What is social development of the individual, and what should it look like in practice?

Personality is...?

Personality is a concept that is a social characteristic of a person.

The qualities that determine the uniqueness of a particular person are formed under the influence of relationships with surrounding people, under the influence of processes occurring in society. Each social system shapes a person’s personality through education - a process with clearly defined goals and thought out to the smallest detail.

Read further: Personal development in society

To become an individual, a person must learn social experience and, on the other hand, give his contribution to society within his means. At the same time, he reveals and demonstrates his qualities inherent in him by nature and formed by society through upbringing. In the process of human development, his spiritual, mental and physical characteristics move from quantitative changes to qualitative ones.

Let's consider what such a social structure of society develops in a person?

Nursery, kindergarten - primary social development.

Nurseries and kindergartens - first of all, develop a person’s communication skills with his peers, mastering his body, developing various skills related to motor movements, mastering various hobbies and new knowledge. By constantly comparing ourselves with others, we learn to separate the boundaries of where I ends and NOT ME, MINE and NOT MINE begins. After all, if a child takes someone else’s because he liked it, he is taught that this is wrong, a peer may fight with him, taking his own by force. We learn the laws of society, in particular “thou shalt not steal,” from the age of a child. In this way, human social development or social man is formed.

School and human social development.

Going to school, we place more emphasis on learning the information of the surrounding world, its laws, formulas, rules and foundations. And in kindergarten and at school and at any level of social structure, we know and feel for ourselves when we do something right - in the form of a good grade, the approval of others, praise, a salary increase; and when we do something wrong - receiving low grades, scolding, blame, disapproval, condemnation and even punishment. All this serves to cultivate in a person certain qualities that society cultivates in every person, which at the moment in the development of society are considered high, correct, moral and worthy of imitation.

Conditions affecting personality

There is a direct connection between the process of social development of an individual and its result - this development depends on external and internal conditions.

Internal conditions are the inherent mental and physical characteristics of the organism.

External conditions are the social environment surrounding a person.

The essence of a person, given to him by nature, is capable of changing in the process of interaction with society. As a result, new relationships begin to form, and these, in turn, lead to new changes.

Read further: 11 factors that have a negative impact on a person’s personality

Personality formation is a social process

A person’s personality is formed not only under the influence of biological characteristics, but also under the influence of socialization. This process occurs sequentially, it necessarily follows certain stages, which, despite minimal differences, are still similar in all representatives of the human race. Our perception of the world depends on the kind of education we received at the time.

Socialization is a person’s entry into society, joining its systems.

The social process of personality formation begins already in the first year of an individual’s life. The child distinguishes the roles of those who surround him: relatives and strangers, parents and strangers, grandparents and educators. He gets acquainted with the norms and orders accepted in society, learns to live in accordance with them.

A significant moment in this social process is when a child tries on the role assigned to him in society and identifies himself with it:

• "I am a boy (girl)"
• “I am a student (schoolboy, first grader)”,
• “I am a daughter (son, grandson),” etc.

Further development is determined by the attitude of the emerging personality to his calling, to the world around him, to a certain way of life.

The main emphasis in the formation of a teenager’s personality is the choice of profession, the personality of boys and girls and older people is the creation of such a social unit as their own family.

Although personality can be formed throughout life, this social process can be considered to be completed when the individual has realized his role in the world. If for some reason one of the stages is missed, this can lead to unpleasant consequences for the individual. For example, ignoring sex education at an early age brings problems with gender identification.

Read further: Psychology of personality development - 5 stages of human development

The formation of personality is influenced by such social institutions as:

• family,
• kindergarten, school, university, technical school,
• clubs, interest clubs, sports sections,
• team of employees,
• own family,
• media, internet.

They are joined by culture, the political situation in the country, and the institution of public opinion.

Stages of the process of personality socialization according to Erikson

Erik Erikson is a renowned developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst. According to him, there are the following stages of the socialization process:

Of course, this topic is much broader and more interesting, and it is unlikely that it will be possible to talk about everything in one article. However, what has been said is already quite enough to get an idea of ​​socialization, as well as draw certain conclusions about your development and the development of your children.

We hope you found this article helpful. We wish you success!

We also recommend reading:

• Storytelling
• Social setting
• Genetic psychology
• Formation of self-awareness
• Types and forms of education: a brief educational program
• “I-concept”: characteristics, features, meaning
• Socialization, or How to become a person, not Mowgli
• Piaget's theory of cognitive development
• Psychosocial development theory
• Personality criteria
• Social groups: signs, types, functions

Key words:1Self-knowledge

Social education as a process of personality development

Education is changing a person in a direction given by society, satisfying the needs of society through this process. With its help, the social and historical experience of society is transmitted to the new generation, the personality is purposefully formed in order to prepare it for life in society and for work for the benefit of this society.

Social education is the purposeful activity of society to form an individual who has a worldview, life aspirations, moral and aesthetic attitudes that fit into the framework accepted by this society.

