The process of personality formation: main characteristics, conditions and problems

Psychological properties of personality: orientation

Man is a social being, therefore the direction of activity is inextricably linked with society and the environment in which the individual finds himself.
Society determines life attitudes, goals and worldview, which characterizes the orientation of the individual - a psychological property that expresses needs, motivational attitudes and worldview. Needs are expressed in needs, which determine the goals and ideas of a person. At the same time, the focus of activity may be multiple and changing in nature, because Throughout life, new needs, interests and desires appear.

There is a certain set of personality traits that ensures a high level of self-organization and characterizes the emotional orientation of activity. These include:

• attraction;
• wish;
• pursuit;
• interest;
• addiction;
• ideal;
• worldview;
• beliefs.

Depending on the characteristics of the needs, motivations and stable volitional qualities of the individual, these characteristics become assistants in achieving a particular goal.

Character and its place in the personality structure. Typology of character. Methods for studying character.

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Character is a system of stable motives and modes of behavior that form a behavioral type of personality.

Character is interconnected with other aspects of personality, in particular with temperament and abilities. Character, like temperament, is quite stable and little changeable. Temperament influences the form of manifestation of character, uniquely coloring certain of its traits.

Personality is a qualitatively new formation. It is formed through a person’s life in society.

The relationship between character and personality is fixed in the formula: personality in its development cancels out character. A personality overcomes those character traits that are unacceptable for its development. The description of a mature personality involves a transition from the language of character traits to the language of personality properties. Character determines how

the process of human interaction with the world is realized, and personality is
what a person lives for
. At the same time, it is obvious that the methods of behavior and the orientation of the individual are relatively independent: using the same methods, you can achieve different goals and, conversely, strive for the same goal in different ways. They speak of a personality as “high”, “outstanding”, “creative”, “gray”, “criminal”, etc. In relation to character, adjectives such as “heavy”, “cruel”, “iron”, “soft” are used. , "golden".

All typologies of human characters were based on a number of general ideas:

1. A person’s character is formed quite early in ontogenesis and throughout the rest of his life it manifests itself as more or less stable.

2. Those combinations of personality traits that make up a person’s character are not random. They form clearly distinguishable types that make it possible to identify and build a typology of characters.

3. Most people, in accordance with this typology, can be divided into groups.

E. Kretschmer identified and described the three most common types of human body structure or constitution: asthenic, athletic and picnic. He associated each of them with a special type of character (later it turned out that the author did not have the proper scientific basis for this).

1. The asthenic type, according to Kretschmer, is characterized by a small body thickness and profile with average or above average height. An asthenic person is usually a thin and thin person, who, because of his thinness, seems somewhat taller than he actually is. An asthenic person has thin skin of the face and body, narrow shoulders, thin arms, an elongated and flat chest with underdeveloped muscles and weak fat accumulations. This is basically the characteristic of asthenic men. Women of this type, in addition, are often short.

2. The athletic type is characterized by a highly developed skeleton and muscles. Such a person is usually of medium or tall height, with broad shoulders and a powerful chest. He has a dense, high head.

3. The picnic type is characterized by highly developed internal body cavities (head, chest, abdomen), a tendency to obesity with underdeveloped muscles and the musculoskeletal system. Such a person is of average height with a short neck sitting between the shoulders.

Characteristics of behavioral features depending on the types of accentuation: 1) hyperthymic (hyperactive)

