General overview about personality

The concept of “personality” is not purely psychological and is studied by all social sciences, including philosophy, sociology, pedagogy, etc. Before we begin to clarify what is meant by personality in psychology, it is necessary to determine how the concepts of “individual” relate "person", "personality". Human - This is a half biological, half social phenomenon, participating in socially beneficial activities. As is clear from Fig. 3.1, this is it general concept of those under consideration. Being born as individuals, we differ from each other in individual characteristics: height, weight, eye color, hair color, body type, etc. Each of us, as a representative of a biological species, has certain congenital features, i.e. the structure of his body determines the possibility of walking upright, the structure of the brain ensures the development of intelligence, the structure of the hand implies the possibility of using tools, etc. In all these features, a human baby differs from a baby animal. The belonging of a particular person to the human race is fixed in the concept individual. Thus, individual is a biological phenomenon, a representative of Homo sapiens, with genetically transmitted properties.

Rice. 3.1. Correlation of the concepts man, individual, personality

and individuality

Being born as an individual, a person is included in the system of social relationships and processes, as a result of which he acquires a special social quality - he becomes personality. This happens because a person, being included in the system of public relations, acts as subject – the bearer of consciousness, which is formed and developed in the process of activity.

In turn, the developmental features of all these three levels characterize the uniqueness and originality of a particular person, determine his individuality ( Individuality: 1) the presence of properties and characteristics of mental processes, new formations of one person, distinguishing him from other people; 2) constant, stable difference ). Thus, the concept of “personality” characterizes one of the most significant levels of human organization, namely the features of its development as a social being.

Personality is a specific person, taken in the system of his stable socially conditioned psychological characteristics, which manifest themselves in social connections and relationships, determine his moral actions and are of significant importance for himself and those around him.

The famous psychologist A.V. Petrovsky proposed the following definition: Personality in psychology refers to a systemic (social) quality acquired by an individual in objective activity and communication and characterizing the degree of representation of social relations in the individual.

If we remember that a person, as a bearer of consciousness, which is formed and develops in the process of activity, acts as a subject, then: Personality is a person as a subject of socially useful activities and communication. As we see, the concept of “personality” in domestic psychology correlates with social organization person. The question of the correlation between the biological and the social in personality is resolved by considering the existence of an “endopsychic” and “exopsychic” organization of the psyche in a person.

"Endopsyche" expresses the internal interdependence of mental elements and functions, including: receptivity, characteristics of memory, thinking and imagination, the ability to exert volition, impulsiveness, etc., it is biologically determined and, as is clear from Fig. 3.2 cannot be changed.

"Exopsyche" determined by a person's attitude towards external environment, to which a person can relate in one way or another is a person’s system of relationships and his experience, i.e. interests, inclinations, ideals, prevailing feelings, formed knowledge, etc. It is determined social factor and it can be changed by the person himself in the process of self-education (Fig. 3.2).

The personality of each person is endowed only with its own inherent combination of psychological traits and characteristics that form its individuality.

Rice. 3.2. Biosocial organization of personality

Personality structure

Answers to the question “What is a person’s personality?” Many of the world's leading psychologists have been searching for more than ten years. As we remember from topic 1, in psychology there is no single theory that would interpret psychic phenomena monotonous. Over the course of a long time, all assumptions and hypotheses about the mechanisms and nature of personality development were formed into several basic theories: the analytical theory of K.G. Jung, humanistic theory, the authors of which are K. Rogers and A. Maslow, cognitive personality theory by J. Kelly, activity theory by S.L. Rubenstein and other researchers, behavioral and dispositive theories, and finally, psychodynamic theory, known as classical psychoanalysis, authored by the Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud. These theories define in their own way what constitutes a personality and what its structure is. One of the most popular and well-known is the idea of ​​S. Freud’s personality structure.

From the point of view of the founder of psychoanalysis, S. Freud, the structure of the personality and its psyche has three components: Id, Ego and Superego. These parts are in constant interaction (Fig. 3.3).

1. "Id" ("It"). Primitive matter that is responsible for innate processes. This is the unconscious, which includes desires, pleasures and libido of a person. These are all the bad things that happened to a person in the past, and what he is not aware of.

2. "Ego" ("I"). Consciousness that follows reality. Develops mechanisms that allow adaptation to the environment. This is how a person perceives himself and his behavior.

3. "SuperEgo" ("Super Ego"). The unconscious, acquired before the appearance of speech function. It includes norms of behavior, rules, prohibitions and various taboos that are a product of the influence of other people. This is how the person was raised by the people around him: family, educators, friends, all those with whom we communicate and who are significant to us. These are the so-called norms of society, the source of moral and religious feelings, the controlling and punishing agent, the product of influence emanating from other people. Occurs in early childhood.

Rice. 3.3. Personality structure according to Z. Freud

“It” is in conflict with the “Super Ego.” According to Freud's psychoanalysis, the structure of a harmonious personality implies an equal combination of “It” and “Superego”. Any excess in one of these substances can lead to deviations in mental processes and even the occurrence of pathologies. At the same time, Freud did not reject the idea that by working not only on our consciousness, but also on the unexplored corners of the subconscious, we are able to develop a harmonious personality. This idea makes it possible for psychoanalysis to still remain one of the leading directions in psychology.

The founder of “analytical psychology,” Carl Gustav Jung, makes significant changes in the structure of personality. A student of the atheist Freud, Jung was a deeply religious man and in his theories he rehabilitated the concept of “soul.”

Jung also conducts a thorough analysis of cultures and myths, in which he finds specific behavior corresponding to them, and at the same time similar, despite racial and gender differences, motives.

