Personality- This is a conscious individual who occupies a certain place in society and performs a certain social role.

Personality is a social concept; it expresses everything that is supranatural and historical in a person. Personality is not innate, but arises as a result of cultural and social development.

A special and different personality in the fullness of its spiritual and physical properties is characterized by the concept of “individuality.” Individuality is expressed in the presence of different experiences, knowledge, opinions, beliefs, in differences in character and temperament; we prove and affirm our individuality.

The personality is not only purposeful, but also a self-organizing system. The object of her attention and activity is not only the outside world, but also herself, which is manifested in her sense of “I,” which includes self-image and self-esteem, self-improvement programs, habitual reactions to the manifestation of some of her qualities, the ability to introspect, self-analysis and self-regulation. What does it mean to be a person? Be an individual - this means having an active life position, which can be said this way: I stand on this and cannot do otherwise. Be an individual - this means making choices that arise due to internal necessity, assessing the consequences of the decision made and holding accountable for them to yourself and the society in which you live. Be an individual - this means constantly building oneself and others, owning an arsenal of techniques and means with the help of which one can master one’s own behavior and subordinate it to one’s power.

The main characteristics of an individual in this regard are: activity (the desire to expand the scope of one’s activities), direction (a system of motives, needs, interests, beliefs) and participation in the joint activities of social groups and collectives.

17 Study of the concepts of personality traits (domestic psychology)

Personality- this is a set of properties inherent in a given person, constituting his individuality!

Personality- a systemic quality of an individual, determined by the individual’s involvement in social relations formed in joint activities and communication. In other words, all kinds of human qualities that arise directly or indirectly, due to the fact that a person lives in human society, relate to the individual.

Personal development This is a natural, continuous process of quantitative, qualitative and structural changes. Physical, mental and spiritual powers of a person.

Personality development factors :

External (social)

Internal (biogenetics)

Conditions for personality development:

External (upbringing, education)

Internal (own activity)

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

One is not born a personality, one becomes one!

Personality can break

Personality can be broken

And then the person becomes extinct,

Ceases to be a Personality!

Personality in psychology they call a person as a carrier of consciousness. It is believed that a person is not born, but becomes in the process of being and labor activity when, communicating and interacting, a person compares himself with others and highlights his “I”. Psychological properties (traits) of a personality are fully and vividly revealed in activities, communication, relationships, and even in appearance person.

Personalities can be different - harmoniously developed and reactionary, progressive and one-sided, highly moral and vile, but at the same time, each personality is unique. Sometimes this property - uniqueness - is called individuality, as a manifestation of the individual.

However, the concepts of individual, personality and individuality are not identical in content: each of them reveals a specific aspect of a person’s individual existence. Personality can only be understood in a system of stable interpersonal connections, mediated by the content, values, and meaning of the joint activities of each participant.

Interpersonal connections that form a personality in a team externally appear in the form of communication or a subject-subject relationship along with a subject-object relationship characteristic of objective activity.

The personality of each person is endowed only with his own inherent combination of traits and characteristics that form his individuality - a combination of psychological characteristics of a person that make up his originality, his difference from other people. Individuality is manifested in character traits, temperament, habits, prevailing interests, in the qualities of cognitive processes, in abilities, and individual style of activity.

Lifestyle as a socio-philosophical concept selects from the variety of qualities and properties inherent in a given person, only socially stable, socially typical, characterizing the social content of her individuality, revealing a person, his style of behavior, needs, preferences, interests, tastes not from his psychological characteristics that distinguish him from other people, but from those properties and traits of his personality that are given by the very fact of his existence in a certain society. But if by individuality we mean not a feature of a person’s appearance or behavior, but unique shape existence and unique manifestation of the general in the life of the individual, then the individual is also social. Therefore, a person’s way of life acts as a deeply individualized relationship between a person’s objective position in society and his inner world, that is, it represents a unique unity of the socially typified (unified) and the individual (unique) in the behavior, communication, thinking and everyday life of people.

In other words, a person’s worldview acquires social, practical and morally meaningful significance insofar as it has become a person’s way of life.

From a moral point of view, a sign of a person’s personal development is his ability to act according to inner conviction in the most difficult everyday situations, not to shift responsibility to others, not to rely blindly on circumstances, and not even just to “reckon” with circumstances, but also to resist them, to intervene in the course of life. events, showing your will, your character.

The importance and role of the team in the formation and education of the individual is great. The rule of education formulated by the wonderful Soviet teacher A.S. Makarenko: proceed from the recognition of the person being raised as a person. And this must be done with all seriousness, without denying to those being educated the possibility of them accomplishing those feats that the teacher speaks of as lofty images of achieving exceptional results in the field of production, science and technology, literature and art.

