Character traits

Character is an inseparable whole. But it is impossible to study and understand such a complex whole as character without highlighting individual aspects or typical manifestations (character traits) in it. Common features character are manifested in the relationship of the individual to social duties and duty, to people, to himself. The attitude to social duties and duty is primarily manifested in the attitude of the individual to social labor. In this regard, such character traits as diligence, conscientiousness, perseverance, thrift, and the opposite of them - laziness, negligence, passivity, wastefulness are revealed. A person's attitude to work has a decisive influence on the formation of his other personal qualities. D. I. Pisarev wrote: "Character is tempered by labor, and whoever has never earned his own daily food by his own labor, for the most part remains forever a weak, sluggish and spineless person." Attitude towards people clearly appears in such character traits as sociability, politeness, goodwill, etc. The antipodes of these traits are isolation, tactlessness, hostility. As V. Hugo stated, "every person has three characters: the one that is attributed to him; the one that he attributes to himself; and, finally, the one that is in reality." In order to clarify the essence of his character, it is useful for a person to know the opinion about himself of the team in which he works and spends a significant part of his life. And above all, how orderly his relations with people are, how much people need him, how authoritative he is among them. Attitude towards oneself is manifested in self-assessment of one's actions. Sober self-assessment is one of the conditions for personal development, helping to develop such character traits as modesty, adherence to principles, self-discipline. Negative character traits are increased conceit, arrogance and boasting. A person with these traits is usually quarrelsome in a team, involuntarily creates pre-conflict and conflict situations in it. Another extreme in a person's character is also undesirable: underestimation of one's own merits, timidity in expressing one's positions, in defending one's views. Modesty and self-criticism must be combined with a heightened sense of self-worth, based on the awareness of the real significance of one's personality, on the presence of certain successes in work for the common good. Principle is one of the valuable personal qualities that give the character an active orientation. Volitional character traits. Will is understood as a complex mental process that causes the activity of a person and awakens him to act in a directed way. Will is the ability of a person to overcome obstacles, to achieve the goal. Specifically, she acts in such character traits as purposefulness, determination, perseverance, courage. These character traits can contribute to the achievement of both socially useful and anti-social goals. To do this, it is important to determine what the motive of a person's volitional behavior is. "A brave act, the motive of which is to enslave another person, to seize someone else's property, to promote oneself, and a brave act, the motive of which is to help the common cause, of course, have completely different psychological qualities." According to volitional activity, characters are divided into strong and weak. People with a strong character have stable goals, are proactive, boldly make decisions and implement them, have great endurance, are courageous and courageous. People in whom these qualities are weakly expressed or some of them are absent are classified as weak-character. They are characterized by a passive manifestation of their business and personal qualities. Often such people, having the best intentions, do not achieve significant results in work, study. Many of them sincerely experience their inability to act independently, persistently and decisively.

Volitional qualities can be cultivated in a person. IP Pavlov emphasized that a person is the only system capable of regulating itself within wide limits, that is, it can improve itself. Weak-willed people with thoughtful pedagogical work with them can become actively active. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the individual characteristics of a person, for example, his temperament. So, it is easier for a choleric person to develop activity and determination than for a melancholic person. A person himself must train his will from a young age, develop such qualities as self-control, activity, courage.

The most objective and irrefutable data about a person's character is provided not by his passport data, not by the features of his external appearance, not by his involuntary actions, but by conscious behavior. It is precisely by the fact that a person chooses not from possible actions in a given situation that his character is assessed. The nature of a person is quite multifaceted. This can be seen already in the process of activity: one does everything quickly, the other slowly and thoroughly, thinks carefully, acting for sure, and the third immediately grabs work without thinking, and only after a certain period of time, without solving the problem from a swoop, looks around and coordinates its actions, taking into account the circumstances. These features, distinguished in human behavior, are called traits, or sides, of character. Any trait is some stable stereotype of behavior.

However, character traits cannot be pulled out of the typical situations in which they appear, in some situations even a polite person can be rude. Therefore, any a character trait is a stable form of behavior in connection with specific, typical situations for this type of behavior.

According to Yu.M. Orlov, along with situations in which a certain trait of a person is found, its essential characteristic is the probability that this type of behavior in a given situation will take place. One can talk about any trait as a stable characteristic of a person if the probability of its manifestation in a certain situation is high enough. However, the probability means that this feature is not always manifested, otherwise it would just be a matter of mechanical behavior. Such an understanding of character traits is very similar to the manifestation of a person's habit: in certain conditions, to act in a certain way. A character trait includes a certain way of thinking, understanding. In the performance of a characteristic act, volitional mechanisms are turned on, feelings are involved. Conditioning a person's behavior, a character trait in behavior is formed. The formation of character traits cannot be divorced from the formation of behavioral motives. The motives of behavior, being realized in action, being fixed in it, are fixed in the character. Each effective motive that acquires stability, according to S.L. Rubinshtein, is potentially a future character trait in its origin and development, in motives character traits appear for the first time in the form of tendencies, the action then leads them to stable properties. The path to the formation of character traits lies, therefore, through the formation of proper motives for behavior and the organization of actions aimed at consolidating them.