Jung's most important contribution is considered to be the introduction of the term “collective unconscious”, the content of which is archetypes. Archetypes are accumulated human experience that settles in the psyche in the form of patterns of behavior, thinking, worldview, and functions in a manner similar to instincts. Jung considers one of the fundamental archetypes to be the archetype of the self, God in oneself. In his opinion, the soul is what God gave to man, therefore the task of each person is to find this particle in himself without falling into the heresy of narcissism. Actually, the realization of this self is what Jung calls individuation. He notes that personality has many components, and each realized archetype becomes part of the self. It is extremely important to maintain harmony between them without distortions in one direction to the detriment of others. The way archetypes manifest can be seen in dream work.

At the same time, Jung also talks about the personal unconscious, the content of which is complexes, repressed experiences and personal meanings. Jung's personality structure is more complex than Freud's (Fig. 3.4).

Rice. 3.4. Personality structure according to K.G. Jung

According to Jung, the following parts are identified in the personality structure:

– I (self)– this is the center of a person’s self-awareness, a manifestation of his internal harmony and integrity;

– A person– is a social mask, that is, how a person behaves in society and how he wants to be represented. It is worth noting that a person is not always who a person really is.

– Shadow- combines the base manifestations of man, what Freud called “It”. Often a person tries to hide the presence and especially the content of this component both from others and from himself.

– Anima and animus- male and female manifestations of the soul. In this regard, Jung distinguishes feminine and masculine properties. Feminine – tenderness, aestheticism, caring, masculine – strength, logic, aggressiveness.

Jung introduced sociological features into psychoanalysis and made it sociotropic. Many researchers of traditions, myths and fairy tales are guided by the results of his works.

In psychology, there are two main directions of personality research: the first is based on the identification of certain personality traits, the second is based on the determination of personality types.

From the point of view of domestic psychologists, the elements of the psychological structure of a personality are its psychological properties and characteristics, usually called “personality traits,” which they try to conditionally fit into a number of substructures. The lowest level of personality is a biologically determined substructure, which includes age, gender properties of the psyche, innate properties such as the nervous system and temperament. The next substructure includes individual characteristics of a person’s mental processes, i.e. individual manifestations of memory, perception, sensations, thinking, abilities, depending both on innate factors and on training, development, and improvement of these qualities. Further, the level of personality is also its individual social experience, which includes the knowledge, skills, abilities and habits acquired by a person. This substructure is formed primarily during the learning process and is of a social nature. The highest level of personality is its orientation, including drives, desires, interests, inclinations, ideals, views, beliefs of a person, his worldview, character traits, self-esteem. The substructure of personality orientation is the most socially conditioned, formed under the influence of upbringing in society, and most fully reflects the ideology of the community in which the person is included. This is exactly how S.L. viewed the personality structure. Rubinstein (Fig. 3.5).

The differences between people are multifaceted: in each of the substructures there are differences in beliefs and interests, experience and knowledge, abilities and skills, temperament and character. That is why it is not easy to understand another person, it is not easy to avoid discrepancies, contradictions, even conflicts with other people. To understand yourself and others more deeply, you need certain psychological knowledge combined with observation.

Rice. 3.5. Personality structure according to S.L. Rubinstein

Hierarchical personality structure(according to K.K. Platonov) is presented in the following figure. 3.6.

Rice. 3.6. Personality structure according to K.K. Platonov

As already mentioned: the basis of the second approach to considering personality structure is the definition of personality types. An example of this approach is personality typology according to E. Shostrom. E. Shostrom in the book “Anti-Carnegie or the manipulator” divides all people into manipulators and actualizers. An actualizer is a person who uses his inner potential and lives a full life. The life style of a manipulator is based on 4 pillars: lies, unawareness, control and cynicism. The actualizer's lifestyle is honesty, awareness, freedom and trust (Table 3.1).

The transition period from manipulation to actualization represents a movement from apathy and deliberateness to vitality and spontaneity.

Table 3.1

Main contrasting characteristics of extreme types

The actualizer is safer than the manipulator because he understands, firstly, that he is unique; secondly, that its uniqueness is a value. The actualizer seeks originality and uniqueness within himself. The manipulator, on the contrary, pushes his originality deeper and repeats, copies, replicates someone else's behavioral models. He tries, puffs, climbs, but over already mastered mountains.

The attitude of the manipulator to others is objective, distant. The attitude of the actualizer is subjective; he communicates closely, over a short distance.

A manipulator is a person who understands the secrets of human nature with one sole purpose - to better control those around him. Hiding your true deep feelings is the mark of a manipulator.

The modern manipulator has developed from society's orientation towards the market, when a person is a thing about which you need to know a lot and which you need to be able to manage.

The author believes that we are all manipulators and each of us contains several manipulators. At different moments in life, first one or the other of them guides us, but still one type of manipulator is predominant. Before rejecting or amputating our manipulative behavior, we should try to remake or modernize it into actualized behavior, i.e. we need to manipulate more creatively. Sjostrom identifies eight main types of manipulators and eight types of actualizers (Table 3.2).

Table 3.2

Main types of manipulators and actualizers

1. Dictator. He exaggerates his power, he dominates, he orders, he quotes authorities, i.e. does everything to control his victims. Types of dictator: abbess, chief, boss, minor gods.

2. Rag. Usually a victim of a dictator and his exact opposite. The Rag develops great skill in interacting with the dictator. She exaggerates her sensitivity. At the same time, typical techniques are: forgetting, not hearing, passively remaining silent. Varieties of a rag - suspicious, stupid, chameleon, conformist, embarrassed, retreating.

