What might a person be capable of? The concept of abilities

One of the most complex and interesting problems in psychology is the problem of individual differences. It is difficult to name at least one property, quality, trait of a person that would not be included in the circle of this problem. Mental properties and qualities of people are formed in life, in the process of education, upbringing, activity. With the same educational programs and teaching methods, we see individual characteristics in everyone. And that's great. That's why people are so interesting because they are different.

The central moment in the individual characteristics of a person is his abilities, it is the abilities that determine the formation of the personality and determine the degree of brightness of its individuality.

Capabilities- these are the internal conditions for the development of a person, which are formed in the process of his interaction with the outside world.

“Human abilities that distinguish a person from other living beings constitute his nature, but the very nature of a person is a product of history,” wrote S.L. Rubinstein. Human nature is formed and changed in the process of historical development as a result of human labor activity. Intellectual abilities were formed as, by changing nature, a person cognized it, artistic, musical, etc. were formed along with the development of various types of art” 1 .

The concept of "ability" includes three main features:

Firstly, abilities are understood as individual psychological characteristics that distinguish one person from another. These are features of sensations and perception, memory, thinking, imagination, emotions and will, relationships and motor reactions, etc.

Secondly, abilities are not called individual characteristics in general, but only those that are related to the success of performing an activity or many activities. There is a huge variety of activities and relationships, each of which requires certain abilities for its implementation at a sufficiently high level. Properties such as irascibility, lethargy, indifference, which are undoubtedly the individual characteristics of people, are usually not called abilities, because they are not considered as conditions for the success of any activity.

Thirdly, abilities are understood as such individual characteristics that are not limited to the available skills, abilities or knowledge of a person, but which can explain the ease and speed of acquiring this knowledge and skills 2 .

Based on the above, the following definition can be derived.

Abilities are such individual psychological characteristics of a person that meet the requirements of this activity and are a condition for its successful implementation.

In other words, abilities are understood as properties, or qualities, of a person that make him suitable for the successful performance of a certain activity. You can't just be "capable" or "capable of everything", regardless of any particular occupation. Every ability is necessarily the ability to something, to any activity. Abilities both manifest themselves and develop only in action.

1 Rubinshtein S.L. Fundamentals of General Psychology: In 2 vols. - M., 1989. - T. 2. -S. 127.

2 See: Warm B.M. Selected works: In 2 volumes - M., 1985. - V.1. - C.16.ness, and determine the greater or lesser success in the implementation of this activity.

Indicators of abilities in the process of their development can be the pace, ease of assimilation and speed of advancement in a particular area of ​​human activity.

A person is not born with the ability for this or that activity. Only inclinations that form the natural basis for the development of abilities can be innate.

Inclinations are structural features of the brain and nervous system, sense organs and movements, functional features of the body, given to everyone from birth.

The inclinations include some innate features of the visual and auditory analyzers, typological properties of the nervous system, on which the speed of formation of temporary nerve connections, their strength, the strength of concentrated attention, the endurance of the nervous system, and mental performance depend. The level of development and correlation of the first and second signal systems should also be considered as inclinations. I.P. Pavlov distinguished three specifically human types of higher nervous activity: artistic type with the relative predominance of the first signal system, thinking type with the relative predominance of the second signal system, third type - with relative balance of signaling systems. For people of the artistic type, the brightness of direct impressions, the imagery of perception and memory, the richness and liveliness of the imagination, and emotionality are characteristic. Thinking type people tend to analyze and systematize, to generalized, abstract thinking.

Individual features of the structure of individual sections of the cerebral cortex can also be inclinations. But inclinations are only prerequisites for the development of abilities, they are one, albeit very important, of the conditions for the development and formation of abilities. If a person, even with the best inclinations, does not engage in relevant activities, his abilities will not develop. A favorable environment, upbringing and training contribute to the early awakening of inclinations. For example, from the age of two, Rimsky-Korsakov could clearly distinguish all the melodies that his mother sang, at the age of four he already sang everything that his father played, soon he himself began to pick up the pieces he heard from his father on the piano. Igor Grabar tells about himself: “When a passion for drawing began, I don’t remember, but suffice it to say that I don’t remember myself not drawing.

Ability cannot arise without a corresponding specific activity. It is impossible to understand the matter in such a way that the ability exists before the corresponding activity has begun, and is only used in the latter. Absolute pitch as an ability does not exist in a child before he first faced the task of recognizing the pitch of a sound. Prior to this, there was only a deposit as an anatomical and physiological fact. And a subtle ear for music can be unrealized if a person does not specifically study music. Therefore, music lessons with young children, even if the kids do not show bright musical talents, are of great importance for the development of their musical abilities.

Abilities are not only manifested in activity, but are also created in this activity. They are always the result of development. By its very essence, ability is a dynamic concept - it exists only in motion, only in development.

The development of abilities takes place in a spiral: the realization of the possibilities that the ability of one level represents opens up new opportunities for further development, for the development of abilities of a higher level (S.L. Rubinshtein).

Thus, the child's abilities are formed gradually by mastering him in the process of learning the content of material and spiritual culture, technology, science, and art. The initial prerequisite for this development of abilities is innate inclinations (we note that the concepts of "innate" and "hereditary" are not identical).

It should not be thought that each ability corresponds to a special deposit. The inclinations are ambiguous and can be realized in various types of abilities, on their basis different abilities can be developed depending on how a person’s life goes, what he learns, what he is inclined to. Inclinations can, to a greater or lesser extent, determine the originality of a person's development, the style of his intellectual or other activity.

It is impossible to indicate in advance the exact boundaries in the development of certain abilities, to determine the "ceiling", the limit of their development. This is due to the fact that any activity requires for its implementation not one, but several abilities, and they can, to a certain extent, compensate, replace each other. Learning and mastering what has been created by mankind throughout the history of its existence, we develop our natural qualities, our inclinations, turn them into abilities for activity. Every person is capable of something. Abilities develop in a person as he masters some activity, field of knowledge, academic subject.

A person's abilities develop and work out on what he does. One can cite as an example P.I. Tchaikovsky. He did not have an absolute pitch, the composer himself complained of a poor musical memory, he played the piano fluently, but not so well, although he had been playing music since childhood. Composer activity P.I. Tchaikovsky first took up, having already graduated from the School of Law. And despite this, he became a brilliant composer.

There are two levels of ability development: reproductive and creative. A person who is at the first level of development of abilities reveals a high ability to master a skill, acquire knowledge, master an activity and carry it out according to the proposed model, in accordance with the proposed idea. At the second level of development of abilities, a person creates a new, original.