The most common properties of character are located along the axes: strength - weakness; hardness - softness; integrity - inconsistency; breadth - narrowness. If strength of character is understood as the energy with which a person pursues goals, his ability to get passionately carried away and develop a great effort of strength when meeting difficulties, the ability to overcome them, then weakness of character is associated with the manifestation of cowardice, indecision, “asthenicity” in achieving goals, instability of views, etc. Firmness of character means rigid consistency, perseverance in achieving goals, defending views, etc., while softness of character is manifested in flexible adaptation to changing conditions, achieving a goal through some concessions, finding reasonable compromises. The integrity or inconsistency of character is determined by the degree of combination of leading and secondary character traits. If the leading and secondary harmonize, if there are no contradictions in aspirations and interests, then such a character is called integral, but if they contrast sharply, then contradictory.

At the same time, the unity, versatility of character does not exclude the fact that in different situations the same person manifests different and even opposite properties. A person can be both very gentle and very demanding, soft, compliant and at the same time firm to the point of inflexibility. And the unity of his character can not only be preserved in spite of this, but it is precisely in this that it manifests itself.

Of great importance for characterological manifestations is the relationship of intellectual personality traits. The depth and sharpness of thought, the unusual posing of the question and its solution. Intellectual initiative, confidence and independence of thought - all this constitutes the originality of the mind as one of the sides of character. However, how a person uses his mental faculties will depend significantly on character. Often there are people who have highly intellectual data, but do not give anything of value precisely because of their characterological features.

The real achievements of a person do not depend on some abstractly taken mental capabilities, but on a specific combination of his features and characterological properties.

However, most of the individual manifestations that form the character of a person are complex and practically cannot be classified according to individual properties and states (for example, vindictiveness, suspicion, generosity, etc.). In the same time individual qualities volitional (decisiveness, independence, etc.) and intellectual (depth of mind, criticality, etc.) spheres can be considered as components of a person's character traits and used for his analysis. All character traits have a natural relationship with each other.

In the most general form, character traits can be divided into main, leading, setting the general direction for the development of the entire complex of its manifestations, and secondary, determined by the main ones.

Knowledge of the leading features allows you to reflect the main essence of the character, to show its main manifestations.

Although every character trait reflects one of the manifestations of a person's attitude to reality, this does not mean that every attitude will be a character trait. Only some relationships, depending on the conditions, become character traits.

From the totality of the relationship of the individual to the surrounding reality, it is necessary to single out the character-forming forms of relations that are the decisive, paramount and general vital importance of those objects to which the person belongs. These relationships simultaneously serve as the basis for the classification of the most important character traits. The character of a person is manifested in the system of relations:

1. In relation to other people (at the same time, such character traits as sociability - isolation, truthfulness - deceit, tact - rudeness, etc. can be distinguished)

2. In relation to the case (responsibility - dishonesty, diligence - laziness, etc.).

3. In relation to oneself (modesty - narcissism, self-criticism - self-confidence, etc.)

4. In relation to property (generosity - greed, thrift - extravagance, accuracy - slovenliness, etc.). It should be noted a certain conventionality of this classification and a close relationship, the interpenetration of these aspects of relations.

5. Despite the fact that these relationships are the most important from the point of view of character formation, they do not simultaneously and immediately become character traits. There is a certain sequence in the transition of these relations into character traits, and in this sense it is impossible to put in the same row, for example, the attitude towards other people and the attitude towards property, because their very content plays a different role in the real existence of man. A decisive role in the formation of character is played by the attitude of a person to society, to people. The character of a person cannot be revealed and understood outside the collective, without taking into account his attachments in the form of camaraderie, friendship, love, etc.

The relationship of a person with other people is decisive in relation to activity, giving rise to increased activity, tension, rationalization or, on the contrary, calmness, lack of initiative. The attitude to other people and to activity, in turn, determines the attitude of a person to his own personality, to himself. The correct, evaluative attitude towards another person is the main condition for self-esteem.

The attitude towards other people is not only an important part of the character, but also forms the basis for the formation of the consciousness of the individual, necessarily including the attitude towards oneself as an actor, which depends primarily on the very form of activity. When an activity changes, not only the subject, methods and operations of this activity change, but at the same time the attitude towards oneself as an actor is restructured.

A painful condition accompanied by a syndrome of motivational insufficiency, hypochondria, and periodically arising acute feelings about one's laziness. A character trait that reflects the ease of generating emotions of anger, which often turn into verbal and other types of aggression. Particularly brutal ways of committing crimes, to indicate certain properties of the nature of the crime. Cruelty can be deliberate and involuntary, realized in certain actions, verbal behavior (inflicting torment with words) or in the imagination - fantasizing, operating with images of torture, torment of people or animals. A character trait that manifests itself in the predominance of an angry-dreary mood with the search for a victim on whom this mood can be "splashed out". A personality trait that borders on pathology, aimed at deliberately misleading others in order to achieve personal goals. A barrier in communication, characterized both by an overly critical, biased attitude towards an opponent, and by an attitude (partly unconscious) to do something in defiance. A character trait that manifests itself in a negative attitude towards any manifestations of the desire of the surrounding people to control this person ("to push around"). Lack of initiative, lack of independence, dependence on the initiative from the outside. Accuracy, pettiness, adherence to a certain order. A trait of character and an element of a person's life strategy, manifested in the rejection of one's own principles, original ideas, a creative initiative for the sake of following fashion and the main trends of social life.

Throughout his life, each person shows his individual characteristics, which are reflected not only in his behavior or the specifics of communication, but also determine the attitude towards activities, himself and other people. All these features, manifested in life, both in scientific use and in everyday life, are called character.

Definition of "character"

In psychology, character is understood as a certain set of human traits that are pronounced and relatively stable. Character traits always leave an imprint on a person's behavior, and also affect his actions.