3. Calculator. Exaggerates the need to control everything and everyone. He deceives, evades, lies, tries, on the one hand, to outwit, and on the other hand, to double-check others. Varieties: businessman, swindler, poker player, advertising maker, blackmailer.

5. Bully. Exaggerates his aggressiveness, cruelty, and hostility. Controls using various types of threats. Varieties: insulter, hater, gangster, threatening. The female version of the bully is the grumpy woman.

6. Nice guy. Exaggerates his caring, love, attentiveness. He kills with kindness. In some ways, dealing with him is much more difficult than dealing with a bully. In any conflict between a bully and a nice guy, the bully loses. Varieties: obsequious, virtuous, moralist, person of organization.

7. Judge. Exaggerates his criticism. He doesn’t trust anyone, is full of accusations, indignation, and has difficulty forgiving. Varieties: omniscient, accuser, accuser, collector of evidence, shamer, appraiser, avenger, forcing one to admit guilt.

8. Defender. The opposite of a judge. He overemphasizes his support and forbearance towards error. He corrupts others by empathizing beyond measure and refuses to allow those he protects to stand on their own feet and grow into their own. Instead of doing own affairs, he cares about the needs of others. Varieties: hen with chicks, comforter, patron, martyr, helper, selfless.

Thus, a manipulator is a person who treats people ritualistically, trying his best to avoid intimacy in relationships and difficult situations.

Sjostrom derives types of actualizers from manipulators. A Dictator can develop into a wonderful Leader who does not dictate conditions, but leads. A Rag can become a Sympathizer. He not only talks about his weakness, but also really realizes it. He may demand good work, but be loyal to the fact that any person is prone to making mistakes.

From the Calculator can develop Attentive. Sticky can become Grateful. He not only depends on others, but also appreciates the work of others. From Bully, Assertive develops. He is distinguished by frankness and directness. The Nice Guy develops into the Caring Guy. He is truly disposed towards people, friendly, capable of deep love. And he doesn't have the servility of a Nice Guy. From the Judge the Expressor develops. He has the rare ability to express his beliefs without criticizing or humiliating others. The Defender can become a Driver. He does not teach or protect everyone, but helps everyone find their own path without imposing their views.

So, a manipulator is a multifaceted personality with antagonistic opposites in his soul; the actualizer is a multifaceted personality with complementary opposites.

The author of this theory adheres to the view that each of us has both a manipulator and an actualizer, and each of us is free to choose which of the listed types he should be. “People are like rivers, and the same water flows in all these rivers. These rivers are simply different in shape. So are people. Each of us carries within us the seeds of every human quality, and the manifestation of certain qualities depends on the situation.”

One of the typological approaches to personality structure was presented above. Now let’s take a closer look at the basic personality traits.

Systemic qualities of a person

1. The concept and types of systemic qualities of a person;

2. Man as a biological individual;

3. Man as a person;

4. Individuality of a person.

The concept of man as a system was introduced into scientific circulation by Ananyev. Systemic qualities are qualities acquired by a person when included in a certain system and expressing his place and role in this system. In this regard, it is customary to distinguish such systemic qualities as a person as a biological individual (a person as a natural being), a person as a social individual (a person as a social being), a person as a personality (a person as a cultural subject).

The mechanisms of mental regulation consistently develop in ontogenesis: infancy and early childhood– mechanisms characteristic of a biological individual dominate. The formation of an individual begins from the moment of fertilization. Preschool and junior school age– a period of active development of a social individual. The beginning of the formation of a social individual from the moment of birth. Personality formation occurs from about three years of age.

The concept of individual means that a person belongs to a certain biological species and family. The main form of human development as a biological individual is the maturation of biological structures.

Scheme of individual properties

(according to B.G. Ananyev)

Individual properties

Gender Age Primary Secondary

I. Neurodynamic properties that determine the strength (energy) and time parameters of the flow of n/processes (excitation and inhibition) in the cerebral cortex.

II. Psychodynamic - integrally expressed in the type of temperament and are formed during life on the basis of I properties. They determine the power and time parameters of the course of mental processes and behavior. Temperament is a manifestation of neurodynamic properties at the level of an individual’s mental reflection and behavior.

III. Bilateral properties are characteristics of the localization of psychophysiological mechanisms and functions in the cerebral hemispheres.

IV. Functional asymmetry of mental functions is the uneven distribution of mental functions between different hemispheres.

V. Constitutional properties are the biochemical features of metabolism both in the body of a biological individual in general and in his n/s in particular: a) constitution, b) somatotype - arises on the basis of the constitution under the influence of external factors.

Functions of individual properties: 1. act as a factor of physical and mental development; 2. form a psychophysiological basis for human activity; 3. determine the dynamic (reaction rate, speed, rhythm) and energy (activity potential) human resources.

Personality is a systemic, supersensible, quality of a person acquired by him and manifested by him in joint activities and communicating with other people.

Supersensible means that we cannot cognize the personality at the sensory-perceptual level. Personality is represented in space interpersonal relationships, in which it is formed and manifested. The unit of analysis is the action.

Personality structure. Social status is a person’s place in the structure of social relations. Social role is a behavioral distribution of status. Social position is a person’s conscious and unconscious attitude towards his own roles. Value orientations– a set of human values. Orientation (core of personality) – a set of dominant motives of behavior and activity: egocentric, business, interpersonal. The dominant emotional background of life. The relationship between behavior and will. Level of development of self-awareness.