May not all dreams come true and not all plans come true. Let not all the young people with whom the teacher deals turn out to be gifted enough or be able to fully reveal their abilities. This is about something else. All of them will certainly be ennobled by treating them as the highest value, unique individuals who, with proper development, can reveal to the world all the achievements of the creative spirit accessible to man. In the worst case, a creative personality may not turn out, but a person will be formed who, at a minimum, will not prevent others from becoming creative personalities.

You cannot become a person by copying anyone else. Only wretched one-sidedness can result. The construction of one's own personality cannot be carried out according to some standard project. At most, you can only get general settings here. We must always count on the maximum realization of human capabilities, never saying in advance: “I won’t be able to do this,” and test your inclinations to the fullest.

That's why development human - the process of personality formation under the influence of external and internal, controlled and uncontrollable social and natural factors. Development manifests itself as progressive complication, deepening, expansion, as a transition from simple to complex, from ignorance to knowledge, from lower forms of life and activity to higher ones.

Nature has given man a lot, but has given birth to the weak. To make him strong and completely independent, we still need to work hard. First of all, ensure physical development. In turn, physical and physiological development underlies psychological development as spiritual development. The processes of a person’s reflection of reality are constantly becoming more complex and deepening: sensations, perceptions, memory, thinking, feelings, imagination, as well as more complex mental formations: needs, motives for activity, abilities, interests, value orientations. Social development of a person is a continuation of mental development. It consists of gradual entry into his society - into social, ideological, economic, industrial, legal, professional and other relations, in the assimilation of his functions in these relations. Having mastered these relationships and his functions in them, a person becomes a member of society. The crowning glory is spiritual development person. It means his understanding of his high purpose in life, the emergence of responsibility to present and future generations, understanding of the complex nature of the universe and the desire for constant moral improvement. A measure of spiritual development can be the degree of responsibility of a person for his physical, physiological, mental and social development. Spiritual development is increasingly recognized as the core, the core of the formation of personality in a person.

Humanity ensures the development of each of its representatives through education, passing on the experience of its own and previous generations.

Upbringing - V in a broad sense is a purposeful process of forming the intellect, physical and spiritual strength of the individual, preparing him for life, active participation in work. Education in the narrow sense of the word is the systematic and purposeful influence of the educator on the pupils in order to form in them the desired attitude towards people and phenomena of the surrounding world.

Parents pass on the experience of vertical walking to the newborn, verbal communication, younger schoolchildren - experience of mathematical transformations, written communication, teenagers and young men - experience of various activities, etc. Throughout his life, a person assimilates some experience and someone else’s and only on its basis creates his own. Only by becoming the heir of the past does he become a full-fledged member of his society. In this sense, education is a culturally formative process. In the process of educating a person, his development occurs, the level of which then influences education, changes, deepens it. More perfect upbringing accelerates the pace of development, which then again influences upbringing. Throughout a person’s life, these phenomena mutually support each other.

K. Marx and F. Engels paid great attention to the problems of upbringing and education of youth. They approached them from different, but closely related sides - social, ideological, pedagogical, etc., assessing the role of education as the highest measure - the influence on the development of the individual, on the course of social progress.

They considered education as one of the most important means.

Taken together, the thoughts of Marx and Engels on education form an integral dialectical-materialist concept, which is based on the following provisions: education is determined by prevailing social relations; is historical and class in nature; has its own objective laws.

By education we mean three things:

Firstly: mental education.

Secondly: physical education.

Third: technical training.

Marx and Engels paid great attention to ideological education, introducing young people to the history and traditions of the revolutionary struggle.

By mental (intellectual) education, the founders of Marxism understood “mental education”, which the younger generation should receive, first of all, at school. Marx and Engels called on young people to persistent, systematic study, to constant self-education, which is strictly dictated by life.

Marx and Engels called the combination of education with productive labor a necessary condition for the technical education of the younger generation.

In the system of youth education, the founders of Marxism assigned an important place to physical education. Engels also saw a great role for these classes in preparing young men for military service.

Whatever “components” of education the founders of Marxism spoke about, their thought was one way or another aimed at the most important problem - the comprehensive development of the individual. Each of these must ultimately serve to form it. components, and the whole process of education as a whole.

It is possible to convey experience, and therefore educate, through means mass media, in museums through art, through religion, in the management system through politics, ideology, directly in the family, in production through industrial relations, etc. Among them, education stands out.

