What is a character example from life. What is character. Character traits.

In addition to external signs, individuals have differences from each other in physical features and mental abilities, 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. The temperament of a person 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 may be positive traits 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.

Character(Greek - sign, distinctive property, distinctive feature, feature, sign or seal) - the structure of persistent, relatively constant mental properties that determine the characteristics of the relationship and behavior of the individual.

When they talk about character, they usually mean by this just such a set of properties and qualities of a personality that impose a certain imprint on all its manifestations and deeds. Character traits are those essential properties of a person that determine a particular way of behavior, way of life. The static character is determined by the type of nervous activity, and its dynamics is determined by the environment.

Character is understood as:

• a system of stable motives and ways of behavior that form a behavioral type of personality;
• a measure of the balance of the inner and outer worlds, the features of an individual's adaptation to the reality around him;
• distinctly expressed certainty of the typical behavior of each person.

In the system of personality relations, four groups of character traits are distinguished, forming symptom complexes:

• the attitude of a person towards other people, a team, society (sociability, sensitivity and responsiveness, respect for others - people, collectivism and opposite traits - isolation, callousness, callousness, rudeness, contempt for people, individualism);
• traits that show a person’s attitude to work, their work (hard work, a penchant for creativity, conscientiousness in work, a responsible attitude to business, initiative, perseverance and their opposite traits - laziness, a tendency to routine work, dishonesty, irresponsible attitude to work, passivity) ;
• traits that show how a person relates to himself (self-esteem, correctly understood pride and self-criticism associated with it, modesty and its opposite traits - self-conceit, sometimes turning into arrogance, vanity, arrogance, touchiness, shyness, egocentrism as a tendency to consider center of events
• oneself and one's experiences, selfishness - the tendency to care primarily about one's own personal welfare);
• traits that characterize a person's attitude to things (neatness or carelessness, careful or careless handling of things).

One of the most famous character theories is the theory proposed by the German psychologist E. Kretschmer. According to this theory, character depends on physique.

Kretschmer described three body types and their corresponding three types of character:

Asthenics(from Greek - weak) - people are thin, with an elongated face. long arms and legs, flat (ore cell and weak muscles. The corresponding type of character is schizothymic- people are closed, serious, stubborn, difficult to adapt to new conditions. With mental disorders, they are prone to schizophrenia;

Athletics(from Greek - peculiar to wrestlers) - people are tall, broad-shouldered, with a powerful chest, a strong skeleton and well-developed muscles. Corresponding character type - xotimics- people are calm, unimpressive, practical, domineering, restrained in gestures and facial expressions; They do not like change and do not adapt well to it. With mental disorders, they are prone to epilepsy;

Picnics(from Greek - dense. thick) - people of average height, overweight or prone to obesity, with short neck, big head and a broad face with small features. Corresponding character tin - cyclothymics - people are sociable, contact, emotional, easily adapting to new conditions. With mental disorders, they are prone to manic-depressive psychosis.

General concept of character and its manifestations

In concept character(from the Greek character - “seal”, “chasing”), means a set of stable individual characteristics that develop and manifest themselves in activity and communication, causing typical behaviors for it.

When they determine the character of a person, they do not say that such and such a person showed courage, truthfulness, frankness, that this person is courageous, truthful, frank, i.e. the named qualities are the properties of a given person, traits of his character, which can manifest themselves under appropriate circumstances. Knowledge of a person's character allows you to predict with a significant degree of probability and thereby correct the expected actions and deeds. It is not uncommon to say of a man of character: "He had to do it this way, he could not have done otherwise - that's his character."

However, not all human features can be considered characteristic, but only essential and stable ones. If a person, for example, is not polite enough in a stressful situation, then this does not mean that rudeness and incontinence are a property of his character. Sometimes, even very cheerful people can experience a feeling of sadness, but this does not make them whiners and pessimists.

Speaking like a lifetime human, character is determined and formed throughout a person's life. The way of life includes the way of thoughts, feelings, impulses, actions in their unity. Therefore, as a certain way of life of a person is formed, the person himself is formed. An important role here is played by social conditions and specific life circumstances in which a person’s life path passes, based on his natural properties and as a result of his deeds and deeds. However, the formation of character itself takes place in groups of different levels of development (, a friendly company, a class, a sports team, etc.). Depending on which group is the reference group for the individual and what values ​​it supports and cultivates in its environment, the corresponding character traits will develop among its members. Character traits will also depend on the position of the individual in the group, on how he integrates in it. In the team, as a group of a high level of development, the most favorable opportunities are created for the formation best features character. This process is mutual, and thanks to the development of the individual, the team itself develops.