We can talk about the so-called global personality characteristics: Personality strength – the ability of an individual to influence other people. It consists of personification of personality (representation in other people), stability (principledness), flexibility - the ability to change.

Individuality is uniqueness, originality, dissimilarity.

In a broad sense, the concept of individuality can be applied to all levels of human analysis. Individual biological characteristics, individual set social ways behavior of roles and statuses, abilities to perform activities, etc.

In the narrow sense of the word, this concept should be applied only to an individual who has a unique set of motives, values, ideals, attitudes, individual style of activity, etc. An individual style of activity is a set of ways and techniques of performing an activity that are optimal for a given subject.

A person is already born into the world as a human being. Here, the genetic predetermination of the emergence of natural prerequisites for the development of actually human characteristics and qualities is affirmed (every baby is a person in terms of the sum of his capabilities). The fact that the baby belongs to the human race is affirmed, which is fixed in the concept of an individual (individual - animal). The concept of individual includes the gender identity of a person. (Individual - scientist, idiot, savage, civilized person).

Thus, to say about a specific person that he is an individual is to say very few, only that, that he is potentially human. Being born as an individual, a person acquires a social quality and becomes a personality. Even in childhood, a person is included in the system of social relations that shape him as a person. Personality in psychology denotes a systemic social quality acquired by an individual in objective activity and communication and characterizing the level and quality of representation of social relations in the individual.

Individuality- originality, a feature of a person, manifested in the traits of temperament, character, habits, prevailing interests, style of activity, abilities. Personality is individual, but this does not mean that to say about a person that he is an individual means to say that he is a personality. These terms are interrelated, but do not mean the same thing.

Human- a biosocial being with articulate speech, consciousness, higher mental functions, capable of creating tools and using them in the process of social labor.

These human abilities and properties are not transmitted to people in the order of biological heredity, but are formed in them during their lifetime, in the process of assimilating the culture created by previous generations. And only development among one’s own kind, in society, develops as a person. A person acquires a social quality.

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Mood is a general emotional state that colors all human behavior over a significant period of time.
Usually the mood is characterized by unaccountability and weak expression; a person does not notice them. But, sometimes, the mood acquires significant intensity and leaves its mark on the mind.

To create the optimal emotional state we need: 1. Correct assessment of the significance of the event. 2. Sufficient awareness (various) on this issue

Will is a person’s conscious regulation of his behavior and activities, associated with overcoming internal and external obstacles
Will, as a characteristic of consciousness and activity, arose along with the emergence of society, labor activity. Will is an important component human psyche, inextricably linked with cognition

The complex inner world of man
Dynamics of will depending on difficulty outside world and difficulties inner world person: 1 - Will is not required (a person’s desires are simple, unambiguous, any desire is

INDIVIDUAL AND PERSONALITY

A person who, thanks to work, emerges from the animal world and develops in society, carries out joint activities with other people and communicates with them, becomes a person, a subject of knowledge and active transformation of the material world, society and himself.

A person is born into the world already a human being. This statement only at first glance seems to be a truth that does not require proof. The fact is that the genes of a human embryo contain natural prerequisites for the development of actually human characteristics and qualities. The configuration of the body of a newborn presupposes the possibility of upright walking, the structure of the brain provides the possibility of developing intelligence, the structure of the hand - the prospect of using tools, etc., and in this way the baby - already a person in terms of the sum of his capabilities - differs from a baby animal. In this way, the fact that the baby belongs to the human race is proven, which is fixed in the concept of an individual (in contrast to a baby animal, which is called an individual immediately after birth and until the end of its life). In the concept “ individual” embodies a person’s tribal affiliation. Individual can be considered both a newborn and an adult at the stage of savagery, and a highly educated resident of a civilized country.

Therefore, when we say of a particular person that he is an individual, we are essentially saying that he is potentially a person. Having been born as an individual, a person gradually acquires a special social quality and becomes a personality. Even in childhood, the individual is included in the historically established system of social relations, which he finds already ready. The further development of a person in society creates such an interweaving of relationships, which forms him as a person, ᴛ.ᴇ. How real person, not only unlike others, but also not like them, acting, thinking, suffering, included in social connections as a member of society, a participant in the historical process.

Personality in psychology, it denotes a systemic (social) quality acquired by an individual in objective activity and communication and characterizing the degree of representation of social relations in the individual.

So, personality should be understood only in a system of stable interpersonal connections, which are mediated by the content, values, and meaning of joint activity for each of the participants. These interpersonal connections are manifested in specific individual properties and the actions of people, forming special quality the group activity itself.

The personality of each person is endowed only with its own inherent combination of psychological traits and characteristics that form its individuality, constituting the uniqueness of a person, his difference from other people. Individuality is manifested in temperamental traits, habits, prevailing interests, in the qualities of cognitive processes (perception, memory, thinking, imagination), in abilities, individual style activities, etc. There are no two identical people with the same combination of these psychological characteristics - a person’s personality is unique in its individuality.

Just as the concepts of “individual” and “personality” are not identical, personality and individuality, in turn, form unity, but not identity. Ability to add and multiply very quickly “mentally” big numbers, thoughtfulness, the habit of biting nails and other characteristics of a person act as traits of his individuality, but are not extremely important in the characteristics of his personality, if only because they are not represented in forms of activity and communication that are essential for the group to which an individual possessing these traits is included. If personality traits are not represented in the system of interpersonal relationships, then they turn out to be insignificant for characterizing the individual’s personality and do not receive conditions for development. Individual characteristics of a person remain “mute” until a certain time, until they become necessary in the system of interpersonal relationships, the subject of which is this person as a person.

