The very first ideas about temperaments belong to Hippocrates. The ancient Greek philosopher and physician classified people according to their predominant liquid. Sanguine - blood, choleric - bile, phlegmatic - mucus, melancholic - black bile. Modern ideas about temperaments have changed somewhat, although the names have remained the same. What is temperament and what role does it play in human life? Let's figure it out.

Temperament is based on the type of higher nervous system. People (like animals) are different from birth:

• by the strength of the processes of excitation and inhibition;
• balance of these processes;
• mobility (replacement) of the processes of excitation and inhibition.

Together, this determines the endurance of nerve cells, that is, the endurance of the psyche.

Temperament Discovery

With the predominance of excitation over inhibition, conditioned reflexes are formed quickly and slowly subside, and with the opposite ratio, they are formed slowly and quickly fade away. These patterns were revealed by the domestic scientist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov.

This discovery made an invaluable contribution to the further development of psychology and pedagogy. At present, there is no doubt that each person requires an individual approach in the process of education, training or psychological correction.

Temperament and personality

Temperament - a set of innate properties of the psyche. It serves as the basis for the formation of character. This is the biological that is in man.

However, temperament is involved in. As a combination of individual characteristics, it affects the dynamics and emotional side and behavior of a person.

Depends on temperament

• the rate of occurrence of mental activity;
• stability of mental processes;
• mental tempo and rhythm;
• intensity of mental processes;
• direction of mental activity.

Anxiety, impulsiveness, emotionality, impressionability and other properties depend on temperament.

Temperament and character

Temperament is often confused with. I propose once and for all to put an end to the differentiation of these issues.

• If character is a product of socialization, then temperament is an innate unchanging feature of the individual.
• You can't change temperament, but you can learn to manage it. Character can be changed.
• Temperamental traits can be masked by character traits, which makes it difficult to determine what type of temperament a particular person belongs to.

Temperament and activity

Temperament provides an individual style of activity, that is, methods of work that are characteristic of a particular person. So, for example, one child, when solving a problem, can sit idle for a long time, think over and immediately write down the result, while the other immediately starts writing something down, sketching, crossing out and after a while isolate the main thing from this. Same result, different paths.

Temperament Properties

Each temperament has certain properties.

sensitivity

The necessary minimum force of irritation from the outside is implied to initiate reactions in the psyche of the individual. In addition, sensitivity implies an assessment of the rate of this reaction.

Reactivity

Determines the strength and speed of response to an unexpected stimulus, that is, these are involuntary reactions to light, loud sound, unexpected action. The distractibility of a person and the possibility of concentration depend on reactivity.

Activity (passivity)

The degree of influence of temperament on the stimuli surrounding it. Simply put, this is the speed with which a person can influence circumstances, obstacles that prevent him from achieving his goal. Activity follows from the ratio of a person's orientation to the outside world (previous paragraph) and focus on their goals, desires, needs, beliefs.

Plasticity (rigidity)

This characterizes the rate of adaptation of a person to changes in the external environment. Plasticity is a good ability to adapt, rigidity is the impossibility, difficulty in changing beliefs, views, interests.

Extraversion (introversion)

Orientation of a person to the external world or internal (orientation of vital energy). The second interpretation: the orientation of a person to the present external () or figurative past or future ().

Excitability of emotions

Determines the speed of emotional response to the minimum stimulus from the outside (the minimum force to which an emotional reaction occurs).

Rate of reactions

This is the speed of mental processes and reactions (duration): the speed of reaction, the pace of speech, the speed of the mind.

The properties of temperament are manifested depending on the situation and specific conditions. Therefore, people of different temperaments can act in completely different ways in identical situations, but in the same way in different conditions.

Temperament types

In psychology, it is customary to distinguish 4 types of temperament, or types of the nervous system (according to its properties). But at the same time, there are several typologies.

By the processes of excitation-inhibition

sanguine

This is a strong, mobile and balanced type. It is characterized by a rapid process of excitation and its rapid change to inhibition.

• A person with this type of psyche is distinguished by love of life, activity, sociability, responsiveness.
• He is not inclined to experiences, easily adapts to new conditions, strives for leadership.
• Sanguine is successful in work, friendship and love.
• He easily switches from one thing to another and with the same ease changes hobbies.
• However, without external stimuli, he begins to get bored, becomes lethargic.
• It is always distinguished by some superficiality in the perception of people and phenomena, which sometimes causes difficulties in interpersonal relationships. But the sanguine easily copes with them.
• sanguine bright, but unstable.
• Often and loudly laughs, but gets angry over trifles.
• Resourceful and agile, can control emotions.
• As a rule, has a fast speech.

Phlegmatic person

This is a strong, inert and balanced type. Conditioned reflexes are developed slowly, but after that they become very stable.

• A person with this type is always passive, cautious and reasonable. Sometimes it comes to "nudity and nausea."
• At the same time, he is peaceful and friendly.
• It is easy to manage, control his actions.
• The phlegmatic is not distinguished by emotionality and sensitivity, but you can always rely on him.
• He has great perseverance, self-control, patience, high efficiency, but is slow.
• In a relationship, stable, not prone to change.
• It has good resistance to negative long-term stimuli from the outside. The endurance and composure characteristic of phlegmatic sometimes turns into indifference to oneself and others, to work.

Choleric

Strong, mobile and unbalanced type. The processes of excitation prevail over the processes of inhibition.

• Easily excitable, aggressive and restless type.
• Choleric is characterized by variability, inconstancy, impulsiveness, activity and optimism.
• Together with great vitality, one can distinguish incontinence and abruptness of movements and actions, loudness, low level of self-control, impatience and frequent sudden mood swings.
• Choleric is distinguished by expressive facial expressions, quick speech and rapid movements.

melancholic

Weak, inert (or mobile) and unbalanced type.

• It is characterized by a pessimistic attitude, a tendency to anxiety and reasoning.
• He is reserved and unsociable, easily vulnerable, emotional, highly sensitive.
• It has little resistance to external stimuli, is inhibited and passive.
• Melancholic, as a rule, is not self-confident, timid, fearful, touchy.
• But his inner world and associative thinking are very striking.
• The melancholic is not distinguished by expressive facial expressions and movements; he does not adapt well to new conditions.
• Differs in quiet speech, weakness of attention and rapid fatigue.

Typology of Galen

The Roman philosopher and physician Galen also identified 4 types of temperament, but he focused on feelings. This typology does not contradict the others, on the contrary, it complements them and, in my opinion, is of particular interest from the standpoint of everyday psychology.

sanguine

Submissive to the senses, but cools quickly. Strives for pleasure, gullible and gullible person.

Choleric

Man of passions. He is characterized by pride, vindictiveness and ambition.

Phlegmatic person

Resistant to emotional influences. He does not complain and is not indignant, he is irritated with great difficulty.

melancholic

Sadness is his main characteristic. Any suffering seems unbearable, and desires are saturated with sadness. Often thinks that they are neglected, offended by trifles.

By the ratio of signaling systems

It is customary to call a signal system a set of mental processes responsible for the perception, analysis of information and response. A person has two such systems:

• the first signal system (assimilation of information through the activity of the cerebral cortex, through receptors);
• the second signal system (everything connected with speech and word).

According to the ratio of signaling systems, 3 types of people (temperament) can be distinguished.

Painter

The first signal system prevails.

Thinker

The second signal system predominates.

mixed type

Approximately equal influence of both systems.

This classification is considered relative, since the severity of the systems depends on the specific type of activity.

E. Kretschmer's constitutional theory

The German psychiatrist and psychologist Kretschmer compiled a typology of temperaments depending on the physique of a person.

Schizothymic (asthenic type)

A weak-willed and closed type, prone to emotional swings. Gentleman and dreamer, idealist. At the same time, the schizothymic is stubborn and selfish, prone to abstract reflections.

Cyclothymic (picnic type)

Like the first type, it is distinguished by emotional waves. This is a cheerful talker and a humorist, a realist, a good conversationalist.

Ixothymic (athletic type)

Not distinguished by the flexibility of thought, calm and unimpressive. His gestures and facial expressions are restrained. Ixothymic hardly adapts to new conditions.

By observing a person’s behavior and evaluating his physique, we can assume what type of temperament he belongs to. This will be useful for establishing contact.

Definition of temperament and brief instructions for interaction

You can guess the temperament of the interlocutor based on observations of him, but this is an ambiguous and complex method. Currently, there are many accurate methods for diagnosis and self-diagnosis.

1. Eysenck test. The most popular technique that determines the type of temperament on two scales: stable and unstable, introversion and extraversion. Allows you to determine the severity of each type and the nature of the mixed temperament. Suitable for self-diagnosis.
2. Another popular technique is the Belov formula. This questionnaire is smaller than the previous one, characterizes only temperaments (without scales), but also gives the value and percentage of each type in a person.

