Definition of personality in psychology
Personality in psychology is a set of characteristics of a person that determine his behavior and place in society. Society consists of many individuals, each of which is individual and unique.
Personality is formed over the years from a person’s habits and preferences, his emotional reactions, sociocultural experience and accumulated knowledge. The basis for the formation of personality is individual psychophysiological characteristics: the structure of the nervous system, type of temperament, hereditary traits. This is something that is given to a person from birth and that we cannot change in any way.
The personality is built on this foundation under the influence of the social environment. Sociocultural experience is refracted through the prism of individual characteristics, forming a stable psycho-emotional system.
BBC films about personality development up to 2 years of age
In the first part, scientists tried to understand how people become individuals, how individuality, abilities and worldviews are formed, where prejudices and preferences come from.
The second series explored how the first social connections with other people are built in childhood.
The final part of the experiment examines how, in a couple of years, a helpless newborn turns into a small adult who walks, talks and has his own opinion.
Individual, individuality, personality
The concept of “personality” is closely related to two other terms: individual and individuality. Despite their similarities, they have key differences.
An individual is a separate representative of the genus Homo Sapiens. This is “a person in general,” without emphasis on any of his individual characteristics.
More than 100 cool lessons, tests and exercises for brain development
Start developing
Individuality is a system of unique traits inherent in a particular person.
Each person is born an individual, then his individuality is formed, which crystallizes into a personality through interaction with the social environment.
"Gradualist" positions
Supporters of the gradualist position, who prioritize the stages of development, draw attention to the fact that both the sperm and the egg are living objects even before the process of fertilization, and emphasize that the fertilized egg develops into a person gradually. The value of an embryo is significant, but not absolute. As for his right to life, opinions vary within a certain range: someone may believe that a human embryo has the right to life, others would prefer to talk about the right to development.
Proponents of gradualist positions believe that the rights of the embryo are strengthened and expanded as it develops. Accordingly, the rights of the fetus may be outweighed by other rights or interests, such as maternal health considerations, where these are stronger. Opponents of this position fear that varying the degree of protection afforded to the embryo/fetus within a gradualist approach could undermine respect for human dignity and the principle of equal moral worth for all persons. Indeed, from the point of view of a gradualist position, if for some reason it is necessary to choose between embryos, then the choice should be based on which interests are stronger and have higher priority[19]. One proponent of this position gives this example: “Imagine if a 2-month-old baby was trapped in a clinic, and you could either save one child or 100 embryos, but not both. Would anyone hesitate for a second before saving a child? Surely not, but if embryos were truly morally equivalent to babies, then there would be a choice of saving many embryos and only one child, which would be the decisive reason for saving embryos. Analyzing this example, it must be said that our behavior in a given situation does not deprive the embryo of its status. The fact that we behave this way speaks only about our perception (upbringing), and not about whether the embryo is a person or not.
Does every person become an individual?
Based on the definition, at first glance it may seem that everyone. All people have their own individual characteristics that influence their behavior.
However, the matter is more complicated. Personality is a product of the individual’s socialization. It is formed only under the influence of society. If a person does not integrate into society in time and does not go through all stages of socialization step by step, then, unfortunately, he will not become a person.
The phenomenon of a person without personality can be observed in the so-called Mowgli people. These are individuals who were taken from the human environment as children and raised by animals. Even if they are returned back to society, they will never become full members of it. They simply have not formed and developed the brain functions responsible for social interaction, and the sensitive (most favorable) periods for their development have already passed. Therefore, such people have no personality.
Personality structure
Personality is a rather complex system, to structure which psychologists use four levels:
- Lower. Innate mental properties, as well as those determined by age, gender and physiological characteristics.
- Second. Peculiarities of perception, thinking and behavior, formed under the influence of first-level factors.
- Third. Personal experience, including acquired knowledge and skills. The formation of this level depends on social interaction and life experiences.
- Higher. At the highest level are principles, ideals, self-esteem, desires, interests and other “personal” things. It is this level that determines the inner content of a person.
At each level you can find unique features that characterize a specific person. The ability to distinguish between them and the personal qualities associated with them is a very useful skill, having mastered which, you can learn to better understand your loved ones and yourself.
Personality Components
What does personality consist of? This is a multi-component complex structure. Its components are stable mental phenomena that manifest themselves in the process of activity and interaction with other people. These include abilities, temperament, character, will, emotions, motivation. Let's look at them all in detail.
Capabilities
Abilities are what determine an individual’s success in various activities.
This concept can be interpreted in different ways. On the one hand, abilities mean the peculiarities of the course of mental processes that positively affect the quality of activity. On the other hand, this is a high level of development of skills, abilities and knowledge.
There are several classifications of abilities.
By structure, abilities are divided into:
- Elementary abilities. They are associated with brain functions inherent in every person. These include, for example, the ability to distinguish colors, smells, sounds, and the ability to remember and assimilate information. They are congenital, but can be developed throughout life.
- Complex or socially determined abilities. These are abilities for some specific activity. For example, musical, sports, artistic, literary abilities. They are not innate, they develop in the process of interaction with society.
