deals with the external environment and interacts with other people. And he becomes restless and even sick, finding himself alone in a monotonous, monotonous environment. Maintaining a weak connection with the subjective inner world, the extrovert will be wary of meeting it and will strive to underestimate, belittle and even discredit any subjective requests as selfish.

An introvert is characterized by the tendency of his libido to rush inward, necessarily connecting psychic energy with his inner world of thought, fantasy or feeling. This type pays significant interest and attention to the subject, namely his internal reactions and images. An introvert interacts most successfully with himself and at a time when he is freed from the obligation to adapt to external circumstances. An introvert of his own and immediately withdraws into large groups.

1.5 Personality theory A.G. Maslow

Maslow laid down the basic principles of humanistic psychology, proposing as a model of personality a responsible person who freely makes his life choices. Avoiding freedom and responsibility does not make it possible to achieve authenticity. It is inappropriate to focus your attention on a detailed analysis of individual events, reactions, experiences; each person should be studied as a single, unique, organized whole.

Maslow believed that we should move away from the practice of studying neurotic personalities and finally focus our attention on healthy people, because it is impossible to understand mental illness without studying mental health. The main theme of human life is self-improvement, which cannot be revealed by studying only people with mental disorders.

Man is by nature good, or at least neutral. Each contains potential opportunities for growth and improvement. All people of the fence have creative potentials, which for the majority fade away as a result of “cultivation”. The destructive forces in them are the result of unsatisfaction of basic needs.

Man is a “desiring being” who rarely and briefly achieves complete satisfaction. All his needs are innate, or instinctoid. He has no powerful instincts left in the animal sense of the word, he has only their rudiments, remnants that easily perish under the influence of education, cultural restrictions, fear, disapproval. Authentic self is the ability to hear these weak, fragile inner voices-impulses.

The hierarchy of needs, according to Maslow, is the following sequence: physiological needs, i.e., to satisfy the needs of the body; in safety, security and protection; in involvement, i.e. belonging to a family, community, circle of friends, loved ones; needs for respect, approval, dignity, self-esteem; in the freedom necessary for the fullest development of all inclinations and talents, for the realization of selfhood, self-actualization. A person must first satisfy the lower needs in order to be able to satisfy the needs of the next level.

Satisfying the needs located at the base of the hierarchy provides the opportunity to recognize the needs of higher levels and their participation in motivation. True, individual creative individuals can demonstrate their talent despite serious social problems that prevent them from satisfying the needs of lower levels. Some people, due to the characteristics of their biography, can create their own hierarchy of needs. In general, the lower the need is located in the hierarchy, the stronger and more priority it has. Needs can never be satisfied on an all-or-nothing basis; a person is usually motivated by needs on several levels.

All human motives can be divided into two global categories: deficit (or D-motives) and growth motives (or existential, B-motives). D-motives are persistent determinants of behavior, contributing to the satisfaction of deficiency states (hunger, cold, etc.). Their absence causes disease. D-motivation is aimed at changing unpleasant, frustrating, and stressful conditions.

Growth motives, also called meta-needs, have distant goals related to the individual’s desire to actualize his potential. They enrich life experience, broaden horizons, not reducing, as in the case of D-motives, but increasing tension. Metaneeds, unlike deficit needs, are equally important and are not ranked in order of priority. Examples of meta-needs are the need for integrity, perfection, activity, beauty, kindness, truth, uniqueness. Most people do not become metamotivated because they deny their deficit needs, which stifles personal growth.

Chapter 2. Classification and content of the latest theories of personality

2.1 Classification of the latest personality theories

Recently, many different theories have emerged that describe personality. We can say that almost every psychologist has his own theory, which is either completely independent or based on another “well-known” theory. The most famous theories of recent times are associated with the names: K.K. Platonova, E. Berna, A.N. Leontyev. The meaning of Platonov’s theory is that personality consists of individual components (personality orientation, experience, characteristics of mental processes, biopsychic properties), which in the process of interaction will determine human behavior. E. Berna believes that in a person there are simultaneously several types of personality behavior, each of which is activated under certain conditions. Leontyev argues that a person’s personality depends on the “alloys” of innate and acquired reactions, which manifest themselves to varying degrees. The theories of these scientists will be discussed more specifically below.