Determination of temperament is the first stage, but far from being the main one. Much more important is the ability to understand the person opposite and competently interact with him, given his innate characteristics.

Interaction with choleric

1. Remember that not everything a choleric person says is true. It's just that his speech is ahead of his thoughts.
2. It's all the fault of the conditions and specific emotions of the choleric at the moment. Under other conditions, he may say opposite things.
3. If, in a fit of anger, a choleric person said something impartial, then this does not mean at all that he really has a bad opinion of you.
4. In a relationship with a choleric person, it is worth being condescending, not taking everything to heart, taking into account individually dangerous situations for him and avoiding them.
5. Remember that choleric people do not get hung up on quarrels and conflicts (especially random and momentary ones), they really forget them and no longer return to discussions.
6. Do not put pressure on the choleric, especially in work matters.
7. Instead, take a break and be supportive.

Interaction with a sanguine person

1. Communication is air for a sanguine person. It is worth getting used to and accepting the fact that there are always a lot of people around him. People are drawn to the sanguine, and he to them.
2. It seems that it is impossible to quarrel with him, but it is not. Despite optimism and friendliness, sanguine people are rich in "cockroaches".
3. Due to the superficiality of judgments, sanguine people often draw the wrong conclusions. But they cannot be superficial. Remember this and give them a second chance.
4. It is difficult for a sanguine person to admit his mistakes, he does not know how to do this. That's why you shouldn't wait for it.
5. The face is an instruction for a sanguine person. The case when everything is really written on the face. Be observant, and the facial expressions of a sanguine person will tell you everything: what a person thinks, what is pleasant for him, and what is unpleasant and something else.
6. Constantly feed it with impressions, events. With monotony and the same type of sensations, the sanguine person is bored, he can leave the relationship. But to those who always give them new emotions, sensations and conditions of reality, they become attached for a long time.
7. Sanguine people like it when they are asked for advice or asked for their opinion.
8. Discuss with him, solve problems, make plans.
9. Do not neglect extreme sports and adrenaline.

Interaction with melancholic

1. Avoid loud and harsh sounds, screams.
2. Do not resort to a negative assessment of the melancholic and what is dear to him.
3. Avoid criticism and punishment, censure. If necessary, choose soft, non-accusatory forms.
4. Getting close to a melancholic is easy - you need to arouse pity for yourself, tell a sad story, arouse and show sympathy.
5. Avoid extreme situations and entertainment.
6. Preference should be given to warm sincere conversations.
7. Of the films, the melancholic will prefer drama rather than horror and thrillers.
8. Never say "urgent", do not push, do not demand, do not order. This drives the melancholic into a stupor, he begins to feverishly make incorrect movements, panics, does not understand anything.
9. In detailed work that requires focus and attention, the melancholic is an excellent candidate.
10. The melancholic should be introduced to new people gradually, carefully. Do not "throw it with a swing into the hole."
11. Melancholics have a well-developed intuition, they rarely make mistakes.

Interaction with the phlegmatic

1. You can learn phlegmatic only through communication, but you need to pull everything out with ticks.
2. Phlegmatic people are conservatives, so you should not demand that they quickly get used to and accept something new.
3. In new situations or after a non-standard proposal, give the phlegmatic enough time to think.
4. Do not expect efficiency and speed in other matters. A person interacting with a phlegmatic person must be able to wait and be patient.
5. Do not expect sympathy and other emotional response, especially momentary.
6. But this does not mean that they are completely indifferent and do not experience emotions. A phlegmatic person may worry about you, but it is difficult for him to squeeze words or gestures out of himself, he would rather silently do something useful for you.
7. By the way, they expect the same sympathy from those around them: support in deeds, not in words.
8. If you want to win the favor of a phlegmatic, then you need to be a realist, avoid fantasies, demonstrate logic and prudence, equanimity and rationality.
9. Entertainment, holidays, creativity, conversations do not attract phlegmatic people. He cares about business.
10. The second thing that attracts is a clear, practical, understandable speech. It is recommended to avoid figurativeness and slang in communication with a phlegmatic person.
11. It is better to write all requests or tasks for a phlegmatic person on paper, writing them as clear instructions.

There are no bad or good temperaments, you can find a common language with any person, however, provided that your temperaments match.

• So, for example, a choleric person is incompatible with a sanguine person. These are two leaders.
• The choleric and the melancholic will not get along either. One does not intentionally, but constantly offends, the other is touchy in itself.
• Choleric and phlegmatic - the best option.
• Sanguine and phlegmatic will often quarrel, but at the same time they can resolve these conflicts. However, dissatisfaction with each other will grow.
• Sanguine is the opposite of melancholic. Moreover, it is ideal if the sanguine person is a man.

I want to introduce you, dear friends, to some interesting facts about temperaments.

• Happy married couples come from people with different temperaments.
• For friendship, on the contrary, it is important that the temperaments are the same (except for choleric people).
• Phlegmatic people are universal partners in any relationship, but not with phlegmatic people.
• Sanguine people make great leaders. Choleric or phlegmatic is completely unsuitable for such a role.
• Job descriptions and other information should be presented in a different form for each type of temperament.
• The phlegmatic responds slowly to questions.
• Sanguine because of haste, and choleric because of impulsiveness is prone to rash and incorrect answers.
• You need to ask a melancholic gently and kindly.
• The specifics of people's speech and the nature of information transfer depend on temperament. We can present the same picture with words of different types in completely different ways.

It is worth noting that in practice pure types of temperament are rarely found, more often mixed ones can be found. This further complicates the process of determining temperament and choosing an approach to interacting with a person.

In conclusion, I want to note that the compatibility of people by temperament, or at least understanding the characteristics of another person, is important for any sphere of relations (family, professional, friendly). We often hear the phrase “We didn’t agree on the characters,” but in fact it would be more accurate to say “They didn’t agree on the temperaments.” And this really can be.

Federal Agency for Education

State educational institution of higher professional education

Far Eastern State Technical University (FEPI named after V.V. Kuibyshev)

Arseniev Institute of Technology (branch) FESTU

Department of Social Work and Humanities

TEST

TEMPERAMENT AND CHARACTER

discipline: PSYCHOLOGY

Completed: student gr. Ar-7680

credit Book № 721160

N. G. Eremenko

Checked: st. teacher A.A. Veselkina

Arseniev

Introduction

1 Types of temperament and their psychological characteristics

2 The role of temperament in activity

3 Character

4 Classification of character traits

5 Character types

6 Character accentuations

Conclusion

Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

In the general, or broad, sense of the word, a person's character should be understood as individual, pronounced and qualitatively unique psychological traits of a person that affect his behavior and actions. From this definition it follows that when it comes to the character of a person, all of his individually expressed and peculiar psychological traits are meant. To characterize a person always means to give his psychology as an individuality, to single out not the sum of its qualities, but those features that distinguish this person from other people and at the same time are structurally integral, that is, they represent a certain unity.

With this definition of character in the broad sense of the word, the qualities of temperament and ability can also be attributed to character if they are pronounced individual traits and at the same time affect human behavior.

Temperament and character have a fairly close relationship with each other, depend on the psychophysiological characteristics of the organism and the types of higher nervous activity. However, if the temperament is initially fixed genetically and in the process of life of a disabled person is basically constant, but this cannot be said about the character. It forms and changes throughout a person's life. The properties of temperament are hereditary, therefore, they are extremely difficult to change. Based on this, a person’s efforts should be directed primarily not to changes, but to identifying and understanding the characteristics of their temperament. This will make it possible to identify the methods of activity that are most consistent with his natural qualities, natural talent.

1 TYPES OF TEMPERAMENT AND THEIR PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Temperament - the innate characteristics of the individual, manifested in the intensity, pace and rhythm of the flow of mental processes and states. It is the biological foundation on which the personality is formed.

A person's temperament is reflected in:

on the speed of mental processes and their stability (for example, the speed of reproduction, the stability of attention and the speed of its switching, the mobility of thought processes, etc.).

Intensity of response to emotional stimuli (sensitivity, strength of emotional experiences, speed of change of emotional states);

speed and strength of motor reactions, processes (gait, facial expressions, pantomime, gestures, speech, etc.);

Selectivity of mental activity and behavior (on the desire for communication, for noisy companies or on a tendency to solitude, on isolation).

From time immemorial, man has made attempts to isolate and realize the typical features of the mental make-up of various people and reduce their diversity to a small number of generalized portraits. Generalized portraits, built on the similarity of behavior, ways of expressing feelings, have been called types of temperament since ancient times. The earliest known typology was proposed by the physician K. Gallen (11th century BC). Hippocrates and Kant made a great contribution to the typology of temperaments and the compilation of their psychological portraits. Since then, temperament has attracted the attention of scientists.

The type of temperament is an innate property, but it can change somewhat under the influence of living conditions or changes occurring in the body.