Education - the process and result of mastering a certain system of knowledge and ensuring on this basis the appropriate level of personal development. Education is received mainly in the process of training and education in educational institutions under the guidance of teachers. Education in the literal sense means the creation of an image, a certain completion of education in accordance with a certain age level. Therefore, education is often interpreted as the result of a person’s assimilation of the experience of generations in the form of a system of knowledge, skills and abilities, and relationships. Then they talk about an educated person. Education is the quality of a developed personality who has acquired experience, with the help of which he becomes able to navigate the environment, adapt to it, protect and enrich it, acquire new knowledge about it and through this continuously improve himself, i.e. again, improve your education.

A person is born without knowledge and skills, but through upbringing and education he receives all this in accordance with his age. At each age stage, development receives its own degree of formation without exhausting itself. This is how ideals, motives for actions, relationships and other human properties are gradually formed.

But the person himself is active from birth. Its role in upbringing and education is enormous, if not decisive. The fact is that a person is born with the ability to develop. He is not a vessel into which the experience of humanity “merges.” He himself is capable of acquiring this experience. Man himself created the external factors of his development.

The main factors of a person are self-education, self-education, self-training.

Self-education - this is the process of a person’s assimilation of the experience of previous generations through internal mental factors that ensure development. Self-education is a process that is part of education and is also aimed at human development. Thanks to him, a person in any educational system preserves himself as an independent natural and social being, despite all integration, i.e. its unity with nature and society.

Education, if it is not violence, is not possible without self-education. They should be considered as two sides of the same process, or as processes that mutually continue each other.

By self-education, a person can educate himself.

Self-education is a system of internal self-organization for assimilating the experience of generations, aimed at one’s own development.

Self-education is a powerful factor that fulfills and enriches the education organized by society.

Self-learning is an analogue of teaching.

Self-study - this is the process of a person directly gaining generational experience through his own aspirations and self-chosen means.

Here a huge role is played by the inner spiritual world of a person, not only consciousness, but also the unconscious factor, intuition, the ability to learn not only from a teacher, but also from other people, friends, and nature. People say about such self-education: “learn from life.” Self-learning is based on the need for knowledge, on the innate cognitive instinct.

The founders of Marxism deeply revealed such a complex problem as “man and circumstances.”

The character of each person is always composed of two elements: natural, rooted in the human body, and spiritual, developed in life, under the influence of upbringing and circumstances. But no matter how diverse the human types are among educated peoples, due to the infinite variety of tribal, family and personal types, nature always manages to highlight the nationality trait in the countless number of characteristic features in a person’s appearance.

The trait of nationality is not only noticeable in itself, but is mixed with all other characteristic features of a person and gives each of them its own special shade.

Public education, which strengthens and develops the nationality in a person, while developing at the same time his mind and his self-awareness, powerfully contributes to the development of national self-awareness in general.

If a person draws all his knowledge, sensations, etc. from the sensory world and experience received from this world, but it is therefore necessary to arrange it this way the world, so that a person in it recognizes and assimilates what is truly human, so that he recognizes himself as a person. If a person’s character is created by circumstances, then it is necessary, therefore, to make the circumstances humane.

Teacher K.D. Ushinsky was deeply convinced that the education of a free, independent and active human personality is a necessary condition for social development.

CONCLUSION

A child will become a personality - a social unit, a subject, a carrier of social and human activity - only where and when he himself begins to perform this activity. At first, with the help of an adult, and then without it.

Personality arises when an individual begins independently, as a subject, to carry out external activities according to the norms and standards given to him from the outside - by the culture in whose bosom he awakens to human life, to human activity. As long as human activity is directed towards him, and he remains its object, the individuality, which he, of course, already possesses, is not yet human individuality.

Therefore, personality exists only where there is freedom. Freedom is real, not imaginary, freedom of real development of a person in real affairs, in relationships with other people, and not in conceit, not in the pleasure of feeling one’s imaginary uniqueness.

Do you want a person to become an individual? Then place him from the very beginning - from childhood - in such a relationship with another person, within which he not only could, but was forced to become an individual.

The problem of personality is one of the most pressing topics in modern psychology. This term is characterized by some features; it is worth noting that these do not include genetic or physiological aspects. In addition, psychological and individual characteristics do not include a person. Rather, they include deep-seated social features that indicate the direction of human life and reflect the nature of man as the author of his life. So, what is personality is a question many people ask, so we should consider the basic definitions.

Broadly understood, personality is a substance that internally distinguishes one person from another.