The problem of the relationship between biological (natural) and social beginnings in the structure of a person’s personality is one of the most complex and controversial in modern psychology. A prominent place is occupied by theories that distinguish two main substructures in a person’s personality, formed under the influence of two factors - biological and social. The idea was put forward that the entire human personality is divided into an “endopsychic” and “exopsychic” organization. “ Endopsychics“how the personality substructure expresses the internal mechanism human personality, identified with the neuropsychic organization of a person. “ Exopsyche” is determined by a person’s attitude to the external environment. “Endopsychia” includes such traits as receptivity, characteristics of memory, thinking and imagination, the ability to exert volition, impulsiveness, etc., and “exopsychia” is a person’s system of relationships and his experience, ᴛ.ᴇ. interests, inclinations, ideals, prevailing feelings, formed knowledge, etc.

How should we approach this concept of two factors? Natural organic aspects and traits exist in the structure of the individuality of the human personality as its socially conditioned elements. The natural (anatomical, physiological and other qualities) and the social form a unity and are not mechanically opposed to each other as independent substructures of the personality. So, recognizing the role of the natural, biological, and social in the structure of individuality, it is impossible to distinguish biological substructures in the human personality, in which they already exist in a transformed form.

Returning to the question of understanding the essence of personality, it is extremely important to dwell on the structure of personality when it is perceived as “supersensible” system quality individual. Considering personality in the system of subjective relations, three types of subsystems of an individual’s personal existence are distinguished (or three aspects of the interpretation of personality). The first aspect to consider is intra-individual subsystem: personality is interpreted as a property inherent in the subject himself; the personal turns out to be immersed in the internal space of the individual’s existence. Second aspect - interindividual personal subsystem, when the sphere of its definition and existence becomes the “space of interindividual connections.” The third aspect of consideration is meta-individual personal subsystem. Here attention is drawn to the impact that an individual, voluntarily or unwittingly, has on other people. Personality is perceived from a new angle: its the most important characteristics, which they tried to discern in the qualities of an individual, it is proposed to look not only in himself, but also in other people. Continuing in other people, with the death of the individual the personality does not completely die. The individual, as the bearer of personality, dies, but, personalized in other people, continues to live. In the words “he lives in us even after death” there is neither mysticism nor pure metaphor; it is a statement of the fact of the ideal representation of the individual after his material disappearance.

Of course, a personality should be characterized only in the unity of all three proposed aspects of consideration: its individuality, representation in the system of interpersonal relationships and, finally, in other people.

If, when deciding why a person becomes more active, we analyze the essence of needs, which express the state of need for something or someone, leading to activity, then in order to determine what the activity will result in, it is extremely important to analyze what determines its direction, where and what this activity is aimed at.

A set of stable motives that guide an individual’s activity and are relatively independent of existing situations is usually called orientation of a person's personality. The main role of personality orientation belongs to conscious motives.

Interest- a motive that promotes orientation in any area, familiarization with new facts, and a more complete and profound reflection of reality. Subjectively - for the individual - interest is revealed in the positive emotional tone that the process of cognition acquires, in the desire to become more deeply acquainted with the object, to learn even more about it, to understand it.

However, interests act as a constant incentive mechanism for cognition.

Interests are an important aspect of motivation for an individual’s activity, but not the only one. An essential motive for behavior is beliefs.

Beliefs- this is a system of individual motives that encourages her to act in accordance with her views, principles, and worldview. Contents of needs, acting in the form of beliefs, is knowledge about the surrounding world of nature and society, their certain understanding. When this knowledge forms an ordered and internal organized system views (philosophical, aesthetic, ethical, natural science, etc.), they can be considered as a worldview.

Having beliefs that cover wide circle issues in the field of literature, art, public life, production activity, indicates high level human personality activity.

By interacting and communicating with people, a person distinguishes himself from environment, feels like a subject of his physical and mental states, actions and processes, acts for itself as “I”, opposing “others” and at the same time inextricably linked with it.

The experience of having a “I” is the result of a long process of personality development that begins in infancy and which is referred to as the “discovery of the “I.” A one-year-old child begins to realize the differences between the sensations of his own body and those sensations that are caused by objects located outside. Then, at the age of 2-3 years, the child separates the process that gives him pleasure and the result of his own actions with objects from the objective actions of adults, presenting the latter with demands: “I myself!” For the first time, he begins to realize himself as the subject of his own actions and deeds (a personal pronoun appears in the child’s speech), not only distinguishing himself from the environment, but also opposing himself to everyone else (“This is mine, this is not yours!”).

It is known that in adolescence and adolescence, the desire for self-perception, to understand one’s place in life and oneself as a subject of relationships with others intensifies. Associated with this is the formation of self-awareness. Senior schoolchildren develop an image of their own “I”. The image of “I” is a relatively stable, not always conscious, experienced as a unique system of an individual’s ideas about himself, on the basis of which he builds his interaction with others. The image of “I” thereby fits into the structure of the personality. It acts as an attitude towards oneself. Like any attitude, the image of “I” includes three components.

First of all, cognitive component: idea of ​​one’s abilities, appearance, social significance, etc.

Secondly, emotional-evaluative component: self-respect, self-criticism, selfishness, self-deprecation, etc.

Third - behavioral(strong-willed): the desire to be understood, to win sympathy, to increase one’s status, or the desire to remain unnoticed, to evade evaluation and criticism, to hide one’s shortcomings, etc.

Image of “I”- stable, not always realized, experienced as a unique system of ideas of an individual about himself, on the basis of which he builds his interaction with others.