The psychological portrait of the types of temperaments was first compiled by I. Kant. Further research refined these portraits.

Portrait of a sanguine person: high activity, rich facial expressions, expressive gestures. Alive, mobile, striving for frequent changes of impressions, quickly responding to surrounding events, quickly orienting in an unfamiliar environment, adapts well, takes initiative, relatively easily experiences failures and troubles. The sanguine person is very productive if the activity interests him. If he is indifferent to the subject or activity, then he becomes lethargic, boring. He tends to skim the surface, circumvent difficulties, rush to make decisions. "Trust, but verify" - the principle of approach to the sanguine, because in decisions he lacks thoughtfulness, in the interests - constancy, in actions - perseverance.

Phlegmatic portrait. He has a relatively low neuropsychic activity, even facial expressions and speech. The phlegmatic person is imperturbable, calm even in the most difficult situations, the mood is even. Balanced and calm in deeds and actions, carefully plans activities, strives for a system, is thorough. Moderately sociable. At the same time, it is inert, slowly switching from one job to another. "Do not rush" - this should be the approach to the phlegmatic.

Portrait of a melancholic. Low level of activity, muffled facial expressions, speech, gets tired quickly. He is easily vulnerable, tends to deeply experience even minor events, but outwardly sluggishly reacts to them. He is characterized by asthenic, easily arising experiences, increased impressionability, shyness. He really feels good in a familiar environment in which he is able to show perseverance, perseverance, and be active. With new people he feels awkward, unsure of himself, anxious. However, this is a sensitive, prudent person and a devoted friend. "Do no harm" - the principle of the approach to the melancholic.

Portrait of a choleric. High level of neuropsychic activity, movements are sharp, swift, impulsive. The choleric, being under the influence of passion, reveals a remarkable strength in activity, energy and perseverance. The strength of his feelings - pride, ambition, vindictiveness - knows no limits if he is under the influence of passion. Thinks little, acts quickly, impetuously. Prone to sudden mood swings, often quarrelsome, straightforward, badly restraining himself. Carried away by some business, the choleric spends his energy wastefully and is exhausted more than he should. "Not a minute of peace" - this is the principle of approach to the choleric.

Each temperament has its advantages and disadvantages. So, with good upbringing and self-control, sanguine is characterized by responsiveness, phlegmatic - endurance and self-control, choleric - activity, passion in work, melancholic - impressionability. The disadvantages of temperament are: in a sanguine person - superficiality, dispersion; phlegmatic - indifference to others, "dryness"; in a melancholic - isolation, shyness; choleric is impulsive.

It should be borne in mind that in life, distinct types of temperament are not so common, usually one or another combination of them is characteristic of a person. The manifestation of temperaments is more pronounced in young people, with age it becomes less bright, muffled, as human behavior is more and more regulated by character traits.

2 THE ROLE OF TEMPERAMENT IN ACTIVITY

In the middle of the XX century. the interest of scientists and practitioners in the types of temperament has awakened with renewed vigor, which made it possible to clarify and expand ideas about the influence of temperament on human behavior and activities. So, scientists of the B.F. Teplov, it was found that the strength of the nervous system associated with performance has not only positive, but also negative aspects. The low performance of the weak type is compensated by high sensitivity, which allows you to more subtly respond to environmental changes. The imbalance of the choleric negatively affects activities that require quick reactions, mobility. The influence of temperament on the efficiency of activity is enhanced in extreme conditions.

Researchers have shown that the type of temperament affects the formation of skills in production activities. So, in sanguine people, motor skills are formed very quickly, although at first chaotic activity is observed by trial and error. The formed skills of sanguine people are distinguished by their strength and noise immunity. In choleric people, motor skills are more difficult to form than in sanguine people. Extraneous interference significantly affects their activity, sometimes frustrating it completely.

Phlegmatic people have slow but highly coordinated movements. Thanks to their accuracy, consistency, and in some cases, their great perseverance, they largely compensate for their inertia by showing high labor productivity. In melancholics, skills are developed with difficulty and are easily inhibited. After exercise, they can reach a satisfactory level, but only in a familiar environment. Work, full of surprises, complications, is contraindicated for them. The described features are largely manifested not only in motor, but also in other types of activity.

Features of temperament largely determine the individual style of activity of each person. An individual style of activity is a stable system of techniques, methods, methods, determined by typological features, which develops in a person in the course of activity and is expedient for achieving a successful result.

In the process of activity, a person chooses such techniques and methods of performing actions that are most consistent with his temperament. For example, on the basis of the inertia of nervous processes, punctuality arises, a tendency not to break away from the work begun, smooth movements are easily carried out, stereotypical ways of implementing tasks. And on the basis of mobility, opposite traits are spontaneously formed. From the totality of such involuntary forms of response, quite consciously applied and purposeful systems of actions and techniques that characterize an individual style are formed.

In order to carry out an individual approach to students, it is necessary to know their temperament. To determine the temperament of a person, one should pay attention to his activity.

V.D. Nebylitsin in the structure of temperament distinguishes general, motor and emotional activity.

General activity is a person's readiness for activity, for mastering everything new, the desire for transformation, overcoming obstacles. A high level of general activity differs in choleric and sanguine people, a low level in melancholic and phlegmatic people.

Motor activity is the speed, rhythm, strength of human movements (gait, gestures, facial expressions), as well as the strength, speed and rhythm of speech. A high level of physical activity is characteristic of choleric and sanguine people (walk quickly, rhythmically, speak loudly, etc.). Low - for melancholic and phlegmatic people (they walk smoothly, speech is calm, quiet, etc.).

Emotional activity is the ease with which emotions become the motivating force of an act. A low level of emotional activity is characteristic of sanguine and phlegmatic people. High - for choleric and melancholic. Cholerics and melancholics are impressionable, but choleric people are impulsive, melancholic people are not. Cholerics have a rapid change in emotional states, melancholics do not.

The combination of general, motor and emotional activity characterizes the temperament of a person.

Character is formed on the basis of temperament.

If we evaluate the given psychological characteristics of temperament, we will see that each of them has both good and bad properties. So, a sanguine person is emotional and has a good working capacity, but his motives are unstable, and his attention is just as unstable. The melancholic is less efficient and more anxious, but he is a sensitive person, usually cautious and prudent. Therefore, there are no "bad" or "good" temperaments - each temperament is good in some conditions and bad in others. It does not determine the social value of a person either - the inclinations, worldview and beliefs of a person, the content of his interests do not depend on temperament. Among the outstanding people of the past there are people with a wide variety of temperaments: A.V. Suvorov and A.I. Herzen were sanguine, Peter 1 and I.P. Pavlov - choleric, N.V. Gogol and P.I. Tchaikovsky - melancholic, and M.I. Kutuzov and I.A. Krylov - phlegmatic. And among our contemporaries - outstanding athletes, cosmonauts, statesmen - we see people who differ significantly in temperament. In the same way, people of the same type of temperament can be both progressive and conservative.

Depending on how a person relates to certain phenomena, to life tasks, to the people around him, he mobilizes the appropriate energy, becomes capable of prolonged stress, forces himself to change the speed of his reactions and the pace of work. An educated and sufficiently strong-willed choleric is able to show restraint, switch his attention to other objects, although this is given to him with great difficulty than, for example, phlegmatic.

Under the influence of living conditions, a certain course of action, a choleric person can develop inertia, slowness, lack of initiative, while a melancholic person can develop energy and determination. Life experience and upbringing of a person mask the manifestation of the type of higher nervous activity and temperament of a person.

However, individual strong mental shocks, complex conflict situations can suddenly unmask, exacerbate one or another natural dynamic feature of the human psyche.

In the system of education and re-education, typological categories of people require a particularly careful individual approach. Under unusual super-strong influences that give rise to a criminally dangerous situation, previously formed inhibitory reactions can be "disinhibited" primarily in people of the choleric type. Melancholics are not resistant to difficult situations, they are more disposed to a neuropsychic breakdown.

“The way of human and animal behavior is determined not only by the innate properties of the nervous system, but also by those influences that have fallen and are constantly falling on the body during its individual existence, that is, it depends on constant education or training in the broadest sense of these words. And this is because that, next to the above properties of the nervous system, its most important property, the highest plasticity, continuously appears. Depending on the conditions of life and human activity, individual properties of his temperament can be strengthened or weakened. At the same time, the properties of temperament tend to become more pronounced with age.

3 CHARACTER

In psychology, the concept of “character” (Greek “seal”, “chasing”) means a set of stable individual characteristics of a person that are formed and manifested in activity and communication, causing her typical behaviors.

The concept of character varies greatly in the theoretical constructions of individual authors.