There are three different definitions, which describe the concept of personality.
1. The concept is interpreted as a person’s individuality, which indicates his life experience, values, aspirations, abilities, spiritual development and temperament. If we consider this understanding in more detail, we can say that humans and animals have it, since each animal has its own individual characteristics and character.
2. With an intermediate understanding, the concept of personality is a subject of society that has social and personal role. This definition of the concept of personality belongs to Adler and begins with social feeling. After all, finding and feeling great is not an easy task; if a person copes with it successfully, then it develops into something higher. That is, in this concept such a person is a subject who interacts with other people at the level of habits.
3. Narrow understanding: personality is a subject of culture, a self. He is defined as a person who is the author of his life. That is, the child is not one, but may or may not become one.
The definition of such a concept as a person can be anything. However, all definitions have a general meaning.

Personality problems in the psychological aspect

If the concept of an individual is accompanied by general qualities homo sapiens, then the concept of personality has a close and inextricable connection with the concept of individuality, that is, with social qualities, with a person’s attitude to the world, with his abilities. A person can be characterized by the level of his consciousness, by the degree of correlation of his own consciousness with the consciousness of society. A person’s ability for social relations is revealed. The main points that characterize the concept under consideration include the following:

  • Attitude to society;
  • Attitude towards individuals from society;
  • Attitude towards oneself;
  • Attitude to one's own work responsibilities.

Based on these criteria, we can explain what personality is. Also, the main characteristic is the level of awareness of the relationship and the degree of its stability. With the concept of personality important role her position plays a role, as well as her ability to implement relationships, which depends on how developed Creative skills person, his knowledge and skills. After all, no person is born with ready-made abilities or qualities; they are formed throughout life. The hereditary component does not determine the level of development; it is responsible only for the physiological abilities of the individual, qualities nervous system. But the biological organization of a person contains his natural capabilities associated with mental development. A person becomes a person only thanks to social heredity, the experience of other generations, which are consolidated in knowledge, traditions, and cultural objects. The problem of personality lies in numerous points that are basic for

Personality formation


The formation of human nature occurs under strictly defined conditions. The demands of society often determine the model. And what actually acts as natural characteristics of a person’s essence is actually represented by the consolidation of social requirements for behavior. Below we will consider what stages a person goes through in the process of becoming.
The main driving force is the internal contradictions that arise between constantly growing needs and the possibility of satisfying them. An entity formed in normal conditions, is constantly growing and developing its capabilities, while creating new needs. The main problem of personality is considered in psychology and philosophy and includes its definition as such.

How to determine the level of personality development

The level at which a person’s problem is located, its development, can be determined by its relationships. As a rule, undeveloped persons are limited to mercantile interests. If it is highly developed, then this indicates that relations of social significance predominate in it, and numerous abilities of the individual are observed both for social relations and also for. Every individual spends his life making decisions quite complex tasks, and the essence is largely manifested in the way he solves these very problems. After all, each person solves difficulties using different methods.
Understanding an individual means understanding what life values he has priorities, what principles he is guided by when solving problems. The problem of personality lies in self-awareness and self-improvement, which must be continuous.

Types

There are several main personality types:

  • Socialized - which are adapted to the conditions of social life.
  • Desocialized - who deviate from the requirements of society. These include marginalized individuals. The problem of the individual in this case is non-acceptance by society.
  • Mentally abnormal are persons who have some delays in mental development, psychopaths. Here the personality problem is that people try to avoid such persons.

A socialized normal entity has a number of features. She has autonomy, assertion of her own individuality. If critical situations arise, the socialized nature retains its strategy and does not change its life principles and positions. If there are extreme situations and psychological breakdowns, such a nature can prevent consequences by reassessing values. The concept of such a personality involves maintaining an optimal mood in any situation.

If an individual is mentally balanced, then he builds friendly relationships with other people and is altruistic in relation to their needs. When constructing life plans, a normal nature proceeds from reality and has a sense of honor and justice. She is persistent in achieving her goals and can easily adjust her own behavior. The sources of success or failure for her are herself, and not external circumstances.

If difficult situations arise, a well-developed individual is able to take responsibility and take reasonable risks.
So, the human essence is something that has a consciousness of its own isolation, which allows it to be free from the dictates of power and remain calm under any conditions. Such abilities of the individual make it and contribute to its further development.
The core is spirituality, which is represented by the highest manifestation of human essence, commitment to morality.

