List of positive moral qualities of a person. Positive character traits in men and women

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

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

Personality traits

Any trait is some stable and unchanging stereotype of behavior.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Personality traits

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

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

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

Temperament and personality

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Personality character types

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The psychological nature of the personality

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The social nature of personality

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

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

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

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

Personal character accentuation

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

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

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

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

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

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

Asthenoneurotic - characterized by high fatigue, irritability, anxiety.

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

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

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

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

Emotionally labile - characterized by a very changeable mood.

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

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

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 surrounding 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 medium height, overweight or prone to obesity, with a short neck, a large 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 direct formation of character occurs 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 a team as a group of a high level of development, the most favorable opportunities are created for the development of the best character traits. 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, in this system something always comes to the fore, dominating it, giving a peculiar flavor to the character of a person.

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 diagnostic terms than, 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, 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 an independent form of personality manifestation, but becomes its dynamic side, consisting in a certain speed of the course 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 truly, 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 character traits 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 faculties will depend significantly on 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 the characters in the novel about Rudin: “There is perhaps 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 conditionality 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. In this case, we should talk about typical in character traits. N. D. Levitov believes that the type of character is a concrete expression in the individual character of traits common to a certain 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 in their way of life, habits, rights, character differ 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.

Instruction

First you need to tune in to objectivity. Man has a subjective opinion about himself. Consciously or not, everyone exaggerates or downplays this or that quality a little. If there is no objectivity in the description, then it is worthless. Try to describe sincerely, try to look at yourself from the outside.

Actually character implies certain traits. First of all, we describe our attitude towards others. How do you feel about those around you? Indifferent, or vice versa, you are very sensitive to events that occur in people. Maybe you think they are useless. We describe everything that can speak about your attitude towards others.

Next, describe your attitude to things. How careful are you with your own and other people's things? Do you like decorations. Is there a tendency to kleptomania. Do you value gifts? Describe the role things play in your life.

Now let's move on to character traits that relate directly to your inner world. This is done last, because after the previous descriptions, you can clearly imagine a picture of your inner world. We describe our nature. Are you evil or good-natured, do you have a tendency to vindictiveness. Can you insult, hit. What is the role of religion in your life, how religious are you. Describe your relationship with the opposite sex. Are you romantic or not. By following these instructions, you will be able to objectively describe your character.

Sources:

• describe your character

Describing a painting is a popular exercise for developing writing and observational skills. But in order for the creative work to turn out to be interesting, with intelligible reasoning and logically connected elements of the text, the essay must be built according to a certain plan.

Instruction

Introductory part.

Sometimes the teacher asks to start the description not only with the name, but also with a brief biography of the artist. If it is not necessary to write about the artist, then the emotional perception of the viewer serves as a starting point. The student answers the question: "What do I feel when I look at this picture?" He can write: "From this picture it breathes longing and hopelessness. You involuntarily admire these barge haulers, but at the same time you feel sorry for them." Three or four sentences of emotions and reasoning - and you can move on to what is depicted in the foreground of the picture.

Foreground.

These are the brightest and most colorful heroes, the characteristic details of the landscape. Even in a portrait there are objects that attract the attention of the viewer. For example, the Mona Lisa smile. Absolutely, if a schoolboy writes: "My attention was immediately attracted by two people who are pulling the strap of a barge. They are dressed in rags, their hair is disheveled." it will be easier if the child with a glance (or a pencil) marks the brightest moments of the picture and asks himself the question: "What is this?" From these answers-suggestions to prose, compose a coherent story.

Second plan.

These are the details and elements that seem to support the main theme of the picture. Describing them, you can be observant. See fallen, dog, inscription on the boat. You can talk about the mood they evoke in the viewer. It is possible to describe the type of relationship in which there are people from different planes of the picture. For example, in "Again" the central figure is the guilty boy. His, mother and dog express unequivocal emotions. You can describe these emotions (my mother has sincere grief, her sister has disapproval, the dog has, she loves her master in any way). You can imagine what kind of dialogues could take place between the characters.

In the social life of society and in relationships.

Each person has special qualities and individual traits in character. It is impossible to find two absolutely identical men or women. The description of the character of people is built from their actions, which affect their whole life.

Character and dependence on physique

E. Kretschmer, a famous German psychologist, determine that the behavior of a person directly depends on her physique. He compiled a description of the examples fit into three main groups.

1. Asthenics are people with underdeveloped muscles, rather thin with a small chest. They have an elongated face and long limbs. The psychologist united all such people in the group of schizotimics. Often these are very stubborn people, it is difficult for them to adapt to changing environmental conditions. They are very withdrawn and tend to suffer from schizophrenia with severe mental disorders.
2. Picnics are people who tend to be overweight. They are characterized by a round face, short neck and small. These people fell into the typological group of cyclothymic character. These are sociable people, very emotional and prone to quick adaptation in unfamiliar conditions. When psychological disorders fall into depression.
3. Athletics - have an athletic build, large chest and high growth. Athletes Kretschmer related to iksotimiks - unemotional personalities, domineering and not loving change. A severe psychological disorder can easily lead to epilepsy.

