The concept of personality finds its definition in many areas of life and sciences; even every person who does not have academic knowledge can formulate his own designation for this concept. But still, in order to correctly use any term, it is necessary to understand its meaning. The scientific definition looks like this: personality is a reflection of the volitional nature of a person, its social and personal roles, a stable system of certain human characteristics, expressed primarily in the social sphere of life. In popular speech, the definition can be formulated as follows: a person is a person who has a set of strong and persistent qualities, knows how to use them to achieve goals, is self-confident, knows how to use the experience gained, is able to control life and be responsible for his actions to society , and his actions always correspond to his words.

You can often hear that the concept of individual personality and individuality is used in the same context, since many consider them identical. In fact, this is not so, and you need to figure out what the difference is.

An individual is a representative of the human race, a unit of humanity. That is, a person who has not yet grown up and has not begun to socialize and try on any social roles and masks.

The concept of an individual and a personality are different to the extent that an individual may never become a person.

Individuality is a unique system of psychological characterological characteristics of a person (communication style, leading, abilities, specificity of mental processes), defining him as a unique person with a unique style of behavior. That is, those qualities that distinguish one person from another.

The concepts of personality and individuality are a little close, because both reflect a system of qualities, but only in a person these qualities are more persistent and speak less about its uniqueness than about the strength of character.

The concept of individual, personality, and individuality has different meanings, but, in essence, they all make up the structure of a person.

The concepts of man, individual and personality are related as follows: a person is first born as an individual, then learning about the world and people, and having learned to perceive society, he acquires individuality, that is, he has already developed certain patterns of behavior. When a person grows up further, different situations and incidents happen to him and he begins to learn how to cope with them, look for ways to solve problems, control emotions and take responsibility for actions, having gone through all this, a person becomes an individual.

All people develop their personality at different ages. Some people, even at 45 years old, cannot be responsible for their actions, act consciously and independently, especially when someone is overly protective of them. They are afraid to leave their comfort zone. There is no need to rely on such a person in a serious matter. You can often hear from them “yes, I will definitely do this, I’ll even start today.” But neither tomorrow, nor even in a month they will do what they promised. Very often these people are lazy, cowardly, they can have both.

It happens that a person becomes a person before he even leaves childhood. Basically, children deprived of care, who are left to the mercy of fate and have to survive, quickly become individuals, and for this they need to have a strong character and an iron will.

Here the concepts of personality and individuality intersect, because a person, having strongly expressed unique character traits acquired in the process of the problem of a dysfunctional childhood, quickly becomes a person, thereby strengthening these traits. It also happens when there are several children in a family, then the eldest child will also be distinguished by strong-willed, persistent qualities of character.

The concept of personality in psychology

In psychology, personality is considered as a quality of an individual that he acquires in his objective activities and characterizes the social aspects of his life.

The individual, as a person, freely expresses his attitude towards the entire external world, and therefore his characterological characteristics are determined. The most important of all human relationships is relationships, that is, how a person builds connections with other people.

Personal nature always creates its views on various objects of reality consciously, based on its experience of existing connections with this object; this knowledge will influence the expression of emotions and reactions in relation to a certain object.

In psychology, the characteristics of personal nature are associated with its orientation toward some subject of activity, area of ​​life, interests, and entertainment. Direction is expressed as interest, attitude, desire, passion, ideology and all these forms are, that is, guiding its activities. How developed the motivational system is characterizes a person’s personality, showing what it is capable of and how its motives are transformed into activity.

To exist as a person means to act as a subject of objective activity, to be a subject of one’s life activity, building social connections with the world, and this is impossible without the individual’s involvement in the lives of others. The study of this concept in psychology is interesting because it is a dynamic phenomenon. A person has to constantly fight with himself, satisfy his certain desires, restrain his instincts, find ways to reach a compromise for internal contradictions and at the same time satisfy his needs, so that this is done without remorse, and because of this he is constantly in continuous development.

The concept of personality in sociology

The concept of personality in sociology, its essence and structure, are of separate interest, since the individual is mainly assessed as a subject of social connections.

The concept of personality in sociology can be briefly summarized in some categories. The first is social status, that is, a person’s place in society, and in connection with this certain obligations and rights. One person can have several such statuses. It depends on whether he has a family, relatives, friends, colleagues, work, thanks to which a person socializes. So, for example, one person can be a son, husband, father, brother, colleague, employee, team member, and so on.

Sometimes multiple social statuses demonstrate a person's social activity. Also, all statuses are divided depending on their meaning for the individual himself. For example, for one the most important is the status of a company employee, for another – the status of a husband. In the first case, a person may not have a family, so work is the most important thing for him and he identifies himself with the role of a workaholic. In another case, a person who recognizes himself primarily as a husband puts other areas of life into the background. There are also general statuses, they carry great social significance and determine the main activity (president, director, doctor), and also, along with the general, non-general statuses may be present.

When a person is in a social status, then accordingly she performs certain actions prescribed by the model of behavior, that is, the social role. The president must lead the country, the chef must prepare dishes, the notary must certify papers, children must obey their parents, and so on. When an individual somehow fails to properly follow all the prescribed rules, he jeopardizes his status. If a person has too many social roles, he exposes himself to role conflicts. For example, a young man, a single father, working late to feed himself and his child can very soon burn out emotionally from an oversaturation of actions dictated by social roles.

Personality, as a system of socio-psychological characteristics, has a unique structure.

