Types of temperament and their psychological characteristics (sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic). Choleric sanguine phlegmatic melancholic description of temperaments Eysenck test

Since ancient times, there has been a connection between temperament and physiology. The father of medicine Hippocrates, who lived in the 5th century BC, distinguished four types of temperament. In his opinion, they were determined by one or another fluid prevailing in the human body. For sanguine people it is blood, for choleric people it is bile, for phlegmatic people it is mucus, and for melancholic people it is black bile. That is, temperaments were viewed as exclusively physiological phenomena. What changes in their understanding have occurred since then? - This will be the topic of conversation.

What is temperament

Temperament - in psychology, this is an individual feature of a person, which largely depends on his innate, psychophysiological qualities. Temperament is a strictly individual trait based on mental activity, speed and intensity of psychophysiological processes.

There are three areas in which temperament is manifested:

• The degree of human activity in a general sense.
• Differences in the area of ​​movement.
• The degree of external expression of feelings.

General activity characterized by the intensity with which a person interacts with the natural or social environment. There are two extremes here: some people are too lethargic, passive, while others are very fast and active.

Motor activity (motor skills) expressed in how fast and sharp are the movements, speech, or, conversely, how slow they are, and the person is silent.

Expression of feelings, or emotionality, manifests itself in how quickly the emotional state, susceptibility to external influences, to the feelings of another person changes.

Types of temperament

At the beginning of the 18th century, the types of temperament described by Hippocrates were compared with four psychotypes, which served as the beginning of the psychological direction in the study of temperaments. Today, the simple ideas of ancient people practically do not differ from those of the 18th century.

• The choleric type is defined as irritable.
• The sanguine type is associated with cheerfulness.
• The phlegmatic type is defined as calm.
• The melancholic type is associated with sadness and over-impressionability.

In modern psychology, temperament is described as stable and well-established. natural qualities personalities who determine the speed of mental life, regardless of its internal content.

Extroverts and introverts

Introversion and extraversion, the rate of the reactions occurring, rigidity (obstinacy) and plasticity act as the qualities of temperament.

Extraversion and introversion are qualities of temperament that were introduced as concepts by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung.

• Extrovert focuses on his own manifestation in the world around him, that is, on external impressions that have arisen in a given period of time. These include choleric and sanguine.
• Introvert- to his inner world, psychological state, that is, the inner reality is more important for him than the outer one. They are phlegmatic and melancholic.

Reaction rate, rigidity, plasticity

Reaction rate is a characteristic of the pace at which mental processes and body responses occur. These include quickness of mind, speech and gestures. The speed of reactions is high in people related to sanguine and choleric people, as well as in melancholic people - if they are well rested. In melancholic people who are tired, and phlegmatic people, it is lowered.

Sometimes this introduces problems in the communication of people with different temperaments. People with quick reactions do not always notice that people who are more inhibited do not have the ability to follow their thoughts. Because of this, they come to unreasonable conclusions that the latter have low mental abilities. This can especially interfere with business relationships.

Rigidity and plasticity... The first quality indicates that a person has difficulty adapting to external influences, and the second, on the contrary, speaks of good adaptation. Sanguine people are distinguished by the highest plasticity. Rigidity is characteristic of melancholic, phlegmatic and choleric people.

Inactivity and activity

Inactivity is an indicator of an involuntary reaction to stimuli, both external and internal. It represents a defensive reaction to criticism, resentment, and an increased tone. Inactivity is inherent in phlegmatic and melancholic people and is rare for choleric and sanguine people.

Activity- this is the opposite of inactivity, it is a characteristic of a person's ability to overcome obstacles and achieve goals.

Its expressions are:

• purposefulness;
• persistence;
• high concentration of attention.

A phlegmatic person is highly active, but since he has low reactivity, his inclusion in work is slow. The phlegmatic person does not overwork. Choleric is highly active in combination with reactivity. Sanguine people also have sufficient activity, but they can lose interest in monotonous activity. Melancholic people are characterized by low activity.