Thus, when analyzing new theories of personality, we can say that some of them are a product of pure psychology (Platonov, Berne), while others are more related to a fusion of genetics and psychology (Leontiev).

2.2 Personality model K.K. Platonov

In the personality model of K.K. Platonov, which is known as the dynamic functional structure of personality, distinguishes four procedural-hierarchical substructures of personality. In this case, the subordination of lower and higher substructures is set. The main substructures of personality are 1) personality orientation, 2) experience, 3) features of mental processes, 4) biopsychic properties. In turn, each of these substructures consists of a number of components that K.K. Platonov calls “substructures of substructures.” The orientation of a person includes beliefs, worldview, ideals, aspirations, interests, desires. Experience includes habits, skills, abilities and knowledge. The substructure of “features of mental processes” is sensation, perception, memory, thinking, emotions, will, attention. Biopsychic properties include temperament, gender and some age characteristics.

In addition, abilities and character are superimposed on all substructures of personality. All substructures differ from each other in the degree of representation of the social and biological in them, the specificity of their development and formation in the process of life, as well as their correlation with a specific level of psychological analysis.

2.3 E. Bern's theory

According to Dr. Berne, his theory arose when he observed changes in behavior, the focus of his attention became stimuli such as words, gesture, sound. These changes included facial expression, voice intonation, speech structure, body movements, facial expressions, posture and demeanor. It was as if there were several different people within the personality. At times one or other of these inner personalities seemed to control the patient's entire personality. He noticed that these different inner selves interacted with other people in different ways and that these interactions (transactions) could be analyzed. Dr. Byrne realized that some transactions have ulterior motives, and the individual uses them as a way to manipulate others in psychological games and extortion.

He also discovered that people behave in predetermined ways, acting as if they were reading a theater script. These observations led Berne to develop his remarkable theory called transactional analysis, or TA for short.

Transaction is a unit of communication. People in the same group will inevitably talk to each other or otherwise show their awareness of each other's presence. This is called a transaction incentive. The person to whom the transactional stimulus is addressed will say or do something in response. This is called transactional reaction.

As a rule, transactions follow each other in a certain sequence. This sequence is not random, but is planned by society, the real situation or personal characteristics.

The main goal pursued by E. Bern is to study a person, analyze the nature of his communication, teach him to use words, thoughts, intonations, expressions in relation to the goals of communication, help a person in his ability to analyze his words and actions, constantly comprehending them the true essence and their perception by the interlocutor.

TA, whose founder was E. Berne, is a system of group psychotherapy, where the interaction of individuals is analyzed from the point of view of three main states of the “I”.

E. Bern believed that each person has his own life scenario, the model of which is outlined in early childhood. In accordance with their life scenario, people play various games, which basically fill the entire life of mankind.

The advantage of E. Bern's concept also lies in the fact that it aims to form a sincere, honest, benevolent personality.

2.4 Personality theory A.N. Leontyev

Speaking about the individual and personality, Leontyev notes that, studying a special class of life processes, scientific psychology necessarily considers them as manifestations of the life of a material subject. In cases where we mean an individual subject (and not a species, not a community, not a society), we say an individual or, if we also want to emphasize its differences from other representatives of the species, an individual.

The concept of “individual” expresses the indivisibility, integrity and characteristics of a particular subject that arise already at the early stages of life development. The individual as a whole is a product of biological evolution, during which not only the process of differentiation of organs and functions occurs, but also their integration, their mutual “coordination.”

An individual is, first of all, a genotypic formation. But the individual is not only a genotypic formation; its formation, as is known, continues in ontogenesis, during life. Therefore, the characteristics of an individual also include properties and their integrations, which develop ontogenetically. We are talking about the emerging “alloys” of innate and acquired reactions, about changes in the substantive content of needs, about the emerging dominants of behavior. The most general rule here is that the higher we climb the ladder of biological evolution, the more complex the life manifestations of individuals and their organization become, the more pronounced the differences in their generated and acquired lifetime characteristics become, the more so, so to speak, individuals are individualized.