According to the theory of psychologist Z. Freud, the components of the personality structure are three components. The basic one is the unconscious authority of the Id (It), which combines natural stimuli, instincts and hedonic aspirations. The id is filled with powerful energy and excitement, so it is poorly organized, disordered and weak-willed. Above the Id there is the following structure - the Ego (I), it is rational, and in comparison with the Id it is controlled, it is consciousness itself. The highest construct is the Super-Ego (Super-I), it is responsible for the sense of duty, measures, conscience, and exercises moral control over behavior.

If all these three structures interact harmoniously in a person, that is, the Id does not go beyond what is allowed, it is controlled by the Ego, which understands that the satisfaction of all instincts can be a socially unacceptable action, and when a Super-Ego is developed in a person, thanks to which he is guided by moral principles in his actions, then such a person deserves respect and recognition in the eyes of society.

Having understood what this concept represents in sociology, its essence and structure, we can conclude that it cannot be realized as such if it is not socialized.

The concept of personality in sociology can be briefly described as a set of socially significant properties of an individual that ensure his connection with the outside world.

The concept of personality in philosophy

The concept of personality in philosophy can be defined as its essence in the world, its purpose and meaning of life. Philosophy attaches great importance to the spiritual side of man, his morality, and humanity.

In the understanding of philosophers, a person becomes a person when he understands why he came into this life, what his ultimate goal is and what he devotes his life to. Philosophers evaluate a person as an individual if he is capable of free self-expression, if his views are unshakable, and he is a kind, creative person who is guided in his actions by moral and ethical principles.

There is such a science as philosophical anthropology, which studies the essence of man. In turn, in anthropology there is a branch that studies humans more narrowly - this is personalism. Personalism is interested in the breadth of a person’s internal freedom, his possibilities for internal growth. Proponents of personalism believe that it is impossible to somehow measure personality, structure it, or drive it into a social framework. You can simply accept her as she is in front of people. They also believe that not everyone is given the opportunity to become an individual; some remain individuals.

Supporters of humanistic philosophy, in contrast to personalism, believe that every person is a person, regardless of any categories. Humanists argue that regardless of psychological characteristics, character traits, life lived, achievements, everyone is a person. They consider even a newborn child to be a person because he has had the experience of birth.

The concept of personality in philosophy can be briefly described by going through the main time periods. In ancient times, a person was understood as a person who performed some specific work; actors’ masks were called a person. They seemed to understand something about the existence of personality, but there was no concept of such a thing in everyday life; only later in the early Christian era did they begin to use this term. Medieval philosophers identified personality with God. New European philosophy has grounded this term to designate a citizen. The philosophy of romanticism viewed the individual as a hero.

The concept of personality in philosophy briefly sounds like this - a personality can be realized when it has sufficiently developed volitional abilities, is able to overcome social barriers and withstand all the tests of fate, even going beyond the finiteness of life.

The concept of criminal personality in criminology

Psychology plays a huge role in criminology. People involved in investigations must have knowledge in the field of psychology, they must be able to analyze the situation from different angles, explore all possible options for the development of events and at the same time the nature of the criminals who committed the crime.

The concept and structure of the personality of a criminal is the main subject of research by criminal psychologists. By conducting observations and research on criminals, it is possible to create a personal portrait of a potential criminal, this in turn will make it possible to prevent further crimes. In this case, the person is examined comprehensively - his psychological characteristics (temperament, accentuations, inclinations, abilities, level of anxiety, self-esteem), material well-being, his childhood, relationships with people, presence of family and close friends, place of work and other aspects are studied. To understand the essence of such a person, it is not enough to conduct psychodiagnostics with him; he can skillfully hide his nature, but when in front of his eyes there is a whole map of human life, one can trace the connections and find the prerequisites for a person becoming a criminal.

If in psychology they speak of personality as a unit, that is, a characteristic of an individual, then in criminology it is rather an abstract concept that is not given to an individual criminal, but creates his general image, consisting of certain properties.

A person falls under the characteristic of a “criminal personality” from the moment he committed his ill-fated act. Although some are inclined to believe that even earlier, long before the crime itself was committed, that is, when an idea was born in a person and he began to nurture it. It’s more difficult to say when a person stops being like that. If a person has realized his guilt and sincerely repents of what he has done, and sincerely regrets what happened and its inevitability, he has already gone beyond the concept of a criminal personality, but the fact remains a fact, and the person will be punished. He may also realize that he made a mistake while serving his sentence. I may never understand. There are people who will never give up the fact that they committed an ill-fated act, even if they suffer painful punishment, they will not repent. Or there are also repeat offenders who, after serving one sentence, are released, commit a crime again, and so can wander back and forth for the rest of their lives. These are pure criminal natures, they resemble one another and fall under the general description of a criminal.

The personality structure of a criminal is a system of socially significant characteristics, negative properties, which, together with the situation prevailing at that moment, influence the commission of offenses. Along with the negative qualities, the criminal also has positive qualities, but they could be deformed in the process of life.

The concept and personality structure of the criminal must be clearly clear to criminologists in order to be able to protect citizens from the threat in the first place.

In modern society, people still cannot decide exactly what is human personality; what kind of person is a person; who is a person and who is not...

It got to the point that the school textbook revealed an incorrect definition of the concept of “personality,” showing that not every person can be a person, thereby, as it were, belittling, belittling and discrediting some people, especially children and people with disabilities.

What is a person's personality really?

WHAT IS HUMAN PERSONALITY- find out from a quote taken from the Great Psychological Dictionary by B.G. Meshcheryakov and V.P. Zinchenko: these authors give a more understandable and adequate definition of such a broad concept as person's personality.