In modern and foreign characterology, three directions can be distinguished:

1. Constitutional and biological. Character, in essence, comes down to the sum of the constitution and temperament.

2. Psychoanalytic. Character is explained on the basis of the unconscious inclinations of a person.

3. Ideological. The character lies in the inhibition of instincts, which is determined by ethical and logical sanctions.

According to A.G. Kovalev's character is a peculiarity of the warehouse of psychological activity, manifested in the features of the social behavior of the individual.

In the character of each person one should see the unity of stable and dynamic properties. The basis of character develops gradually, strengthens in the process of life and becomes typical for a given person, and specific manifestations of character can change depending on the situations in which a person is located, under the influence of people with whom he communicates. Decisive for understanding character is the relationship between socially and personally significant for a person. It is the orientation of the personality that underlies the unity, integrity and strength of character. However, the nature and orientation of the individual are not the same thing. The main condition for the formation of character is the existence of life goals. A spineless person is characterized by the absence or dispersion of goals. The orientation of the individual leaves an imprint on all human behavior. In this formed system, something always comes to the fore, dominates it, giving the character of a person a peculiar flavor. The most important theoretical and practical importance in the study of the nature and the choice of psychological and pedagogical means of influence is the correct understanding of its nature and its components.

In psychology, there are the following points of view on the nature of character: some believe that it is hereditarily conditioned; others - that it is entirely determined by the condition of life; still others, that character has both hereditary and acquired properties.

The first point of view is characterized by the biologization of character, the second is the other extreme - the sociologization of character, nullifying the role of the biological factor. Both points of view are erroneous, because they do not correspond to reality. The point of view adopted in Russian psychology more realistically reflects the nature of character, according to which character is not innate, but organization features (and primarily the nervous system, genotype) also affect its manifestations. According to Yu.B. Gippenreiter, it is necessary to consider certain properties of the organism as biological or genotypic prerequisites of character. According to the provisions of modern genetics, only the “reaction rate” is inherited, i.e. a set of different ways of responding to the influence of the environment.

Analysis of the problem of "biological foundations of character" allows the following conclusions:

1. Determinants of character traits should be sought both in the characteristics of the genotype and in the characteristics of the impact of the environment;

2. The degree of relative participation of factors of heredity and the influence of the environment in the formation of character may be different;

3. Genotypic and environmental influences on character can lead to the effect of "algebraic addition". According to Yu.B. Gippenreiter, with an unfavorable combination, even a strong genotypic predisposition may not be realized, or may not lead to pathological character deviations.

4 CLASSIFICATION OF CHARACTER TRAITS

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

5 CHARACTER TYPES

Authoritarian character - a term by E. Fromm, meaning the type of character of a sadomasochistic personality, which is characterized by both admiration for power and a desire to obey it - and the desire to become power itself and subjugate others. Also characteristic is love for conditions restricting freedom, willing submission to fate.

Astheno-neurotic character - one of the types of character accentuation. Quick fatigue, irritability, a tendency to depression and hypochondria are characteristic.

Biophilic character - according to E. Fromm - a form of character structure, acting as a developed form of a productive character. Typical for him are: love for life and the living; striving to support growth, development and progress; constructiveness, productivity, creativity; desire to do good, etc.

Hyperthymic character is one of the types of character accentuation. It is almost always distinguished by a good, even slightly elated mood, splashing energy, uncontrollable activity. Constant striving for leadership - informal. A good sense of the new is combined with the instability of interests, great sociability - with promiscuity in acquaintances. Hyperthyms are easily mastered in an unfamiliar environment. They tend to overestimate their capabilities and make overly optimistic plans for the future. Short bursts of irritation are caused by the desire of others to suppress their activity and leadership tendencies. For hyperthyms, situations are difficult where behavior is strictly regulated, where there is no freedom of initiative, where monotonous work or forced inactivity. In such situations, they give explosions or breakdowns. The “weak link” of the hyperthymic character is isolation from peers, forced idleness, monotony, strict regimen.

Hysteroid character (demonstrative character) is one of the types of character accentuation. For a hysterical accentuator, the most difficult thing is to endure inattention to his person. He strives for praise, fame, leadership, but due to business immaturity, he soon loses his position and then suffers a lot. Leaving the hysteroid alone means creating a situation of psychological discomfort or even stress. His “weak link” is attacks on egocentrism, the inability to be in the spotlight, to arouse general interest in himself.

Conformal character is one of the types of character accentuation. Characterized by excessive subordination and dependence on the opinions of others, lack of criticality and initiative, conservatism.

Obsessive character - according to Z. Freud - a term for the name of the character of persons who gravitate towards obsessive actions.

Necrophilic character - according to E. Fromm - a malignant form of character structure. The following conditions are typical: fear of life; attraction to dead things; interest in disease and death; a special kind of lifelessness and alienation; attitude to possession, power and strength; orientation to the past; mechanical perception of life; forced pedantry, sadism; admiration for technology; destruction of life, etc.

Unstable character is one of the types of character accentuation. Characterized by a tendency to succumb to the influence of others, the search for new experiences, superficial sociability.

Paranoid character (character stuck) is one of the types of character accentuation. Characterized by increased suspicion and resentment, the persistence of negative affects, the desire for dominance, rejection of other people's opinions and high conflict.

Sensitive character is one of the types of character accentuation. Increased impressionability, timidity, a heightened sense of one's own inferiority are characteristic.

Social character - according to E. Fromm - a set of character traits that are present in most members of a social group, arose as a result of their common experiences and lifestyle. The social character is the key to understanding social processes, because this character is the main element of the functioning of society and at the same time is an intermediate link between the socio-economic structure and the ideas and ideals that prevail in society. Analysis of the social character as a form of connection between the social system and the individual psyche leads to the conclusion that there are types of characters corresponding to the social structure of society and the forms of alienation and self-alienation of a person.

6 ACCENTUATIONS OF CHARACTER

The description of the variety of character types should be supplemented by a description of the variety of character accentuations. If the character as a whole is defined by us as a stable direction of response, then when the character is burdened with accentuation, certain painful violations come to the fore. Accentuations are such variants of character development that are characterized by: 1) a violation of the need-motivational sphere in the form of dominance of ambivalent states, 2) a decrease in the ability to social adaptation, 3) increased vulnerability, sensitivity to certain kinds of influences that cause inadequate response (reduced resistance). The following classes of accentuations can be distinguished. Asthenic, including disorders of the psychasthenic, neurasthenic and sensitive type. Dysthymic, combining disorders of the hyperthymic, hypothymic and cycloid type. Sociopathic, within which it is necessary to distinguish violations of the conformal, nonconformal and paranoid type. "Psychopathic", including variants of schizoid, epileptoid and hysteroid disorders. We give a brief description of them.

Psychasthenic. The dominant features of behavior are indecisiveness, anxious suspiciousness in the form of expectations of adverse events, anxiety for the well-being of their loved ones, a tendency to reasoning, introspection, introspection. Indecision is manifested in long and painful hesitation when it is necessary to make an independent choice. However, when a decision is made, impatience, the desire to immediately fulfill it, comes to the fore. Self-confident, peremptory judgments, exaggerated determination (recklessness) can be observed as hypercompensation for indecision. Ritual actions, attention to signs become protection from constant anxiety. As a compensatory education against anxiety in front of a new, unfamiliar, there is a pedantic tendency to order, an unchanging regime, any violation of which provokes anxiety. As compensatory formations, there can also be a tendency to carefully plan future activities, good awareness, and high competence.

Neurotic. In the foreground of the mental appearance are such features as increased fatigue, irritability, a tendency to hypochondria, fears, timidity. Fatigue quickly sets in during mental exercises, and in a competitive environment with physical and emotional stress. Irritability is manifested by sudden affective outbursts, often arising on an insignificant occasion and easily replaced by repentance and tears.

Sensitive. First of all, timidity and shyness are noted, easily detected in front of strangers and in unfamiliar surroundings. Difficulties in communicating with everyone except relatives, as a result of this, sometimes there is a false impression of isolation, isolation from others. Excessive demands on oneself take the form of constant remorse. The desire for hypercompensation takes the form of self-affirmation not in the area where abilities can be revealed, but where he feels his own weakness. Timid and shy can put on the guise of artificial cheerfulness, swagger, arrogance, but in an unexpected situation he quickly gives up. Often seeks to occupy public positions, where timidity is compensated by the authority of the organization, performs well the formal part of the functions entrusted to him. Situations of excessive attention from others, especially hostility, ridicule, suspicions of unseemly acts, are difficult to bear.

Hyperthym. Characterized by an increased need for an influx of life experiences, social recognition, familiarity, adventurism. Poorly tolerates strict discipline, strictly regulated control. Shows resourcefulness in unusual situations. He treats rules and laws lightly, sometimes cynically. Inaccurate, optional. Poorly copes with work that requires perseverance, painstaking work. Inflated self-esteem and a tendency to build bright plans for the future are inherent, which are easily forgotten and replaced by new ones.

