Today we will talk about human performance. I will tell you about what working capacity is, what it depends on, what are the main factors of human performance, and I will also dwell on what time a person is most efficient, based on his biological characteristics. I think it will be useful to know for your work.

What is performance?

Let's start with a definition. If we turn to dictionaries, we will read something like the following.

The working capacity of a person is his ability to perform a certain work with the given quality parameters in a set period of time. Despite the apparent simplicity, this concept is quite complex, and here's why. On the one hand, working capacity is an indicator of certain biological functions of a person, and on the other hand, it is an indicator of his mental abilities, professionalism in a particular business, the presence of certain knowledge, skills and business qualities.

factors of human performance.

Let's highlight the main factors that affect human performance.

1. Physical and physiological features. The better a person is developed physically, the higher his working capacity. Also, the features of his physiology play a role, which can interfere with performing certain work, the current state of health of a person as a whole or of his individual organs.
2. Psychological features. In particular, stress tolerance, purposefulness, level of motivation, etc., up to mood. The more developed all these qualities, the higher the working capacity of a person, and vice versa.
3. The level of mental and intellectual development. The development of creative and logical thinking, resourcefulness. The working capacity of a person largely depends on how intellectually developed he is. Moreover, even if he does physical work: a smart person can find a way to do it faster and with less effort.
4. Working environment. For example, the equipment of the workplace, the availability of all necessary accessories for work and their quality, the lighting of the workplace, the air temperature, the noise level, etc. All these are also factors of human performance.
5. Knowledge, skills, abilities. The level of professionalism in the work that a person performs, of course, also has an impact on his performance.
6. Self-discipline and self-organization. An important factor in a person's performance is his ability to organize himself and his work process.
7. Fatigue. And, finally, it must be recognized that a person's performance decreases in proportion to his fatigue, fatigue. The more a person gets tired, performing this or that work, the lower his performance decreases.

The time of maximum human performance.

Now let's talk about the time of the highest human performance. It is determined by the physiological functions of the body, which are inherent in it by nature. As you know, according to the characteristic biological lifestyle, people are divided into 2 types: “owls” and “larks”, and the time of maximum performance for these types of people will also be different.

For early risers, the highest working hours coincide with the first half of the traditional working day - from 9 am to 2 pm, then their working capacity gradually decreases, and by 5-6 pm it becomes as low as possible. The “owls” are different: the time of their highest performance shifts significantly in proportion to the hours of shift of their sleep in comparison with the “larks”. The most notorious “owls” have the highest working time - from 18 to 24 hours. But, I draw your attention, the night hours from 0 to 5 am are not workable for anyone.

Next, I want to bring to your attention a few more interesting observations obtained by scientists who studied human performance (they are relevant for people leading a traditional lifestyle: sleep at night, stay awake during the day).

• From 6 to 7 in the morning, a person has an “hour of long-term memory” - at this time he is able to remember the information received for the longest period of time;
• From 8 to 9 o'clock in the morning, a person's logical thinking functions as much as possible, so this hour is best used for carrying out some kind of analytical actions, active thinking, drawing up plans;
• From 9 to 12 in the morning is the optimal time for engaging in active mental work, during these hours a person’s performance in intellectual work is the highest.
• From 14 to 18 hours - on the contrary, the ideal time for physical labor, in which you do not need to think much. Of course, if you do not do this work in the morning, and are not tired by this time. It is better to plan hard physical labor for the afternoon.

Stages of human performance.

As you can see, during the working day, a person's performance is not the same. Therefore, we can distinguish several stages of performance that any person goes through during his working day:

1. Entering the workflow. This period lasts the first half an hour or an hour from the start of work, less often - 2 hours. This time is necessary for a person to “activate” his working capacity and prepare for its maximum stage.
2. Maximum performance (1 stage). For the next 2-3 hours, a person's working capacity is maximum, and at this time he is able to effectively perform the most complex work.
3. Decreased performance (stage 1). Further, the working capacity will begin to decline, and will fall to zero or until the moment when the person has a rest from work. Such a rest is usually a lunch break.
4. Lunch break. To normalize performance, a person needs to eat and rest for at least an hour.
5. Maximum performance (stage 2). After a break, a person returns to work with renewed vigor, and can again work quite efficiently, however, his performance here will be slightly lower than at the first, morning stage, and this stage will also be shorter in time (1-2 hours).
6. Decreased performance (stage 2). Further, after about 1-2 hours, the human performance will again begin to fall.
7. Exit workflow. For the last half an hour or an hour of working time, a person’s performance will be minimal, since he will psychologically already be waiting for the end of the working day, and fatigue by this time will be maximum.