In the process of mastering knowledge and skills, in the process of activity, a person "transfers" from one level to another. Accordingly, the structure of his abilities also changes. As you know, even very gifted people began with imitation, and then, only as they gained experience, they showed creativity.

“Scientists have established that it is not individual abilities as such that directly determine the possibility of successfully performing any activity, but only that peculiar combination of these abilities that characterizes a given person.

One of the most important features of the human psyche is the possibility of an extremely wide compensation of some properties by others, as a result of which the relative weakness of any one ability does not at all exclude the possibility of successfully performing even such an activity that is most closely related to this ability. The missing ability can be compensated within very wide limits by others highly developed in the given person. B.M. Teplov emphasized the importance of the advancement and development by a number of foreign psychologists, and primarily by V. Stern, of the concept of compensation for abilities and properties.

Separate abilities do not just coexist with each other. Each ability changes, acquires a qualitatively different character, depending on the presence and degree of development of other abilities. L.S. Vygotsky wrote: “Each of our “ability” actually works in such a complex whole that, taken by itself, it does not even give an approximate idea of ​​the real possibilities of its action. A person with a weak memory when we study it in isolation may turn out to be better at remembering than a person with a good memory, simply by virtue of the fact that memory never appears on its own, but always in close cooperation with attention, general attitude, thinking - and the combined effect of these various abilities may turn out to be completely independent of the absolute value of each of the terms" 1 .

A peculiar combination of abilities that provides a person with the opportunity to successfully perform any activity is called giftedness.

The problem of giftedness is primarily a qualitative problem (S.L. Rubinshtein). The first, main question is what are the abilities of a person, what are his abilities for and what is their qualitative originality. But this qualitative problem also has its quantitative aspect.

A high level of development of abilities is called talent.

Talented people are able to solve complex theoretical and practical problems in some field of knowledge or practice, they are able to create material or spiritual values ​​that are new and have progressive significance. In this sense, we are talking about talented scientists, writers, teachers, artists, designers, managers, etc.

Talent can manifest itself in any human activity, and not just in the field of science or art. The attending physician, and the teacher, and the skilled worker, and the head, and the farmer, and pilot, etc.

1 Vygotsky L. S. Pedagogical psychology. - M., 1991. - S. 231. Talented people are also called those who are able to quickly acquire knowledge and correctly apply them in life and in their activities. These are talented pupils and talented students, talented violinists and pianists, talented engineers and builders.

Genius- this is the highest degree of manifestation of the creative forces of man. This is the creation of qualitatively new creations that open a new era in the development of culture, science, and practice. So, A.S. Pushkin created works, with the appearance of which a new era begins in the development of Russian literature and the Russian literary language.

We can say this: a genius discovers and creates something new, and talent understands this new thing, quickly assimilates it, applies it to life and moves it forward.

Brilliant and talented people are people with a very developed mind, observation, imagination. M. Gorky remarked: "Great people are those who have better, deeper, sharper developed abilities of observation, comparison and conjecture - guesswork and" estimates "".

Creative activity requires the so-called broad outlook, familiarity with many areas of knowledge and culture. Anyone who is "up to his ears" immersed in a narrow scientific field deprives himself of a source of analogies.

Many outstanding people showed high abilities in various fields of knowledge. Many of them were versatile in their abilities. For example, Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci, M.V. Lomonosov. Here is what Sofia Kovalevskaya wrote about herself: “I understand that you are so surprised that I can study literature and mathematics at the same time. Many who have never had a chance to learn more about mathematics confuse it with arithmetic and consider it a dry and barren science. In essence, however, this is a science that requires the most imagination, and one of the first mathematicians of our century says quite rightly that one cannot be a mathematician without being at the same time a poet at heart. Only, of course, in order to understand the correctness of this definition, one must abandon the old prejudice that a poet must compose something that does not exist, that fantasy and fiction are one and the same. It seems to me that a poet must see what others do not see, to see deeper than others. And so should a mathematician.” 3.2. General and special capabilities

Distinguish abilities general, that appear everywhere or in many areas of knowledge and activity, and special, that appear in one area.

A fairly high level of development general abilities - features of thinking, attention, memory, perception, speech, mental activity, curiosity, creative imagination, etc. - allows you to achieve significant results in various areas of human activity with intensive, interested work. There are almost no people in whom all the abilities listed above are evenly expressed. For example, Ch. Darwin noted: "I surpass average people in the ability to notice things that easily escape attention, and subject them to careful observation."

Special abilities - these are the abilities for a certain activity that help a person achieve high results in it. The main difference between people is not so much in the degree of giftedness and quantitative characteristics of abilities, but in their quality - what exactly is he capable of, what kind of abilities are they. The quality of abilities determines the originality and originality of the giftedness of each person.

Both general and special abilities are inextricably linked with each other. Only the unity of general and special abilities reflects the true nature of a person's abilities. V.G. Belinsky subtly remarked: “No matter how you split life, it is always one and whole. They say: for science you need mind and reason, for creativity - fantasy, and they think that this has decided the matter completely ... But art does not need mind and reason? Can a scientist do without fantasy?

Special abilities have developed in the course of the development of human society and human culture. “All the special abilities of a person are, after all, various manifestations, aspects of his general ability to master the achievements of human culture and its further advancement,” noted S.L. Rubinstein. - A person's abilities are manifestations, aspects of his ability to learn and work.

1 Rubinshtein S.L. Fundamentals of General Psychology. - M., 1946. - P.643. The development of the special abilities of each person is nothing more than an expression of the individual path of his development.

Special abilities are classified in accordance with various areas of human activity: literary abilities, mathematical, constructive and technical, musical, artistic, linguistic, stage, pedagogical, sports, abilities for theoretical and practical activities, spiritual abilities, etc. All of them are a product of the prevailing in the history of mankind, the division of labor, the emergence of new areas of culture and the allocation of new activities as independent activities. All kinds of special abilities are the result of the development of the material and spiritual culture of mankind and the development of man himself as a thinking and active being.

The abilities of each person are quite wide and varied. As already noted, they both manifest themselves and develop in activity. Any human activity is a complex phenomenon. Its success cannot be ensured by only one ability, each special ability includes a number of components, which in their combination, unity form the structure of this ability. Success in any activity is ensured by a special combination of various components that make up the structure of abilities. Influencing each other, these components give the ability individuality, originality. That is why each person is capable, talented in his own way in the activity in which other people work. For example, one musician may be talented in playing the violin, another in the piano, and a third in conducting, showing his individual creative style in these special areas of music as well.