Personality(English personality; from Latin persona - actor’s mask; role, position; face, personality). In the social sciences, personality is considered as a special quality of a person acquired by him in a sociocultural environment in the process of joint activity and communication.

In humanistic philosophical and psychological concepts personality- this is a person as a value for the sake of which the development of society is carried out (see I. Kant). With all the diversity of approaches to understanding personality, the following aspects of this problem are traditionally highlighted:

1. the versatility of the phenomenology of personality, reflecting the objectively existing diversity of human manifestations in the evolution of nature, the history of society and his own life;
2. interdisciplinary status of the problem of personality, located in the field of study of social and natural sciences;
3. the dependence of the understanding of personality on the image of a person, openly or hiddenly existing in culture and science at a certain stage of their development;
4. the discrepancy between the manifestations of the individual, personality and individuality, studied within the framework of biogenetic, sociogenetic and personogenetic directions of modern human science that are relatively independent from each other;
5. dividing a research approach that orients the specialist towards understanding the development of personality in nature and society, and a practical focus aimed at the formation or correction of personality in accordance with the goals set by society or set by a specific person who contacts a specialist.

Representatives' focus biogenetic orientation are the problems of human development as an individual with certain anthropogenetic properties (inclinations, temperament, biological age, gender, body type, neurodynamic properties of the nervous system, organic impulses, drives, needs, etc.), which go through various stages of maturation as the phylogenetic species programs in ontogenesis.

The basis of the maturation of an individual is the adaptive processes of the body, which are studied by differential and age-related psychophysiology, psychogenetics, neuropsychology, gerontology, psychoendocrinology and sexology.

Representatives of different movements sociogenetic orientations study the processes of human socialization, his mastery of social norms and roles, the acquisition of social attitudes and value orientations, the formation of the social and national character of a person as a typical member of a particular community.

Problems of socialization, or, in a broad sense, social adaptation of a person, are developed mainly in sociology and social psychology, ethnopsychology, and the history of psychology.

In the spotlight personogenetic orientation are problems of activity, self-awareness and creativity of the individual, the formation of the human self, the struggle of motives, the education of individual character and abilities, self-realization and personal choice, the constant search for the meaning of life.

General personality psychology studies all these manifestations of personality; various aspects of these problems are covered in psychoanalysis, individual psychology, analytical and humanistic psychology.

The separation of biogenetic, sociogenetic and personogenetic directions reveals a metaphysical scheme for determining the development of personality under the influence of two factors: environment and heredity.

Within the framework of the cultural-historical system-activity approach, a fundamentally different scheme for determining personal development is being developed. In this scheme, the properties of a person as an individual are considered as “impersonal” prerequisites for personality development, which can receive personal development in the process of life.

The sociocultural environment is a source that feeds the development of personality, and not a “factor” that directly determines behavior. Being a condition for the implementation of human activity, it carries those social norms, values, roles, ceremonies, tools, systems of signs that the individual encounters. The true foundations and driving force for the development of the individual are joint activities and communication, through which the movement of the individual in the world of people is carried out, introducing it to culture.

The relationship between the individual as a product of anthropogenesis, a person who has mastered socio-historical experience, and an individual who transforms the world can be expressed by the formula: “One is born an individual. They become a person. Individuality is defended".

Within the framework of the system-activity approach, personality is considered as a relatively stable set of mental properties, as a result of the inclusion of the individual in the space of interindividual connections. An individual in his development experiences a socially conditioned need to be an individual and discovers the ability to become an individual, which is realized in socially significant activities. This determines development of a person as an individual.

The abilities and functions formed during development reproduce historically formed human qualities into the personality. The child’s mastery of reality is carried out in his activities with the help of adults.

The child’s activity is always mediated by adults and directed by them (in accordance with their ideas about proper education and pedagogical skills). Based on what the child already possesses, adults organize his activities to master new aspects of reality and new forms of behavior.

Personal development is carried out in activities, controlled by a system of motives. The activity-mediated type of relationship that a person develops with the most reference group (or person) is a determining factor in development.

In general, personality development can be presented as the process and result of a person’s entry into a new sociocultural environment. If an individual enters a relatively stable social community, under favorable circumstances he passes 3 phases of your development as a person:

• 1st phase - adaptation- involves the assimilation of current values ​​and norms and mastery of the corresponding means and forms of activity and thereby, to some extent, making the individual similar to other members of this community.
• 2nd phase - individualization- is generated by the escalating contradictions between the need to “be like everyone else” and the individual’s desire for maximum personalization.
• 3rd phase - integration- is determined by the contradiction between the individual’s desire to be ideally represented by his characteristics and differences in the community and the need of the community to accept, approve and cultivate only those of his characteristics that contribute to its development and thereby the development of himself as an individual.
  If the contradiction is not eliminated, disintegration occurs and, as a consequence, either isolation of the individual, or its displacement from the community, or degradation with a return to earlier stages of its development.

When an individual fails to overcome the difficulties of the adaptation period, he develops qualities of conformity, dependence, timidity, and uncertainty.

If in the 2nd phase of development an individual, presenting to his reference group the personal properties that characterize his individuality, does not meet with mutual understanding, then this can contribute to the formation of negativism, aggressiveness, suspicion, and deceit.