Human performance during the week.

It should also be noted that during the working week, a person’s performance is also different, which is also associated with entry into the work process, exit from it and the level of general fatigue of the body.

• Monday- in the context of the week is the day of entry into the workflow. The working capacity of a person on this day is not the highest, he only “accelerates”, “activates” it.
• Tuesday Wednesday- days of maximum human performance, these days it is best to plan the solution of the most important work tasks.
• Thursday- the drop in working capacity begins, the “equator” of the week has been passed, fatigue increases, the weekend is approaching.
• Friday- the day of the least working capacity of a person, this day he already “survives” at work with thoughts about the weekend.

What conclusion can be drawn from all this?

When and the working week, it is necessary to take into account the time of day and the days of the highest human performance. That is, all the most important things must be planned for the period of their highest performance, and follow this plan. So the efficiency of your work will always be maximum. And in no case should you spend hours of your highest working capacity on - this will be the biggest mistake.

Now you have a certain concept of what a person’s working capacity is, what are the main factors of working capacity, at what time of the day and what days a person’s working capacity is maximum. In the next article, we will talk about how to improve performance.

Stay tuned and stay tuned for updates. Until we meet again on the pages of the site!

People who do some work for a long time and thoroughly or who carefully try to figure out any seemingly unworthy issue, we often call either scrupulous or pedantic. For many, these are, in fact, words synonymous. Not everyone thinks about what exactly these words mean, but only, roughly assuming, pronounce them in a given situation. However, be careful, the meanings of the words pedantry and scrupulousness, although slightly similar in meaning, have different meanings. And in order not to be considered uneducated people, let's clarify this issue and figure out who is a pedant and who is meticulous!

If in a nutshell to explain what pedantry is, then it will sound something like this - petty accuracy. People belonging to the category of pedants are extremely strict in following the rules and complying with the norms. They do this, often to the detriment of common sense. With such people, sometimes it is very difficult to go through life. They will not become full-fledged assistants or advisers. On the other hand, if you ask such a person to complete some task, he will complete it (unless, of course, the soul lies) completely. Only while the pedant will be engaged in the fulfillment of your order, you will have to decide the rest of the vital issues on your own.

How to recognize a pedantic person? Among employees, this may be the one who is ready to sit at night for reports, double-check the tenth round of data that has long been verified, in other words, perform some absolutely far-fetched rituals. Sometimes, it is unpleasant to observe the manifestation of pedantry in people in relation to outfits and appearance in general. Such a person not only always looks too smart and pomaded (because he devotes too much time to his appearance), but is also not averse to making a remark in public to someone who is dressed more simply. And what to complain about, he will always find. Such tediousness, of course, irritates others.

As you yourself understand, a person prone to pedantry does not have enough time for everything. He delves into some issues too deeply, and does not notice others, which most often deserve even more attention. So, for example, the same colleague, bogged down in reports, can completely forget about his appearance, friends, weather, etc. This is precisely “to the detriment of common sense”, as mentioned above.

By the way, pedantry is most often characteristic of people who are engaged in scientific or pedagogical activities.

Now, let's talk about thoroughness. Everything is much simpler here. The word scrupulousness refers to the utmost precision. So, if you, for example, are told that some person approached the translation of the text scrupulously, this means that he did not translate professional terms in a generalized way, but made their exact translation. Thoroughness can also be equated with a heightened sense of responsibility. Such a feature, at times, is simply a necessity for people in certain professions, where accuracy, clarity are important and the slightest inaccuracies are not allowed. Scrupulous people, as a rule, do not get hung up on one thing, and even more so, they are not boring. Over the years, they get so used to performing some actions in the most thorough way that they simply come to automatism, and at the same time they do not tend to conflict with common sense.

As you can see, without delving into the subtleties of these two concepts, sometimes you can even offend a person by calling him a pedant for a well-done job. And it is possible - not to convey the main meaning, calling meticulous - a petty bore.

Training is a universal means of professional training of operators. In the process of learning a particular specialty, a person masters a certain system of knowledge, skills and abilities.