In psychological dictionaries, you can find a fairly large number of definitions of character, but they all boil down to the fact that character is a set of the most persistent individual psychological characteristics of a person, which always manifest themselves in her activities and social behavior, as well as in the system of relations:

• to the team;
• to other people;
• to work;
• to the surrounding reality (to the world);
• to yourself.

The term itself character» ( in lane from Greek character - chasing or printing) was introduced by the ancient Greek philosopher and naturalist, a student of Plato and closest friend of Aristotle Theophrastus. And here it stands Special attention give the translation of the word - chasing or printing. Indeed, the character seems to emerge as a kind of pattern on a person's personality, thus creating a unique seal that distinguishes its owner from other individuals. Such a design, as well as a coat of arms or an emblem on the personal seal of the medieval nobility, is drawn on a certain basis with the help of specific signs and letters. Temperament is the basis for engraving an individual personality, and bright and individual character traits are the basis for engraving .

Character traits as a tool for psychological assessment and understanding of a person

In psychology, character traits are understood as individual, rather complex features that are the most indicative for a person and make it possible to predict with a high degree of probability his behavior in a particular situation. That is, knowing that a particular person has certain traits, one can predict his subsequent actions and possible actions in a particular case. For example, if a person has a pronounced feature of responsiveness, then there is a high probability that at a difficult moment in life he will come to the rescue.

A feature is one of the most important and essential parts of a person, its stable quality and a well-established way of interacting with the surrounding reality. The personality trait crystallizes and reflects its integrity. A person's character trait is a real way to solve many life situations (both activity and communication) and therefore they need to be considered from the point of view of the future. So, character traits are a prediction of the actions and actions of a person, since they are persistent and make a person's behavior predictable and more obvious. Due to the fact that each person is unique, there is a huge variety of unique character traits.

Each person acquires special features of his character throughout his life in society, and it is impossible to consider all individual signs (features) as characterological. Such will be only those who, regardless of life situation and circumstances will always manifest themselves in the same way of behaving and in the same attitude in the surrounding reality.

Thus, in order to assess personality psychologists (to characterize it) as individuality, it is necessary to determine not the entire sum of a person’s individual qualities, but to highlight those character traits and qualities that are distinctive from other people. Despite the fact that these features are individual and different, they must constitute a structural integrity.

Character traits of a person are a priority in the study of his personality, as well as for understanding and predicting his actions, actions and behavior. Indeed, we perceive and understand any kind of human activity as a manifestation of certain traits of his character. But, characterizing a personality as a social being, it is not so much the manifestation of traits in activity that becomes important, but what exactly this activity is aimed at (and also what the human will serves). In this case, one should pay attention to the content side of the character, and more specifically, to those character traits of the personality that make up the general structure as its mental warehouse. They are expressed in: integrity-contradiction, unity-disintegration, static-dynamic, breadth-narrowness, strength-weakness.

List of human traits

human character- this is not only a certain combination of some features (or a random set of them), but the most complex mental formation, which is a certain system. This system consists of many of the most stable qualities of a personality, as well as its properties that are manifested in various systems of human relations (to work, to one's work, to the world around, to things, to oneself and to other people). In these relations, the structural nature of the character, its content and individuality of originality finds its expression. The table below describes the main character traits (their groups) that find their manifestation in various systems of human relations.

Persistent traits (symptom complexes) of character, manifested in personality relationships

In addition to the traits that manifest themselves in the system of relations, psychologists have identified traits of a person's character that can be attributed to the cognitive and emotional-volitional spheres. So character traits are divided into:

• cognitive (or intellectual) - curiosity, theoreticality, criticality, resourcefulness, analyticity, thoughtfulness, practicality, flexibility, frivolity;
• emotional (sensibility, passion, emotionality, cheerfulness, sentimentality, etc.);
• volitional traits (perseverance, determination, independence, etc.);
• moral traits (kindness, honesty, justice, humanity, cruelty, responsiveness, patriotism, etc.).

Some psychologists suggest distinguishing between motivational (or productive) and instrumental character traits. Motivational traits are understood as those that drive a person, that is, they encourage him to certain actions and deeds. (they can also be called trait-targets). Instrumental features give a person's activity a peculiar style and individuality. They refer to the very manner and way of performing an activity (they can also be called trait-ways).

Representative of the humanistic trend in psychology Gordon Allport personality traits are grouped into three main categories:

• dominant (those that most of all determine all forms of human behavior, his actions and deeds, such as selfishness or kindness);
• ordinary (which manifest themselves equally in all spheres of life, for example, parity and humanity);
• secondary (they do not have the same influences as dominant or ordinary, for example, it can be diligence or a love of music).

So, the main character traits are manifested in various spheres of mental activity and the system of personality relations. All these relationships are anchored in different ways actions and forms of human behavior that are most familiar to him. Between existing features, certain regular relationships are always established that allow you to create a structural character. She, in turn, helps to predict, according to the character trait of a person already known to us, others who are hidden from us, which makes it possible to predict his subsequent actions and actions.

Any structure, including character, has its own hierarchy. Thus, character traits also have a certain hierarchy, so there are main (leading) and secondary traits that are subordinate to the leading ones. It is possible to predict the actions of a person and his behavior, relying not only on the main features, but also on secondary ones (despite the fact that they are less significant and do not manifest themselves so clearly).