Upon successful completion of the integration phase in a highly developed group, the individual develops humanity, trust, justice, self-demandingness, self-confidence, etc., etc. Due to the fact that the situation of adaptation, individualization, integration with the sequential or parallel entry of the individual is reproduced many times into different groups, the corresponding personal new formations are consolidated, and a stable personality structure is formed.

A particularly significant period in the age development of personality is adolescence.(adolescence) and early youth, when the developing personality begins to distinguish himself as an object of self-knowledge and self-education.

Initially assessing others, the individual uses the experience of such assessments, developing self-esteem, which becomes the basis of self-education. But the need for self-knowledge (primarily awareness of one’s moral and psychological qualities) cannot be identified with withdrawal into the world of inner experiences.

The growth of self-awareness, associated with the formation of such personality qualities as will and moral feelings, contributes to the emergence of strong beliefs and ideals. The need for self-awareness and self-education is generated, first of all, by the fact that a person must realize his capabilities and needs in the face of future changes in his life, in his social status.

If there is a significant discrepancy between the level of a person’s needs and his capabilities, acute affective experiences arise.

In the development of self-awareness in adolescence, the judgments of other people, and above all, assessment by parents, teachers and peers, play a significant role. This places serious demands on the pedagogical tact of parents and teachers and requires an individual approach to each developing personality.

Conducted in the Russian Federation since the mid-1980s. work to update the education system involves the development of the personality of a child, teenager, young man, democratization and humanization of the educational process in all types of educational institutions.

Thus, there is a change in the purpose of education and training, which is not a set of knowledge, abilities and skills, but free development of human personality. Knowledge, skills and abilities retain their extremely important importance, but no longer as a goal, but as a means to achieve a goal.

In these conditions, the task of forming a basic personal culture comes to the fore, which would make it possible to eliminate the contradictions in the personality structure between technical and humanitarian culture, overcome a person’s alienation from politics and ensure his active inclusion in the new socio-economic conditions of society.

The implementation of these tasks involves the formation of a culture personal self-determination, understanding the intrinsic value of human life, its individuality and uniqueness. (A. G. Asmolov, A. V. Petrovsky.)

Editor's addition: The almost generally accepted translation of the word personality as personality (and vice versa) is not entirely adequate. Personality is, rather, individuality. In Peter's times, a doll was called a persona.

Personality is selfhood, selfness or self, which is close to the Russian word "self". A more precise equivalent to the word “Personality” in English. language does not exist.

The inaccuracy of the translation is far from harmless, because readers get the impression or belief that the personality is subject to testing, manipulation, shaping, etc.

An externally formed personality becomes the presence of the one who formed it.

Personality is not a product of the collective, adaptation to it or integration into it, but the basis of a collective, any human community that is not a crowd, a herd, a flock or a pack. A community is strong because of the diversity of individuals that constitute it.

A synonym for personality is its freedom along with a sense of guilt and responsibility. In this sense, the individual is higher than the state, the nation; he is not inclined to conformism, although he is not averse to compromise.

In the Russian philosophical tradition, personality is a miracle and a myth (A.F. Losev); “Personality, understood in the sense of pure personality, is for each I only an ideal - the limit of aspirations and self-construction...

It is impossible to give the concept of personality... it is incomprehensible, goes beyond every concept, transcendental to every concept. You can only create a symbol of the fundamental characteristic of personality...

As for the content, it cannot be rational, but only directly experienced in the experience of self-creativity, in the active self-construction of personality, in the identity of spiritual self-knowledge” (Florensky P. A.).

M. M. Bakhtin continues Florensky’s thought: when we are dealing with the knowledge of personality, we must generally go beyond the limits of subject-object relations, as the subject and object are considered in epistemology. This needs to be taken into account by psychologists who use strange phrases: “personal subjectivity”, “psychological subject”.

Regarding the latter, G. G. Shpet openly sarcastically said: “A psychological subject without a residence permit and without a physiological organism is simply a native of a world unknown to us... if we take him for a real person, he will certainly involve an even greater miracle - a psychological predicate! Today, philosophically and psychologically suspicious subjects and their shadows increasingly wander through the pages of psychological literature. An unscrupulous subject, a soulless subject - this is most likely not entirely normal, but it is common. But a sincere, conscientious, spiritualized subject is funny and sad. Subjects can represent, including all sorts of abominations, and personality - personify.

It is no coincidence that Losev connected the origin of the word personality with the face, and not with the guise, person, mask. Personality, as a miracle, as a myth, as uniqueness, does not need extensive disclosure. Bakhtin reasonably noted that a person can reveal himself in a gesture, in a word, in an action (or he can drown).

A. A. Ukhtomsky was undoubtedly right when he said that personality is a functional organ of individuality, its state. It should be added personality - state of mind and spirit, not an honorary lifelong title.

After all, she can lose face, distort her face, lose her human dignity, which is taken by force. Ukhtomsky was echoed by N.A. Bernstein, saying that personality is the supreme synthesis of behavior. Supreme!

Integration, fusion, harmony of external and internal is achieved in the individual. And where there is harmony, science, including psychology, falls silent.

So personality is a mysterious excess of individuality, its freedom, which cannot be calculated or predicted. A personality is visible immediately and entirely and is thus different from an individual, whose properties are subject to discovery, testing, study and evaluation.

There is a personality an object of surprise, admiration, envy, hatred; a subject of unbiased, disinterested, understanding insight and artistic depiction. But not a subject of practical interest, formation, manipulation.

This does not mean that psychologists are contraindicated from thinking about personality. But to reflect, and not to define or reduce it to the hierarchy of motives, the totality of its needs, creativity, the crossroads of activities, affects, meanings, the subject, the individual, etc., etc.