Character content, reflecting social influences, influences, constitutes the life orientation of the individual, i.e. her material and spiritual needs, interests, beliefs, ideals, etc. The orientation of the personality determines the goals, the life plan of a person, the degree of his life activity. The character of a person implies the presence of something significant for him in the world, in life, something on which the motives of his actions depend, the goals of his actions, the tasks that he sets himself.

Decisive for understanding character is the relationship between socially and personally significant for a person. Every society has its own major and essential tasks. It is on them that the character of people is formed and tested. Therefore, the concept of "character" refers more to the relationship of these objectively existing tasks. Therefore, character is not just any manifestation of firmness, perseverance, etc. (formal persistence can be just stubbornness), but focus on socially significant activities. It is the orientation of the personality that underlies the unity, integrity, strength of character. The possession of life goals is the main condition for the formation of character. A spineless person is characterized by the absence or dispersion of goals. However, the nature and orientation of the personality are not the same thing. Good-natured and cheerful can be both a decent, highly moral person, and a person with low, unscrupulous thoughts. The orientation of the individual leaves an imprint on all human behavior. And although behavior is determined not by one impulse, but by an integral system of relations, something always comes to the fore in this system, dominating it, giving a peculiar flavor to a person’s character.

In the formed character, the leading component is the persuasion system. Conviction determines the long-term direction of a person's behavior, his inflexibility in achieving his goals, confidence in the justice and importance of the work he performs. Character traits are closely related to the interests of a person, provided that these interests are stable and deep. The superficiality and instability of interests are often associated with great imitation, with a lack of independence and integrity of a person's personality. And, conversely, the depth and content of interests testify to the purposefulness and perseverance of the individual. The similarity of interests does not imply similar features of character. So, among rationalizers one can find people cheerful and sad, modest and obsessive, egoists and altruists.

Indicative for the understanding of character can also be the affections and interests of a person related to his leisure. They reveal new features, facets of character: for example, L. N. Tolstoy was fond of playing chess, I. P. Pavlov - towns, D. I. Mendeleev - reading adventure novels. Whether a person's spiritual and material needs and interests dominate is determined not only by the thoughts and feelings of the individual, but also by the direction of his activity. No less important is the correspondence of a person's actions to the set goals, since a person is characterized not only by what she does, but also by how she does it. Character can only be understood as a certain unity of direction and mode of action.

People with a similar orientation can go completely different ways to achieve goals and use their own, special, techniques and methods for this. This dissimilarity also determines the specific character of the individual. Character traits, having a certain motivating force, are clearly manifested in a situation of choosing actions or ways of behaving. From this point of view, as a character trait, one can consider the degree of expression of an individual's achievement motivation - his need to achieve success. Depending on this, some people are characterized by the choice of actions that ensure success (showing initiative, competitive activity, striving for risk, etc.), while others are more likely to simply avoid failures (deviation from risk and responsibility, avoiding manifestations of activity, initiative, etc.).

Teaching about character characterology has a long history of development. The most important problems of characterology for centuries have been the establishment of types of character and their definition by its manifestations in order to predict human behavior in various situations. Since character is a lifetime formation of a personality, most of its existing classifications proceed from grounds that are external, mediated factors in the development of a personality.

One of the most ancient attempts to predict human behavior is the explanation of his character by the date of birth. A variety of ways to predict the fate and character of a person are called horoscopes.

No less popular are attempts to connect the character of a person with his name.

Significant influence on the development of characterology had physiognomy(from the Greek Physis - "nature", gnomon - "knowing") - the doctrine of the relationship between the external appearance of a person and his belonging to a certain type of personality, due to which the psychological characteristics of this type can be established by external signs.

Palmistry has no less famous and rich history than the physiognomic trend in characterology. Palmistry(from the Greek Cheir - "hand" and manteia - "fortune telling", "prophecy") - a system for predicting a person's character traits and his fate according to the skin relief of the palms.

Until recently, scientific psychology has consistently rejected palmistry, but the study of the embryonic development of finger patterns in connection with heredity gave impetus to the emergence of a new branch of knowledge - dermatoglyphics.