The image of “I” and the premise and consequence social interaction. In fact, psychologists record in a person not just one image of his “I”, but many successive “I-images”, alternately coming to the forefront of self-awareness and then losing their meaning in a given situation of social interaction. “I-image” is not a static, but a dynamic formation of an individual’s personality.

The “I-image” can be experienced as an idea of ​​oneself at the moment of the experience itself, usually referred to in psychology as the “real Self,” but it would probably be more correct to call it the momentary or “current Self” of the subject.

The “I-image” is at the same time the “ideal I” of the subject - what he should, in his opinion, become in order to meet the internal criteria of success.

Let us indicate another variant of the emergence of the “I-image” - the “fantastic I” - what the subject would like to become, if it turned out to be possible for him, how he would like to see himself. The construction of one’s fantastic “I” is characteristic not only of young men, but also of adults. When assessing the motivating significance of this “I-image,” it is important to know whether the individual’s objective understanding of his position and place in life has been replaced by his “fantastic self.” The predominance in the personality structure of fantastic ideas about oneself, not accompanied by actions that would contribute to the realization of the desired, disorganizes the activity and self-awareness of a person and in the end can severely traumatize him due to the obvious discrepancy between the desired and the actual.

The degree of adequacy of the “I-image” is clarified by studying one of its most important aspects—personal self-esteem.

Self-esteem- a person’s assessment of himself, his capabilities, qualities and place among other people. This is the most significant and most studied aspect of a person’s self-awareness in psychology. With the help of self-esteem, the behavior of an individual is regulated.

How does a person carry out self-esteem? K. Marx has a fair idea: a person first looks, as in a mirror, into another person. Only by treating the man Paul as one of his own kind does the man Peter begin to treat himself as a man. In other words, by learning the qualities of another person, a person receives the necessary information that allows him to develop own assessment. In other words, a person is oriented toward a certain reference group (real or ideal), whose ideals are its ideals, interests are its interests, etc. d. In the process of communication, she constantly compares herself with the standard and, based on the results of the check, turns out to be satisfied with herself or dissatisfied. Too high or too low self-esteem can become an internal source of personality conflicts. Of course, this conflict can manifest itself in different ways.

Inflated self-esteem leads to the fact that a person tends to overestimate himself in situations that do not provide a reason for this. As a result, he often encounters opposition from others who reject his claims, becomes embittered, displays suspicion, suspiciousness and deliberate arrogance, aggression, and in the end may lose the necessary interpersonal contacts and become withdrawn.

Excessively low self-esteem may indicate the development of an inferiority complex, persistent self-doubt, refusal of initiative, indifference, self-blame and anxiety.

In order to understand a person, it is extremely important to clearly imagine the action of unconsciously developing forms of personality control of their behavior, to pay attention to the entire system of assessments with which a person characterizes himself and others, to see the dynamics of changes in these assessments.

INDIVIDUAL AND PERSONALITY - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "INDIVIDUALS AND PERSONALITY" 2017, 2018.

Natural and social

Man is, on the one hand, a biological being, and on the other, a social being. This is a creature that embodies the highest level of development of life, a subject of socio-historical activity. A person as a subject and product of labor activity in society is a system in which the physical and mental, genetically determined and formed in life, natural and social form an indissoluble unity.

An individual (from Latin “indivisible”) is a person as a single natural being, a representative of the species Homo Sapiens, a bearer of individually unique traits (inclinations, drives, etc.). Most general characteristics of the individual are: the integrity of the psychophysiological organization, stability in interaction with the outside world, activity.

Personality is the same person, but considered as a social being. Personality is a systemic quality acquired by an individual in objective activity and communication, characterizing him in terms of involvement in public relations. The characteristics of a person in terms of his socially significant differences from other people are determined by individuality, i.e., the originality of the psyche and personality of the individual, its uniqueness. Individuality is manifested in the traits of temperament, character, specific interests, qualities of intelligence, needs and abilities of the individual.

P Psychological characteristics of personality and its structure

Three most important psychological characteristics of personality are noted: stability of personality properties, unity of personality, and activity of personality. Personality is a very complex whole, but three main blocks can be roughly distinguished in it. This is the orientation of the personality (the system of its relations to the surrounding world - motives, needs, feelings, interests); personal capabilities (abilities); psychological characteristics of personality behavior (temperament, character). The personality structure is shown schematically in Fig. 2.

Rice. 2. Personality structure

There are also three components in the personality structure: 1)

intra-individual (intra-individual) - represented in the structure of a person’s temperament, character, and abilities; 2)

interindividual - represented by a set of objective relationships between individuals; 3)

meta-individual (supra-individual) - represented by “investments” in other people, which the individual, voluntarily or involuntarily, makes through his activities (this process is called “personalization”).

P Personality orientation

The set of stable motives that orient the activity of an individual and are relatively independent of existing situations is called the orientation of the individual. Direction determines the goals that a person sets for himself, the aspirations that are characteristic of him, the motives in accordance with which he acts.

Motives, or incentives for behavior, are, in fact, specific manifestations of needs. Needs are recognized and experienced by a person as a need for something, dissatisfaction with something. At the same time, natural needs are distinguished (for food, rest, sleep, procreation, etc.) and spiritual (for communication, knowledge, art, etc.).

A person’s cognitive need is manifested in interests, which represent his cognitive focus on something associated with a positive emotional attitude towards it. Interests are characterized by their content (interest in technology, music, etc.), breadth (broad and narrow, deep and superficial), stability and effectiveness (passive and active).