Here are examples of useful thoughts about the personality of A. S. Arsenyev: Personality is a reliable person, whose words and deeds do not disagree with each other, who freely decides what to do and is responsible for the results of his actions.

Personality is, of course, an infinite being, breathing physically and spiritually. The personality is characterized by awareness of the conflict between morality and morality and the primacy of the latter. The author insists on a value-based rather than a monetary-market dimension of personality.

T. M. Buyakas highlights other features: Personality is a person who has embarked on the path of self-determination, overcoming the need to seek support in external support. The individual gains the ability to fully rely on himself, make independent choices, take his own position, be open and ready for any new turns in his life path.

The personality ceases to depend on external assessments, trusts itself, and finds internal support in itself. She is free. No description of a person can be exhaustive.

What is a personality - the minds of ancient philosophers and thinkers tried to determine what is in a person that can be described as a given phenomenon, because it has long been known that a person is not born, but becomes one. The Russian poet V. Bryusov spoke about personality as the uniqueness of each person with external similarity to others.

What is a person's personality?

What is a personality? The definition of this concept is multifaceted and can be as follows: “personality” is the bearer of an individual principle, which is revealed in interaction with society and develops in communication with others. What is a full-fledged personality? Being such a person means entering into relationships and fulfilling one’s social roles, treating people with respect and seeing everyone as an individual.

The concept of personality in psychology

The term “personality” comes from the Latin. persona is a mask worn by an actor in ancient Greek theater. It turns out that personality is a kind of “mask” that a person puts on when he goes out into society. This definition gave rise to different socially desirable characteristics according to the following criteria:

• physical attractiveness;
• charm;
• popularity;
• status.

What is personality in psychology? Different areas of psychology explain and see “personality” based on the framework of their theory, but in general this concept can be described as follows:

• personality - a person with a set of psychological traits, habits and characteristics peculiar only to him;
• personality is an object of a social unit who controls his life, knows how to organize his activities and bears full responsibility for his words and actions

Personality structure in psychology

Theories of personality in psychology are faced with the problem of structuring the personality and the underlying psychological traits, of which there are a lot, this is further complicated by the polemics of psychologists of different movements about the relationship between human social and biological factors, therefore there are several classifications of personality structure and each complements and illuminates the existing ones.

Personality structure according to K.K. Platonov consists of 4 substructures:

1. Biopsychic– instincts, temperament, gender and age properties.
2. Psychological– individual characteristics of cognitive processes, expression of emotions and feelings.
3. Social– increasing experience of interaction with society, acquiring specific skills and abilities.
4. Motivational– personality orientation, including worldview and worldview, beliefs and principles, interests and positioning of oneself.

S. Freud's personality structure:

1. Id (It)– instinctive, innate biological aspects functioning in the unconscious (food, sleep, sex). The id is impulsive, irrational mental energy.
2. Ego (I)– grows out of the Id and strives to realize the desires emanating from it. The ego is responsible for making decisions and is an intermediary between the id and the society in which restrictions apply. The ego relies on the principle of reality and seeks the realization of desires in accessible ways.
3. Superego (Super Ego) cultivated in the process of socialization - the moral and ethical component of the personality includes conscience and ego-ideal. Conscience is formed under the influence of parents who punish for disobedience, and the ego-ideal grows, on the contrary, from approval.

Personality types in psychology

Personality typology in psychology is based on identifying certain traits characteristic of an individual. There are also many classifications and divisions into types, it is important to remember that all divisions are conditional and reflect only the average value, therefore there are no pure types, a person sees himself in the described criteria in something more that fits his personal descriptive characteristic, in something less.

Personality type by temperament (founder Hippocrates):

• melancholic– prone to depression, depressed mood;
• sanguine– cheerful, balanced, active and always in search of activity;
• choleric– “bilious” type with a bright character, prone to outbursts of anger and aggression;
• phlegmatic person– a balanced, calm type, prone to leisurely, inertia, does not spill over with emotions and feelings.

Holland personality types:

• social– aimed at interaction with society;
• initiative– a leader person called upon to influence and lead a team;
• artistic– attracting attention, influencing and evoking feelings and emotions;
• intellectual– a scientist, researcher of various natural processes, objects, phenomena;
• conservative– loves structure, systematization;
• realistic– a person with a technical background, creates or works with material objects and equipment.

Personality properties in psychology

What is personality if we describe it in properties? The fundamentals of personality psychology describe properties as stable mental phenomena that influence human activity and characterize him from the socio-psychological side. Personality properties include:

• focus– unity of motives, aspirations, desires, actions on the way to the goal;
• needs– what a person needs forces him to act in order to satisfy these needs of a material or spiritual order;
• motive– the internal motivation of a person to perform an action; the content of the motive depends on objective conditions.

Methods for studying personality in psychology

The problem of personality in psychology arose due to the fact that all methods show only an average value, and each study has its own pros and cons. A person’s personality is multifaceted and cannot be squeezed into any specific framework that is set by different methods, tests and studies, so their task is to identify inclinations, abilities, and characteristics.

Personality research methods:

1. Observation. Natural - carried out in real life situations. Field – involves experimental conditions within the framework of a specific task.
2. Survey (interview). Structured - special questionnaires, unstructured based on open questions, encourages more.
3. Standardized tests. The study of qualities is based on answers to test questions (“yes”, “no”, “I don’t know”).
4. Experiment. The method is used more often in a group and always pursues a specific task, for example, the study of an individual in a conflict situation.
5. Correlation method. Establishing connections between variables. The method helps to identify relationships and answer questions.
6. Projective techniques. There are a variety of them: picture and association tests, the method of unfinished phrases.