The development of special abilities is a complex and lengthy process. Different special abilities are characterized by different time of their revealing. Earlier than others, talents in the field of arts, and above all in music, are manifested. It has been established that at the age of up to 5 years, the development of musical abilities occurs most favorably, since it is at this time that a child’s ear for music and musical memory are formed. Examples of early musical talent are V.A. Mozart, who discovered extraordinary abilities already at the age of 3, F.J. Haydn - at 4 years old, Ya.L.F. Mendelssohn - at 5 years old, S.S. Prokofiev - at the age of 8. Somewhat later, abilities for painting and sculpture are manifested: S. Raphael - at 8 years old, B. Michelangelo - at 13 years old, A. Dürer - at 15 years old.

Technical abilities are revealed, as a rule, later than abilities in the field of arts. This is explained by the fact that technical activity, technical invention require a very high development of higher mental functions, primarily thinking, which is formed at a later age - adolescence. However, the famous Pascal made a technical invention at the age of 9, but this is one of the rare exceptions. At the same time, elementary technical abilities can be manifested in children as early as 9-11 years old.

In the field of scientific creativity, abilities are revealed much later than in other areas of activity, as a rule, after 20 years. At the same time, mathematical abilities are detected earlier than others.

It must be remembered that any creative abilities in themselves do not turn into creative accomplishments. In order to get a result, you need knowledge and experience, work and patience, will and desire, you need a powerful motivational basis for creativity.

3.3. Abilities and personality

Capabilities cannot be understood and cannot be considered outside the personality. The development of abilities and the development of personality are interdependent processes. This is what psychologists pay attention to, emphasizing that “the development of ability gives not only a practical effect, increasing the quality of activity, but also a personal effect of satisfaction from its process, which, acting as a reinforcement, turns out to be, in turn, a condition of ability” (K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya).

Success or failure in an activity that is significant for a person affects the development of his personality, forms his personal dignity. Without the development of abilities, there can be no development of personality. Abilities underlie the individuality, uniqueness of a person. Genius and talent are expressed not only in the strong development of the intellect. A sign of high abilities and giftedness is sustained attention, emotional ! passion, strong will. All brilliant people were distinguished by ardent love and passion for their work. So, A.V. Suvorov was all devoted to military affairs, A.S. Pushkin - poetry, I.P. Pavlov - science, K.E. Tsiolkovsky - to the study of interplanetary space flights.

A passionate attitude to work contributes to the concentration of all cognitive, creative, emotional and volitional forces.

It is wrong to think that everything is easy for capable people, without much difficulty. As a rule, the people whom we call talented have the ability for one activity or another always combined with industriousness. Many talented scientists, writers, artists, teachers and other figures emphasized that talent is work multiplied by patience. The great scientist A. Einstein once said in a joking manner that he achieved success only because he was distinguished by "stubbornness of a mule and terrible curiosity." M. Gorky said about himself: "I know that I owe my success not so much to natural talent as to the ability to work, love of work."

In the development of a person's abilities, his own work on oneself. The life of famous people shows that the most important thing in their creative activity is the ability to work continuously, the ability to achieve the intended goal for months, years, decades, and tirelessly look for ways to achieve it.

Let us recall the life and work of the great Russian commander A.V. Suvorov. His brilliant abilities developed not only in the process of active military activity, but also as a result of his own hard work on himself. Suvorov from childhood was fond of military affairs, read the descriptions of the campaigns of the great commanders of antiquity: Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Julius Caesar. By nature, he was a weak and sickly child. But from his youth, he himself managed to create what nature did not give him - health, endurance, iron will. He achieved all this by constant training and hardening of his body. Suvorov himself invented various gymnastic exercises for himself and constantly practiced them: he doused himself with cold water all year round, swam and swam until frost, overcame the steepest ravines, climbed tall trees and, having climbed to the very top, swayed on the branches. At night, on a bare horse, he rode without roads through fields and forests. Constant physical exercises tempered Suvorov so much that even as a 70-year-old man he did not know fatigue.

The development of human abilities is closely related to the development of interests.

Interest is an individual feature of a person, its focus on what a person considers in the world and in his life to be the most significant, most valuable.

Distinguish direct and mediated interest. The first is related to the amusement, fascination, pleasantness of what aroused our interest. For example, we are talking about an interesting performance, a meeting with an interesting person, an interesting lecture, etc. This interest manifests itself mainly in involuntary attention and is very short-lived.

The second is mediated by our conscious desire to learn more and more about an object, person, phenomenon. This interest is arbitrary, i.e. we express our will, our desire to penetrate deeper into the essence of what interests us. The mediation of interest is expressed in a more or less long-term, stable orientation of the individual to a certain subject, to a certain area of ​​reality and life, to a certain activity. It is the presence of such an interest that constitutes an individual feature of a person.

People's interests differ primarily in content, which is determined by those objects or areas of reality to which these interests are directed.

People's interests differ by latitude. Narrow interests are considered to be directed only to one limited area of ​​reality, wide and versatile - aimed at several areas of reality. At the same time, in a person with diverse interests, usually some interest is central, main.

The same interests in different people are manifested with different by force. Strong interest is often associated with strong feelings and manifests itself as a passion. It connects with such personal qualities as perseverance, endurance, stamina, patience.

The interests of this or that force differ from person to person according to sustainability or by degree of persistence.

Interest as an individual feature of a person covers the entire human psyche. It is the interests to a large extent that determine many of the traits of his character and determine the development of his abilities.

Interest is manifested in a person's tendency to engage in activities primarily related to the subject of interest, in the constant experience of pleasant feelings caused by this subject, as well as in the tendency to constantly talk about this subject and about matters related to it.

inclination It is expressed in the fact that a person, at his own request, intensively and constantly engages in a certain type of activity, prefers it to others, and associates his life plans with this activity. Most of the researchers involved in this problem define propensity as a focus on the corresponding activity or need for activity (N.S. Leites, A.G. Kovalev, V.N. Myasishchev, A.V. Petrovsky, K.K. Platonov, S. L. Rubinshtein, B. M. Teplov, K. D. Ushinsky, G. N. Shchukina, etc.).

The development of abilities is primarily associated with an active positive attitude towards the relevant activity, interest in it, a tendency to engage in it, often turning into passionate enthusiasm. Interests and inclinations for a certain activity usually develop in unity with the development of abilities for it.

The upbringing of creative abilities in children, schoolchildren, students is largely associated with the development of their personality: independence, enthusiasm, independence in judgments and assessments. High academic performance is not always combined with a high level of creative abilities. The scientists were able to identify the relationship between academic achievements, the level of students' abilities and the level of teacher's creative abilities.