The efficiency and reliability of the operator's actions depend not only on the system of knowledge available to him, but also on the accuracy and timeliness of his actions.

In psychology, there are three main types of skills: sensory-perceptual (perception skills), motor (motor skills) and intellectual (task-solving techniques)
The process of forming any skill has some common features. Consider them on the example of the formation of a motor skill.

One of the main features of the process of skill formation is the formation of motor (or any other, for example, mental) structures that combine individual working movements into a single whole. At the initial stages of learning any action, a person performs individual movements (or other labor acts) included in it separately with greater or lesser intervals between them. During the exercise, the time for performing movements and the intervals between them are shortened, they are combined. In the action of an experienced operator, a series of successive partial movements appears as one complex movement.

Another feature of the process of forming a habit is the identification by a person of signals relevant to a given activity. When performing an action, a person’s analyzers receive a lot of various signals, but not all of them are directly related to the action being performed. Such signals are called irrelevant.

In the process of mastering a skill, a person from the entire mass of signals received by his analyzers selects those that are relevant to the task. In other words, not only the motor, but also the sensorimotor structure is formed.

The third feature of the process of forming a habit is a change in the ratio of levels of regulation. At the first stages of learning, even relatively simple elements of a motor action are regulated by speech-thinking processes. Later, their regulation is transferred to the sensory-perceptual level, and the speech-thinking process begins to regulate larger units of activity. Automation of actions, first of all, consists in redistributing the role of various levels of regulation.

And finally, another feature of the formation of a skill is the assimilation of the rhythm of the actions performed. Due to the rhythm, a person who owns the skill can work for a long time without fatigue.

The skills formed by the operator do not exist in isolation from each other. They inevitably interact. At the same time, “old” skills in some cases contribute to the mastery of “new” ones (positive transfer of skills), in others they hinder their formation (interference of skills).

On the basis of knowledge and skills related to a certain type of activity, a person's ability to work is formed. When they say that a person knows how to do something, it means that he can do a certain job on his own.

Skill is a complex mental formation that includes a number of components. One of them is a system of skills related to the same type of activity. However, the system of skills by itself does not yet provide the ability to independently perform this or that work. In order to achieve this, a person must possess not only an appropriate system of skills, but also a system of knowledge. “Skillful action” is always action with skill. This means not only knowledge of how to perform a particular action, but also knowledge of the main features of one’s business as a whole: the features of the technological process, the physical and other laws that determine this process, the machine that a person controls, etc. etc., i.e. the skill is formed on the basis of a wide range of knowledge about the labor process, tools and working conditions.

In the process of learning, training and accumulating professional experience, human activity improves, the time for performing actions is reduced and their accuracy increases.

PSYCHOLOGY
TUTORIAL

BASES OF PSYCHOLOGY OF ACTIVITY

Knowledge, skills and abilities

The implementation of any activity requires a person to master the necessary means for it. First of all, it involves the development of a person's skills and abilities to use them to achieve the goal.

Skill is where knowledge of a particular business is combined with dexterity in performing the actions that make up this activity. The one who, adhering to the established rules, does it skillfully, clearly and flawlessly, who has skills in this matter, knows how to drive a car. A student who has developed certain skills in working on a text is able to draw up a plan. Likewise, the ability to play a musical instrument, draw, perform physical exercises and other tasks is based on certain skills. Therefore, skill is the willingness of a person to successfully perform a certain activity, which is based on knowledge and skills.

Since human activity, as a rule, consists of a number of different actions, the ability to perform them also consists of a number of particular skills. For example, the ability to drive a car involves the ability to start the engine, regulate its operation, control the steering wheel, follow the road, the operation of the car. The student's ability to learn means the ability to plan his homework, to single out the main and the secondary, to establish cause-and-effect relationships between them, to memorize a given text in rational ways, etc. The complex of partial, closely interconnected skills covers everything that is called a skill: to drive a car, to study, to play a musical instrument, to draw.

Skills. Performing this or that action a certain number of times, a person exercises in its performance. She performs the action faster, easier, freer, it requires less tension, effort and volitional control, the number of erroneous movements decreases. In general, its execution becomes automated to a certain extent. So, the skills are in the automated execution of actions. They are formed through repeated exercises. Skills are the components of skills.