Leontyev explains that he started with the concept of the individual only because in psychology it is used in an overly broad sense, leading to a failure to distinguish between the characteristics of a person as an individual and his characteristics as a person. But it is precisely their clear distinction, and, accordingly, the underlying distinction between the concepts of “individual” and “personality” that constitutes a necessary prerequisite for the psychological analysis of personality.

Our language well reflects the discrepancy between these concepts: we use the word “personality” only in relation to a person, and, moreover, starting only from a certain stage of his development. We don't say "animal personality" or "newborn personality." No one finds it difficult to talk about an animal and a newborn as individuals, about their individual characteristics. We are not seriously talking about the personality of even a two-year-old child, although he exhibits not only his genotypic characteristics, but also a great many characteristics acquired under the influence of the social environment; By the way, this circumstance once again testifies against the understanding of personality as a product of the intersection of biological and social factors.

The concept of personality, just like the concept of an individual, expresses the integrity of the subject of life; personality is not made up of pieces. But personality is a holistic formation of a special kind. Personality is not an integrity determined genotypically: one is not born as a person, one becomes a person. That is why we do not talk about the personality of a newborn or the personality of an infant, although personality traits appear at the early stages of ontogenesis less clearly than at later age stages. Personality is a relatively late product of the socio-historical and ontogenetic development of man. S.L. wrote about this, in particular. Rubinstein.

Personality is a special human formation, which can no more be deduced from his adaptive activity, just as his consciousness or his human needs cannot be deduced from it. Like a person’s consciousness, like his needs, a person’s personality is also “produced” - created by social relations into which the individual enters in his activities. The fact that at the same time some of his characteristics as an individual are transformed and change is not the cause, but the consequence of the formation of his personality.

The main task is to identify the actual “formative” personalities, this highest unity of man, changeable, just as his life itself is changeable, and at the same time preserving its constancy, its self-identity. After all, regardless of the experience a person accumulates, of events that change his life situation, and finally, regardless of his physical changes, he as a person remains the same in the eyes of other people and for himself. He is identified not only by his name, he is also identified by the law, at least to the extent that he is held responsible for his actions.

Thus, there is a well-known contradiction between the obvious physical, psychophysiological variability of a person and his stability as an individual. This raised the problem of “I” as a special problem in personality psychology. It arises because the traits included in the psychological characteristics of a person express what is clearly changeable and “discontinuous” in a person, i.e. that which is precisely opposed by the constancy and continuity of his “I”.

Leontyev talks about an approach to personality, which is based on the category of objective human activity, an analysis of its internal structure: its mediation and the forms of mental reflection generated by it.

This approach, from the very beginning, makes it possible to give a preliminary solution to the question of what forms a stable basis for personality, on which depends what exactly is included and what is not included in the characteristics of a person as a person.

Conclusion

Today in psychology there is no single generally accepted theory of personality. However, there are theories that have significant influence and a large number of supporters. One of these concepts is Z. Freud's psychodynamic theory of personality. A. Adler's personality theory is known as individual personality theory, or individual psychology.

This theory also traditionally belongs to the psychoanalytic direction, although in reality most of the provisions of individual psychology developed as antitheses of Freud's theory. G. Eysenck's concept of personality has become widespread in psychology, in which two dimensions of personality are distinguished: introversion - extraversion and neuroticism - stability.

In general, at present there are many theories of personality that are developing within such areas as psychoanalysis, neo-Freudianism, cognitive-behavioral approach, humanistic psychology, and structural-typological direction.

List of used literature

1. Gippenreiter Yu.M. Introduction to general psychology. - M, 2004.
2. General psychology: Textbook / ed. R.H. Tugushev and E.I. Garbera. – M.: Eksmo, 2006.
3. Rozin, V.M. Psychology: Science and Practice: Textbook. – M.: RSUH, Omega-L, 2005.
4. Robertson R. Introduction to Jung's psychology. — Rostov-on-Don, 2001.
5. Rogov E.I. General psychology. - M, 2002.
6. Tikhomirov, O.K. Psychology: Textbook / ed. O.V. Gordeeva. – M.: Higher Education, 2006.
7. Hall K., G. Lindsay G. Theories of personality. - M, 2003.

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