If the teacher has a high creative potential, then gifted students achieve brilliant success, and students with less developed creative abilities are “in the pen”, their academic results are usually not great. If the teacher himself is somewhere at the bottom of the “creativity” scale, the success of students who are deprived of creative brilliance is higher than in the first case. And brightly gifted schoolchildren do not open up, do not realize their potential. The mentor, as it were, gives preference to the psychological type to which he himself belongs.

Teachers try to capture their experience in developing the creative potential of students in various types of rules. As an example, here are the "10 Commandments" compiled by one high school teacher:

1. Disagree with the student's answer if the answer is simply confirmed and taken for granted. Require proof.

2. Never resolve a student dispute in the easiest way, ie. simply by telling them the right answer or the right way to solve it.

3. Listen carefully to your students, catch every thought they express, so as not to miss the opportunity to reveal something new to them.

4. Always remember - teaching should be based on the interests, motives and aspirations of students.

5. The class schedule and school bells should not be the determining factor in the educational process.

6. Respect your own "crazy ideas" and instill in others a taste for out-of-the-box thinking.

7. Never tell your student: "We don't have time to discuss your stupid idea."

8. Do not skimp on an encouraging word, a friendly smile, friendly encouragement.

9. In the learning process, there cannot be a permanent methodology and a once-for-all established program.

10. Repeat these commandments every night until they become part of you.

Types of abilities are classified according to various criteria: the sources of their origin, focus on activities, level of development, availability of conditions for development, level of development.

According to origin allocate natural and social abilities.

Natural abilities are biologically determined, formed on the basis of innate special properties of mental cognitive processes of perception, memory, thinking, etc. Thus, an individual with high taste sensitivity can perfectly fulfill the duties of a taster.

Social abilities are largely determined by the system of education and upbringing and are manifested in specific activities. It is believed, for example, that abilities develop more intensively if the educational process is directed to an independent search for the necessary information, to humanization, “humanization” of the school process through an increase in the proportion of objects in the artistic cycle, strengthening collective forms of communication, and the formation of value orientations. And vice versa, an imperative, “violent” system of education, the desire to “saturate” students with knowledge by any means by increasing the volume of educational information “disguises” abilities. An English historian of the 17th century warned against such chronic ailments of education. G. Boyle, saying that true knowledge does not consist in acquaintance with facts, which make a person only a pedant, but in their use, which makes him a philosopher. It is useful to recall on this occasion the classic of Belarusian literature Ya. Kolas, who pointed out that only that knowledge becomes our mature property, when we come to it, we extract it ourselves.

By activity orientation distinguish between general and special, theoretical, practical, educational, creative and communicative abilities.

General abilities serve the most important requirements on the part of many activities and successful communication with people (for example, the accuracy of movements, the quality of speech, high intelligence are necessary in many activities).

Special abilities provide the requirements of certain types of activity due to special personality traits related, for example, to music, mathematics, sports. Thus, a “pure” tenor provides its owner with the opportunity to work as a choir soloist and keep the main melody in polyphony. Similar examples can be given for the areas of pedagogical and organizational activities.

However, there are objections to the division of abilities by type of activity into general and special. The fact is that the same abilities can serve different types of activities. If, for example, an individual has a good memory and powers of observation from birth, then he may be able to engage in those activities that require the prompt storage of large amounts of initial information (economic and political analysts, mathematicians, professional intelligence officers).

In this regard, opponents (for example, B. M. Teplov) suggest taking into account general and special aspects in abilities. The “general” is always built on the “special” (special) and cannot exist without it. Otherwise, the general turns into an amorphous and devoid of content abstract “nothing”. If, however, “general” is excluded from “special”, then the content of “special” narrows down, which makes it meaningless to talk about abilities (“he washes dishes well after dinner” - hardly anyone will link this quality with ability).

The same considerations are expressed by opponents regarding other types of activity-oriented abilities.

Theoretical and practical abilities ensure the success of the individual's activity either in the field of abstract logical thinking, or in the field of concrete practical training. In the first case, the individual manifests himself, for example, as a specialist in the field of theoretical physics, in the second - as an experimental physicist.

Educational and creative abilities indicate that an individual has qualities that provide him with either a high ability to assimilate the knowledge available in the world, or the creation of new original knowledge.

Communicative abilities ensure successful interaction of a person with people through communication processes. High communication skills open the way for an individual, for example, in the sphere of diplomacy, personnel management, where the success of an activity is largely determined by the strategy of interaction with interlocutors.

By the presence of conditions for development There are the following types of abilities:

• potential - abilities “postponed” in time, for the manifestation of which appropriate conditions are required (for example, in the world there are many “Lomonosovs” and “Tsiolkovskys” who remained unknown to the IYMI due to various kinds of circumstances that did not fully deprive them of showing their gift);
• actual, the need for which is manifested "now and here", in a specific situation and activity.

Types of abilities by level of development subdivided into giftedness, talent and genius.

giftedness- this is a combination of various abilities of an individual, providing a potential opportunity to work successfully in a certain area, subject to good knowledge, skills and abilities. Even the presence of practical thinking, communication skills, orientation to success still does not guarantee a person to become a high-ranking leader with insufficient professional training in the chosen field and little social experience. Speaking of a gifted person, they usually attribute to her such characteristics as innovation, curiosity, imagination, relaxed thinking, intuition, self-confidence.

The concept of "gifted" is often referred to children, adolescents, young men. The particle "gift" in this concept implies the hereditary nature of giftedness, but this moment can only claim the status of a hypothesis. Otherwise, all the children of gifted people would be gifted, which has not yet been recorded in history. For example, none of the descendants of Nobel laureates repeated the scientific achievements of their famous relatives.

Talent- a person's giftedness, realized in the form of high or original achievements in a certain field of activity through a set of special abilities. This is the ability to do what no one has ever taught a person. In contrast to giftedness, the concept of talent refers to established professionals who have gained fame for their specific activities (in the field of mathematics, music, military affairs, technology, etc.). Ivan Pavlov said that while studying at the theological seminary, they were looking for talents not among round honors students, but among those who stood out sharply in academic performance in one or two subjects, which testified to a creative personality and great interest in this area.

Genius(lat. genius - spirit) - the highest level of abilities, when giftedness is expressed in results that have epochal, historical significance. These results are provided through general and special abilities in a number of areas. For example, M. Lomonosov showed extraordinary abilities in the natural sciences, art and literature.