Structure

The structure consists of a number of elements - personality abilities, among which the following can be distinguished:

  • Self-awareness. That is, she is aware of any actions and considers only herself to be the source of her life. Self-awareness is aimed at the consciousness of one’s own self, and next to this concept is self-improvement, which also plays an important role in the formation of the human essence.
  • Direction characterizes its character traits, goals, directions for achieving them. Focus is the most important element and characterizes social and spiritual development. Direction is the leading element in the structure, and also allows you to get an idea of ​​the personality as a whole.
  • Temperament and character. These qualities are formed under the influence public opinion, and are also transmitted genetically. Temperament refers to certain mental properties that act as the foundation for formation. Such qualities are equally manifested in any human activity, since they are basic.
  • Mental processes and states. They can be transmitted genetically, but, as a rule, they are formed throughout life.
  • The abilities of the individual, as well as his inclinations, must develop continuously; it is thanks to their development that growth is supported. The abilities of any individual are acquired and are formed depending on a number of factors.
  • Psychic experience. This fragment is also very important in the formation of the entity.

Thus, the structure is quite extensive and unique, each link must be fully implemented.
The concept of personality is quite broad and versatile; it is characterized by such factors as temperament, behavior, abilities, and mental health. The problem of personality lies in the main points of its formation, which are associated with behavior, development, skills and abilities. Human nature is versatile and special, and the main task is to create the most comfortable conditions for further development.

In common parlance, the word “personality” is used to describe a person’s “social face.” This is where the word “personality” comes from. By “social face” we mean not only what is often denoted by the term “image” (image of a person), but also involvement in certain social relations. You can find something like this use of the word “personality” in everyday life:

- “Petrov, you have not yet matured as a person” (Petrov is not ready for broad, fruitful and long-term inclusion in social relations);

- “Lieutenant, it is urgent to clarify the identity of the wanted criminal” (his full name, external data, age, education, profession, contacts, psychological characteristics, biography, etc.);

- “The deceased was a remarkable person” (his personal characteristics are interesting, his social connections are rich, the deceased participated in important events, its merits were widely recognized, etc.);

- “Suspicious individuals were noticed in the yard” (people with questionable external characteristics and unusual behavior were discovered).

The words “person” and “personality” are often identified. For example, one might say: “The deceased had a wonderful personality,” but more often one might hear: “The deceased had a wonderful personality.” In fact, both options are correct. It’s just that we deal so often and so much with the personalities of other people that for us the personalities become the people themselves.

We cannot know everything about another person. Perhaps the other person thinks very badly of us. But outwardly this does not manifest itself in any way, and that is enough for us. Perhaps our interlocutor on the Internet is lying to us about his gender and age, but we are content with the fact that the interlocutor provides real benefit. It's interesting that in Latin"personality" is denoted by the word "persona". The main meaning of this word among the Romans was “theatrical mask” or “theatrical role” (corresponding to the mask).

In psychology in general, the term "personality" is also used to refer to the "social face" of a person. Different psychologists study different ones, and therefore in definitions of personality there is a reference to different mental phenomena. Examples:

Personality is a set of social relations realized in diverse activities (Leontyev).

Personality is a set of internal conditions through which all external influences are refracted (Rubinstein).

Personality - social individual, object and subject social relations and the historical process, which manifests itself in communication, in activity, in behavior (Hansen).

The concept of personality denotes the human individual as a member of society, generalizes the socially integrated significant features(Con).

Personality - subject social behavior and communications (Ananyev).

Personality is a person as a social individual, a subject of knowledge and objective transformation of the world, a rational being with speech and capable of work (Petrovsky).

Personality is a person as a carrier of consciousness (Platonov).

Personality is an integral concept that characterizes a person as an object and subject of biosocial relations and unites in him the universal, socially specific and individually unique (Parygin).

As you can see, only in K.K Platonov’s definition there is not a word about the social. Rubinstein's definition also stands out somewhat: it generally deals with external influences.

The idea that personality is a certain spiritual integrity (of) a person is also quite popular in psychology. So A.G. Kovalev raised the question of the holistic spiritual appearance of the individual, its origin and structure as a question of the synthesis of complex structures:

Temperament (structure of natural properties),

Orientations (system of needs, interests, ideals),

Abilities (system of intellectual, volitional and emotional properties).

In this approach, the personality is considered as some integral core of a person, arising from a stable interrelation of the mental properties of the individual. This nucleus provides a stable, constant level of activity, ensuring the best adaptation of the individual to the influencing stimuli due to the greatest adequacy of their reflection. This idea does not fit well with the common understanding of the word “personality”. Perhaps a different word would be better here.