An essential motive for behavior is also beliefs - a system of motives of an individual that encourages her to act in accordance with her views, principles, and worldview. In general, a personality’s orientation can be represented as a system of its relations to itself as a person (self-direction); to other people and interaction with them (focus on interaction); to the results and products of labor (business orientation).

P Personality setup

The main role in the orientation of the individual belongs to conscious motives. However, an important area of ​​motivation for human actions is also formed by unconscious impulses, which represent a certain attitude of the individual.

Personality setting is an unconscious state of readiness and predisposition to activity, with the help of which this or that need can be satisfied. Bias, which is the essence of many attitudes, is the result of either insufficiently substantiated conclusions from personal experience a person, or the uncritical assimilation of thinking stereotypes - standardized judgments accepted in a certain social group. Attitudes towards the facts of social life can be positive or negative (for example, among nationalists, racists).

In the structure of an attitude, there are three component substructures: cognitive (from Latin “cognition”) - there is an image of what a person is ready to know and perceive; emotional-evaluative - this is a complex of likes and dislikes towards the object of the attitude; behavioral - readiness to act in a certain way in relation to the object of the attitude.

P Image “I”

The discovery of the Self—the experience of having a Self—is the result of a long process of personality formation that begins in infancy. The image of “I” is a relatively stable, conscious, experienced as a unique system of an individual’s ideas about himself, on the basis of which he builds his interaction with others. The image of “I” acts as an attitude towards oneself, and in oneself the individual is represented by his actions and deeds as in another.

Like any attitude, the image of “I” includes all three components: cognitive (idea about one’s abilities, appearance, social significance, etc.); emotional-evaluative (self-esteem, self-criticism, selfishness, self-deprecation, etc.); behavioral, or volitional (the desire to be understood, to gain respect, to increase one’s status, to hide one’s shortcomings, etc.) “I-image” can be experienced as “I-real” (i.e. momentary), “I-ideal” ( as a guideline in self-improvement) and “I-fantastic” (escape from reality).

P Personality self-esteem

Self-esteem is an individual’s assessment of himself, his capabilities, qualities and place among other people. With the help of self-esteem, the behavior of an individual is regulated.

Three main indicators - self-esteem, expected assessment, personality assessment of the group - are included in the structure of personality and, whether a person wants it or not, he is forced to objectively take into account these subjective indicators of his social well-being. At the same time, a significant increase in a person’s self-esteem is associated with a decrease in the expected assessment indicator. In addition, an increase in the assessment that a person gives to others leads to an increase in real assessment from others. Self-esteem is closely related to the level of a person’s aspirations.

P Level of aspirations

The level of aspiration is the desired level of self-esteem of an individual (level of self-image), manifested in the degree of difficulty of the goal that the individual sets for himself. Studying the level of a person’s aspirations allows us to better understand the motivation of human behavior. A person’s self-awareness, using the mechanism of self-esteem, sensitively registers the relationship between one’s own aspirations and real achievements, which is clearly presented in the following formula*:

Self-esteem =-- .

Claims

P Psychological protection of the individual

Psychological protection of the individual is a special regulatory system used by the individual to eliminate psychological discomfort that threatens the “I-image” and maintain it at a level that is desirable and possible for given specific circumstances.

The formula was proposed by the American psychologist W. James.

The mechanisms of psychological defense are aggression, substitution of activity, rationalization and repression (“hiding your head in the sand”, etc.).

P Driving forces of personality formation and development

The leading role in the processes of formation and development of personality is played by training and education, which are carried out in groups and society as a whole. At the same time, the formation of personality as its development, the process and result of this development illustrates the psychological approach, and the formation of personality as its purposeful upbringing illustrates the pedagogical approach.

In the history of psychology, there were three main directions in resolving the issue of the driving forces, the source of development and formation of personality: the biogenetic concept (personal development is determined by biological factors, mainly heredity); sociogenetic concept (personal development is the result of direct influences of the surrounding social environment, its “cast”); theory of convergence (mechanical interaction of two factors - environment and heredity). However, they all had certain disadvantages.

From the point of view of modern psychology, the driving forces of personality development are identified in the contradiction between human needs that change in activity and the real possibilities of satisfying them. Therefore, the development, selection and education of needs, bringing them into line with social ideals are one of the central tasks of personality formation.

P Socialization of personality

Personal socialization is the process of an individual’s entry into the social environment, his assimilation of social influences, and his introduction to the system of social connections. Socialization is a two-way process, which includes, on the one hand, the assimilation by an individual of social experience by entering a social environment, and on the other hand, the process of active reproduction of a system of social connections due to his active activity. The first side is a characteristic of how the environment affects a person, the second characterizes the process of a person’s influence on the social environment through his activities.

The process of socialization, therefore, is the process of formation, formation and development of personality. There are three environments of personal socialization: activity, communication and cognition. The process of socialization has its stages. The pre-labor stage covers the period of a person’s life before starting work and includes two stages: early socialization (from birth to school entry) and the learning stage. The labor stage covers the entire period of labor activity, the post-labor stage covers the retirement period. The institutions of socialization are the family, preschool and school institutions, the workforce, as well as specific groups in which the individual is introduced to existing systems of norms and values. The psychological effects of socialization are understood as psychological phenomena, indicating the extent and depth of socialization: the formation of social attitudes, motivation of activity, character formation, etc.

P Personality and activity

Activity is a person’s activity aimed at achieving consciously set goals related to meeting his needs and interests, and fulfilling the requirements for him from society. In any activity, the following components (stages) can be distinguished: setting a goal, planning work, performing work, checking results, summing up, evaluating work.