It is difficult to draw a clear line between talent and genius. But it is believed that genius requires extremely developed personality traits, such as a penchant for self-improvement, purposefulness, patience, and even self-sacrifice. After all, a genius is directed to the future, to the future, he "shoots at a target that no one else sees." In the momentary life, according to A. Schopenhauer, it is no more useful than a telescope in a theater.

Comparing the concepts of talent and genius, we can say that talent is destined to work, and genius is to create. A person has talent, and genius owns a person.

human abilities- individual psychological characteristics, which are subjective conditions for the successful implementation of a certain kind of activity. Abilities are not limited to the individual's knowledge, skills and abilities. They are found in the speed, depth and strength of mastering the methods and techniques of activity.

When people in the same circumstances achieve different successes in mastering and performing any activity, they speak of the presence of corresponding abilities in some people and their absence in others. The success of mastering the activity and its implementation also depends on knowledge, skills and abilities. But abilities are not reduced to motives, or to knowledge, or to skills, or to habits. At the same time, they all act as conditions for the realization of abilities.

Human abilities, like any other personal formations, have a dual psychological nature. On the one hand, in any ability there are individual components that make up its biological foundations or prerequisites. They are called assignments. are morphological and functional features of the structure of the brain, sensory organs and movement. Most of them are genetically predetermined. In addition to congenital, a person also has acquired inclinations, which are formed in the process of maturation and development of the child in the first years of life. Such inclinations are called social. By themselves, natural inclinations do not yet determine a successful person, that is, they are not abilities. These are only natural conditions or factors on the basis of which the development of abilities takes place.

Another important condition for their formation is the social environment, whose representatives, represented by parents and teachers, include the child in various activities and communication, equip them with the necessary methods for their implementation, and organize a system of exercises and training. Moreover, the possibilities for developing abilities are largely determined by the potential that is inherent in the inclinations. This potential can be realized under appropriate conditions, but most often it remains unfulfilled due to the unfavorable conditions for the development of most people.

There are different opinions about the extent to which abilities are determined by heredity, and to what extent by the impact of the surrounding social environment. Numerous facts testify to the dominance of both heredity and social conditions. Confirmation of the fact that heredity has a great influence on the formation of abilities is the facts of the early emergence of abilities in many gifted people.

Ability types. A person's abilities are always associated with the mental functions of a person: memory, attention, emotions, etc. Depending on this, the following types of abilities can be distinguished: psychomotor, sensory-perceptual, mental, imaginative (“imaginative”), mnemonic, attention (“attentive”), emotional-dynamic, speech, volitional. They are included in the structure of professional abilities of different specialists. For example, psychomotor abilities are necessary for a surgeon, watchmaker, ballet dancer, etc. Sensory-perceptual abilities form the basis of the professional skills of a cook, taster, perfumer, etc.

In the social life of a person, there are two sides: objective activity and communication. This division allows us to distinguish two types of abilities: subject and socio-psychological. Subject abilities ensure the success of mastering and performing all kinds of subject activities. Socio-psychological abilities are necessary to communicate with people. Communication is fundamentally different from interaction with objects: it is dialogical in nature and requires an attitude towards another person as an equal and equal subject and person. Communication is based not only on their own interests and capabilities, but also on the interests and capabilities of a partner. Therefore, its success will be determined by whether the subject is able to understand another person, mentally take his place, plan and implement the most reasonable methods of psychological influence, make the right impression, etc. This group of abilities includes character traits that express attitudes towards people. Most socio-psychological abilities are very specific and do not work in the context of objective activity. The same is true for subject abilities. In other words, they almost do not intersect with each other. Therefore, numerous facts are quite understandable, when specialists with a high level of professionalism in some subject area showed complete inconsistency in working with people, and vice versa.

Depending on the level of generalization, general and special abilities are distinguished. General abilities determine the success of performing many types of activities simultaneously. These include, for example, intellectual abilities, developed memory, speech, etc. Special abilities determine success in specific activities. They work only within their respective activities. These include musical, mathematical, literary and other abilities. General and special abilities most often coexist, mutually complementing each other. The success of any specific and specific activity depends not only on special, but also on general abilities. Therefore, in the course of professional training of specialists, one should not be limited to the formation of only special abilities.

Depending on the productivity of activity or communication and the characteristics of the product generated by them, reproductive and creative abilities are distinguished. Reproductive abilities affect the success of mastering activities, the ability to acquire knowledge, skills and abilities, that is, the effectiveness of training. They are necessary for mastering special experience and, consequently, for the development of a person as a subject and as a person. Thanks to them, there is no creation, but only the preservation and recreation in subsequent generations of the accumulated human experience. Creativity determines the creation of objects of material and spiritual culture, the production of new, original ideas, discoveries, inventions, creativity in various areas of human life. They are the ones who drive social progress.

Depending on the level of development of a person's abilities, giftedness, talent and genius are distinguished. The totality of a number of abilities that determine a person’s especially successful activity in a certain area and distinguish him from other people performing this activity in the same conditions is called giftedness. A high degree of a person's abilities for a certain activity, manifested in the originality and novelty of the approach, is called talent. Talent is a combination of abilities, their totality. The structure of talent is determined by the nature of the requirements imposed on the individual by activity. Genius is the highest degree of giftedness, it is a combination of abilities that gives a person the opportunity to successfully, independently and originally perform any complex activity. The difference between genius and talent is not so much quantitative as qualitative. Genius creates a whole epoch in the field of his activity. So, Mozart in music, C. Darwin in natural science, I. Newton in physics, etc. can be considered geniuses.

The stronger the abilities are expressed, the fewer people possess them. In terms of the level of development of abilities, most people do not stand out in any way. There are not so many gifted, much less talented, and geniuses can be found in every field about once a century. These are just unique people who make up the heritage of mankind. That is why they require the most careful handling. In reality, talented and, especially, brilliant personalities are rarely recognized by their contemporaries. A true assessment of their creative contribution to social culture is given by subsequent generations.

Formation of abilities. In their genetic essence, abilities are socially developed generalized ways of handling objects, phenomena and people, assimilated by an individual and transformed into stable personal properties, ways of acting (assisting) in various life situations. Therefore, the formation of abilities should be aimed at organizing the necessary types and methods of activity and communication and transforming them into appropriate personal formations. However, it cannot be identified with the methodology for the formation of knowledge, skills and abilities.