What is personality development?

What is a strong personality? This question is asked by people who have embarked on the path of self-improvement and knowledge, who have decided to achieve their goals. Personal development begins in childhood and depends on the cultivation and stimulation of certain qualities in a person; this process is based on education and training. A harmonious personality develops comprehensively: physically, intellectually, morally and spiritually.

What is personality socialization?

Personality psychology is inextricably linked with socialization, which represents a mutual process of the individual’s assimilation of the norms, rules, regulations and values ​​of society and the individual’s influence on society in the form of various transformations and the individual’s building up his own values. What is the social status of an individual - this is a factor that plays a large role in the socialization of a person, indicating his inclusion in a certain social group, or society - there can be many statuses.

What is a personality disorder?

The psychology of a person’s personality would not be complete if only his full, harmonious development were affected. For a number of reasons, a deviation from the norm occurs, considered by psychiatrists as a disorder or psychopathology. Sometimes the concepts of normal and pathological are blurred. Personality disorder leads to social disintegration and destruction of personal structure.

What is split personality

Dissociative disorder or multiple personality is a psychopathology in which several personalities coexist in the human body. An example is the notorious Billy Milligan, who “possessed” 24 personalities, two of which behaved antisocially. What is split personality - symptoms:

• the existence of two or more personalities within an individual;
• each personality has its own characteristics, memory and does not know about the presence of another, this explains the memory lapses during the “capture” and control of one of the personalities;
• With age, the number of personalities increases.

Personality is a basic concept not only in psychology, but also in sociology and philosophy. And in everyday life you can often hear “odious person”, “interesting person”. What does this term mean? This will be discussed in this article.

Definition of the concept

Since the phenomenon of personality is a subject of study not only in psychology, but also in other humanities, the term does not have an unambiguous definition. For a better understanding of what a person is, three main definitions will be given below.

Personality is a set of individual qualities of a person (thinking, will, and so on) that determine his behavior in society, speak about his values, life experience, and aspirations.

In other words, the psychological difference between one individual and another characterizes his personality.

A person can be defined as a subject of society with a set of roles (social and personal), certain habits and experiences.

This term also refers to a person who is completely responsible for all aspects of his life.

Personality structure

To better understand the term, it is worth considering its structure.

Communication traits determine how contactable and sociable a person is, how he communicates with others (openness, kindness, politeness, rudeness, isolation).

Motivational traits mean those qualities that encourage action, directing it.
Instrumental traits give a certain style to human behavior.

Emotions

Motivation

Motivation is a set of reasons that can explain an individual’s behavior. It depends on the following factors:

• motives,
• incentives,
• needs, needs
• motives,
• intentions.

Motive determines the purposefulness of behavior. It is based on either a psychological or physiological impulse.

The stimulus can be an internal or external factor. Under its influence, an individual strives to achieve a certain goal and solve a problem. Motive and incentive jointly control human behavior.

Need can be understood as a state in which something is missing for the normal functioning of both mental and physical.

In psychology, motivation is understood as an individual’s not fully conscious, perhaps not fully defined, desire for something.

Intention is a conscious, thoughtful decision based on the desire to perform a certain action.

Motivation is what makes a person not stand still in his development. It is important to understand that for each person the “driving force” will be different. And what motivates one may not “inspire” another at all.

Personality is a complex and multifaceted concept. But basic knowledge about it will help you better understand yourself and those around you and build more harmonious relationships.

Topic 5. Personality psychology
5.1. Definition of personality in psychology.
5.2. Personality structure
5.3. Focus and self-awareness


5.1. Definition of personality in psychology

Three periods in the history of personality research
philosophical-literary (from the works of ancient thinkers to the beginning of the 19th century);
clinical - at the beginning of the 19th century. Along with philosophers and writers, psychiatrists became interested in the problems of personality psychology. Until the beginning of the twentieth century. these two directions are the only attempts to penetrate into the essence of man;
experimental period - at the beginning of the twentieth century. Experimental studies of personality in Russia were started by A.F. Lazursky, and abroad by G. Eysenck and R. Cattell

Back in 1937 G. Allport counted 49 definitions of personality, drawn from philosophy, theology, jurisprudence, sociology and psychology. Today, naturally, there are many more such definitions.

Man is both a biological and a social being; he is both a subject of nature and a subject of social relations. Based on this, to understand the specifics of personality, it is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of “individual”, “personality”, “individuality”. Leontiev carried out this division most clearly in his works.

Individual - this is a concept that characterizes a person as a biological being; an individual is a representative of a species that differs from its other representatives. We are born as individuals, we become individuals, and individuality is defended.

Individual biological being is a normally developed adult, a sick person, Homo Sapiens, a representative of the human species.

Subject of activity - an active person in society.

Personality - this is a relatively late product of the socio-historical and ontogenetic development of man, personality is a social concept, it is produced by the totality of social relations into which a person enters as he develops. Personality - a set of changing, individual properties, qualities and characteristics acquired by a person during development in connection with his involvement in activity and communication. Personality is individuality.

Individuality - a set of properties and characteristics characteristic of a given person that distinguish him from other individuals and personalities. This concept is biosocial, since we differ from each other in various manifestations, some of which are the characteristics of the individual (eye color, physique, etc.), while others characterize the personality (value system, structure of self-consciousness, idea of ​​the meaning of life). This is the degree to which a person is distinguished from society, uniqueness, everything that distinguishes one from another.