– excessively high spirits, always cheerful, talkative, very energetic, independent, strives for leadership, risks, adventures, does not respond to comments, ignores punishments, loses the line of what is permitted, lacks self-criticism;
2) dysthymic
- constantly low mood, sadness, isolation, taciturnity, pessimism, is burdened by noisy society, does not get along well with colleagues.
Rarely enters into conflicts; more often he is a passive party in them; 3) cycloid -
sociability changes cyclically (high during periods of elevated mood and low during periods of depression);
4) emotive (emotional)
- excessive sensitivity, vulnerability, deeply worries about the slightest troubles, is overly sensitive to comments, failures, so he is often in a sad mood;
5) demonstrative -
the desire to be in the center of attention and achieve one’s goals at any cost is expressed: tears, fainting, scandals, illnesses, boasting, outfits, unusual hobbies, lies.
Easily forgets about his unseemly actions; 6) excitable – increased
Tendency to be rude and use obscene language or remain silent and slow in conversation.
Actively and often conflicts; 7) stuck
- “stuck” on his feelings, thoughts, cannot forget grievances, “settles scores”, intractability at work and in everyday life, a tendency to protracted squabbles, in conflicts they are more often the active party;
pedantic
- pronounced tediousness in the form of “experiencing” details, in the service he is able to torment visitors with formal requirements, exhausts his family with excessive neatness;
9) anxious (psychasthenic)
– low mood, fears for oneself, loved ones, timidity, self-doubt, extreme indecision, experiences failure for a long time, doubts one’s actions;
10) exalted (labile)
– very changeable mood, emotions are clearly expressed, increased distractibility to external events, talkativeness, amorousness;
11) introverted (schizoid, autistic)
- low sociability, closed, aloof from everyone, communication is necessary, self-absorbed, does not say anything about himself, does not reveal his experiences, although he is characterized by increased vulnerability.
Restrainedly cold towards other people, even close ones; 12) extroverted (conformal)
- highly sociable, talkative to the point of talkativeness, does not have his own opinion, is not very independent, strives to be like everyone else, disorganized, prefers to obey.

Character Study Methods:

1. Observation as an objective method in psychology is defined as “deliberate, systematic and purposeful perception of mental phenomena with the aim of studying their specific changes in certain conditions and finding the meaning of these phenomena, which is not directly given” (dictionary edited by Petrovsky and Yaroshevsky).

Types of surveillance

(according to the Russian psychological dictionary edited by L. A. Karpenko)

unsystematic and systematic. Non-systematic observation is carried out during field research; what is important here is not the recording of causal relationships and a strict description of the phenomenon, but the creation of some generalized picture of the individual’s behavior. Systematic observation is carried out according to a specific plan;

continuous and selective. In the first case, the researcher or group of researchers records all behavioral features that are available for the most detailed observation. In the second case, he pays attention only to certain parameters of behavior or types of behavioral acts (a protocol diagram and preliminary preparation are needed;

participant and non-participant observation. In included, the observer himself is included in the process.

involuntary, forced – there is no preliminary preparation. When observing, some fact appears that produces the effect of surprise;

direct and indirect. When mediated, means are used (camera);

natural (field) and laboratory;

open and hidden (does not know that he is being watched).

2. Experiment - a method of psychological research, characterized by active intervention in the situation on the part of the researcher in order to create conditions in which a psychological fact is revealed.

4 features according to Rubinstein:

- in an experiment, the researcher himself causes the phenomenon being studied;

— the experimenter can vary, change the conditions for the occurrence and manifestation of the process being studied;

— it is possible to alternately exclude certain conditions;

— an experiment allows you to vary the quantitative relationships of conditions and allows mathematical processing of data.

Laboratory experiment

- an experiment under specially created conditions that allows one to isolate the so-called pure independent variable by controlling all other conditions with which its influence may be confounded.

Natural experiment

, or field experiment, is a type of experiment that is carried out in the conditions of the subject’s normal life activities with a minimum of experimenter intervention in this process. This method is specific in that the experimenter's ability to control additional variables is limited.

3. Conversation is a method of obtaining information based on verbal (verbal) communication.

Conversations vary depending on the psychological task being pursued. The following types are distinguished: Therapeutic conversation; Experimental conversation (to test experimental hypotheses); Autobiographical conversation; Collection of subjective anamnesis (collection of information about the subject’s personality); Collecting an objective history (collecting information about the subject’s acquaintances).