By prevalence:
- General abilities are common to all people. For example, the ability to communicate, motor abilities, aesthetic and moral activity.
- Private abilities are not common to everyone. An important role in their formation is played by inclinations: musical ear, artistic and aesthetic sense, etc.
Depending on the nature of the activity there are:
- Theoretical abilities are associated with abstract logical thinking. They reflect how well a person solves theoretical problems, operates with abstract terms, and establishes logical connections between objects and phenomena.
- Practical abilities are associated with the manipulation of specific objects in the process of activity.
All abilities complement each other and allow a person to develop harmoniously. Success in life largely depends on their implementation.
Temperament
Temperament is a set of properties of the nervous system and characteristics of the course of mental processes that determine human behavior and reactions. Temperament is an innate characteristic that does not change throughout life.
The classification of temperaments was proposed by Hippocrates in the 5th century BC. e. He divided people into sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric and melancholic. People use this classification to this day. What is each temperament type?
The main characteristics of the sanguine temperament are stability of the nervous system and extroversion. Sanguine people are active, energetic, fun people. They easily get along with people, are optimistic and active. They are distinguished by the ability to quickly adapt to changing conditions and a high level of self-regulation.
Phlegmatic people are introverts with a stable nervous system. They are cold-blooded, weakly emotional, and slowly excitable. However, when they manage to get involved in an activity, they show a high level of performance. It is difficult to adapt to new conditions and difficult to give up old habits.
Choleric temperament is characterized by instability of the nervous system and extroversion. Cholerics are quick-tempered, emotional, and impulsive. But they cool down quite quickly if they are met halfway.
Melancholic people are introverts with an unstable nervous system. These are anxious, pessimistic, vulnerable people. They are prone to constant self-examination and excessive preoccupation with their inner life.
Knowledge of temperament opens up wide possibilities for a person. Based on them, you can plan activities much more effectively. You will know your own characteristics, try to avoid potentially vulnerable situations, and interact effectively with people.
Look for tests to determine the type of temperament and highlight the predominant character traits in our selection of psychological tests.
Character
Character is a stable system of ways a person interacts with the world.
Unlike temperament, character is not an innate characteristic. It is more flexible and subject to all sorts of influences. However, it is still based on congenital characteristics, which are subsequently superimposed by environmental factors.
Individual stable patterns of human behavior in various situations are called character traits. There are three groups of such traits:
- Communicative. They manifest themselves in communication with other people. A person can be sociable or reserved, tactful or harsh, friendly or aggressive.
- Business. Characterize a person in activity. These include accuracy, diligence, hard work, carelessness, laziness and others.
- Strong-willed. They characterize a person’s ability to consciously manage his attention and direct it towards achieving a goal. These include determination, perseverance, perseverance, compliance, etc.
Also take a look at our articles about the positive and negative qualities of a person.
Will
Will is one of the most important components of personality, its core. It is willpower that determines the strength of personality. Will means the ability to manage one’s behavior, control mental states and processes.
Different motives, desires, and orientations constantly struggle within a person. The will helps us to follow those of them that at a particular moment in time are most useful and bring us closer to achieving the goal. Therefore, the will is always associated with self-restraint.
Will is not a static quantity. It can be trained like a muscle. We wrote in detail about self-discipline in the article on how to develop willpower.
Emotions
Emotions are individual experiences that arise in response to external or internal stimuli.
Humans need emotions to adapt more effectively to the environment. They play an important role in the process of interaction between people.
In psychology, it is customary to classify emotions as follows:
- Mood is a set of emotional reactions occurring at a certain point in time.
- The simplest emotions are emotions associated with the satisfaction of physiological needs.
- Affect is a violent uncontrollable outburst of emotions.
- Feelings are experiences caused by a specific object or person.
- Passion is a bright, strong and positively colored emotion that a person is unable to resist.
- Stress is a mixture of strong negative emotions with characteristic physiological reactions.
Emotions have a strong influence on a person’s perception of his own life and on other people’s perception of him. All people experience emotions differently.
Motivation
Motivation is a mental component that is responsible for motivating a person to activity. This is a set of reasons that determine human behavior.
Motivation is closely related to human needs. We can say that it is a kind of tool for satisfying needs. The more strongly a specific need is expressed, the higher the motivation for its implementation.
The operating unit of motivation is the motive. This is an internal urge that arises in response to a need and forces a person to perform certain actions.
Motivation is the main driving force of our development. Without it, a person will not be able to achieve success in life and realize his potential. Therefore, you need to treat it with care and attention.
What is personality?
A personality is a person who has a unique set of characteristics that determine his character, behavior and characteristics of interaction with other people. In everyday communication, the word “personality” is often used as a synonym for the word “person” or “individual”, but the meaning of these terms is still different.
In addition to the above, there are other definitions of the term “personality”. In particular, it can be used to reflect the social nature of man. That is, when a person is called a person, it is meant that he is part of a certain society and is revealed in social interaction. Sometimes the word “personality” is used to emphasize the moral maturity of a person, his responsibility and a high level of prudence.