In classical Russian psychology, quite a lot of effort was made to study the integrity and unity of personality. For example, V.N. Myasishchev concluded that the unity of personality is characterized by: direction (dominant relationships: to people, to oneself, to objects of the external world), general level of development (in the process of development the general level of personality development increases), personality structure and dynamics of neuropsychic reactivity (available in mind not only the dynamics of higher nervous activity, but also the objective dynamics of living conditions). Today, the problem of personality unity is not so much on the minds of psychologists. On the contrary, it can be stated that today a person and his personality are more often viewed as very dynamic systems, with an abundance of internal contradictions and conflicts.

If we use a little irony, we can imagine things like this. The “classic integral personality” never doubts what he is doing, does not feel remorse because of a wrong action, and always acts predictably. Having an extra three rubles in her pocket (in 1961 prices), she has no doubt how to spend it: buy a book or a kilogram of meat. She is such a complete person. The “modern personality” doubts everything; her actions are influenced by many factors. When making her choice, she can weigh the pros and cons, or she can act completely relying on intuition or the advice of friends, or information from the Internet. First man walking always forward, evolving. The second one degrades very often and quickly (for example, due to drunkenness).

In psychology, there used to be quite a lot of controversy around how the concepts of “personality” and “individuality” are related. Some have synonymized these concepts. In fact, if personality is a “social person,” then everyone cannot have the same personality. This is why we talk about personalities, to separate some people from others according to important, characteristic properties. Others (for example, Ananyev and his followers) view individuality as something else, parallel to personality. “Personality” and “individuality” are two theoretical constructs and tools. By studying a person with one instrument, we get one picture. Using a different tool, we get a different picture. In any case, when we talk about individuality, we are talking more about the individual uniqueness of a person, his innermost values ​​and the meaning of his activities.

If in common usage the concept of “personality” includes all the many different characteristics of a person, then in psychology “personality” usually includes only mental properties:

Abilities (readiness to demonstrate success in a particular area),

Temperament (dynamic characteristics of behavior),

Character (attitude towards to different parties being, for example, to friendship or work),

Volitional qualities (discipline, internal freedom),

Emotional sphere (tendency to certain emotions, general emotionality),

Motivation (predominance of certain needs, motives),

Focus (interests and inclinations in certain areas),

Values ​​and social attitudes (some basic principles) and others.

In psychology, personality is viewed as a purely human phenomenon. Animals, of course, also have an understanding of each other’s individual characteristics and a complex social structure (for example, monkeys or rats). However, in animals such features are inherent mainly in instincts. Man, thanks to his mind and developed speech, capable of constructing very complex social systems and the flexible adaptation of individuals to them. A person is also capable of long-term planning for the development of his personality (what kind of education he will receive, how his career and relationships with other people will develop, what status he is applying for and what resources will be required to maintain the status).

PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSONALITY

1. Definition of the concept of “personality”. Correlation of the concepts “person”, “individual”, “individuality” with the concept “personality”

The reality that is described by the concept of “personality” is already manifested in the etymology of this term. The word “personality” (persona) originally referred to acting masks (in the Roman theater, an actor’s mask was called a “guise” - a face facing the audience), which were assigned to certain types of actors. Then this word began to mean the actor himself and his role. Among the Romans, the word “persona” was always used to indicate a certain social function of the role (the personality of the father, the personality of the king, the personality of the judge). Thus, personality, by its original meaning, is a certain social role or function of a person.

Today, psychology interprets personality as a socio-psychological formation that is formed through a person’s life in society. A person as a social being acquires new (personal) qualities when he enters into relationships with other people and these relationships become “constitutive” of his personality. At the time of birth, the individual does not yet have these acquired (personal) qualities.

Because the personality is most often defined as a person in the totality of his social, acquired qualities, this means that personal characteristics do not include those characteristics of a person that are naturally conditioned and do not depend on his life in society. Personal qualities do not include the psychological qualities of a person that characterize his cognitive processes or individual style of activity, with the exception of those that manifest themselves in relationships with people in society. The concept of “personality” usually includes such properties that are more or less stable and indicate a person’s individuality, defining his traits and actions that are significant for people.

According to R.S. Nemov’s definition, personality - this is a person taken in the system of his psychological characteristics that are socially conditioned, manifest themselves in social connections and relationships by nature, are stable and determine the moral actions of a person that are of significant importance for himself and those around him.

Along with the concept of “personality,” the terms “person,” “individual,” and “individuality” are used. These concepts are substantively intertwined. That is why the analysis of each of these concepts, their relationship with the concept of “personality” will make it possible to more fully reveal the latter.

Human - this is a generic concept, indicating that a creature belongs to the highest stage of development of living nature - to the human race. The concept of “man” affirms the genetic predetermination of the development of actually human characteristics and qualities.