Typical and individual in character

The bearer of character is always a person, and his traits are manifested in activities, relationships, actions, behavior, ways of acting in the family, in a team, at work, among friends, etc. This manifestation always reflects the typical and individual in the character, because they exist in an organic unity (thus, the typical is always the basis for the individual manifestation of character).

What is meant by typical character? A character is called typical if there is a set of essential features that are common to a certain group of people. This set of features reflects general terms and Conditions life of a particular group. In addition, these traits should be manifested (to a greater or lesser extent) in each representative of this group. The totality of distinctive typical features is a condition for the emergence of a certain.

The typical and individual in character is most clearly expressed in a person’s relationship to other people, because interpersonal contacts are always conditioned by certain social conditions of life, the corresponding level of cultural and historical development of society and the formed spiritual world of the person himself. Attitude towards other people is always evaluative and manifests itself in different ways (approval-condemnation, support-misunderstanding) depending on the existing circumstances. This manifestation is expressed depending on the person's assessment of the actions and behavior of others, or rather their positive and negative traits character.

Typical traits of a person's character in terms of their intensity are manifested in each individually. So, for example, individual traits can reveal themselves so strongly and vividly that they become unique in their own way. It is in this case that the typical in character passes into the individual.

Positive character traits and their manifestation

Both typical and individual in character, finds its manifestation in the systems of personality relations. This is due to the presence in the character of a person of certain traits (both positive and negative). So, for example, in relation to work or one's own business, such positive character traits as diligence, discipline and organization are manifested.

As for interpersonal communications and attitudes towards other people, the following are good character traits: honesty, openness, justice, adherence to principles, humanity, etc. All these features allow you to build constructive communication and quickly establish contacts with people around you.

It should be noted that there are a lot of individual character traits. But among them it is necessary to single out, first of all, those that have the greatest influence on the formation of a person’s spirituality and him (it is in this context that the best trait of a person’s character, humanity, finds its manifestation). These traits are even more important in the process of upbringing and development of the younger generation, because same features are formed in different ways depending on situations, the presence of other character traits and the orientation of the personality itself.

Highlighting the good qualities of character, one should not forget about their possible curvature, or the presence of obvious negative traits that a person needs to fight. Only in this case will the harmonious and holistic development of the personality be observed.

Negative character traits and their manifestation

In relation to the behavior, actions and activities of other people, a person always forms traits of a certain character - positive and negative. This happens according to the principle of analogy (that is, identification with what is acceptable) and opposition (with what is included in the list of unacceptable and wrong). Attitude towards oneself can be positive or negative, which primarily depends on the level of development and the ability to adequately evaluate oneself ( that is, from the formed level). A high level of self-consciousness is evidenced by the presence of the following positive features: high demands on oneself, and self-esteem, as well as responsibility. And, on the contrary, such negative character traits as self-confidence, selfishness, immodesty, etc., speak of an insufficient level of development of self-consciousness.

Negative character traits (in principle, as well as positive ones are manifested) in the four main systems of human relations. For example, in the "attitude to work" system, among the negative features are irresponsibility, carelessness and formality. And among negative traits manifested in interpersonal communication, it is worth highlighting isolation, stinginess, boastfulness and disrespect.

It should be noted that negative character traits, which are manifested in the system of a person's relations with other people, almost always contribute to the emergence of conflicts, misunderstanding and aggression, which subsequently leads to the emergence of destructive forms of communication. That is why, every person who wants to live in harmony with others and with himself should think about education in his character. positive traits and getting rid of destructive, negative traits.

The character of a personality is a qualitative individual characteristic that combines stable and permanent properties of the psyche that determine the behavior and characteristics of a person’s attitude. Literally, translated from Greek, character means sign, trait. Character in the structure of personality combines a combination of its various qualities and properties that leave an imprint on behavior, activity and individual manifestation. The totality of essential, and most importantly, stable properties and qualities determine the whole way of life of a person and his ways of responding in a given situation.

The character of the individual is formed, defined and formed throughout his life path. The relationship of character and personality is manifested in activities, communication, causing typical behaviors.

Personality traits

Any trait is some stable and unchanging stereotype of behavior.

Characteristic personality traits in a general sense can be divided into those that set the general direction for the development of character manifestations in the complex (leading), and those that are determined by the main directions (secondary). Leading traits allow you to reflect the very essence of character and show its main important manifestations. It must be understood that any character trait of a person will reflect the manifestation of his attitude to reality, but this does not mean that any of his attitude will be directly a character trait. Depending on the living environment of the individual and certain conditions, only some manifestations of relationships will become defining character traits. Those. a person can react aggressively to one or another irritant of the internal or external environment, but this will not mean that the person is malicious by nature.

In the structure of the character of each person, 4 groups are distinguished. The first group includes traits that determine the basis of personality, its core. These include: honesty and insincerity, adherence to principles and cowardice, courage and cowardice, and many others. To the second - features that show the attitude of the individual directly to other people. For example, respect and contempt, kindness and malice, and others. The third group is characterized by the attitude of the individual towards himself. It includes: pride, modesty, arrogance, vanity, self-criticism and others. The fourth group is the attitude to work, activity or work performed. And it is characterized by such features as diligence and laziness, responsibility and irresponsibility, activity and passivity, and others.

Some scientists additionally distinguish another group that characterizes a person's attitude to things, for example, neatness and slovenliness.