The essence of social education:

• Introducing the individual to the values ​​of culture, art, literature, morality;
• Individualization of personality, development of one’s “I”, conscious traits and principles of behavior.

This process does not stop throughout human life. “Everything flows, everything changes,” said the classic, our world is constantly moving, and a person, in order to maintain his own comfort, has to adapt to the demands of society. The essence of a person cannot be frozen; it changes over the years. Since man is a social being, life in society requires constant adaptation and continuous change.

Phases of personality socialization:

• The individual internalizes social norms and values;
• The personality strives for self-actualization, to influence other members of society;
• The individual integrates into a social group, in which his capabilities are revealed.

The stages of social development of an individual in the modern interpretation may have several different options, depending on what parameters underlie qualifications. Stages of personality socialization depending on age:

• Childhood is where about 70% of the personality traits and qualities are laid, as well as the foundations of socialization. Here the understanding of one’s own “I” naturally occurs.
• Adolescence - the formation of personality is accompanied by rapid changes in physiology, the volume of responsibilities assigned to a person increases sharply.
• Early maturity (youth) - the individual faces a decisive choice, deciding which layer of society to join, because he chooses a social society for a long time.
• Maturity (the period lasts 30 years before the crisis) – the formation of such aspects of socialization as labor relations and personal life, love, friendship occurs. A person makes up his own opinion about himself based on the perception of the sexual aspects of life and labor relations.

LECTURE No. 3. Concept and stereotypes of social development of personality

Irreversibility, direction and regularity are the main characteristics of any development as a process.

In psychology, the concept of human social development

means the development of his personality and psyche in the process of establishing diverse social relationships.

Personal development refers to the formation of an individual’s social quality as a result of his socialization and upbringing.

The development of the psyche is defined as a natural change in mental processes over time, expressed in their quantitative, qualitative and structural transformations.

Development is considered in the process of phylogeny and ontogenesis. The phylogenetic formation of the structure of the psyche is carried out during the biological evolution of the species.

The ontogenetic formation of the structure of the psyche occurs during the life of an individual from birth to death.

There are three main factors of personality development: inclinations, activity and external environment.

The teachings of L. S. Vygotsky about the higher mental functions of man determined the need to study the development of the psyche and social development of man in dialectical unity.

He was one of the first to study the question of the influence of social conditions on the dynamics of human mental processes, identified human mental functions, which are formed in specific conditions of socialization and have some special characteristics.

Two levels of mental processes are defined: natural and higher.

Natural functions are given to the individual as a natural being and are realized in spontaneous reactions (as, for example, in animals).

Higher mental functions (HMF) can be developed only in the process of ontogenesis during social interaction.

Five main features of HMF have been identified: complexity, sociality, indirectness, arbitrariness and plasticity.

Complexity

is manifested in the fact that HMFs are diverse in terms of the characteristics of formation and development, in the structure and composition of conventionally identified parts and connections between them.

The complexity is determined by the specific relationship of some results of human phylogenetic development with the results of ontogenetic development at the level of mental processes.

Sociality

HPFs are determined by their origin.

They can only develop through the process of people interacting with each other.

Mediocrity

HMF is observed in the way they function.

Arbitrary

VPFs are based on the method of implementation. A person is able to realize his functions and carry out activities in a certain direction, anticipating a possible result, analyzing his experience, adjusting behavior and activities.

The arbitrariness of HMF is determined by the fact that the individual is able to act purposefully, overcoming obstacles and making appropriate efforts.

Plastic

HPF represents their ability to exist relatively stable, regardless of some damage.

Nowadays, stereotypes of understanding human social development

, often declared at the journalistic level by the media, these include:

1) stereotype limiting the age of social development;

2) the stereotype of absolutization of childhood;

3) stereotype of absolutization of predetermination factors;

4) stereotype of absolutization of inclinations and abilities;

5) stereotype of unlimited human capabilities.

Let's consider the essence of the first two stereotypes.

Stereotype limiting the age of human social development

arose as a side effect of the dissemination of research results in the field of child and developmental psychology

For many years, the attention of psychologists was primarily focused on the problems of child psychology, the dynamics of child development, age-related changes, contradictions and crises.

Such attention is completely justified, since it is in childhood that the psychological foundations of personality are formed.

There are much more age-related periodizations of child development than periodizations of adult development, and they are more widely known.

The opinion has become widespread that a person develops up to a certain age, and then there is only a process of aging and extinction.

This is not entirely true.

Forms of human development change throughout life: physical development, intellectual, social, spiritual.

Certain forms of development predominate at different age stages of life.

The dominance of physical development is replaced by the dominance of intellectual, then social and spiritual.

Many of the greatest discoveries were made by scientists over 50 years old.

The same can be said about the creation of many works of art.

Moreover, the creative activity of an individual is considered by modern psychology as the most favorable condition for a long and productive life.

An adult is no less interesting to modern psychology than a child.