The initial natural condition for the development of abilities are inclinations. It is on them that, first of all, depends how successfully a child can master the methods of activity and communication given to him by society. They may favor or hinder this, which must be taken into account when constructing a formative methodology. In the course of the corresponding exercises, they are transformed and integrated with the learned methods of action (assistance). As a result, a kind of fusion of natural and social, individual and personal appears.

Important in the formation of a person's abilities are the age-related timing of the discovery of inclinations and the organization of the process itself. The earlier it starts, the easier and faster it is possible to achieve maximum results. However, one should keep in mind the so-called sensitive periods, during which the most favorable psycho-physiological conditions are created for the formation of certain abilities. For example, the sensitive period for the development of linguistic abilities is early preschool age, artistic ones - senior preschool age.

All these circumstances are necessary for the transformation of a person as a biological being with innate inclinations into a social being, developing human abilities in himself. The surrounding people, having the necessary abilities and means of learning, ensure the continuous development of the necessary abilities in children. An important role here is played by complexity, that is, the simultaneous improvement of several mutually complementary abilities. The versatility and variety of activities and communication, in which a person is simultaneously included, act as one of the conditions for the development of his abilities. In this regard, the following requirements should be imposed on developmental activities (communication): creative nature, the optimal level of difficulty for the performer, proper motivation and ensuring a positive emotional mood during performance.

An essential factor determining the development of abilities is the stable special interests of the individual in a certain area of ​​social life, which are transformed into a propensity to professionally engage in the relevant activity. Special abilities are formed in the process of mastering professional activities. Cognitive interest stimulates the mastery of effective techniques and methods for its implementation, and the successes achieved, in turn, further increase motivation.

In order to ensure the best fit of a person to a specific type of work activity, it is necessary to assess his professional inclinations, inclinations and abilities of a person. This is carried out in the process of vocational guidance and vocational selection, which makes it possible to identify the qualities necessary for a particular type of labor activity. Based on this assessment, professional suitability is revealed. The fact that a person is suitable for this profession can only be said when his abilities are fully consistent with the nature of this work.

People have different kinds of abilities that they receive from birth or develop throughout life. A large number of classifications are known according to various criteria, for example, differing in the source of origin, orientation, level of development, the presence of conditions and other criteria.

Types of abilities in psychology

A person can develop different abilities, and they include personal-psychological qualities that separate one person from another and the fruitfulness of actions depends on them. In addition, abilities cannot be attributed to knowledge, skills and abilities that have already been developed by people. Abilities, their types, structure and other parameters are carefully studied in psychology, which help to better understand a person, his possible ways of development in life and prospects.

Classification of types of abilities in psychology

There are several classifications that focus on different criteria. For example, natural and social abilities are distinguished by origin. The former include skills that are formed on the basis of innate cognitive processes of perception, memory, thinking, and so on. As for social abilities, they are determined by the system of education and upbringing, and they manifest themselves in different areas. There are other types of human abilities: theoretical and practical, educational and creative, communicative and others.

General abilities

This category of abilities is understood as a system of individual-volitional qualities of a person, which he uses to acquire knowledge and carry out various activities. They can be obtained from nature and developed during life. Describing what types of abilities are, it is worth noting that they can be elementary and complex. The former include skills inherent in all people, but they are expressed to varying degrees, for example, to think, experience, remember, and so on. The second category includes abilities for general activities: learning, playing, working, communicating, and so on.

Intellectual ability

Let's start with the term intelligence, which is understood as the general ability to know, understand and solve various problems. It combines all kinds of individual abilities aimed at studying the world around: feelings, memory, imagination, and so on. It is proved that the development of intelligence is directly related to the amount of information processed. Interestingly, the first signal that the intellect is not fully involved is the deterioration of memory.

There are certain types of intellectual abilities:

1. mental. It includes the ability to quickly answer questions, make a calculation, determine the essence of a question, and so on.
2. Emotional. The ability to understand and manage one's own feelings and the feelings of others.
3. Social. This includes the ability to take on different roles throughout life.
4. Spiritual. This kind of ability of the intellect determines the harmony of the inner world and understanding the meaning of life.
5. Physical. This refers to the ability to control your body and bodily desires.

Organizational skills

The presented phrase is used to describe a certain set of qualities that help to effectively organize work, both one's own and other people's. Types of business and organizational skills, including, a person can develop throughout his life. The required set of qualities contains:

1. Authority, which implies unconditional trust, professionalism, charisma, and so on.
2. Insight is based on a person's ability to notice and correctly interpret the emotional state of people, and also determine their psychological compatibility, sense of tact, measure, and so on.
3. Emotional-volitional qualities, which include activity, exactingness, adequacy, prudence and many others.

Communication skills

The success of a person largely depends on his ability to interact with other people and find a common language with them. The ability to communicate in each person is formed individually, and this is influenced by interaction with parents, peers, work colleagues, and so on. There are different exercises for their development. There are the following types of communication skills:

1. Information and communication means the ability of a person to start, maintain and end a conversation. This includes the ability to use verbal and non-verbal communication.
2. Affective-communicative include the ability to notice the emotional state of the interlocutor and the ability to respond correctly to it, and also show respect and sympathy for other people.
3. Regulatory-communicative implies the ability of a person to accept help from others, resolve conflict situations with adequate methods and support others.

Pedagogical abilities

This is understood as a set of certain psychological characteristics that are important for teachers who want to achieve success in the upbringing and education of children. The concept and types of abilities include:

1. Didactic. This includes the ability to present information intelligibly, organize the lesson correctly, arouse the interest of children and properly motivate them.
2. Academic. This ability means the competence of the teacher in the profile subject, that is, he must have deep knowledge and a desire to constantly develop, reaching new heights.
3. Perceptual. The ability of the teacher to perceive, that is, he must be able to recognize the potential of the child, his temperament and tendency to empathy.
4. Speech. This type of ability describes the teacher's ability to express his thoughts correctly and in an accessible way. For this, a rich vocabulary, eloquence, and so on are important.
5. Organizational. The teacher must be able to correctly draw up a curriculum, calculate the time for studying each topic, and so on.
6. Authoritarian. The teacher must enjoy authority among students, for which the following features are important: exactingness, the ability to control emotions, responsibility, and so on.
7. Communicative. The teacher should be able to find a common language with different people, not only with children, but also with parents and other teachers.

Special abilities

Such abilities are understood as a certain system of personality traits, thanks to which you can get excellent results in a particular field of activity. There are different types and levels of special abilities, and the process of developing them is complex and long. There is a certain classification of them: educational and creative, mental and physical.