All people change over time, sometimes quite dramatically. And if the changes in someone are too noticeable, they sometimes say about him: “He has become a completely different person!” Everyone understands that this is the same person, but these words imply that in communication he has become completely different, and old acquaintances “do not recognize” him.
Based on the foregoing, we can conclude that the concept of “personality” implies a set of psycho-emotional properties of a person , formed under the influence of his life experience and determining his character, tastes, relationships with others, the level of personal and social responsibility, behavior in various life situations and other characteristics.
Thus, the term “personality” is quite multifaceted, but it has two main meanings:
- A set of characteristics of the psyche and behavior, formed on the basis of a person’s self-esteem, as well as on the basis of how he evaluates his life and environment.
- A unique person with his own value system, habits, way of thinking and other individual characteristics.
The term “personality” in Russian is derived from the word “personal” (that is, belonging to a specific person). Sometimes it is also associated with the word “mask” (previously it was the name of a mask or part of a helmet that covers the face). In English and other European languages, the term personality, derived from the Latin word persona (person), is used to denote this concept.
Concepts and theories of personality development
The topic of personality has always fascinated the minds of psychologists and philosophers. Since this concept is complex and multifaceted, there are several scientific doctrines that explain how personality is formed. Let's briefly look at the main ones.
Sigmund Freud's theory
The founder of psychoanalysis viewed personality as a three-component structure consisting of:
- The id (It) is the unconscious part of the psyche, in which instincts, inherited characteristics, and deep-seated drives dominate.
- Ego (I) is a mental component that is in contact with the outside world. The ego transforms part of the id energy into a socially acceptable form and ensures the successful integration of the person into society.
- Superego (Super-I) is a component associated with the value system that dominates society. This is a kind of judge who supervises the compliance of a person’s behavior with generally accepted norms.
Sigmund Freud's theory has gained unprecedented popularity in both scientific and lay circles. It reveals the deep processes underlying human behavior. The main idea of the concept is that our behavior is largely determined by irrational unconscious drives, in particular sexual drive.
The theory of Carl Gustav Jung
According to Jung, personality formation is based on innate principles that are passed on from generation to generation. They are called archetypes. Over the course of life, these archetypes acquire individual characteristics and form a personality.
According to Jung's concept, a person's “I” constantly strives for unity and integrity. This unity is achieved by balancing various elements in the process of self-realization of the individual.
Jung identified several main areas of personality:
- Unconscious collegiality. It stores the memory of the entire historical path of mankind.
- Unconscious personal. Affects feelings, complexes, and aspirations of a person that are repressed from consciousness.
- Conscious personal. That part of the personality that a person is aware of and which he is able to influence. Consists of thoughts, memories, feelings, desires.
Humanistic personality theory
This theory is based on the idea of a person as a subject who strives to realize his potential. Creativity and purposeful activity are the main driving force of personal development.
Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers are considered the most prominent representatives of the humanistic school.
Maslow created the famous pyramid of needs. According to his theory, needs are divided into lower and higher. The former cease their effect after they are satisfied, while the latter intensify their effect.
Rogers believed that personality formation is the result of active self-knowledge. A person discovers his innate potential and tries to realize it.
Behavioral (behaviourist) theory of personality
According to this theory, the main driving force of personality development is the environment in which a person finds himself. Personality is an intermediate link between stimulus and response. The formation of personality occurs in the process of learning.
Behaviorists believed that humans have virtually no free will. All his actions and deeds are determined by external circumstances, to which he reacts almost reflexively.
Biblical and patristic views on the status of the embryo
The conception and birth of a child, from the point of view of the Christian faith, seems to be a gift from God. “...I have acquired a man from the Lord,” says Eve after the birth of her son (Gen. 4:1). About barren Anna, later the mother of the prophet Samuel, it is said that “the Lord shut up her womb” (1 Sam. 1:5). When, after much prayer, she gives birth to a child, she says: “I asked him from the Lord God of hosts” (1 Sam. 1:20). The author of the psalm describes the development of the embryo and fetus as a creative act of God: “You formed my entrails and knitted me together in my mother’s womb... My bones were not hidden from You when I was created in secret, formed in the depths of the womb. Your eyes have seen my embryo...” (Ps. 139: 13, 15-16). Job testifies to the same thing in his words addressed to God: “Your hands worked on me and formed me all around... You brought me out of the womb” (Job 10: 8, 18). “I formed you in the womb<...> and before you came out of the womb, I sanctified you...” says the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 1:5). Based on this idea, the Orthodox Church insists on the inviolability of the life of a human fetus or embryo at any stage of development. “He who becomes a man is already a man,”[9] wrote Tertullian. In the 2nd and 8th rules of St. Basil the Great it is said: “Whoever deliberately destroyed a fetus conceived in the womb is subject to the condemnation of murder... Those who give medicine for the eruption of what was conceived in the womb are murderers, and they are also those who accept infanticidal poisons”[10]. At the same time, Saint Basil clarifies that the severity of guilt does not depend on the duration of pregnancy: “We do not distinguish between a formed fetus and an unformed one”[11].