Hypothym. They are distinguished by a constantly lowered mood, increased anxiety, the expectation that something unpleasant is about to happen. Glimpses of improvement in mood are accompanied by an exacerbation of anxiety: you have to pay for joy with new misfortunes ("laugh - to tears"). Often feels guilty, inferior: it seems that he is guilty of something, that others look down on him. From difficulties falls into despair, is not capable of strong-willed effort. Constantly feeling unwell. After sleep, a long period of working out is required. Characterized by motor lethargy, lethargy. Objectively needs to create and maintain a strengthening (tonic) mode of life.

Cyclothym. The defining feature is unmotivated sharp fluctuations in mood, which then persists for a long (months) time. Everything depends on the mood in which cyclothym is in a given period: well-being, working capacity, and sociability. According to the mood, the future is now colored with iridescent colors, now it seems gray and bleak, and the past appears either as a chain of favorable events, or as entirely consisting of failures and injustices, and the everyday environment seems either malicious or benevolent.

Conformist. It is distinguished by a reduced need for individualization, low initiative, a tendency to the banal, stereotyped, generally accepted, impersonality. Striving always to conform to the environment, he cannot resist it. Internal discomfort occurs when something stands out from its usual environment. Unmotivated hostility towards those who do not follow generally accepted standards is characteristic.

Nonconformist. A pronounced need to act contrary to the established rules dominates, combined with lack of will when it comes to the performance of duties, duty, and the achievement of goals imperatively set from outside. There is no life perspective. Social ties are weakened, there is a noticeable craving for random companies that promise entertainment, an easy change of impressions. Attraction to idle pastime.

Paranoid. It is distinguished primarily by increased conflict due to the persistent desire to introduce innovations. Suspicious: perceives people who do not share his views as unscrupulous, unfriendly. There is a rigid behavior. Indifference or unwillingness to accept the projects proposed by him even more set him up to achieve his goal. Characterized by concentration, fixation on the goal, reduced ability to understand others, to empathy.

Schizoid. In the foreground of the mental appearance is alienation from others. Disinterest in understanding others and being understood by others. The schizoid is characterized by isolation, immersion in the world of inner experiences and thoughts, which are often divorced from everyday life and, as it were, opposed to it. Extravagance of behavior, hobbies, their pretentiousness are noted, which, however, do not serve as a way to attract attention to themselves, but express indifference to the environment. The weakness of intuition and empathy emphasizes the impression of coldness, callousness. These traits can be enhanced as a result of the rapid depletion of interest in interpersonal interaction.

Epileltoid. A characteristic feature is periods of unreasonably melancholy mood, when the epileptoid becomes quick-tempered, irritable, prone to sadistic reactions. Touchiness takes place, the load of negative emotions persists for a long time and requires defusing through revenge, in addition, limitedness, focus on once chosen circle of interests are noticeable. Accurate, scrupulous execution of the established order may be accompanied by irritation when someone destroys this order. Asymmetry in interpersonal relationships is manifested in the following: he considers it his duty to give advice, teach, but does not tolerate an edifying attitude towards himself. There is a tendency to detailed, detailed, unhurried explanations and irritation when interrupted, not allowed to finish, rushed. Successfully copes with work that requires careful, punctual implementation of instructions.

Hysteroid. The dominant feature of this type of accentuation is insatiable egocentrism: a thirst for constant attention to one's person from others, admiration, surprise, reverence, sympathy. He does not tolerate indifferent attitude towards himself, preferring indignation or hatred in his address. On this basis, a tendency to fantasize develops, through which the need to see and present oneself in an unusual light is realized. The absence of deep, sincere, stable feelings is combined with the expressiveness of behavior, theatricality of experiences, a penchant for drawing, posturing. Empathy is well developed. Not possessing sufficient stenicity, the ability to subjugate others, he can take a leading position in the group for a short time due to the ability to express emerging moods. He succumbs to difficulties, especially if there is no chance to focus on his person. The psychologically dominant feature is also manifested in the appearance, which is all focused on attracting attention: agitation, conspicuous clothing, jewelry, loud laughter, various voice modulations. Social contacts, although extensive, are superficial and unstable, maintained as long as they reinforce the egocentric orientation.

CONCLUSION

Based on a materialistic understanding of human phenomena, it should be noted that the common thing for character and temperament is dependence on the physiological characteristics of a person. The formation of character significantly 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 character such traits as balance or difficulty in entering a new situation, mobility or inertia of 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.

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 emotional orientation of character properties, a certain speed of mental processes and personality manifestations, a certain characteristic of expressive movements and actions of a person. 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.

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

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The problem, which will be discussed in this lecture, has occupied mankind for more than 25 centuries. Interest in it is associated with the evidence of individual differences between people. The psyche of each person is unique. Its uniqueness is connected both with the peculiarities of the biological and physiological structure and development of the organism, and with the unique composition of social ties and contacts. The biological conditioned substructures of personality include, first of all, temperament. When they talk about temperament, they mean many mental differences between people - differences in depth, intensity, stability of emotions, emotional impressionability, pace, energy of actions and other dynamic, individually stable features of mental life, behavior and activity. Nevertheless, temperament remains a largely controversial and unresolved issue today. However, with all the diversity of approaches to the problem, scientists and practitioners recognize that temperament- the biological foundation on which the personality as a social being is formed. Temperament reflects the dynamic aspects of behavior, mainly of an innate nature, therefore, the properties of temperament are the most stable and constant in comparison with other mental characteristics of a person. The most specific feature of temperament is that the various properties of the temperament of a given person are not randomly combined with each other, but are naturally interconnected, forming a certain organization that characterizes 3 temperaments.

So under temperament one should understand the individual-peculiar properties of the psyche that determine the dynamics of a person’s mental activity, which, being equally manifested in a variety of activities, regardless of its content, goals, motives, remain constant in adulthood and characterize the type of temperament in interconnection.

Before proceeding to the consideration of various types and features of temperament, it should immediately be noted that there are no better and worse temperaments - each of them has its positive aspects, and therefore the main efforts should be directed not at its correction, but at its reasonable use in a specific activity. merits. From time immemorial, man has made attempts to isolate and realize the typical features of the mental make-up of various people, trying to reduce all their diversity to a small number of generalized portraits. Such generalized portraits from ancient times were called types of temperaments. Such typologies were practically useful, since they could be used to predict the behavior of people with a certain temperament in specific life situations.

Typologies of temperament

The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (VXVIII century BC) is considered the creator of the doctrine of temperaments. He argued that people differ in the ratio of the 4 main "juices of the body" - blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile - which are part of it. Based on his teachings, the most famous doctor of antiquity after Hippocrates, Claudius Galen (II century BC), developed the first typology of temperaments, which he outlined in the famous treatise “De temperamentum” (Latin “proportionality”, “correct measure”) . According to his teaching the type of temperament depends on the predominance of one of the juices in the body. They were allocated temperaments, which in our time are widely known: sanguine(from lat. sanguis - blood), phlegmatic(from Greek phlegma - phlegm), choleric(from the Greek chole - bile), melancholic(from Greek melas chole - black bile). This fantastic concept has had a huge impact on scientists for many centuries.

A variety of typologies of temperaments arose. Of greatest interest are those in which the properties of temperament, understood as hereditary or innate, were associated with individual differences in physique. These typologies are called constitutional typologies. Among them are the typologies of E. Kretschmer, W. Sheldon and others.

In psychological science, most constitutional concepts have become the object of sharp criticism. The main drawback of such theories is that they underestimate, and sometimes simply openly ignore, the role of the environment and social conditions in shaping the psychological properties of an individual.

In fact, the dependence of the course of mental processes and human behavior on the functioning of the nervous system, which performs a dominant and controlling role in the body, has long been known. The theory of the connection of some general properties of nervous processes with types of temperament was proposed by I. P. Pavlov and was developed in the works of his followers.

IP Pavlov understood the type of the nervous system as innate, relatively weakly subject to changes under the influence of the environment and upbringing. According to IP Pavlov, the properties of the nervous system form the physiological basis of temperament, which is a mental manifestation of the general type of the nervous system. Types of the nervous system, established in animal studies, I. P. Pavlov proposed to extend to humans.

Each person has a very specific type of nervous system, the manifestations of which, i.e. features of temperament, constitute an important aspect of individual psychological differences. Specific manifestations of the type of temperament are diverse. They are not only noticeable in the external manner of behavior, but seem to permeate all aspects of the psyche, significantly manifesting themselves in cognitive activity, the sphere of feelings, motives and actions of a person, as well as in the nature of mental work, speech features, etc.

To compile the psychological characteristics of traditional 4 types, the following main properties of temperament are usually distinguished:

sensitivity is determined by what is the smallest force of external influences necessary for the occurrence of any psychological reaction.

Reactivity characterized by the degree of involuntary reactions to external or internal influences of the same strength (a critical remark, an offensive word, a sharp tone - even a sound).