Here is a description given by a German psychologist. Now boldly approach the mirror and draw conclusions whether this theory applies to you or not.

The influence of temperament on character

Temperament - the characteristic vital energy of a person, which establishes an attitude towards life. It is often difficult to find a person in whom only one temperamental indicator is pronounced. As a rule, people have mixed temperaments, but knowing them, one can easily make a description of a person’s character, examples are given below:

• Sanguine is a mobile person, who is characterized by regular mood swings. He reacts very quickly to all the events in his life. Failures and negative moments are perceived easily, without depression and frustration. Such a person has developed facial expressions, and he also completely devotes himself to work, if he is interested in it.
• Choleric is a very bright and excited person, who reacts vividly to life events. It can quickly get angry and at the same time feel a breakdown. Such a person quickly lights up with new ideas, but just as easily loses interest.
• A melancholic is a person who takes everything to heart. At the same time, he is very impressionable, it is easy to bring him to tears.
• Phlegmatic - a person who is stingy with emotions. The whole life of such a person is balanced and full of stability. Such people are valued in many firms, as they are distinguished by perseverance and high work capacity.

Formation of personality character

The description of the character of people was made by many psychologists. But when is this very character formed and can it be changed? Character manifests itself at a very early age. By the age of five, a child has established characteristics that are almost impossible to change.

In the lower grades, the opinion of parents and teachers remains a priority, but after 14 years there is a whole psychological explosion. A teenager clearly demonstrates his opinion about life, forming character. Clearly, the formation is influenced by the media. During this period, it is easy to impose the wrong political views and grow a supporter of some movement. By the age of 20, the human personality is formed, the turning point begins at the age of 50. There is a rearrangement of priorities, the so-called wisdom appears.

Appearance and character of a person

And the character of a person is an important stylistic device for writers. This gives us a complete picture of the hero. We see its positive and negative features, a negative or positive character is formed.

Description of the nature of people is very important for solving serial crimes - experts start from the repetitive actions characteristic of a maniac. This creates an accurate portrait of the individual and even the possibility of predicting the actions of the offender.

If it is important to make a detailed description of a person, character traits are a significant indicator. Especially in such areas as politics, journalism. You need to be able to characterize a person’s abilities by appearance, because a real character does not always appear immediately.

Person's character- This is the most common term in psychology in everyday life. "Well, character!" - even a person who is far from psychology speaks about a difficult child. For him, character is a synonym for the word "property", "feature". And this definition of character is not far from the truth.

Translated from Greek, this term means "line", "sign", "sign". For us, character is a set of more or less permanent mental characteristics of a person that determine his behavior and relations in society. That is, it is a way of life and behavior.

Character traits of a person.

Any character can be described according to its main features, that is, determinants that will help explain the behavior of a particular person in a particular situation. Psychologists identify four defining character traits:

1. Attitude towards other people(politeness, sociability, rudeness, rudeness, contempt, etc.).
2. Attitude towards work(perseverance, conscientiousness, diligence, perseverance, responsibility, passivity, laziness, etc.).
3. Attitude towards yourself(pride, modesty, self-criticism, shyness, arrogance, selfishness, pride, selfishness, etc.).
4. attitude towards things(thrift, accuracy, negligence, carelessness, etc.).

The main features of character in its study are the first two types of traits, that is, the attitude towards people and the attitude towards work. These character traits are called core or central. A simple explanation can be given here: your boss, first of all, cares about how you do your job and get along with colleagues, but he doesn’t give a damn about whether you love yourself and whether you hang your trousers in the closet when you come home from work. The example is, of course, a rough one, but the first two types of traits are the most important for social psychology and social science.

Character and temperament.

Temperament It is the basis for the formation of a person's character. Unlike temperament, character can change over time, but it will still rely on temperament as a base. Simply put, temperament is the foundation on which you can build different types of character, and then demolish and rebuild something.

Dynamic features of character directly depend on temperament. For example, sanguine and choleric people will always be more sociable than phlegmatic and melancholic people. Some properties of temperament favor the development of certain character traits, and some suppress them.

When raising a child and shaping his character, you need to read the properties of his temperament, because with improper upbringing, negative features of temperament can creep out in the character. For more details, see the Temperament chapter.

character accentuation.

character accentuation- a term that cannot be ignored when considering character traits. This concept in psychology means the effort (emphasis) of certain features to the extreme. In the most negative scenario, accentuation can turn into a mental disorder (not to be confused with personality disorder, which is what accentuation is in essence).

Most often, accentuation as a personality disorder is temporary or periodic. An example is the teenage crisis, or premenstrual syndrome, when irritability is accentuated and comes to the fore. You should not take accentuation seriously, you just need to minimize the adverse factors that caused it.

Unlike temperament, character does not have well-defined types or types. There are concepts by which we can characterize someone, but this will be a characteristic of only one of some traits: a workaholic, a lazy person, an altruist, a greedy person, a sociopath, a merry fellow, etc. Therefore, in order to more or less accurately describe the character of a person, you will need at least four such definitions, each according to a certain type of character traits.