Today, the concept of individuality has a slightly different meaning. If the term personality characterizes, first of all, the active image of a person in the eyes of others, then the concept of individuality reflects the internal independent essence of a person. Individuality is self-determination and isolation of a person, his separation from others. This design of one’s own uniqueness and originality allows for a person’s awareness, reflection of his own life, and internal dialogue with himself.

So, we become individuals. Thus, a personality is a person who has reached a certain level of mental development, has passed a certain path, acquiring different characteristics and qualities along this path. What facts of our own life, what characteristics of our own could we cite as arguments if we suddenly had to prove to someone that we are an individual? Surely, we would talk about the fact that we have our own views and beliefs, our own attitude to the world, our own system of assessments and moral requirements, that we know how to control ourselves, make a choice between different options for our own behavior.

All this is certainly correct. Therefore, we can agree with the definition that belongs to the modern Russian psychologist B.S. Brother :
"Become - This,
firstly, take a certain life, primarily interpersonal moral position,
secondly, to be sufficiently aware of it and bear responsibility for it,
thirdly, to affirm it through your actions, through the deeds of your entire life.”

"Under is understood as the totality of those relatively stable properties and inclinations of an individual that distinguish him from others" (I. Sarnoff)

"Personality can be defined as a combination of all relatively stable individual differences that can be measured" (D. Byrne)

"Personality - a systemic quality acquired by an individual in objective activity and communication, characterizing him in terms of involvement in social relations" (Brief Psychological Dictionary, 1985)

"Personality - subject and object of social relations" (A.G. Kovalev)

"Personality - a capable member of society, aware of his role in it" (K.K. Platonov)

In foreign psychology, the concept of “personality” comes down to the concept of “individuality”,
in domestic psychology personality is understood primarily as a certain characteristic of a person, which is not innate, but acquired during development, in connection with involvement in activity and communication.

Foreign definitions of personality are characterized by listing various personality traits (properties, needs, self-awareness, etc.) as adjacent, but in domestic psychology they are considered as a certain hierarchy, defined by a person’s place in the system of social relations.

A person becomes a personality when he begins to declare himself, when the “I” appears, when self-motivation, self-awareness, self-organizational moments, self-education appear, when a person begins to realize himself in society.

5.2. Personality structure

Personality structure is the individual characteristics of a person that distinguish him from others.

A description of the structure of personality, i.e. its main components and the nature of the interaction between them, is the core of all theories of personality. Even where the author does not specifically set himself such a task, his idea of ​​this “core” is implicitly present.

The classic solution to the question of personality structure is the structure described by S. Freud. In his opinion, personality consists of three main parts: id, ego and superego.

Eid - this is the primary, central, basic structure of the personality. It contains everything inherited, everything that is present at birth, all instincts, as well as all mental material not accepted by consciousness (repressed from consciousness).

Since instincts and repressed material have significant energy, the id represents the reservoir of such energy for the entire personality. The laws of logic cannot be applied to the Id; it obeys not the principle of reality, but the principle of pleasure, the main cycle of behavior: tension - stress relief (pleasure).

Ego - this is part of the mental apparatus and personality structure that is in contact with external reality. It develops with the id as the child becomes aware of his or her own personality. The ego ensures physical and mental health and security of the individual; its main task is self-preservation. If the Id reacts to needs, then the Ego reacts to the possibility of satisfying them, since it obeys the principle of reality.

Super Ego - a structure that develops with the Ego. The Super-Ego serves as a judge or censor of the Ego's activities. This is a repository of moral principles, norms, orders. The child's super-ego develops according to the model of the super-ego of his parents, is filled with the same content and becomes the bearer of traditions and values ​​that survive time, which are transmitted in this way from generation to generation.

There is a close and constant interaction between the three subsystems of the personality, the ultimate goal of which is to maintain or restore, in case of disruption, the accepted level of dynamic equilibrium, which increases pleasure and minimizes displeasure. The energy that is used for the operation of this system arises in the Id. The ego, which emerges from the id, mediates between the signals of the id, the superego and the demands of external reality. The Super-Ego, which emerges from the Ego, acts as a moral brake or counterbalance to the practical concerns of the Ego. The Super-Ego sets the boundaries of the Ego's mobility. The id is completely unconscious, the ego and superego are partially unconscious.

The concept of “personality structure” can be most fully captured using the approach proposed by S.L. Rubinstein: “ The study of the mental appearance of a person includes three main questions. The first question we seek an answer to when we want to know what a person is like is: what does he want , what is attractive to him, what does he strive for? It is a question of direction, attitudes and tendencies, needs, interests and ideals. But naturally a second one follows: what can he do? This is a question about a person’s abilities and gifts. However, abilities are at first only possibilities; in order to know how a person implements and uses them, we need to know that he is, which of his tendencies and attitudes became part of his flesh and blood and became entrenched as the core characteristics of his personality. This is a question about a person's character. Character in its content aspect is closely related to the question of what is for a person significant in the world and what, therefore, is the meaning of life and activity for him."