Activity indicates how intensely (energetically) a person influences the outside world and overcomes obstacles in achieving goals (persistence, focus, concentration).

The ratio of reactivity and activity determines what human activity depends to a greater extent: on random external or internal circumstances (moods, random events) or on goals, intentions, beliefs.

Plasticity and rigidity indicate how easily and flexibly a person adapts to external influences (plasticity) or how inert and bone his behavior is.

Rate of reactions characterizes the speed of various mental reactions and processes, the rate of speech, the dynamics of gestures, the speed of the mind.

extraversion, introversion determines what the reactions and activities of a person mainly depend on - from external impressions that arise at the moment (extrovert), or from images, ideas and thoughts related to the past and future (introvert).

Emotional excitability It is characterized by how weak the impact is necessary for the occurrence of an emotional reaction and with what speed it occurs.

Considering all the listed properties, J. Strelyau gives the following psychological characteristics of the main classical types of temperament:

sanguine

A person with increased reactivity, but at the same time, his activity and reactivity are balanced. He vividly, excitedly responds to everything that attracts his attention, has a lively facial expression and expressive movements. On an insignificant occasion, he laughs out loud, and an insignificant fact can make him very angry. It is easy to guess his mood, attitude to an object or person by his face. He has a high threshold of sensitivity, so he does not notice very weak sounds and light stimuli. Possessing increased activity, and being very energetic and efficient, he actively takes up a new business and can work for a long time without getting tired. Able to quickly concentrate, disciplined, if desired, can restrain the manifestation of his feelings and involuntary reactions. He is characterized by quick movements, flexibility of mind, resourcefulness, a fast pace of speech, a quick inclusion in a new job. High plasticity is manifested in the variability of feelings, moods, interests, aspirations. Sanguine easily converges with new people, quickly gets used to new requirements and environment. Without effort, not only switches from one job to another, but also responds more to external impressions than to subjective images and ideas about the past and future, an extrovert.

Choleric

Like the sanguine person, it is characterized by low sensitivity, high reactivity and activity. But in a choleric person, reactivity clearly prevails over activity, so he is not curbed, unrestrained, impatient, quick-tempered. He is less plastic and more inert than the sanguine. Hence - greater stability of aspirations and interests, greater perseverance, difficulties in switching attention are possible, he is rather an extrovert.

Phlegmatic person

The phlegmatic person has a high activity, significantly prevailing over low reactivity, low sensitivity and emotionality. It is difficult to make him laugh and sad - when they laugh loudly around him, he can remain unperturbed. When in big trouble, he stays calm. Usually he has poor facial expressions, movements are not expressive and slowed down, as well as speech. He is not resourceful, with difficulty switching attention and adapting to a new environment, slowly rebuilding skills and habits. At the same time, he is energetic and efficient. Differs in patience, endurance, self-control. As a rule, he finds it difficult to meet new people, weakly responds to external impressions, an introvert.

melancholic

A person with high sensitivity and low reactivity. Increased sensitivity with great inertia leads to the fact that an insignificant reason can cause tears in him, he is overly touchy, painfully sensitive. His facial expressions and movements are inexpressive, his voice is quiet, his movements are poor. Usually he is insecure, timid, the slightest difficulty makes him give up. The melancholic is not energetic and persistent, gets tired easily and is not very efficient. It is characterized by easily distracted and unstable attention, and a slow pace of all mental processes. Most melancholics are introverts.

Temperament and activity

The productivity of a person's work is closely related to the characteristics of his temperament. So, the special mobility (reactivity) of a sanguine person can bring an additional effect if the work requires a change in objects of communication, occupation. A false impression may be created that inert people have no advantages in any kind of activity, but this is not true: it is they who are especially easy to carry out slow and smooth movements. For psychological and pedagogical influence, it is necessary to take into account the possible type of human temperament. R. M. Granovskaya's advice: it is useful to control the activity of a choleric person as often as possible; harshness and incontinence are unacceptable in working with him, since they can cause a negative response. At the same time, any act of his must be exactingly and fairly evaluated. At the same time, negative assessments are necessary only in a very energetic form and as often as necessary to improve the results of his work or study. A sanguine person should be constantly assigned new, if possible, interesting tasks that require concentration and tension from him.

Phlegmatic need to be involved in active activities and interest. It requires systematic attention. It cannot be quickly switched from one task to another. With regard to the melancholic, not only harshness, rudeness, but also simply an elevated tone, irony are unacceptable. About an act committed by a melancholic, it is better to talk with him alone. He requires special attention, you should praise him in time for his successes, determination and will. A negative assessment should be used as carefully as possible, mitigating its negative impact in every possible way. melancholic- the most sensitive and vulnerable type. You have to be extremely gentle and kind with him.

It can be considered already firmly established that the type of temperament in a person is innate, on which particular properties of his innate organization it depends, has not yet been fully elucidated. Congenital features of temperament are manifested in a person in such mental processes that depend on upbringing, social environment and the ability to control their reactions. Therefore, a specific reaction to a situation can be determined both by the influence of the characteristic differences of the nervous system, and be the result of training and professional experience. However, the limits of possible development are determined by the innate properties of the nervous system. Professional selection helps to identify applicants with the most suitable for a given specialty.

Four types of temperament

temperament (lat. Temperamentum- proper ratio of parts) - a stable association of individual personality traits associated with dynamic, rather than meaningful aspects of activity. Temperament is the basis of character development; in general, from a physiological point of view temperament - a type of higher nervous activity of a person.

Temperament - these are individually peculiar properties of the psyche, reflecting the dynamics of a person's mental activity and manifesting themselves regardless of his goals, motives and content. Temperament changes little during life, and, in fact, not even temperament changes, but the psyche, and temperament is always stable.

Four temperaments in the form of visual emoticons (phlegmatic, choleric, sanguine, melancholic) are shown in fig. 7.

The magic of numbers in the Mediterranean civilization led to the doctrine of four temperaments, while in the East a five-component "system of the world" developed. The word "temperament" and the Greek word "krasis" (Greek chraots; - "fusion, mixing"), which is equal in meaning to it, were introduced by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates. By temperament, he understood both the anatomical and physiological and individual psychological characteristics of a person. Hippocrates, and then Galen, explained temperament, as a feature of behavior, by the predominance of one of the "vital juices" (four elements) in the body:

• the predominance of yellow bile ("bile, poison") makes a person impulsive, "hot" - choleric;
• the predominance of lymph ("sputum") makes a person calm and slow - phlegmatic;
• the predominance of blood ("blood") makes a person mobile and cheerful - sanguine;
• the predominance of black bile ("black bile") makes a person sad and fearful - melancholic.

Rice. 7. Four temperaments

This system still has a profound influence on literature, art and science.

A truly turning point in the history of the natural science study of temperaments was the teaching of I.P. Pavlov about the types of the nervous system (types of higher nervous activity) common to humans and higher mammals. I.P. Pavlov proved that the physiological basis of temperament is the type of higher nervous activity, determined by the ratio of the main properties of the nervous system: strength, balance and mobility of the processes of excitation and inhibition occurring in the nervous system. The type of the nervous system is determined by the genotype, i.e. hereditary type. I.P. Pavlov identified four clearly defined types of the nervous system, i.e. certain complexes of the basic properties of nervous processes.

The weak type is characterized by the weakness of both excitatory and inhibitory processes - melancholic.

A strong unbalanced type is characterized by a strong irritable process and a relatively strong inhibition process - choleric, "unrestrained" type.

Strong balanced mobile type - sanguine, "live" type.

Strong balanced, but with inert nervous processes - phlegmatic, "calm" type.

Strength - the ability of nerve cells to maintain normal performance with a significant tension in the processes of excitation and inhibition, the ability of the central nervous system to perform certain work without the need to restore its resources. A strong nervous system is able to withstand a large load for a long time and, conversely, a weak nervous system cannot withstand a large and prolonged load. It is believed that people with a stronger nervous system are more resilient and stress-resistant. The strength of the nervous system in excitation is manifested in the fact that it is relatively easy for a person to work in adverse conditions, a short rest is enough for him to restore strength after tiring work, he is able to work intensively, does not get lost in an unusual environment, and is persistent. The inhibitory power of the nervous system is manifested in the ability of a person to restrain his activity, for example, not to talk, to show calmness, self-control, to be restrained and patient.

The balance of nervous processes reflects the ratio, the balance of excitation and inhibition. In this case, balance means the same severity of nervous processes.

The mobility of the nervous system is expressed in the ability to quickly move from one process to another, from one activity to another. Persons with a more mobile nervous system are distinguished by the flexibility of behavior, they quickly adapt to new conditions.

A description of the features of different temperaments can help to understand the features of a person’s temperament, if they are clearly expressed, but people with pronounced features of a certain temperament are not so common, most often people have a mixed temperament in various combinations. Although, of course, the predominance of traits of any type of temperament makes it possible to attribute a person's temperament to one or another type.