They also distinguish such typological properties of character traits as abnormal and normal. Normal features are inherent in people who have a healthy psyche, and abnormal features include people with a variety of mental illnesses. It should be noted that similar personality traits character can be both abnormal and normal. It all depends on the degree of expression or whether it is an accentuation of character. An example of this would be healthy suspicion, but when it goes off scale, it leads to.

The determining role in the formation of personality traits is played by society and the attitude of a person towards him. It is impossible to judge a person without seeing how he interacts with the team, without taking into account his attachments, antipathies, comradely or friendly relations in society.

The attitude of the individual to any kind of activity is determined by his relationship with other persons. Interaction with other people can encourage a person to be active and rationalize or keep him in suspense, give rise to his lack of initiative. The idea of ​​the individual about himself is determined by his relationship with people and attitude to activity. The basis in the formation of the consciousness of the individual is directly related to other individuals. A correct assessment of the personality traits of another person is a fundamental circumstance in the formation of self-esteem. Also, it should be noted that when a person’s activity changes, not only the methods, methods and subject of this activity change, but also the person’s attitude towards himself in the new role of the actor changes.

Personality traits

The most important feature of character in the structure of personality is its certainty. But this does not mean the dominance of one trait. Several traits can dominate in the character, contradicting or not contradicting each other. Character can lose its certainty in the absence of its clearly defined features. The system of moral values ​​and beliefs of the individual is also the leading and determining factor in the formation of character traits. They establish the long-term orientation of the behavior of the individual.

Features of the individual's character are inextricably linked with his stable and deep interests. The lack of integrity, self-sufficiency and independence of the individual is closely related to the instability and superficiality of the interests of the individual. And, on the contrary, the integrity and purposefulness, perseverance of a person directly depends on the content and depth of his interests. However, the similarity of interests does not yet imply the similarity characteristic features personality. For example, among scientists you can meet both cheerful people and sad people, both good and evil.

To understand the personality traits, one should also pay attention to his affections, leisure. This can reveal new facets and features of character. It is also important to pay attention to the correspondence of a person's actions to his established goals, because the individual is characterized not only by the action, but also by how exactly he produces them. The orientation of the activity and the actions themselves form the dominant spiritual or material needs and interests of the individual. Therefore, character should be understood only as the unity of the image of actions and their direction. It is from the combination of the characteristics of the character of the individual and his properties that the real achievements of a person depend, and not from the presence of mental capabilities.

Temperament and personality

The relationship of character and personality is also determined by the temperament of the individual, abilities and other aspects. And the concepts of temperament and personality character form its structure. Character is a set of qualitative properties of an individual that determine his actions, manifested in relation to other people, actions, things. Whereas temperament is a set of properties of the individual's psyche that affect his behavioral reactions. The nervous system is responsible for the manifestation of temperament. Character is also inextricably linked with the psyche of the individual, but his features are formed throughout life under the influence of the external environment. And temperament is an innate parameter that cannot be changed, you can only restrain its negative manifestations.

The premise of character is temperament. Temperament and character in the structure of personality are closely interconnected with each other, but at the same time they are different from each other.

Temperament contains the mental dissimilarity between people. It differs in the depth and strength of manifestations of emotions, activity of actions, impressionability and other individual, stable, dynamic features of the psyche.

It can be concluded that temperament is an innate foundation and basis on which a person is formed as a member of society. Therefore, the most stable and constant personality traits is temperament. It is equally manifested in any activity, regardless of its direction or content. It remains unchanged in adulthood.

So, temperament is the personal characteristics of the individual, which determine the dynamism of the course of his behavior and mental processes. Those. the concept of temperament characterizes the pace, intensity, duration of mental processes, external behavioral reaction (activity, slowness), but not conviction in views and interests. It is also not a definition of the value of the individual and does not determine its potential.

There are three important components of temperament that are related to the general mobility (activity) of a person, his emotionality and motor skills. In turn, each of the components has a rather complex structure and is distinguished by various forms of psychological manifestation.

The essence of activity lies in the individual's desire for self-expression, the transformation of the external component of reality. At the same time, the direction itself, the quality of the implementation of these trends is determined precisely by the characterological features of the individual and not only. The degree of such activity can be from lethargy to the highest manifestation of mobility - a constant rise.

The emotional component of the personality's temperament is a set of properties that characterize the features of the flow of various feelings and moods. This component is the most complex in its structure in comparison with the others. Its main characteristics are lability, impressionability and impulsiveness. Emotional lability is the rate at which one emotional state is replaced by another or stops. Under the impressionability understand the susceptibility of the subject to emotional influences. Impulsivity is the speed with which an emotion turns into a motivating cause and force for actions and deeds without first thinking them through and making a conscious decision to carry them out.

The character and temperament of the individual are inextricably linked. The dominance of one type of temperament can help determine the character of the subjects as a whole.

Personality character types

Today, in specific literature, there are many criteria by which personality types are determined.

The typology proposed by E. Kretschmer is now the most popular. It consists in dividing people into three groups depending on their physique.

Picnic people are people who are prone to becoming overweight or slightly overweight, small in stature, but with a large head, broad face and shortened neck. Their character type corresponds to cyclothymics. They are emotional, sociable, easily adapting to a variety of conditions.

Athletic people are tall and broad-shouldered people, with well-developed muscles, a hardy skeleton and a powerful chest. They correspond to the iksotimic type of character. These people are powerful and quite practical, calm and unimpressive. Ixotimics are restrained in gestures and facial expressions, they do not adapt well to changes.