Specific human abilities and properties (speech, consciousness, work activity, etc.) are not transmitted to people in the order of biological heredity, but are formed during their lifetime, in the process of assimilating the culture created by previous generations. No personal experience of a person can lead him to independently form logical thinking and systems of concepts. By participating in work and various forms of social activity, people develop in themselves those specific human abilities that have already been formed in humanity. As a living being, man is subject to basic biological and physiological laws, and as a social being - to the laws of social development.

Individual - This is a single representative of the species "homo sapiens". As individuals, people differ from each other not only in morphological characteristics (such as height, bodily constitution and eye color), but also in psychological properties (abilities, temperament, emotionality).

Individuality - This is the unity of the unique personal properties of a particular person. This is the uniqueness of his psychophysiological structure (type of temperament, physical and mental characteristics, intelligence, worldview, life experience).

With all the versatility of the concept of “individuality,” it primarily denotes the spiritual qualities of a person. The essential definition of individuality is associated not so much with the concepts of “specialness”, “uniqueness”, but with the concepts of “integrity”, “unity”, “originality”, “authorship”, “own way of life”. The essence of individuality is associated with the originality of the individual, his ability to be himself, to be independent and self-reliant.

The relationship between individuality and personality is determined by the fact that these are two ways of being a person, two different definitions of him. The discrepancy between these concepts is manifested, in particular, in the fact that there are two different processes of formation of personality and individuality.

The formation of personality is the process of socialization of a person, which consists in his mastering his generic, social essence. This development is always carried out in the specific historical circumstances of a person’s life. The formation of personality is associated with the individual’s acceptance of social functions and roles developed in society, social norms and rules of behavior, and with the formation of skills to build relationships with other people. A formed personality is a subject of free, independent and responsible behavior in society.

The formation of individuality is the process of individualization of an object. Individualization is the process of self-determination and isolation of the individual, his separation from the community, the design of his individuality, uniqueness and originality. A person who has become an individual is an original person who actively and creatively manifests himself in life.

The concepts of “personality” and “individuality” capture different aspects, different dimensions of a person’s spiritual essence. The essence of this difference is well expressed in the language. With the word “personality” such epithets as “strong”, “energetic”, “independent” are usually used, thereby emphasizing its active representation in the eyes of others. About individuality, we more often say: “bright”, “unique”, “creative”, meaning the qualities of an independent essence.

2. Personality research: stages, scientific approaches

The study of personality has always been and continues to be one of the most intriguing mysteries and most difficult problems. In essence, all social psychological theories contribute to the understanding of personality: what shapes it, why individual differences exist, how it develops and changes throughout a person’s life. Since most areas of psychology are only minimally represented in modern theories of personality, this is proof that an adequate theory of personality has not yet been created.

The main problems of personality psychology in philosophical and literary period Its study included questions about the moral and social nature of man, about his actions and behavior. The first definitions of personality were quite broad and included everything that is in a person and that he can call his own.

IN clinical period the idea of ​​personality as a special phenomenon was narrowed. Psychiatrists have focused on personality traits that can usually be found in a sick person. It was later found that these features are moderately expressed in almost all healthy people. Definitions of personality by psychiatrists were given in terms that can be used to describe a completely normal, pathological, or accentuated personality.

Experimental period characterized by the active introduction of experimental research methods into psychology psychic phenomena. This was dictated by the need to get rid of speculativeness and subjectivism in the interpretation of mental phenomena and to make psychology more exact science(not only describing, but also explaining its findings).

Since the late 30s. In our century, active differentiation of research areas has begun in personality psychology. As a result, by the second half of our century, many different theories of personality had developed: behaviorist, Gestalt psychological, psychoanalytic, cognitive and humanistic.

In accordance with behaviorist theory of personality (the founder of which is the American scientist D. Watson) 1878-1958) psychology should deal not with mental phenomena that are inaccessible to scientific observation, but with behavior. D. Watson saw the task of psychology as learning to “calculate” and program individual behavior.

Founders Gestalt psychological theory of personality T. Wertheimer, W. Köhler and K. Lewin put forward the idea of ​​​​studying the psyche from the point of view of integral structures - gestalts (German gestalt - image). The construction of a mental image occurs as an instantaneous “grasping” of its structure.

Psychoanalytic theory of personality (S. Freud) analyzes the actions of an individual based not only on the sphere of consciousness, but also on the deep structure of the subconscious, highlighting needs as the factor driving his actions.

Cognitive theory of personality (U. Neisser, A. Paivio) main role in explaining the behavior of an individual, he assigns it to knowledge (Latin cognito - knowledge).