4. Self-observation - observation, the object of which is the mental states and actions of the observing subject himself. S. develops in the course of the child’s mental development, passing a path similar to the development of external perception: from wordless and non-semantic to verbal, semantic and objective. This means a generalization of internal forms of mental activity, which is expressed in the transition to a new type of their regulation, to mastery of one’s own behavior (MSB). The methodological problem that S. poses to psychology is in what function and form it can be used in the practice of psychological research, while maintaining the latter’s objective scientific character. In general, S. cannot be recognized as an independent method of psychology; it only supplies the researcher with “raw” empirical material, in which the object of study is presented in an indirect form, which always requires special interpretation.

5. Tests - a number of tasks of a different nature, the performance of which by the test subject is assessed in quantitative terms; at the same time, the compliance of the latter with certain norms and standards is established.

Relatively new techniques:

Myers-Briggs typology is a development of Jung's typology, based on a series of tests known as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), widely used in the United States.

The typology is based on dividing all people, without exception, into four dichotomous characteristics: extraversion and introversion; sensation and intuition; thinking and feeling; assessment and perception; in total, based on four dichotomies, 16 types are obtained.

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Temperament as a personality trait

Temperament, according to the theory of I.P. Pavlov, is an innate personality trait that is determined by heredity and becomes important factors for subsequent processes in the formation of character, behavior and worldview.
Characteristics of temperament are considered basic, i.e. a biological explanation is provided for the development of individuality. Many scientists agree with the theory of I.P. Pavlov that the individual manifestation of temperament directly depends on the properties of the human central nervous system and represents three most important characteristics:

• the strength contained in the ability to withstand an irritating factor, i.e. how resilient the individual is emotionally;
• balance – control over one’s own emotions or the relationship between the processes of inhibition and excitation;
• mobility - the degree of speed of change of nervous processes.

The emotionality and originality of personality lead to the fact that even in ancient times four types of temperament were identified (melancholic, sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic) on the basis of which a psychological portrait of an individual is created. At the same time, the main characteristic of the types is the combination of mental properties and activity.

Individual personality properties. Temperament, character, abilities.

1. regulate the dynamics of mental activity as a whole;
2. characterize the peculiarities of the dynamics of individual mental processes;
3. have a stable and permanent nature;
4. are in strictly regular relationships that characterize the type of temperament;
5. due to the general type of nervous system.

It should be borne in mind that individual dynamic characteristics, if they represent characteristics of temperament, are not determined by any objective content of activity. Temperament is a personality property that characterizes the dynamics of mental processes and activities. The word temperament was introduced into circulation by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (U-V centuries BC). He understood it as a property that determines individual differences between people and depends on the proportions of 4 fluids in the body: blood (in Latin “sangve”), lymph (in Greek “phlegm”), bile (in Greek “chole”) and black bile (Greek: melana chole). The predominance of one of the liquids corresponded to a certain temperament. The names of temperament types have survived to this day (sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, melancholic). At the same time, it should be taken into account that the formation of temperaments in modern psychology is explained in a completely different way. It has been proven that the basis of each type of temperament is the characteristics of the human nervous system, the properties of this nervous system. The following properties of the human nervous system were experimentally identified:

• strength, manifested in endurance, efficiency of the nervous system and in a certain way characterizing the processes of excitation and inhibition (therefore, strong and weak types of the nervous system are distinguished);
• balance, characterizing the optimal ratio of the processes of excitation and inhibition;
• mobility, which consists in characterizing the speed of movement of nervous processes along the cerebral cortex.

Psychophysiologist I.P. Pavlov showed that each type of temperament has its own combination of properties of the nervous system:

• phlegmatic - a strong, balanced, inert type of nervous system;
• sanguine - a strong, balanced, mobile type of nervous system;
• choleric - a strong, unbalanced, mobile type of nervous system;
• melancholic is a weak type of nervous system.