The types of activities include labor (resulting in the creation of a social useful product), creative (gives a new original product of high public value), educational (aimed at acquiring knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for education and subsequent work) and gaming (a means of understanding the world around us through plot and role-playing games).

A skill is a way of performing an activity mastered by a person. Skills are acquired through practice. A skill is an action in which individual operations have become automated as a result of repeated exercises. There are motor (motor) and intellectual skills (in the field of mental work - for example, spelling skills). Physiological basis skill is a dynamic stereotype formed in the human brain.

A habit is a person's need to perform certain actions. A habit is a skill that has become a need. A skill is the ability to successfully carry out actions, a habit is an incentive to perform these actions. There are everyday habits (for example, hygienic) and moral (for example, politeness).

Activity expresses a person’s personality, and at the same time activity shapes his personality. The formation of human activity occurs in the following order: impulsive behavior (in the first year of life - exploratory), over the years - practical, then - communicative and, finally, - speech.

P Communication

Communication and activity form an inextricable unity. The means of communication is language - a system of verbal signs through which socio-historical experience exists, is acquired and transmitted. Communication acts as an exchange of information (speech - verbal communication; facial expressions, gestures, pauses, etc. - non-verbal), as interpersonal interaction (a set of connections and mutual influences of people that develop in the process of their joint activities), as people’s understanding of each other (perception and assessment of man by man).

P Social control

Joint activities and communication take place under conditions of social control, exercised on the basis of social norms - patterns of behavior accepted in society that regulate the interaction and relationships of people. Social control is exercised in accordance with a wide repertoire of social roles.

Under social role is understood as a normatively approved pattern of behavior expected by others from everyone who occupies a given position social position. Interaction of people performing different social roles regulated by role expectations, they can also cause role conflicts.

Conflicts

A person’s ability and skill to accurately attribute to others expectations of what they are ready to hear from him or see in him is called tact. Tactlessness is the destruction of expectations in the communication process.

Interpersonal conflict is an antagonism of positions, reflecting the presence of mutually exclusive values, tasks and goals. Two types of determinants can act as causes of conflicts: substantive and business disagreements and divergence of personal and pragmatic interests. The cause of conflicts is also semantic barriers in communication - this is a discrepancy in the meanings of the expressed demand, request, order for partners in communication, creating an obstacle to their mutual understanding and interaction.

P Effects of Interpersonal Perception

In interpersonal perception, the action of three most important mechanisms is distinguished: -

identification is a way of understanding another person through awareness or unconscious assimilation of his characteristics to the characteristics of the subject himself (“put yourself in his place”); -

reflection - the subject’s awareness of how he is perceived by his communication partner. In communication, identification and reflection appear in unity. A causal explanation of the actions of another person by attributing to him feelings, intentions, thoughts and motives of behavior is called “causal attribution” (from the Latin “reason” and “I give”), or “causal interpretation”; -

stereotyping - classification of forms of behavior and interpretation of their causes by attribution to already known or seemingly known phenomena, i.e., corresponding social stereotypes(stamps). An essential basis for the formation of bias and subjectivism is preliminary information, which gives rise to the halo effect (its essence is that the general favorable impression left by a person leads the subject to positive assessments of those qualities that are not given in perception).

Basic Concepts

Personality is a systemic quality acquired by an individual in objective activity and communication, characterizing him in terms of involvement in social relations.

Personality orientation is a set of stable motives that orient the activity of the individual and are relatively independent of existing situations. Characterized by interests, inclinations, beliefs, ideals in which a person’s worldview is expressed.

Activity is a dynamic system of interactions between a subject and the world, during which a mental image arises and is embodied in an object and the relations of the subject mediated by it in objective reality are realized.

Communication is a complex, multifaceted process of establishing and developing contacts between people, generated by the needs of joint activities and including the exchange of information, the development of a unified interaction strategy, perception and understanding of another person.

Tasks for independent work

Annotating or taking notes from literature 1.

Ananyev B. G. Man as an object of knowledge. - L., 1968. - 339 p. 2.

Bern E. Games that people play. Psychology of human relationships. People who play games. Psychology human destiny: Per. from English / Ed. M. S. Matskovsky. - M., 1988. - 400 p. 3.

Vygotsky L. S. Development of higher mental functions. - M.: APN RSFSR, 1960. 4.

Leontyev A. N. Activity. Consciousness. Personality. - 2nd ed. - M., 1977. - 230 p.

Topics of abstracts and reports 1.

Subject and tasks of psychology. 2.

Brain and human psyche. 3.

Basic methods of modern psychology. 4.

General psychology and branches of psychological science. 5.

Man as a subject of cognition, communication and activity. 6.

Individual. Personality. Individuality: The main directions of human socialization. 7.

Personality structure and its main psychological characteristics.

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Bodalev A. A. Personality psychology. - M., 1988. 5.

Borodkin F. M., Koryak N. M. Attention: conflict! - Novosibirsk, 1983. 6.

Vasiliev I. A., Magomed-Eminov M. Sh. Motivation and control over action. - M., 1991. 7.

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Grimak L.P. Reserves of the human psyche: Introduction to the psychology of activity. - M., 1989. 9.

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Lomov B.F. Issues of general, pedagogical and engineering psychology. - M., 1991. 12.

Obozov N. N. Psychology of interpersonal relations. - K., 1990. 13.

Teplov V. M. Selected works. - M., 1985. - T. 1. 15.

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Heckhausen H. Motivation and activity: Trans. with him. / Ed. B. M. Velichkovsky. - M., 1986. - T. 1.