Having skills makes it easier for a person to perform conscious tasks. Consciousness has the ability to start, regulate and complete the action, and the movement itself occurs without any further intervention of the will as a real repetition of what has already been done thousands of times (I. Sechenov). A person can also be aware of automated components, i.e. movements that form a particular activity. If necessary, she can direct her attention to the very technique of writing letters in order, for example, to bring them out beautifully calligraphically. Can be aware of the movements of the articulatory organs during the pronunciation of sounds, the usual movements of the fingers while playing a musical instrument in order to control them, change something in them. A person begins to be aware of movements, if there are complications, obstacles in their execution.

The process of forming skills and abilities. Skills and abilities are formed in a person in the process of learning. There are three main phases. The first begins with understanding the task and how to accomplish it. So, an experienced master finds out and shows a beginner how to perform certain production operations, and the latter gets acquainted with them. While teaching students to write, they are also introduced to how to print each letter. Then those who are learning try to apply the explanations received in practice, that is, to perform the appropriate actions.

On the basis of explanations, visual perception, showing the action, the first, still general, schematic visual representation of the spatial and temporal features of the action is formed - about the direction and amplitude of movements, their speed, coordination and sequence. Reduction is accompanied by significant volitional efforts and a sense of confidence, self-confidence or doubt, indecision, timidity. These experiences affect the effectiveness of the exercise, either facilitating it or delaying it.

Based on training, that is, the repeated repetition of certain actions in order to consolidate and improve them, gradually the sequence of movements becomes coordinated, and the actions become clearer and more coordinated. Dexterity passes into the second, highest phase of its perfection. Its physiological basis is the strengthening of temporary nerve connections in the cerebral cortex, their specialization, the development of the system, that is, the formation of a certain dynamic stereotype.

By exercising, a person accelerates the performance of actions. Eliminate unnecessary movements and reduce stress during execution. This means that the irradiation of excitation, which occurred at the beginning and caused a significant number of unnecessary movements, is changed by its concentration. Extra movements that do not find "business reinforcement" are gradually inhibited as inadequate to a certain situation. Adequate movements become more economical, clearer, more precise.

At the physiological level of improving the performance of an action, the ratio of analyzers that participate in this process changes. Such a change is manifested, in particular, in the fact that the role of visual sensations decreases and the role of motor sensations in the regulation of action increases. This can be observed during the formation of industrial, sports skills and abilities, the ability to play a musical instrument, etc.

However, the regulation of movements based on self-control is of decisive importance in the formation of skills and abilities. Self-control contributes to the development of subtle visual, auditory and motor differentiation, and this, in turn, contributes to the accuracy of actions. In the process of increasing dexterity, visual control over the course of an action, which is of leading importance at the beginning of an exercise, gradually decreases, giving way to control over movements, that is, control over the action of those organs that carry it out.

With an increase in the level of automation of movements, the role of visual perception in the process of performing an action changes. At first, visual perception and action coincide, for example, the perception of a letter is combined with its pronunciation. This combination is unavoidable and necessary, but it greatly slows down the task.

Sometimes perception, due to reduction, begins to outstrip action. So, in the case of fast, expressive reading, the pronunciation of what is read is preceded by the perception of only individual compounds, but also whole words that follow the word that is pronounced. The next elements of the text, which are perceived, prepare further movements and thus ensure a fast pace and high efficiency of the action.

Each action consists of more or less movements. The skillful performance of an action requires the unification of these movements into an integral act, and these acts into an even more complex action.

The physiological basis for combining movements into a holistic action is the formation of an "association of associations", that is, chains of temporary neural connections, certain systems of them. Once established, the latter become stereotyped. This stereotype is the basis for the automated execution of an action. In this regard, the volitional effort is much reduced, the slow focus on movements turns into a state of constant attention, the movements become more confident and accurate, and conscious control over the process of the action being performed is facilitated.

This level of skill development is typical for the last, third phase of dexterity. At this phase, actions become memorized, which makes it possible to improve them, bring them to a certain level of skill.

The continuous formation of skills and abilities usually begins with verbal explanations and the assimilation of the rules of action. Evaluation of the actions performed, awareness of their results are also carried out mainly with the help of the word. The word, participating in the process of forming skills and abilities, contributes to the development of a clear sequence, tempo and rhythm of movements, their system.