Asthenic people are people who are prone to thinness, the muscles are poorly developed, the chest is flat, the arms and legs are long, and they have an elongated face. Corresponds to the type of character schizotimics. Such people are very serious and prone to stubbornness, it is difficult to adapt to change. They are characterized by closure.

K.G. Jung developed a different typology. It is based on the predominant functions of the psyche (thinking, intuition). His classification divides subjects into introverts and extroverts, depending on the dominance of the external or internal world.

An extrovert is characterized by directness, openness. Such a person is extremely sociable, active and has many friends, comrades and just acquaintances. Extroverts love to travel and make the most of life. An extrovert often becomes the initiator of parties, in companies he becomes their soul. In ordinary life, he focuses only on circumstances, and not on the subjective opinion of others.

An introvert, on the contrary, is characterized by isolation, turning inward. Such a person fences himself off from the environment, carefully analyzes all events. It is difficult for an introvert to make contacts with people, so he has few friends and acquaintances. Introverts prefer solitude to noisy companies. These people have a high level of anxiety.

There is also a typology based on the relationship of character and temperament, which divides people into 4 psychotypes.

Choleric is a rather impetuous, fast, passionate and, along with this, unbalanced person. Such people are prone to sudden mood swings and emotional outbursts. Choleric people do not have a balance of nervous processes, therefore they are quickly depleted, thoughtlessly expending strength.

Phlegmatic people are distinguished by equanimity, unhurriedness, stability of moods and aspirations. Outwardly, they practically do not show emotions and feelings. Such people are quite persistent and persistent in their work, while always remaining balanced and calm. The phlegmatic person compensates for his slowness in work with diligence.

Melancholic is a very vulnerable person, prone to a stable experience of various events. The melancholic reacts sharply to any external factors or manifestations. Such people are very impressionable.

A sanguine person is a mobile, active person with a lively character. He is subject to frequent changes of impressions and is characterized by quick reactions to any events. Let's easily try on the failures or troubles that befell him. When a sanguine person is interested in his work, he will be quite productive.

K. Leonhard also identified 12 types that are often found in people with neurosis, accentuated characters. And E. Fromm described three social types of characters.

The psychological nature of the personality

Everyone has long known that significant changes occur in the psychological character of a person in the process of its development and life. Such changes are subject to typical (regular) and atypical (individual) trends.

Typical trends include changes that occur with a psychological nature in the process of growing up a person. This happens because the older the individual becomes, the faster he gets rid of childish manifestations in character, which distinguish childish behavior from an adult. Childish personality traits include capriciousness, tearfulness, fears, irresponsibility. Adult traits that come with age include tolerance, life experience, intelligence, wisdom, prudence, etc.

As you move along the life path and acquire life experience the individual undergoes changes in his views on events, and their attitudes towards them change. Which together also affects the final formation of character. Therefore, there are certain differences between people of different age groups.

So, for example, people between the ages of about 30 and 40 live mainly in the future, they live in ideas and plans. All their thoughts, their activity are aimed at the realization of the future. And people who have reached the age of 50 have come to the point where their present life meets simultaneously with their past life and their future. And therefore, their character is modified in such a way as to correspond to the present. This is the age when people completely say goodbye to dreams, but are not yet ready to be nostalgic for the past years. People who have overcome the 60-year milestone practically do not think about the future, they are much more concerned about the present, they have memories of the past. Also, due to physical ailments, the previously taken pace and rhythm of life is no longer available to them. This leads to the appearance of such character traits as slowness, measuredness, and tranquility.

Atypical, specific tendencies are directly related to the events experienced by a person, i.e. caused by past life.

As a rule, character traits that are similar to existing ones are fixed much faster and appear faster.

It should always be remembered that character is not a fixed value, it is formed throughout the entire life cycle of a person.

The social nature of personality

Individuals of any society, despite their individual personal characteristics and differences, have something in common in their psychological manifestations and properties, therefore they act as ordinary representatives of this society.

The social character of the individual is a general way of adaptability of the individual to the influence of society. It is created by religion, culture, education system and upbringing in the family. It should also be borne in mind that even in the family, the child receives the upbringing that is approved in this society and corresponds to the culture, is considered normal, ordinary and natural.

According to E. Fromm, social character means the result of a person's adaptation to one or another image of the organization of society, to the culture in which he is brought up. He believes that none of the well-known developed societies in the world will allow the individual to fully realize himself. From this it follows that the individual is in conflict with society from birth. Therefore, we can conclude that the social nature of the individual is a kind of mechanism that allows the individual to exist freely and with impunity in any society.

The process of adaptation of an individual in society occurs with a distortion of the character of the individual and his personality, to the detriment of it. According to Fromm, the social character is a kind of defense, an individual's response to a situation that causes frustration in the social environment, which does not allow the individual to freely express himself and fully develop, putting him obviously within the framework and limitations. In society, a person will not be able to fully develop the inclinations and opportunities inherent in him by nature. As Fromm believed, the social character is instilled in the individual and has a stabilizing character. From the moment an individual begins to have a social character, he becomes completely safe for the society in which he lives. Fromm identified several variants of this nature.

Personal character accentuation

Accentuation of the character of a person is a pronounced feature of character traits, which is within the recognized norm. Depending on the magnitude of the severity of character traits, accentuation is divided into hidden and explicit.

Under the influence of specific environmental factors or circumstances, some weakly expressed or not at all manifested features can be clearly expressed - this is called hidden accentuation.