Sciences that study the adult person are intensively developing and spreading, for example, androgogy - the science of the patterns of development, learning and education of adults.

The second stereotype of understanding human social development is related to the first and is largely due to it.

This is a stereotype of absolutization of childhood

.

The essence of this stereotype lies in the erroneous opinion that all the prerequisites for personality development are laid in childhood.

Childhood so significantly determines many directions of social development of an individual and the life path of an individual that its absolutization at first glance seems correct.

The world-famous works of S. Freud and E. Bern had a particular influence on ideas about the meaning of childhood

.

However, these studies examined the problems of social pathology, the development of neuroses caused by violations of socialization and education in childhood.

The coordinated actions of people are characterized by high plasticity and flexibility.

Although there is a network of conventional norms for all recurring situations, each situation is unique. People are capable of coping with difficulties.

This flexible coordination is possible because each participant acts independently, adapting to other participants as they work together toward a common goal.

In each case, a person makes a decision and acts in accordance with his own assessment of the situation.

George Mead

argued that mutual adjustments are greatly facilitated by people's ability to form representations of themselves as perceptual objects. This process is achieved by accepting the roles of others.

Every person is capable of forming a “self-image” - he can imagine what he looks like in the eyes of other people involved in a given situation.

Personal responsibility is fixed by a person at the moment when he imagines what other participants expect from him.

There are times when self-awareness is very acute: someone who is not used to public speaking and is forced to address a group may forget what he wanted to say.

Sometimes self-awareness is almost completely absent. If a person is absorbed in a fascinating picture, he is not aware of anything except the development of the plot.

In most cases, people fall between these two extremes.

A person is especially clearly aware of himself in situations where people are dependent on each other.

Any person who depends on the cooperation of others becomes especially susceptible to their views.

He cannot afford to do something that would cause others to hesitate and deprive him of their support.

The formation of “self-images” is the spread of an adaptive tendency.

Images arise when some kind of obstacle appears in activity; the same principle is true for “I-images”. A person begins to recognize himself as a special object in situations where he depends on others.

According to J. Mead, self-control is possible because people's actions in relation to themselves are largely of the same order as their actions in relation to other people or the actions of others in relation to them.

According to Z. Freud, guilt can be considered a form of self-punishment.

Self-control is impossible without “I-images”.

Until a person is able to treat himself as a perceptual object and clearly imagine what he should do, he cannot react to his actions.

When a person has formed a “self-image,” an imaginary rehearsal occurs, during which the possible reactions of others to his action are assessed.

Self-awareness serves as a defense against impulsive behavior. It allows people to isolate themselves from others and make their behavior more conventional.

Through thoughtful planning, actions become less spontaneous.

Self-control is associated with behavior that changes depending on how it appears from the point of view attributed to other participants in the joint activity.

The essence of gender-role identification of individuals is the subject’s assimilation of psychological traits and behavioral characteristics characteristic of people of a certain gender.

In the process of primary socialization, the individual acquires normative ideas about somatic, psychological, and behavioral properties characteristic of men and women.

The child first realizes that he belongs to a particular gender, then he develops a social ideal of gender-role behavior that corresponds to his system of ideas about the most positive features of specific representatives of this gender.

The mechanism of gender role identification is undergoing significant changes in the modern world.

In traditional societies devoid of social dynamics, gender-role identification is relatively rigidly defined, which is associated with a clear social fixation of masculinity (the social standard of masculinity) and femininity (the standard of femininity).

To designate people who successfully combine male and female psychological qualities, American psychologist S. Beem

introduced the concept
of androgyny
.

Androgynous individuals appear in the process of socialization as the most adaptive, since, without violating the standard patterns of behavior of representatives of their own sex, they possess some psychological qualities that make up the social advantages of representatives of the other sex.

The more patriarchal the country, the more one can observe a strict division of activities into traditionally male and traditionally female.

D. Myers

considers such a division depending on cultural and era factors.

Gender socialization has significant differences in industrial society, agricultural society and nomadic cultures (cultures of nomads and foragers).

Sex differences between men and women that determine the set of expected behavior patterns are referred to as gender differences

, or
gender social roles
.

The dynamics of gender-role identification processes in the contradictory conditions of modern socialization contribute to the emergence of negative socio-psychological phenomena.

Violations of gender-role identification most often occur due to improper upbringing, for example, when parents really wanted a boy, but a girl was born, whom they raised as a boy, and vice versa.

Sometimes this happens if only one parent takes part in raising a child, representing the standard of only male or only female behavior.

Confusion of roles arises, leading to disruption of normal relationships with representatives of the other sex.

Sometimes the processes of gender-role identification can be negatively affected by fashion if it is aimed at eliminating differences in the style of clothing, behavior patterns and characteristic social manifestations of men and women.

Psychology bookap

Gender-role identification is one of the leading mechanisms of socialization in any society.

It accompanies the implementation of many other mechanisms: social assessment of desired behavior, imitation, conformism, etc.