The level of formation of skills and abilities largely depends on the conscious attitude, the readiness of the individual to develop skills and abilities in himself, the interest in the best performance of actions related to solving the problem.

An important place in this process is occupied by taking into account the individual characteristics of a person: the type of nervous system, previous experience, theoretical knowledge, inclinations and abilities.

Transfer and interference of skills. The skills that we acquire to a certain extent rely on previously formed skills. This means that the newly created dynamic stereotypes are layered in the cerebral cortex on the previously formed stereotypes, that they not only coexist, but also interact. Previously formed skills can both contribute to the development of new skills, and slow down, delay this process.

Often previously formed skills contribute to the assimilation of new ones, facilitating this process, or vice versa complicate it.

This phenomenon of transfer is due primarily to the presence of similar and identical rice in the already established and new skills, joint methods for performing appropriate actions. At the same time, the elements of the formed skill are included in the structure of the skill being created and this facilitates the process of mastering it. Consequently, there is an application of previously developed temporary neural connections, certain groups of them in new situations, their generalization.

Transference is also manifested in the fact that, having learned to perform a certain action with one organ (for example, writing with the right hand), a person can, without special exercise, perform this action (albeit less perfectly) with another organ, for example, with the left hand or foot or head.

However, previously developed skills sometimes have a negative, inhibitory effect on the formation of new skills, which manifests itself in a decrease in the performance of actions, the occurrence of errors, etc. This phenomenon is called skill interference. In interference, there is a rivalry between some established and newly created stereotypes.

Interference is present when two or more different reactions are produced to one stimulus.

INTERFERENCE manifests itself when previously developed methods of action are used in a new situation without taking into account its difference. This happens, for example, when an operator switches from an old instrument design to a new instrument design in which the sequence of operations has been changed.

Total interference occurs under certain conditions. Knowing these conditions and foreseeing their effect in a particular situation, it is possible to avoid it.

Skills are maintained at the proper level of excellence if they are used. And when they are not used for a certain time, they weaken. The systems of temporary nervous connections, which is their physiological basis, begin to slow down. The performance of the corresponding actions slows down, their quality decreases. For example, a long break in driving a car in industrial, musical, sports activities leads to a decrease in the level of perfection, a deterioration in the quality of the performance of the corresponding actions. Therefore, specialists in any field of activity have to constantly train in order to maintain their skills at the proper level of perfection.

The less skills are formed, consolidated, the sooner they are weakened, which turns out to be the deautomatization of the actions performed.

Violations, disorders of skills occur as a result of pathological changes in the functioning of the brain. In the case of pathological changes, the more complex and later developed skills are usually destroyed, then the less complex and earlier formed ones.

Variety of skills and abilities. Skills and abilities are part of any human activity. They are distinguished depending on the content of the activity and those human needs that are satisfied through them. Accordingly, there are skills and abilities of self-service, production, speech, mental, artistic, sports, etc.

The largest group is made up of production skills and abilities of a person, which are differentiated by certain types of production work.

A study of the formation of production skills shows that they can be divided into three groups:

CONSTRUCTION, associated with ideas about the products of labor, with the construction of the latter behind drawings, models, descriptions and with the manifestation of these ideas in words, models, projects, labor movements;

ORGANIZATIONAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL, associated with the selection of the necessary tools and materials, with the definition of methods for their processing, with the planning and control of the labor itself;

OPERATING, associated with the use of tools and materials for the manufacture of a certain product of labor, with the performance of the production operations necessary for this.

A special group is made up of language skills and abilities, which are a component of a person’s speech, aimed at satisfying her need for communication with other people, in the exchange of opinions. This group includes the skills of both oral and written broadcasting. Mental skills and abilities are manifested in the performance of various types of mental activity (for example, memorizing certain material, solving arithmetic and other problems, performing mental operations, research tasks, theoretical work in a particular industry). Various skills and abilities are also combined into artistic, sports and other varieties.

Separate types of skills and abilities are closely interconnected and intertwined. So, mental skills are always closely related to the ability to perform oral and written work. Complex manufacturing skills always have mental components. At the same time, the ability to perform, for example, experimental research work in a particular industry is based on the skills of practical operation with the necessary instruments, measuring and other tools.

All the skills and abilities that a person has are its achievement. Therefore, clever people are so valued in life. The more a person has skills and abilities in a certain field of activity, the more she is valued as a master of her craft.