The main psychological characteristics of temperament include:

• sensitivity (sensitivity), revealing the picture of what the smallest force of external influences causes a person’s mental reactions and what is the speed of this reaction;
• reactivity, showing the degree and intensity of an individual’s involuntary reactions to internal and external stimuli (criticism, threat, etc.);
• activity, characterizing the degree of energy, a person’s ability to work in an activity, his ability to overcome obstacles, focus, perseverance, focus on activity, etc.;
• the ratio of reactivity and activity, revealing the picture of what a person’s activity depends on - on random external and internal circumstances, moods, random events or on consciously set goals, life aspirations, plans, etc.;
• pace of reactions, characterizing the speed of actions, movements, speed of speech, intelligence, resourcefulness, etc.;
• extroversion;
• introversion;
• plasticity, which characterizes the ease of a person’s adaptation to new and unexpected situations, flexibility of behavior;
• rigidity, showing an individual’s tendency to inert behavior, established habits and stereotypes of life, inertia.

A choleric person is a fast, sometimes even impetuous person, with strong, quickly igniting feelings, clearly reflected in speech, facial expressions, and gestures; often hot-tempered, prone to violent emotional outbursts;

A sanguine person is a fast, agile person who gives an emotional response to all impressions; his feelings are directly reflected in external behavior, but they are not strong and easily replace one another.

A melancholic person is a person distinguished by a relatively small variety of emotional experiences, but by their great strength and duration; he does not respond to everything, but when he does respond, he experiences it strongly, although he expresses little of his feelings externally;

A phlegmatic person is a slow, balanced and calm person, who is not easily emotionally offended and cannot be enraged; his feelings do not manifest themselves in any way outside.

In conclusion, it should be noted that temperament refers to the so-called genotypic personality properties, completely depends on heredity and does not change throughout life.

Character is a property of a person, expressed in his relationship to the world around him, to society, to activity, to himself, to other people, to things and objects. Character includes stable personality traits that meaningfully describe one’s behavior and activities. Therefore, in psychology, character is often understood as a set of individually unique traits that are manifested in modes of activity typical for a given individual, are found in these typical circumstances, and express the individual’s relationship to these circumstances. A person’s relationships and character traits are formed throughout life and therefore character is an acquired personal formation. Character is a set of stable individual characteristics of a person, which develops and manifests itself in activity and communication, determining typical modes of behavior for it. The concept of character varies greatly among different theoretical frameworks. In foreign characterology, three directions can be distinguished:

• constitutional - biological (E. Kretschmer - character, essentially comes down to the sum of the constitution and temperament);
• psychoanalytic (S. Freud, C. G. Jung, A. Adler, etc.). Character is explained based on a person’s unconscious drives;
• ideological (Roebeck's psychoethical theory): Character lies in the inhibition of instincts, which is determined by ethical and logical sanctions. Which instincts are inhibited and by which sanctions depends on the internal immanent properties of the individual. Baud's character is determined by a person's social position, etc.

In Russian psychology, the study of character is associated with the names of N. O. Lossky, P. F. Lesgaft, A. F. Lazursky, A. P. Nechaev, V. I. Strakhov, B. G. Ananyev, N. D. Levitov and etc. Here we can also distinguish different directions: idealistic, biologizing, materialistic. Based on various approaches to this topic, one can note the social-evaluative connotation when determining character; significant stability of psychological characteristics. Character is formed on the basis of temperament under the influence of living conditions. In character, temperamental traits are contained in a transformed form. They are understood and accepted or not accepted by a person.

Character structure. In the structure of character, different authors identify different properties. Thus, B. G. Ananyev considers character to be an expression and condition for the integrity of the individual and his main properties include orientation, habits, communicative properties, emotional-dynamic manifestations formed on the basis of temperament:

• balance - imbalance;
• sensitivity - aggressiveness;
• breadth - narrowness;
• depth – superficiality;
• wealth, content - poverty;
• strength - weakness.