By explicit accentuation is understood the extreme manifestation of the norm. This type is characterized by the constancy of features for a certain character. Accentuations are dangerous in that they can contribute to the development of mental disorders, situationally-defined pathological behavioral disorders, neuroses, etc. However, one should not confuse and identify the accentuation of a person's character with the concept of pathology of the psyche.

K. Leongrad identified the main types and combinations of accentuations.

feature hysteroid type is egocentrism, excessive thirst for attention, recognition of individual abilities, the need for approval and reverence.

A high degree of sociability, mobility, a tendency to mischief, excessive independence are prone to people with a hyperthymic type.

Asthenoneurotic - characterized by high fatigue, irritability, anxiety.

Psychosthenic - manifested by indecision, love of demagoguery, self-digging and analysis, suspiciousness.

A distinctive feature of the schizoid type is isolation, detachment, lack of sociability.

The sensitive type is manifested by increased resentment, sensitivity, shyness.

Excitable - characterized by a tendency to regularly recurring periods of dreary mood, the accumulation of irritation.

Emotionally labile - characterized by a very changeable mood.

Infantile-dependent - observed in people who play in children who avoid taking responsibility for their actions.

Unstable type - manifests itself in a constant craving for various kinds of entertainment, pleasure, idleness, idleness.

In addition to external signs, individuals have differences from each other in physical characteristics and mental capacity, mental and spiritual properties, in character. The worldview of a person, his environment, type of activity, and sometimes his appearance depend on its properties. Knowing what character is, one can better understand the essence of personality.

What is character in psychology?

On the human character influenced not only by psycho-emotional factors, but also by the characteristics of work nervous system, habitat and social circle. A person's temperament is a combination of individual ones that determine the specifics of her behavior, lifestyle and interaction with others.

From the point of view of psychology, character combines the specific features of the mental and human, which are constant and stable. In most cases, it is formed throughout the life path and may undergo some changes depending on the lifestyle and environment.

Types of human character

There are the following types of character:

1. Choleric- often unbalanced, enthusiastic, with a sharp change in mood, quickly emotionally exhausted.
2. sanguine- mobile, productive, plunges headlong into interesting work, loses interest in boring business, quickly reacts to changes in the situation and easily puts up with failures.
3. melancholic- often worried, vulnerable, impressionable, not much dependent on external factors.
4. Phlegmatic person- calm, hiding emotions, with a stable mood, balanced, calm, with high performance.

What determines a person's character?

Strengths of a person's character

The advantage can be the positive qualities of a person’s character:

• honesty;
• diligence and conscientiousness;
• stress tolerance;
• independence;
• discipline and diligence;
• communication skills, resourcefulness and self-confidence;
• punctuality.

With the help of the considered qualities, a person is able to achieve his goals, interact with others, be a reliable friend, life partner or partner. The development of such properties can contribute to the expansion of horizons, career growth and the emergence of new acquaintances.

Can a person change his character?

The question of whether it is possible to change the character of a person is always relevant, but there is no exact answer to it. There are a number of opinions regarding how the character of a person is revealed, each of which has the right to exist. Someone says that the basis of temperament lies in the genes or is formed in the first years of life, and all subsequent changes only slightly change the moral traits or add minor adjustments to them.

Another opinion is that throughout the entire life path an individual is able to change characteristic qualities depending on the environment that surrounds him, new interests and acquaintances. For example, the following changes may occur:

• a person can become more emotional or, conversely, restrained;
• become cautious, reasonable or reckless with age;
• responsible or careless;
• sociable or uncommunicative.

AT modern world man has many variety of options for self-realization and change of some traits of one's character. You can try to do this by changing activities, choosing an environment, changing your worldview and outlook on life. It is important that such actions are aimed at developing positive and worthy character traits.

Having understood what character is, you can try to understand the intricacies of its definition. interesting point is the ability to determine the features of temperament by the outlines of the face:

• a square-shaped face can speak of uncompromisingness and independence;
• people with a round face are often smart and practical, but emotional;
• oval - one of the signs of deep intelligence and diligence;
• the triangular shape of the face often accompanies creative, creative people.

Sometimes character traits can surprise others with the fact that they are very contradictory. So, strong, brave people are closed, and merry fellows and jokers are the most faithful friends and reliable companions in life. There may be diametrically opposite situations, because mother nature has not in vain endowed each person with individuality.

It is often said that a person has a complex, gullible, docile or terrible character. A variety of emotions is associated with the characteristics of the psychotype of a person, his state of mind, hereditary factors or upbringing. Knowing what character is, allows you to understand the individual characteristics of a person. But it is important to remember that not only character can be decisive for assessing a person.

Each person is endowed with a unique, own character from birth. A child can inherit individual traits from his parents, some show them to a greater extent, and some do not look like any of the family members at all. But character is not the behavior of parents projected onto the child, it is a more complex mental phenomenon. The list of positives is very long. In the article we will try to highlight the main character traits.

human?

Translated from Greek, the word "character" means "a distinctive feature, a sign." Depending on the type of their psychological organization, people find their soul mates, build relationships, build their whole lives. A person's character is a unique set of mental characteristics, personality traits that play a decisive role in various aspects of a person's life and are manifested through his activity.