Skills and abilities are especially important in the creative activity of a person. The presence of skills and abilities is a necessary condition for her conscious creative activity. In the process of activity, they are more and more improved. Skills and abilities, contributing to the development of human creative activity, thereby become one of the most important factors in the overall mental development of a person. If a person were not able to acquire skills, she could not advance one stage of development, lingering through countless constant complications.

Motives. In life, we perform many actions, perform various activities. All these are manifestations of the activity of the individual. Activity is based on various motives. motive there is something for the sake of which a person performs certain actions. And here it is important to find out where the activity is directed, what it is focused on. So, many students after graduation aim themselves at entering a university. However, they may have different motives behind the same goal. For one it is a desire to become a good specialist, for another it is the prestige of a profession or university, for a third it is getting a diploma of higher education. As you can see, the goal is outwardly the same. However, if it is achieved, then yesterday's schoolchildren who have become students will have a different direction of activity. Some will strive for a deep mastery of the knowledge and skills needed to work in their specialty, while others will not particularly strain themselves, hoping for "maybe". If in the process of studying the motive guiding her does not change, then some of these students will have to leave the university.

Orientation of personality it is a set of stable motives that orients the activity and behavior of the individual in various situations. So, it may happen that after graduating from school you choose a certain profession, and your parents do not agree with this choice, because they see your future differently. If, despite this, you continue to strive to achieve your goal, then in this stable line of behavior, the direction of your personality is manifested.

Persistent motives are beliefs, interests, attitudes.

Belief- this is a person's firm confidence in something, prompting her to act in accordance with her views, judgments about important and unimportant, worthy and unworthy. If you are able to keep your promises, act as you see fit and right, actively defend your case, proving it in word and deed, this means that your beliefs correspond to your behavior and guide it. If your words and deeds diverge, if you plan one thing and do something completely different, then your belief system is unstable, ineffective, and you yourself cannot always explain the reasons for your actions and decisions. As a result, your activities and behavior in general become incomprehensible to the people around you. It turns out that you yourself do not know what you want to achieve and how much what you proclaim as your intentions is really important to you. Only by understanding yourself and taking into account the opinions of others about what you say and do, you can develop effective beliefs.

Interests and needs . In the processes of practical activity, as well as in the knowledge of the surrounding world, human interests play an important role. Interest (from Latin interest - matters, important) - this is the real reason that we are aware of and directs cognitive and practical activities. Recall situations in your life in which you encountered something new, unusual for you. The question you immediately ask yourself is: “What is this?” or "What is it?" - and there is a manifestation of interest in what attracted your attention. If a practical problem has arisen in your life, then, realizing it, you immediately show interest in ways and means of solving it.

Have you ever wondered why people choose different professions? Probably, the advice of parents is also important here, and the desire to be like an authoritative person for you, and the prestige of the profession. A special interest in a certain type of activity is also important.

Special interest is an internal motivation for a particular activity. It can develop into a tendency to professionally engage in this activity. In general, interests are a very important source of development of human abilities. Interests direct our attention, encourage activity, make our life meaningful and vibrant, while the lack of interest in what is happening hinders the development and realization of abilities.

Our interests may be "egocentric"; aimed primarily at one's own personality (from Latin ego - I, centrum - center), or directed at some external forms of life, at certain objects or methods of activity. Egocentric interest is characterized by the fact that here a person is concerned not so much with the quality and effectiveness of the work performed by him, but first of all with the impression he makes, demonstrating his superiority, achieving leadership. A cognitive interest, an interest in new phenomena of life, a desire for new impressions, for the creation of new useful things, has a completely different character.

Interests are based on needs . Need is understood as a need for something, the absence of something important, necessary for life. We are not always clear about our needs. In the case when we have realized them, i.e. figured out what we really need, needs outgrow, turn into interests.

Our interests can be directed to the satisfaction of material needs, primarily those related to the provision of the necessary conditions for life. We are interested in getting comfortable housing, high-quality and well-balanced nutrition, etc. But the range of interests of modern man is usually not limited to this.

We all understand that our life consists not only of the consumption of various material goods. To be more precise, the consumption of many of them is not associated with an acute vital necessity, but it serves the interests of self-affirmation (for example, having an expensive car) or self-realization, development of one's abilities. Thus, a musician needs instruments, often very expensive ones; some sports also require good and expensive equipment and equipment.