Temperament and human abilities

A person with any type of temperament can be capable and incapable - the type of temperament does not affect a person’s abilities, it’s just that some life tasks are easier to solve for a person of one type of temperament, others for another. Depends on the temperament of a person:

• the speed of occurrence of mental processes (for example, the speed of perception, the speed of thinking, the duration of concentration, etc.);
• plasticity and stability of mental phenomena, the ease of their change and switching;
• pace and rhythm of activity;
• the intensity of mental processes (for example, the strength of emotions, activity of the will):
• the focus of mental activity on certain objects (extraversion or introversion).

From the point of view of psychologists, four temperaments - just one of the possible systems for assessing psychological characteristics(there are others, for example, "introversion - extraversion"). Descriptions of temperaments are quite different for different psychologists and, apparently, include a fairly large number of factors.

Attempts were made to bring the scientific and experimental base under the theory of temperaments (IP Pavlov, G.Yu. Aizenk, B.M. Teplov, etc.), however, the results obtained by these researchers are only partially compatible with each other. Of interest is the study of T.A. Blumina (1996), in which she made an attempt to compare the theory of temperaments with all known at that time (more than 100) psychological typologies, including in terms of methods for determining these types.

In general, classification by temperament does not meet modern requirements for factor analysis of personality and is currently more interesting from a historical point of view.

Modern science sees in the doctrine of temperaments an echo of the ancient classification of four types of mental response in combination with intuitively noticed types of physiological and biochemical reactions of the individual.

At present, the concept of four temperaments is supported by the concepts of "inhibition" and "excitation" of the nervous system. The ratio of "high" and "low" levels for each of these two independent parameters gives a certain individual characteristic of a person, and, as a result. - a formal definition of each of the four temperaments. On emoticons (see Fig. 7) you can interpret a smile; as the ease of inhibition processes, and frowning eyebrows - as a manifestation of the ease of excitation.

The work of scientists on the human genome creates the conditions for revealing the functions of human genes that determine temperament through hormones (serotonin, melatonin, dopamine) and other biochemical mediators. Biochemistry and genetics make it possible to establish and formalize the psychological phenotypes of people, noticed even by doctors of antiquity.

The original concept of temperament is presented in the books by J. Feldman Level Theory and Human Model (2005) and Philosopher on the Beach (2009). They consider the situation “a person in a stream of tasks of the same type”. It turns out that a person is included in the solution gradually, the number of errors and the time to solve one problem gradually decrease. Then they say that "working capacity is growing" or "warming up is growing." Then comes the maximum (plateau), then the warm-up drops to zero (refusal of the decision, rest). It is believed that for each person such a curve is repeated periodically, this is his individual characteristic. If randomly selected people are placed on the same task flow, their warm-up curves fall into four groups. These four types of warm-up curves correspond exactly to the four temperaments:

• rapid rise - high and short plateau - rapid decline (choleric);
• moderately rapid rise - moderately high and short plateau - moderately rapid decline (sanguine);
• slow rise - low and long plateau - slow decline (phlegmatic);
• a very slow rise - a high spike in the middle and a return to a low point - and then a slow decline to zero (melancholic).

So, temperament is the most general formal-dynamic characteristic of individual human behavior.

Temperament - a set of typological features of a person, manifested in the dynamics of his psychological processes: in the speed and strength of his reaction, in the emotional tone of his life. Temperament is a manifestation in the human psyche of an innate type of nervous activity. Therefore, the properties of temperament include, first of all, the innate and individually peculiar properties of a person. The word "temperament" in Latin means "the proper ratio of parts", the Greek word "krasis" equal in meaning to it was introduced by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (5-4 centuries BC). By temperament, he understood both the anatomical and physiological and individual psychological characteristics of a person.

Temperament Properties

In some people, mental activity proceeds evenly. Such people outwardly are always calm, balanced and even slow. They rarely laugh, their eyes are always strict and hungry. Getting into difficult situations or funny situations, these people remain outwardly unperturbed. Their facial expressions and gestures do not differ in variety and expressiveness, their speech is calm, their gait is firm. In other people, psychological activity proceeds spasmodically. They are very mobile, restless, noisy. Their speech is impetuous and passionate, their movements are chaotic, their facial expressions are varied and rich. Often such people wave their hands and stomp their feet when talking. They are fussy and impatient. The properties of temperament are those natural properties that determine the dynamic side of a person's mental activity. In other words, the nature of the course of mental activity depends on temperament, namely:

the speed of occurrence of mental processes and their stability (for example, the speed of perception, the speed of the mind, the duration of concentration of attention);

mental rhythm and pace;

the intensity of mental processes (for example, the strength of emotions, activity of the will);

the focus of mental activity on some specific objects (for example, a person’s constant desire for contacts with new people, for new impressions of reality, or a person’s appeal to himself, to his ideas and images).

Also, the dynamics of mental activity depends on motives and mental state. Any person, regardless of the characteristics of his temperament, with interest, works more energetically and faster than without it. For any person, a joyful event causes a rise in mental and physical strength, and misfortune causes their fall. On the contrary, the properties of temperament manifest themselves in the same way in the most diverse types of activity and for the most diverse purposes. For example, if a student is worried before passing a test, shows anxiety before a lesson at school during teaching practice, is in anxious anticipation of a start in sports competitions, this means that high anxiety is a property of his temperament. The properties of temperament are the most stable and constant in comparison with other mental characteristics of a person. Various properties of temperament are naturally interconnected, forming a definite organization, a structure that characterizes the type of temperament.

To compile the psychological characteristics of the traditional 4 types of temperament, the following main properties of temperament are usually distinguished:

Sensitivity is determined by what is the smallest force of external influences necessary for the occurrence of any psychological reaction.

Reactivity is characterized by the degree of involuntary reactions to external or internal influences of the same strength (a critical remark, an offensive word, a sharp tone - even a sound).

Activity indicates how intensely (energetically) a person influences the outside world and overcomes obstacles in achieving goals (persistence, focus, concentration).

The ratio of reactivity and activity determines what human activity depends on to a greater extent: on random external or internal circumstances (moods, random events) or on goals, intentions, beliefs.

Plasticity and rigidity indicate how easily and flexibly a person adapts to external influences (plasticity) or how inert and bone his behavior is.

The rate of reactions characterizes the speed of various mental reactions and processes, the rate of speech, the dynamics of gestures, the speed of the mind. Extraversion, introversion determines what the reactions and activities of a person mainly depend on - from external impressions that arise at the moment (extrovert), or from images, ideas and thoughts related to the past and future (introvert). Emotional excitability is characterized by how weak the impact is necessary for the occurrence of an emotional reaction and at what speed it occurs.

Characteristics and features of the main psychological types of temperament

sanguine

The sanguine person quickly converges with people, is cheerful, easily switches from one type of activity to another, but does not like monotonous work. He easily controls his emotions, quickly gets used to a new environment, actively enters into contacts with people. His speech is loud, fast, distinct and is accompanied by expressive facial expressions and gestures. But this temperament is characterized by a certain duality. If the stimuli change rapidly, novelty and interest of impressions are maintained all the time, a state of active excitement is created in the sanguine person and he manifests himself as an active, active, energetic person.

If the effects are long and monotonous, then they do not support the state of activity, excitement, and the sanguine person loses interest in the matter, he develops indifference, boredom, lethargy. A sanguine person quickly has feelings of joy, grief, affection and ill will, but all these manifestations of his feelings are unstable, do not differ in duration and depth. They quickly arise and can just as quickly disappear or even be replaced by the opposite. The mood of a sanguine person changes quickly, but, as a rule, a good mood prevails.

Choleric

People of this temperament are fast, excessively mobile, unbalanced, excitable, all mental processes proceed quickly and intensively. The predominance of excitation over inhibition, characteristic of this type of nervous activity, is clearly manifested in incontinence, impulsiveness, irascibility, and irritability of the choleric. Hence the expressive facial expressions, hurried speech, sharp gestures, unrestrained movements. The feelings of a person of choleric temperament are strong, usually brightly manifested, quickly arise; mood sometimes changes dramatically. The imbalance inherent in choleric is clearly associated in his activities: he gets down to business with an increase and even passion, while showing impulsiveness and speed of movements, works with enthusiasm, overcoming difficulties.

But in a person with a choleric temperament, the supply of nervous energy can be quickly depleted in the process of work, and then a sharp decline in activity can occur: the upsurge and inspiration disappear, the mood drops sharply. In dealing with people, the choleric person allows harshness, irritability, emotional restraint, which often does not give him the opportunity to objectively evaluate the actions of people, and on this basis he creates conflict situations in the team. Excessive straightforwardness, irascibility, harshness, intolerance sometimes make it difficult and unpleasant to stay in a team of such people.