N.D. Levitov highlights the certainty of character, its integrity, complexity, dynamism, originality, strength, and firmness. These and many other attempts to isolate the structural properties of character require analysis and generalization. Characterological qualities (traits, properties) discovered by a person in various types of relationships to the world around him are important:

• in relation to society (ideological or ideologicalless, actively involved in politics or apolitical, etc.);
• in relation to activity (active or inactive, hardworking or lazy, etc.);
• in relation to other people (altruist or egoist, sociable or withdrawn, etc.);
• in relation to oneself (having adequate or inadequate self-esteem, confident or arrogant, etc.);
• in relation to things (kind, greedy, etc.).

Abilities are individual psychological characteristics that distinguish one person from another and are related to the success of an activity. When talking about abilities, you need to keep the following in mind:

1. These are features that distinguish one person from another. B. M. Teplov considers the most important sign of abilities to be the individual originality of productive activity, the originality and originality of the techniques used in the activity.
2. Abilities serve to successfully perform an activity. Some researchers, for example N.A. Menchinskaya, believe that in this case it is more logical to talk about learning ability as success in acquiring skills, knowledge, and abilities.
3. Abilities are characterized by the ability to transfer developed skills and abilities to a new situation. At the same time, the new task should be similar to previously solved tasks, not in the sequence of methods of action, but in the requirements for the same mental properties of a person.

The basis of abilities is made up of inclinations. Inclinations are natural prerequisites that are a condition for the development of abilities, not only in the sense that they give originality to the process of their development, but also in the sense that, within certain limits, they can determine the content side and influence the level of achievement. The inclinations include not only the anatomical, morphological and physiological properties of the brain, but also mental properties to the extent that they are directly and directly determined by heredity. Abilities are a dynamic concept. They are formed, developed and manifested in activity.

General and special abilities. Special abilities - abilities for certain types of activities (mathematical abilities, musical abilities, pedagogical, etc.). General abilities are the ability to develop special abilities. Giftedness is a qualitatively unique combination of abilities, on which the possibility of achieving greater or lesser success in performing one or another activity depends. The concept of ability is usually associated with mental activity. But there are no grounds for such a narrow interpretation of abilities, although traditionally it is the sphere of mental activity that has been and continues to be studied in connection with abilities. High general mental development may not be accompanied by the manifestation of abilities in any special area or by any type of special talent. However, the manifestation and achievement of high special abilities, special talent is unthinkable without the presence of general abilities, general talent. The makings include morphological and functional features of the structure of the brain, sensory organs, and movements, which act as a prerequisite for the development of abilities.

Character as a mental property of a person

Character indicates acquired properties that arise and manifest themselves in the process of any activity, in the system of relationships between a person and society.
It is through characteristic qualities and dissimilarity from others that uniqueness or individual properties are manifested. Character is the totality and diversity of various traits. In the process of communicating with a person, we can judge the manner of behavior; education and other volitional qualities are manifested here.

Temperament and character are very intertwined. At the same time, the structure of characteristic features includes:

• worldview, which is formed as the individual communicates and develops;
• strong-willed qualities;
• attitude towards oneself, towards the team and towards the activities performed.

Character is determined individually, regardless of consciousness, and to a greater extent indicates acquired traits in the process of education and upbringing. In addition, this property is closely related to needs, desires and interests, and also occupies a central place in clarifying the personality portrait.

Abilities as personality traits

A person's abilities are determined by both character and temperament.
These properties influence the success of activities, the speed of learning and the ease of completing tasks. In psychology, there are several types of abilities, the main ones are:

1. General or innate abilities are characterized by natural or natural skills and inclinations. This property indicates the presence of inclinations that can be developed during the learning process. In addition, the communicative properties of a person, which influence the effectiveness of communication, also relate to innate abilities and characterize temperament.
2. Specific abilities are associated with certain skills that were formed due to the existence of a certain environment. When parents share special experiences with their children or when there is a need to teach special abilities.

A separate personality trait can be called attentiveness, which manifests itself in concentration or, conversely, in absent-mindedness. This characteristic affects absolutely all aspects of an individual’s life. Attention is the main condition for the subsequent structure of logical thinking, sequence of actions, as well as reflection of mental activity.