Along with material interests, our activities are also guided by social and spiritual interests. Our interests may be concentrated mainly in one area; everything else in this case is less interesting and is done as if mechanically. But they can also be distributed among different activities. In this case, we can talk about the versatility of the individual, meaning the richness of her interests. True, here there is a danger that interests become superficial, because it is usually not possible to deal deeply and thoroughly with very different things.

The interests of the individual may differ in the degree of their stability and depth. Sustained and deep interest in some business allows us to hope that significant, really important results will be obtained here. When the outstanding English physicist I. Newton, who discovered the law of universal gravitation, was asked how he managed to do this, the answer was: “I have been thinking about this constantly for many years.”

Throughout a person's life, his interests may change. This is due not only to the degree of satisfaction of needs. Personality is an active subject of activity. The wider the field of knowledge of a person, the higher his achievements, the more actively he participates in public life, the more dynamic and diverse his interests, the more rich and interesting his own life flows.

Settings. Installation represents a state of readiness of a person to do something, a predisposition to active actions in a certain situation. Studies have shown that the position taken by a person in relation to the tasks being solved has a very significant impact on the results obtained. For example, for an athlete participating in responsible competitions, it is very important to set the goal of achieving the highest result, to win. For the student in the lesson, it is important to be attentive to the tasks, the perception of new material. As soon as this attitude is lost, the effectiveness of the work in the lesson drops sharply.

Our attitude influences the mood in which we do things; it affects relationships with other people. If there is an attitude towards benevolent, friendly relations with them, then people immediately feel it and usually begin to treat us kindly themselves. Installations to perform a certain activity or achieve some result are closely related to our past experience. Experience tells you what to do and how to do it. This hint is not necessarily clearly formulated, clearly expressed in words, but it is necessary as an internal readiness to act.

Self-education. If a person strives to live meaningfully, to fully realize his abilities, he can consciously move along the path of personal self-development. Probably all people want to become better, but few systematically engage in self-education. Why is this happening? To work on oneself, a person needs a certain readiness associated with the presence of such qualities as purposefulness, self-criticism, exactingness to oneself, self-control and susceptibility to education.

Purposefulness implies the existence of a life goal, the ability to subordinate one's actions and actions to its achievement.

Self-criticism provides objective self-assessment. When a person knows exactly what is positive in his character and what is negative and what needs to be got rid of, he more reasonably chooses a goal, determines a program of self-education.

Demanding of oneself helps to translate comments, instructions, advice coming from other people into one's own requirements for behavior; it evokes the need to become better.

Self-control, which is also called endurance or composure, is required in order not to panic and not fuss, to be a strong-willed person. And susceptibility to education means the ability to correctly understand and accept the educational influences of teachers, parents, and other people who are authoritative for you, the ability to use the available conditions for your spiritual growth and improvement.

For successful self-education, moral and volitional readiness is necessary. You should be as benevolent as possible to the requirements of teachers, the advice and wishes of parents to study conscientiously.

Self-education is designed to ensure the continuity of culture, work experience and moral values ​​of the people. Even in childhood, from fairy tales, a person learns about good and evil, about heroes and wise men. This is how it is created ideal - the idea of ​​the highest degree of perfection, which is an important factor in self-education.

In a constantly changing world, only that person finds his place in life, successfully realizes himself, who constantly changes himself, improves his strength and abilities. Self-education is a way to ensure consistency between the processes of development of society and the formation of one's own personality. First of all, self-education is necessary for the person himself for constructive social and personal self-determination and self-affirmation, in order not to get lost in difficult situations, not to be tempted by false values, but to choose the right life guidelines and become a worthy citizen of his country.

Some conclusions: 1. The most important varieties of sustainable motives are beliefs, interests, attitudes. 2. Interest in any type of activity largely determines the choice of profession. 3. A meaningfully living person works on himself, develops significant qualities for constructive social and personal self-determination and self-affirmation.

Questions and tasks

1. What is meant by the orientation of the personality?

2. What influence do abilities and character have on the orientation of a person?

3. On specific examples, show the relationship of interests and needs.

4. What role do beliefs play in a person's life?

5. Explain the relationship between beliefs and interests. Give examples of such a connection.

6. What kind of person would you call well-mannered?

7. Describe the qualities necessary for a person to work on himself.