To understand the character of an individual, it is necessary to massively analyze his actions. Judgments about character can be very subjective, because not every person acts the way his heart tells him. However, it is possible to identify individual stable character traits by studying behavior for a long time. If a person in different situations makes the same decision, draws similar conclusions and shows a similar reaction, then this indicates that he has one or another trait. For example, if someone is responsible, then his behavior both at work and at home will meet this criterion. If a person is cheerful by nature, a one-time manifestation of sadness against the background of general positive behavior will not become a separate character trait.

character building

The process of character formation begins in early childhood, in the first social contacts of the child with his parents. For example, excessive love and guardianship can later become the key to a stable characteristic of the human psyche and make him dependent or spoiled. That is why many parents are especially attentive to the upbringing of positive character traits in children. They get pets so that the baby can feel what responsibility is, instruct him to do small chores around the house, teach him to put away his toys and explain that not all desires and whims can be fulfilled.

The next step becomes Kindergarten and school. The child already has the main character traits, but at this stage they are still amenable to correction: you can wean a small personality from greed, help get rid of excessive shyness. In the future, as a rule, the formation and change of character traits is possible only when working with a psychologist.

Character or temperament?

Very often these two concepts are confused with each other. Indeed, both character and temperament shape human behavior. But they are fundamentally different in nature. Character is a list of acquired mental properties, while temperament is of biological origin. Having the same temperament, people can have completely different characters.

There are 4 types of temperament: impulsive and unbalanced choleric, unhurried and calm phlegmatic, light and optimistic sanguine and emotionally vulnerable melancholic. At the same time, temperament can restrain certain character traits, and vice versa, character can compensate for temperament.

For example, a phlegmatic person with good feeling humor, will still be stingy with displays of emotion, but this will not prevent him from demonstrating a sense of humor, laughing and having fun in the appropriate society.

List of positive qualities of a person

List of positive and negative qualities man is huge. Initially, all definitions regarding the nature and essence of a person, his behavior are subjective. In society, certain norms have been established that make it possible to determine how positive or negative this or that personality trait or its act is. However, there are higher qualities of a person that demonstrate his virtue and good intentions. Their list looks like this:

• altruism;
• respect for elders;
• kindness;
• fulfillment of promises;
• moral;
• a responsibility;
• loyalty;
• perseverance;
• moderation;
• responsiveness;
• honesty;
• sincerity;
• disinterestedness and others.

These qualities, along with their derivatives, constitute the nature of the true beauty of a person's character. They are laid in the family, in the process of upbringing, children copy the behavior of their parents, and therefore a well-educated person will have all these highest qualities.

List of negative qualities of a person

The list of positive and negative qualities of a person can be formed for a long time, since there are a lot of them. To assign a person the presence of a negative quality of character on the basis of his act or action alone will be fundamentally wrong. You can’t hang labels, even the most well-mannered and can really believe that they are endowed with, say, greed or arrogance. However, if such behavior is a pattern, then the conclusion will be obvious.

The list of negative traits, as well as positive ones, is huge. The most basic and common are as follows:

• lack of will;
• irresponsibility;
• harmfulness;
• greed;
• viciousness;
• deceit;
• hypocrisy;
• hatred;
• selfishness;
• intolerance;
• greed and others.

The presence of such character traits in a person is not a diagnosis, they can and should be dealt with even in adult, conscious age, to correct behavior.

Character traits that manifest themselves in relation to other people

We have formed a list of positive and negative qualities of a person. Now we will talk about character traits that manifest themselves in relation to other people. The fact is that depending on in relation to whom or what a person performs an action or act, a specific individual feature of it is exposed. In society, he can demonstrate the following qualities:

• sociability;
• responsiveness;
• susceptibility to someone else's mood;
• respectfulness;
• arrogance;
• egocentrism;
• coarseness;
• closure and others.

Of course, a lot depends on the conditions in which a person finds himself: even the most open and sociable person may experience problems in communicating with a strict, closed and heartless person. But, as a rule, polite people, endowed with positive qualities, easily adapt in society and suppress their negative traits.

Character traits manifested in work

Building a person's career directly depends on the qualities of his character. Even the most talented and gifted people can fail because they are not responsible enough for their work and their talent. Thus, they only harm themselves and do not give themselves the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Or, on the contrary, there are cases when the lack of talent was more than compensated for by special diligence in work. A responsible and accurate person will always succeed. Here is a list of the main such traits:

• diligence;
• a responsibility;
• initiative;
• accuracy;
• slovenliness;
• laziness;
• negligence;
• passivity and others.

These two groups of character traits actively echo each other, since labor activity and communication between people are inseparably linked.

Character traits that manifest themselves in relation to oneself

These are the features that characterize in relation to himself, his self-perception. They look like this:

• feeling of self-worth or superiority;
• honour;
• arrogance;
• self-criticism;
• egocentrism;
• self-love and others.

Character traits that manifest themselves in relation to things

Attitude towards things does not affect the building of a person's social ties, but it demonstrates and reveals the best or unattractive qualities of his nature. These are traits such as:

• accuracy;
• thrift;
• scrupulousness;
• carelessness and others.

Mentality, qualities of a Russian person

Mentality is a very subjective concept, and it is based on stereotypical thinking. However, it cannot be denied that certain features are inherent in a particular nationality. Russian people are famous for their cordiality and hospitality, cheerful disposition. The Russian soul is considered mysterious and incomprehensible all over the world, since Russians do not differ in the rationality and logic of their actions, they are often influenced by their mood.

Another feature of the Russian people is sentimentality. A Russian person instantly takes on the feelings of another and is always ready to share emotions with him, to lend a helping hand. It is impossible not to mention another trait - compassion. Historically, Russia has helped its neighbors on all frontiers of the country, and today only a heartless person will pass by the misfortune of another.