Humanistic personality theory (G. Allport, K. Rogers, A. Maslow) explains the behavior of an individual based on a person’s desire for self-actualization, the realization of all his capabilities.

Among the theories considered, three practically non-overlapping orientations can be distinguished: biogenetic, sociogenetic and personological.

1. Biogenetic orientation proceeds from the fact that the development of a person, like any other organism, is ontogenesis (the process of individual development of an organism) with a phylogenetic (historically determined) program embedded in it, and therefore its basic patterns, stages and properties are the same. Sociocultural and situational factors only leave their mark on the form of their occurrence.

The most famous among the concepts of this orientation (and not only in psychology) was the theory developed by Z. Freud. S. Freud compared human self-awareness to the tip of the iceberg. He believed that only a small part of what actually happens in a person’s soul and characterizes him as a person is actually recognized by him. A person is able to correctly understand and explain only a small part of his actions. The main part of his experience and personality is outside the sphere of consciousness, and only special procedures developed in psychoanalysis allow one to penetrate into it.

The personality structure, according to S. Freud, consists of three components, or levels: “It”, “I”, “Super-ego”. “It” is the unconscious part of the psyche, a seething cauldron of biological innate instinctual drives. “It” is saturated with sexual energy - libido. A person is a closed energy system, and the amount of energy in each person is a constant value. Being unconscious and irrational, “It” obeys the pleasure principle, i.e. pleasure and happiness are the main goals in human life (the first principle of behavior). The second principle of behavior is homeostasis - the tendency to maintain internal balance.

"I" is represented by consciousness. This is, as a rule, a person’s self-awareness, his perception and assessment of his own personality and behavior. "I" is oriented towards reality.

The "super-ego" is represented at both the conscious and subconscious levels. The “super-ego” is guided by ideal ideas - moral norms and values ​​accepted in society.

Unconscious drives coming from the “It” are most often in a state of conflict with what is contained in the “Super-I”, i.e. with social and moral standards of behavior. The conflict is resolved with the help of “I”, i.e. consciousness, which, acting in accordance with the principles of reality and rationality, seeks to intelligently reconcile both sides in such a way that the drives of the “It” are satisfied to the maximum extent without violating moral norms.

2. Sociogenetic orientation puts the processes of socialization and learning in the broad sense of the word at the forefront, arguing that psychological age-related changes depend primarily on changes in social status, the system of social roles, rights and responsibilities, in short, on the structure of the individual’s social activity.

According to behavioral theorists, the social roles of people and most forms of social behavior of an individual are formed as a result of observations of such social models that are set by parents, teachers, comrades and other members of society. Individual differences in human behavior are, according to social learning theory, the result of interactions and relationships with different people. Personality in this approach is the result of the interaction between an individual with his abilities, past experiences, expectations, etc. and its surrounding environment.

3. Personological (person-centered) orientation brings to the fore the consciousness and self-awareness of the subject, based on the fact that the basis for personal development is the creative process of formation and implementation of its own life goals and values. This direction is defined as humanistic and is associated with such names as K. Rogers, A. Maslow and others. The essence of the humanistic orientation in the study of personality is the rejection of the manipulative approach and the identification of personality as the highest social value. The humanistic approach helps to reveal the capabilities of the individual through the appropriate organization of interpersonal relationships. According to this approach, a person can show the originality and uniqueness of his own “I” only with complete openness in expressing his feelings and abandoning psychological defense.

Since each of these models reflects real aspects of personality development, an “either-or” debate makes no sense. As a basis for integrating the previously mentioned approaches to understanding personality in domestic psychology, a historical-evolutionary approach is proposed, in which the anthropological properties of a person and the socio-historical way of life act as prerequisites and a result of personality development. In the context of this approach, the true basis and driving force for personal development is joint activity, thanks to which individualization occurs. The formation and development of this direction is the merit of L.S. Vygotsky (1836-1904) and A.N. Leontiev (1903-1979). This theory in Russian psychology is called activity theories .

In Russian psychology, a number of other theories can be identified.

Founders relationship theories - A.F-Lazursky (1874-1917), V.N. Myasishchev (1892-1973) - believed that the “core” of a personality is the system of its relations to to the outside world and to oneself, which is formed under the influence of the reflection of the surrounding reality by a person’s consciousness.

According to communication theories - B.F. Lomov (1927-1989), A.A. Bodalev, K. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya - personality is formed and developed in the process of communication in the system of existing social connections and relationships.

Attitude theory - D.N. Uznadze (1886-1950), A.S. Prangishvili - develops the idea of ​​an attitude as a person’s readiness to perceive future events in a certain direction of action, which is the basis of its expedient selective activity.