Physical ability

This is understood as the readiness of people to carry out motor activities. The functionality of the organs and structures of the body can be congenital and acquired. Finding out what kinds of abilities there are, it is worth noting that physical qualities differ from others in that they are manifested exclusively in solving motor problems. For each person, they are expressed differently, for example, some have a high pace of task completion, while others can perform an action for a long time.

There are certain types of physical abilities and these qualities are five: speed, strength, endurance, agility and flexibility. With their help, it is possible to characterize the motor talent of a person. The development of such skills occurs under the influence of two factors: an individual program that is inherited, and social and environmental adaptation.

Creative skills

This type of ability is understood as the ability of a person to make creative decisions and create new ideas. In ordinary life, they manifest themselves as ingenuity used to achieve goals and get out of difficult situations. There are different types of creative abilities that manifest themselves in numerous life situations:

1. The ability to see what other people can't see.
2. The ability to apply skills that were acquired for another to solve a problem.
3. Introducing creative types of abilities, it is worth mentioning the ability to fully perceive reality, without splitting it into parts.
4. Easy to generate ideas and strong creative imagination.

Mathematical ability

Everyone has an innate mathematical ability, thanks to which a person can evaluate and compare the number of items without conducting an accurate count, for example, automatically choosing the shortest line at the checkout. All kinds of mental abilities, including mathematical ones, can be developed using different practices and training. In addition, it is worth noting that by improving a person’s mathematical skills, elements of abilities for other related activities are also formed.

Musical ability

The individual skills of a person, which determine the ability to perceive, perform and compose music, as well as to learn, are called musical abilities. It is worth noting that they are manifested to one degree or another in all people, and if they are pronounced, then this indicates musical talent. There are certain types of musical abilities:

1. fret feeling. This refers to the ability of a person to feel the emotionality of the composition. Using this feeling, the individual recognizes the melody and reacts to the intonations of the sound.
2. auditory representation. It is understood as the ability to play melodies by ear. With it, you can develop musical memory and imagination. Together with the modal sense, auditory representation forms the basis of harmonic hearing.
3. Sense of rhythm. Describing the types and types of abilities in music, one cannot ignore the sense of rhythm, thanks to which one can actively feel the emotional component of the melody and accurately reproduce it by ear.

Do you know what abilities exist in psychology? Not? Let's look at this issue in this article. It is known that in psychology the category of abilities is considered one of the most difficult. It dissolves in such psychological concepts as skills, knowledge, personal qualities, intelligence, mental processes, and so on.

So, let's study the nuances that make up the most important provisions of the general psychological characteristics.

Abilities differ from other psychological phenomena in three basic ways:

1. Abilities are personal-psychological qualities that distinguish one person from another.
2. These are only those qualities on which the fruitfulness of actions depends.
3. Abilities cannot be attributed to knowledge, skills and abilities already developed by an individual, although they contribute to the ease and speed of their acquisition.

Abilities in psychology are characterized by quantitative and qualitative facets. In the qualitative aspect, they are recognized as a symptomatic combination of the psychological properties of a person, which ensure the success of his actions. The quantitative parameter involves identifying the level of giftedness.

Structure

Interestingly, abilities in psychology are structured. In this structure, there are two basic groups of them - general abilities and special ones. They develop and form on the basis of inclinations. In fact, these are functional and morphological features of the nervous system and the whole organism, which stand out as the main prerequisites for the maturation of talent.

Levels

Abilities in psychology have one more common position: three qualitatively different levels of their representation are known - these are simple abilities, talent (giftedness) and genius. The dilemma about the degree of heritage of giftedness in their theory is very important, but has not yet been resolved. It is believed that the development of talent is inseparable from the change of the individual in principle.

The gift affects the nature of the creation of personal characteristics, while being influenced by the person being created. This is a two-pronged update. In general, the concept of "ability" in the general structure of psychological concepts is in an intermediate place between groups of personality and activity.

Psychology and pedagogy

The problem of creativity in psychology has always excited minds both from the practical and from the theoretical side. Faced with manifestations of bright talents, we admire and are surprised by them. Almost everyone wants to find out the potential of their abilities. But how to develop them, open them? Why do some people have them and others don't?

What are abilities? Let's take a closer look at this category, and for this we will consider three approaches: scientific, worldly and etymological.

• The usual approach to the term "ability". In our daily conversations, we often use the concept of "ability" not only in relation to people, but also in relation to objects. For example, the expression "diamond can cut glass" is used to denote quality, properties. We put the same meaning when we notify someone about the skills that surprised us (quick counting, recreating a melody, deft work, and so on). In everyday practice, we call abilities any skills that people possess, regardless of whether they are acquired or innate, complex or elementary.
• Approach to the concept of "talent" from an etymological point of view. In Russian-language explanatory dictionaries, the term "gifted" is very often associated with other terms - "talented", "gifted" and is used as their synonym. It follows that giftedness has a different threshold of manifestation. V. Dahl's explanatory dictionary defines the word "capable" as "suitable for something or inclined, handy, dexterous, convenient, suitable." In the same book there are other terms: "capable" and "capable". A resourceful and resourceful person is called capable. He knows how to manage, arrange, manage things. In fact, here the term "capable" is identified only through an analogy with success in practice and is equated with the concept of "intelligent".
• The scientific attitude to the term "abilities" differs from the everyday worldly one in a narrower meaning. In science, giftedness is classified into innate (from inclinations) and acquired (from skills, knowledge).

Exploring Talent

Giftedness (as well as a person as a whole) is explored by all kinds of sciences - philosophy, medicine, sociology and others. But none of them considers the problem of talents in such a versatile and deep way as psychology. In addition, it should be noted that for pedagogy, more than for other sciences, it is important to study the abilities of each individual.

Types of abilities in psychology play a significant role. After all, it is through them that a person becomes a subject of activity in society. In fact, by developing talent, people reach their pinnacle both personally and professionally.

The levels of development of abilities in psychology were studied by many domestic scientists. S. L. Rubinshtein, N. S. Leites, B. M. Teplov and others made a serious contribution to science. Today, V. D. Shadrikov and V. N. Druzhinin are busy with these questions.

Directions

Abilities and inclinations play a huge role in a person's life. Psychology distinguishes two directions in this area. The first is psychophysiological, studying the relationship between the basic properties of inclinations (the nervous system) and the mental general talents of a person (works by V. M. Rusalov, E. A. Golubeva).

The second direction deals with the study of skills in play, individual, educational and labor activities (the active approach of A. N. Leontiev). This direction mainly studies the activity determinants of talent improvement, while the role of inclinations is either not studied or simply interpreted.