More valuable, in a diagnostic sense, compared to, say, physiognomy, can be considered graphology - a science that considers handwriting as a kind of expressive movements that reflect the psychological properties of the writer.

At the same time, the unity, versatility of character do 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 and 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.

The relationship of character and temperament

Character often compared with, and in some cases, they replace these concepts with each other.

In science, among the dominant views on the relationship between character and temperament, four main ones can be distinguished:

• identification of character and temperament (E. Kretschmer, A. Ruzhitsky);
• opposition of character and temperament, emphasizing the antagonism between them (P. Viktorv, V. Virenius);
• recognition of temperament as an element of character, its core, an invariable part (S. L. Rubinshtein, S. Gorodetsky);
• recognition of temperament as the natural basis of character (L. S. Vygotsky, B. G. Ananiev).

Based on the materialistic understanding of human phenomena, it should be noted that the common character and temperament is the dependence on the physiological characteristics of a person, and above all on the type of nervous system. The formation of character essentially depends on the properties of temperament, more closely related to the properties of the nervous system. In addition, character traits arise when the temperament is already sufficiently developed. Character develops on the basis, on the basis of temperament. Temperament determines in the character such traits as the balance or imbalance of behavior, the ease or difficulty of entering a new situation, the mobility or inertness of the reaction, etc. However, temperament does not predetermine character. People with the same temperament properties can have a completely different character. Features of temperament can contribute to or counteract the formation of certain character traits. Thus, it is more difficult for a melancholic to form courage and determination in himself than for a choleric. It is more difficult for a choleric person to develop self-restraint, phlegmatic; a phlegmatic person needs to spend more energy to become sociable than a sanguine person, etc.

However, as B. G. Ananiev believed, if education consisted only in improving and strengthening natural properties, then this would lead to a monstrous uniformity of development. The properties of temperament can, to some extent, even come into conflict with the character. In P. I. Tchaikovsky, the tendency to melancholy experiences was overcome by one of the main features of his character - his ability to work. “You always need to work,” he said, “and every honest artist cannot sit idly by, under the pretext that he is not located .. If you wait for an arrangement and do not try to meet him, then you can easily fall into laziness and apathy . Disagreements very rarely happen to me. I attribute this to my being endowed with patience, and train myself never to give in to reluctance. I've learned to conquer myself."

In a person with a formed character, temperament ceases to be independent form manifestations of the personality, but becomes its dynamic side, consisting in a certain speed of the flow of mental processes and manifestations of the personality, a certain characteristic of the expressive movements and actions of the personality. Here we should also note the influence exerted on the formation of character by a dynamic stereotype, i.e. a system of conditioned reflexes that form in response to a steadily repeating system of stimuli. The formation of dynamic stereotypes in a person in various repetitive situations is influenced by his attitude to the situation, as a result of which excitation, inhibition, mobility of nervous processes can change, and, consequently, the general functional state of the nervous system. It is also necessary to note the decisive role in the formation of dynamic stereotypes of the second signal system, through which social influences are carried out.

Ultimately, the traits of temperament and character are organically linked and interact with each other in a single, holistic image of a person, forming an inseparable alloy - an integral characteristic of his personality.

Character has long been identified with the will of a person, the expression “a person with character” was considered as a synonym for the expression “strong-willed person”. The will is associated primarily with the strength of character, its firmness, determination, perseverance. When they say that a person has a strong character, they thereby seem to want to emphasize his purposefulness, his strong-willed qualities. In this sense, the character of a person is best manifested in overcoming difficulties, in the struggle, i.e. in those conditions where the will of man is manifested to the greatest extent. But character is not exhausted by force, it has content, determining how the will will function under various conditions. On the one hand, in volitional deeds, character develops and manifests itself in them: volitional deeds in situations that are significant for the individual pass into the character of a person, fixing themselves in it as relatively stable properties of it; these properties, in turn, determine the behavior of a person, his volitional actions. Volitional character is distinguished by certainty, constancy and independence, firmness in the implementation of the intended goal. On the other hand, it is not uncommon for a weak-willed person to be called “spineless”. From the point of view of psychology, this is not entirely true - and a weak-willed person has certain character traits, such as fearfulness, indecision, etc. The use of the term “characterless” means the unpredictability of a person’s behavior, indicates that he does not have his own direction, an internal core that would determine his behavior. His actions are caused by external influences and do not depend on himself.