To the three main questions named by Rubinstein, two more can be added. First, this is a question: what a person thinks about himself , how to treat yourself? A person’s behavior is largely determined by his idea of ​​himself; it is on the general self-concept (image of himself) and the person’s attitude towards himself that both what the person strives for and what has become fixed as the core features of behavior will depend. Secondly, for a psychological description of a personality it is necessary to answer the question: what funds does she own? to realize intentions and opportunities? This is a question about the stage of development of various mental processes (sensation, perception, memory, thinking, speech, imagination). As is known, the general logic of development goes from involuntary to voluntary, and from immediate to mediocre processes. Many characteristics of mental processes have long been included in the list of personality traits (cleverness, observation, talkativeness, richness - poverty of imagination, etc.).

Personality structure:

So, the personality structure is a collection of individual components (substructures), each of which determines a specific level of human behavior, has its own characteristics and functions, and can be understood and adequately described only within the framework of the general integrity of a person. The content of substructures and their number depend on the general theoretical position of the author of the concept, on his view of human nature.

The most important substructures of personality are direction and self-awareness.

Personality orientation - a set of stable motives that orient the activity of an individual, relatively independent of the existing situation. It is characterized by interests, inclinations, beliefs, which reflect a person’s worldview.

Motives - the motivating reason for a person’s actions and actions, they may be conscious or not. Conscious motives include a person’s ideals, beliefs, interests, and aspirations; unconscious motives are attitudes and drives.

Direction is characterized by two interdependent points:
a) subject content, since it is always aimed at something
b) the tension that arises in this case

In terms of content, the focus could be:
-collectivist (altruistic)
-individualistic (egoistic)

Karen Horney identified 3 types of people:
1) People-oriented (trying to withdraw from communication)
2) Orientation towards people (to establish contact)
3) Orientation against people (antisocial, destructive behavior)

The problem of direction is, first of all, a question of dynamic trends in the behavior of an individual, because the motives that determine human activity are themselves, in turn, determined by its goals and tasks.

Self-awareness - an ordered set of ideas and knowledge, assessments and attitudes of a person related to his own personality.

Self-awareness is often identified with self-concept.
Self-concept - the totality of all an individual’s ideas about himself and their assessment. The descriptive component of the self-concept is the image of the self, the attitude towards oneself - self-esteem or self-acceptance. This allows us to consider the self-concept as a set of attitudes aimed at oneself, since specific behavioral reactions develop based on the self-image and self-esteem.

home function of self-awareness - make the motives and results of his actions accessible to a person, and give him the opportunity to understand what he really is and evaluate himself. The basis of self-awareness is the human ability distinguish yourself from your own life activity.

By enriching the assessment of others with age, a person gradually enriches his own self-awareness. Plays a huge role in this process self-knowledge - a person’s study of his own characteristics: physical, mental, moral and self-esteem , which is formed on this basis.

Self-esteem - a person’s judgment about the extent to which he has certain qualities, characteristics in relation to them with a certain standard, sample. Self-esteem is a manifestation of a person’s evaluative attitude towards himself, the main structural component of a person’s self-awareness.

Self-esteem is formed on the basis of self-knowledge, which occurs through:
1) analysis of the results of one’s own activities, one’s behavior, comparison of these results with the results of one’s peers, with generally accepted norms.
2) self-observation of one’s states, thoughts and feelings
3) awareness of the attitude of other people towards oneself, their assessment of the individual qualities of a given person, her behavior, and activities.

Based on the interaction of self-esteem and self-concept, an attitude arises (readiness for a certain behavior). The attitude determines the actual behavior.

With significant deviations of self-esteem from adequate, a person’s mental balance is disturbed and the entire style of behavior changes.

Low self-esteem is revealed in increased demands on oneself, constant fear of negative thoughts about oneself, and increased vulnerability. This encourages you to reduce contact with other people. Low self-esteem destroys a person’s hopes for a good attitude towards him and success, and he perceives his real successes and positive assessment as temporary and accidental. Most problems seem insoluble and their solution is transferred to the plane of imagination. Underestimating one's usefulness reduces social activity and initiative. Low level of aspirations, underestimation of oneself, afraid of the opinions of others.

A high self-evaluation is revealed in the fact that a person is guided by his principles, regardless of the opinions of others. If self-esteem is not too high, it can have a positive effect on well-being because it creates resistance to criticism. In this case, a person knows his own worth; the thoughts of others do not have absolute, decisive significance for him. Therefore, criticism does not cause a violent defensive reaction and is perceived more calmly. But If the level of aspirations is higher than the possibilities, peace of mind is impossible. Level of aspiration - the desire to achieve a goal of such a level of complexity that a person considers himself capable of. With inflated self-esteem, a person self-confidently takes on work that exceeds his capabilities. A self-confident person with an inflated level of aspirations.

Often people become unhappy due to an exaggerated idea of ​​their own importance formed in childhood.

Both high and low self-esteem lead to mental imbalances. Extreme cases qualify as mental disorders - psychasthenia and paranoia.

Adequate self-esteem matches the situation. In case of success, claims increase, in case of failure, they decrease.

Self-esteem and level of aspirations

Self-images.
A. Nalchadzhan, “Personality in His Dreams,” suggests identifying 9 possible self-images

1) I-bodily (idea of ​​my body)
2) Real Self (what I really am, how I really seem at the moment)
3) Dynamic Self (the type of personality one has set a goal to become)
4) Fantastic Self (what you would be like if anything were possible)
5) Ideal Self (idea of ​​how I should be)
6) Future or possible self (determines the state that has arisen as a result of communication, etc.)
7) Idealized Self (how we like to see ourselves now)
8) Presented Self (persona, how we present ourselves to others)
9) False Self (a person’s distorted idea of ​​himself)