In general, in the parameters of the school of S. L. Rubinshtein (K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, A. V. Brushlinsky), a half-hearted point of view was formed on probing the problems of giftedness. The scientists who supported it considered the talent that arises in a person on the basis of inclinations as an improvement in the ways of activity. In general, in science, the concepts of “inclinations” and “abilities” are clearly distinguished.

Makings are called the innate physiological and anatomical qualities of the brain, nervous system, movement and sensory organs, the functional features of the human body, which make up the natural basis for the development of its skills.

What basis for development is used by abilities in modern psychology? Of course, these are the inclinations that people are endowed with by nature. Those inclinations that developed at the wrong time disappear without a trace. Many people know cases when kids, getting into the lair of animals, do not get the opportunity to develop their talents, and then they lose them forever.

Capabilities

So, we examined the types of abilities in psychology. We move on. It is known that talents are personal-psychological qualities that are formed in activity on the basis of inclinations, distinguishing one personality from another, on which the success of actions depends.

It should be noted that even the Soviet heart specialist A. V. Petrovsky figuratively equated talent with grain, which still needs to be formed. After all, just as an abandoned grain is considered only a probability of turning into an ear under certain conditions (weather, humidity and soil structure), so a person’s talents are called only a chance to acquire skills and knowledge under suitable conditions.

Such chances are transformed into reality as a result of persistent work. In foreign and domestic science, there are different interpretations of the structure and types of abilities, but the most generally accepted is the allocation of talent by type of activity.

Is it interesting to study abilities and inclinations? Psychology is a very interesting science! In general, abilities are called stable qualities of people that determine the successes they have achieved in various types of activity. For example, there is a talent for acquiring knowledge, which is determined by the quality and speed at which people acquire skills. There are also mathematical, musical, literary, engineering, artistic, organizational and a huge number of other talents.

Kinds

What are good intellectual abilities? Psychology studies this talent too. But now we will approach the structure of talent from a different angle. As a result, we will identify two types of talents that are considered from the point of view of development: actual and potential. A potential gift is the probability of personality development, which manifests itself when new problems appear in front of it, requiring lightning-fast solutions.

It should be noted that the improvement of a person depends not only on his psychological parameters, but also on the social environment in which these potentials can be realized or not realized.

In fact, in this version they speak of active talents. This can be explained by the fact that not everyone can realize their own potential skills in relation to their psychological nature. After all, there may be no objective conditions and opportunities for this. So, we can make a verdict that actual abilities are only a part of potential ones.

Composition of talents

The properties of abilities in psychology are very different. That is why talent is structured into special and general talents. General abilities are those that equally show themselves in the most diverse types of human activity. These include, for example, the degree of general spiritual development of the individual, his attentiveness, learning ability, imagination, memory, speech, performance, manual movements.

Special abilities are called talent for certain types of activity: musical, mathematical, linguistic.

Of course, each talent that makes a person suitable for the implementation of any activity always includes separate methods of activity and operations through which this activity is performed. And therefore, as S. L. Rubinshtein said, not a single talent is considered relevant, real, until it has absorbed a system of appropriate socially developed operations. From this point of view, a certain talent is always an intricate system of actions, methods and operations.

Ability Basics

A person's abilities in psychology are considered as a kind of object that has a basis. This basis is laid in a person genetically, it depends on the inclinations. For example, people tend to master the logical mentality and articulate speech.

What is group ability? These are skills that are grouped and developed on the basis of general and special inclinations. A person chooses a profession at the age of 16-18. It is at this age that the structure of talents changes in a person, professional abilities are manifested. In general, as skills develop, the range of probability narrows, but the specialization of talents increases.

The development of abilities in psychology occurs during activity. Here the contact between skills and talent plays an important role. These two parameters are not identical, but they are coordinated.

In accordance with the mass professions of production and material labor, the structure of personnel skills can be represented as follows:

• Human Skills- basically working capacity (and guaranteeing her personal qualities - accuracy, responsibility). The creation of this component of talents is associated with the training of a person as a subject of labor (primarily its value-motivational sphere).
• General gifts- "generic" different-class capabilities of people, which are the result of their universal life activity in a certain historical second and in a certain culture.
• Special Skills- non-standard quality dictated by practice or the level of development of highly professional parameters that require a certain long-term activity, special training for their development.

giftedness

It is very interesting to study cognitive abilities. Psychology directly connects them with giftedness. Let's consider this concept in more detail. The appearance of this term is based on the idea of ​​a "gift" - the highest inclinations that nature bestows on one or another person. The inclinations are based on heredity or on the characteristics of intrauterine development.

That is why giftedness should be understood as an indicator of a high level of skills based on natural predisposition. It is known that N. S. Leites notes that in reality it is sometimes difficult to track whether skills are more the result of purposeful education (self-development) or they are the embodiment of inclinations.

In general, an understanding of this term has been established in science, which indicates a higher level of development of abilities than most people, especially when it comes to babies. It is known that the levels of such giftedness are genius and talent.

The difference between talent and abilities was considered in great detail by co-authors I. Akimov and V. Klimenko. They emphasized that between genius and talent there is not a quantitative, but a qualitative difference. First, they have a different sense of the world. And secondly, the product of the activity of talent is originality, while for a genius it is simplicity.

And yet, V. Klimenko and I. Akimov believe that genius does not appear out of nowhere. It is born from talent as a result of many years of work on quality.

Another point of view says that genius and talent are not stages, that they are completely different psychological qualities. After all, if a talented individual can use his talent, or may not use it, then a genius is actually a hostage to his genius: he cannot but work in the direction in which he is gifted. In fact, for him, the punishment is to deprive him of the opportunity to create. Very often, giftedness is called "deviation", albeit a positive one.

B. M. Teplov

And what can the psychology of Teplov's abilities tell us? It is known that B. M. Teplov is an outstanding domestic psychologist with a worldwide reputation.

He is a brilliant experimenter and theorist, a researcher of individual differences, abilities and individuality. He wrote the book "Psychology of musical abilities", in which he proposed a new structure of musical talents, including as mandatory components such as modal and rhythmic feeling, giftedness for arbitrary operation with auditory musical representations. This book is the main work in his creative legacy, first published in 1947.

By the way, the psychological analysis of the phenomenon of musicality proposed by him as a unity of emotional responsiveness to music and the totality of synchronous musical abilities is of tremendous importance.

So, the following levels of talent development are distinguished:

• reproductive;
• creative;
• reconstructive.

It should be noted that the results of empirical tests show that creative ability and reproductive ability are of a completely different nature. That is why they develop independently of each other, in each of them you can find independent levels of development.