The peculiarity of character is also reflected in the peculiarities of the flow of human feelings. This was pointed out by K. D. Ushinsky: “nothing, neither words, nor thoughts, nor even our actions express ourselves and our attitude to the world so clearly and correctly, as our feelings: they hear the character of not a separate thought, not a separate decision, but the entire content of our soul and its structure. The connection between feelings and properties of a person's character is also mutual. On the one hand, the level of development of moral, aesthetic, intellectual feelings depends on the nature of a person's activity and communication and on the traits of character formed on this basis. On the other hand, these feelings themselves become characteristic, stable features of the personality, thus constituting the character of a person. The level of development of a sense of duty, a sense of humor and other complex feelings is a fairly indicative characteristic of a person.

Of particular 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 thinking - all this makes up the originality of the mind as one of the sides of character. However, how a person uses his mental capacity, will greatly depend on the character. Often there are people who have high intellectual data, but do not give anything of value precisely because of their characterological features. Numerous literary images of superfluous people serve as an example of this (Pechorin, Rudin, Beltov, etc.). As I. S. Turgenev well said through the mouth of one of actors novel about Rudin: “There is perhaps a genius in him, but no nature.” Thus, 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.

character structure

In general form, all character traits can be divided into basic, leading, setting the general direction for the development of the whole complex of its manifestations, and secondary, determined by the main. So, if we consider such traits as indecision, timidity and altruism, then with the prevalence of the first, a person, first of all, constantly fears “no matter how something happens” and all attempts to help one’s neighbor usually end in inner feelings and the search for justification. If the second trait is altruism, then the person outwardly shows no hesitation, immediately comes to the rescue, controlling his behavior with the intellect, but at the same time he may sometimes have doubts about the correctness of the actions taken.

Knowledge of leading traits allows you to reflect the main essence of the character, to show its main manifestations. Writers, artists, wanting an idea of ​​the character of the hero, first of all describe his leading, pivotal features. So, A. S. Pushkin put into the mouth of Vorotynsky (in the tragedy “Boris Godunov”) an exhaustive description of Shuisky - “a crafty courtier”. Some heroes of literary works so deeply and truly reflect certain typical character traits that their names become common nouns (Khlestakov, Oblomov, Manilov, etc.).

Although every character trait reflects one of the manifestations of a person's attitude to reality, this does not mean that any attitude will be a character trait. Only some relationships, depending on the conditions, become features. 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. The most important distinguishing feature of such relations is the decisive, paramount and general vital importance of those objects to which a 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:

• In relation to other people (at the same time, such character traits as sociability - isolation, truthfulness - deceit, tact - rudeness, etc. can be distinguished).
• In relation to the case (responsibility - dishonesty, diligence - laziness, etc.).
• In relation to oneself (modesty - narcissism, self-criticism - self-confidence, pride - humiliation, etc.).
• In relation to property (generosity - greed, frugality - 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. So, for example, if a person shows rudeness, then this concerns his relationship to people; but if at the same time he works as a teacher, then here it is already necessary to talk about his attitude to the matter (bad faith), about his attitude towards himself (narcissism).

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 one row, say, the attitude towards other people and the attitude towards property, since their very content plays a different role in the real existence of a person. 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 team, without taking into account his attachments in the form of camaraderie, friendship, love.

In the structure of character, one can distinguish traits that are common to a certain group of people. Even the most original person can find some trait (for example, unusual, unpredictable behavior), the possession of which allows him to be attributed to a group of people with similar behavior. AT this case should talk about the typical in character traits. N. D. Levitov believes that the type of character is a specific expression in individual character traits that are common to a group of people. Indeed, as noted, the character is not innate - it is formed in the life and work of a person as a representative of a certain group, a certain society. Therefore, the character of a person is always a product of society, which explains the similarities and differences in the characters of people belonging to different groups.

Diverse typical features are reflected in the individual character: national, professional, age. Thus, people of the same nationality are in the conditions of life that have developed over many generations, they experience the specific features of national life; develop under the influence of the existing national structure, language. Therefore, people of one nationality differ in their way of life, habits, rights, and character from people of another. These typical features are often fixed by everyday consciousness in various attitudes and stereotypes. Most people have a formed image of a representative of a particular country: an American, a Scot, an Italian, a Chinese, etc.