Phlegmatic person

A person of this temperament is slow, calm, unhurried, balanced. In activity shows solidity, thoughtfulness, perseverance. He usually finishes what he starts. All mental processes in the phlegmatic proceed as if slowly. The feelings of a phlegmatic person are outwardly expressed weakly, they are usually inexpressive. The reason for this is the balance and weak mobility of the nervous processes. In relations with people, the phlegmatic is always even, calm, moderately sociable, his mood is stable.

The calmness of a person of phlegmatic temperament is also manifested in his attitude to the events and phenomena of the life of a phlegmatic person, it is not easy to piss off and hurt him emotionally. It is easy for a person of a phlegmatic temperament to develop restraint, composure, calmness. But a phlegmatic person should develop the qualities he lacks - greater mobility, activity, not to allow him to show indifference to activity, lethargy, inertia, which can very easily form under certain conditions. Sometimes a person of this temperament may develop an indifferent attitude to work, to life around him, to people and even to himself.

melancholic

Melancholics have slow mental processes, they hardly react to strong stimuli; Prolonged and strong stress causes slow activity in people of this temperament, and then its cessation. In work, melancholic people are usually passive, often of little interest (after all, interest is always associated with strong nervous tension). Feelings and emotional states in people of a melancholic temperament arise slowly, but differ in depth, great strength and duration; melancholic people are easily vulnerable, they can hardly endure insults, grief, although outwardly all these experiences are expressed weakly in them.

Representatives of the melancholy temperament are prone to isolation and loneliness, avoid communication with unfamiliar, new people, are often embarrassed, show great awkwardness in a new environment. Everything new, unusual causes a braking state in melancholics. But in a familiar and calm environment, people with such a temperament feel calm and work very productively. It is easy for melancholic people to develop and improve their inherent depth and stability of feelings, increased susceptibility to external influences.

4 types of temperament

Temperament - these are individually peculiar properties of the psyche, reflecting the dynamics of a person's mental activity and manifesting themselves regardless of his goals, motives and content. Temperament changes little during life, and, in fact, not even temperament changes, but the psyche, and temperament is always stable. The magic of numbers in the Mediterranean civilization led to the doctrine of four temperaments, while in the East a five-component "system of the world" developed. The word "temperament" and the Greek word "krasis" (Greek chraots; - "fusion, mixing"), which is equal in meaning to it, was introduced by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates. By temperament, he understood both the anatomical and physiological and individual psychological characteristics of a person. Hippocrates, and then Galen, explained temperament, as a feature of behavior, by the predominance of one of the "vital juices" (four elements) in the body:

the predominance of yellow bile ("bile, poison") makes a person impulsive, "hot" - choleric;

the predominance of lymph ("sputum") makes a person calm and slow - phlegmatic;

the predominance of blood ("blood") makes a person mobile and cheerful - a sanguine person;

the predominance of black bile ("black bile") makes a person sad and fearful - a melancholic.

This system still has a profound influence on literature, art and science.

A truly turning point in the history of the natural science study of temperaments was the teaching of I.P. Pavlov about the types of the nervous system (types of higher nervous activity) common to humans and higher mammals. I.P. Pavlov proved that the physiological basis of temperament is the type of higher nervous activity, determined by the ratio of the main properties of the nervous system: strength, balance and mobility of the processes of excitation and inhibition occurring in the nervous system. The type of the nervous system is determined by the genotype, i.e. hereditary type. I.P. Pavlov identified four clearly defined types of the nervous system, i.e. certain complexes of the basic properties of nervous processes.

The weak type is characterized by the weakness of both excitatory and inhibitory processes - melancholic. A strong unbalanced type is characterized by a strong irritable process and a relatively strong inhibition process - choleric, "unrestrained" type. Strong balanced mobile type - sanguine, "live" type. Strong balanced, but with inert nervous processes - phlegmatic, "calm" type.

Strength - the ability of nerve cells to maintain normal performance with a significant stress on the processes of excitation and inhibition, the ability of the central nervous system to perform certain work without the need to restore its resources. A strong nervous system is able to withstand a large load for a long time and, conversely, a weak nervous system cannot withstand a large and prolonged load. It is believed that people with a stronger nervous system are more resilient and stress-resistant. The strength of the nervous system in excitation is manifested in the fact that it is relatively easy for a person to work in adverse conditions, a short rest is enough for him to restore strength after tiring work, he is able to work intensively, does not get lost in an unusual environment, and is persistent. The inhibitory power of the nervous system is manifested in the ability of a person to restrain his activity, for example, not to talk, to show calmness, self-control, to be restrained and patient.

The balance of nervous processes reflects the ratio, the balance of excitation and inhibition. In this case, balance means the same severity of nervous processes. The mobility of the nervous system is expressed in the ability to quickly move from one process to another, from one activity to another. Persons with a more mobile nervous system are distinguished by the flexibility of behavior, they quickly adapt to new conditions. A description of the features of different temperaments can help to understand the features of a person’s temperament, if they are clearly expressed, but people with pronounced features of a certain temperament are not so common, most often people have a mixed temperament in various combinations. Although, of course, the predominance of traits of any type of temperament makes it possible to attribute a person's temperament to one or another type.

Relationship of character and temperament

Character is often compared with temperament, and in some cases these concepts are considered identical. In world psychological science, there are four points of view on the relationship between these two concepts:

1. Identification of character and temperament (E. Kretschmer, A. Ruzhitsky).

2. Contrasting character and temperament, emphasizing the antagonism between them (P. Viktorov, V. Virenius).

3. Recognition of temperament as an element of character, its core, an invariable part (S. Rubinshtein, S. Gorodetsky).

4. Recognition of temperament as the natural basis of character (L.S. Vygotsky, B.G. Ananiev).

In a sense, all four of these ideas are not without foundation. Common for both character and temperament is the dependence on the physiological characteristics of a person, including congenital factors. Temperament is much more closely connected with the properties of the nervous system, but these features also influence the formation of character, at least through the influence of temperament.

Character traits arise when the temperament code is already sufficiently developed (at about 4-5 years old). For this reason alone, it is not worth equating character and temperament. On the other hand, it is clear that it is temperament that affects the formation of character, and not vice versa.

Temperament determines in the character such, for example, traits:

Equilibrium,

Adaptability,

Behavioral mobility or inertia,

Attitude towards new

Diligence.

However, temperament does not fully determine character. People with the same temperament properties can have a completely different character. Features of temperament can only contribute to or counteract the formation of certain character traits. In the end, the number of temperament types is small (usually four or about four are distinguished), and character types are much larger.

The properties of temperament can sometimes even come into conflict with character to some extent. For example, people with a strong nervous system can be lazy, while those with a weak one, on the contrary, are hardworking.

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 emotional orientation of character properties, a certain speed of mental processes and personality manifestations, a certain characteristic of expressive movements and actions of a person.

Temperament is also not something completely stable, completely dependent only on genetic factors. Just as a person can lose weight or get better, build muscle or become decrepit, get sick and recover, temperament also changes. Interestingly, the change in temperament is also influenced by character.

This happens, for example, through the influence of such a phenomenon as a dynamic stereotype - 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 occurs under the influence of his attitude to the environment, to the process of activity, to the results of labor, etc., as a result of which the features of excitation, inhibition, mobility of nervous processes, and, consequently, the general functional state of the nervous system. If a person, for example, loves his job, then new production tasks cause him a joyful animation. If, on the contrary, he does not like and even hate his work, then new tasks cause irritation, boredom, depression, or even rage. Systematic stay in certain functional states can affect the characteristics of the nervous system. Thus, chronic depression can transform a strong nervous system into a weak one.

In the formation of dynamic stereotypes, the features of the second signal system play an important role, through which social influences are carried out, as well as self-influence (for example, self-hypnosis). Of course, character is also of great importance for the operation of the second signaling system. If, for example, a person loves the truth, then he tries to speak in long and detailed phrases, strives to be correctly understood, and as a result, he himself thinks more clearly. In difficult situations, he does not panic, but - out of habit - tries to figure it out. Therefore, over time, he develops a more balanced character and even temperament. Another person does not like the truth, expresses opinions, words for him are only a means of communication. He loves to collect and disseminate all sorts of different and conflicting opinions. His speech is much poorer, shorter and more contextual. In difficult situations, it is more difficult for him to rely on his own mind, he easily loses his temper and panics. Over time, such a person is more likely to develop an unbalanced character and temperament.

Thus, the features of temperament and character are organically interconnected, and this connection is somewhere very elementary and obvious, and somewhere very subtle. At the same time, the interweaving of many features of character and temperament largely determines the individual face of a person, his personality.

Character is not innate - it is formed, develops and changes throughout a person's life. The character of a person is very much connected with the social environment, relations with this environment. It can be argued that the character of a person is always a product of society and social relations. Different times - different characters.