On how activity and reactivity in a person correlate, his activity largely depends. From random circumstances, external or internal (mood, unplanned, insignificant events) or from goal-setting, strong desires, conviction in something.

Emotional irritability

It is a reflection of that line of minimal impact, behind which an emotional reaction arises, as well as the speed of its development. Sanguine, melancholic and choleric people are characterized by increased excitability. In phlegmatic people, it is reduced.

The peculiarities of temperament inherent in an individual are due to the originality of the combination of activity and the severity of emotional reactions to one degree or another. Activity is determined by how intensely a person interacts with the environment.

Today, the scientific community remains confident that the considered properties of human behavior are based on physiology. That is, they are determined by some features in the work of physiological structures. But what kind of structures it is is not yet clear. However, it is indisputable that temperament is an innate property that serves as the basis for most personality traits, which include character. And the sensual basis of character is temperament.

Phlegmatic and melancholic

Phlegmatic person- this is a person who is unhurried, indifferent to many things, has a stable sense of purpose and mood, outwardly shows his emotions in an extremely restrained manner. In work, he shows perseverance and firmness while remaining calm and diligent.

Melancholic- this is a type of personality, characterized by a vulnerable psyche, he goes through different events all the time. It is difficult for a person with such a temperament to keep his feelings inside, he is very impressionable and does not have enough willpower to cope with feelings.

Choleric and sanguine

Choleric- This is a sharp, fast and impetuous type, while he is extremely unbalanced, with lightning-fast changes in mood and emotional outbursts. In the nervous processes, the choleric person has no balance, which distinguishes him from the sanguine person. People with this temperament recklessly waste their emotional strength and become depleted.

Sanguine- this is a lively, bright, very mobile person, with a high frequency of mood changes and impressionability, with a quick reaction to any events taking place in the world around him. A sanguine person very easily resigns himself to any setbacks and problems. As a rule, he is distinguished by lively facial expressions, is successful in his work. This happens when he is interested in a process from which he is highly aroused. If the work is not of particular interest to him, then the sanguine person becomes indifferent and begins to get bored.

Each type of temperament includes both positive and negative traits. From the excessive manifestation of negative properties inherent in nature, a person can be protected by his good breeding and good attitude towards other people.

Sanguine temperament according to Pavlov

Physiologist Pavlov in his characterization distinctive features temperament of a sanguine person says that he is a productive worker, an enthusiast, but only if he has many interesting things to do that cause constant excitement. In the absence of such a case, he is sluggish and boring. A sanguine person easily adapts to changing life situations. He has a sociable personality that allows him to communicate well with big amount of people. His feelings arise with ease and speed, replacing each other.

His stereotypes are not well-established, and conditioned reflexes are developed at a high speed. In an unfamiliar environment, he does not feel constrained, he can quickly switch attention and change activities. The sanguine person is stable in his feelings. People with such a temperament are especially suited for activities that require great effort, high reaction speed, and the distribution of attention between several objects.

Choleric temperament

According to Pavlov, a choleric person is a fighting man being on the rise, he is prone to quick irritability. When he is fond of any business, he uses his strength to the maximum and eventually feels severe exhaustion or even exhaustion.

Choleric is characterized by high emotional reactivity and motor sharpness. In an unfavorable situation, the increased level of excitability, characteristic of people of choleric temperament, can play a cruel joke with them. They can flare up over a trifle, becoming aggressive.

When a choleric person has the necessary motivation, he can overcome great difficulties, passionately devoted to his work. His mood changes dramatically. The choleric person achieves the greatest result in a situation in which high reactivity and simultaneous tension of forces are required.

Phlegmatic temperament

A phlegmatic person always behaves evenly, calmly, he is a hard worker of life, stubborn and persistent. This is how I.P. Pavlov described it... The reactions of a phlegmatic person are slow and stable mood. He expresses his feelings little, in difficult situations he is calm and restrained. Impulsive and impulsive movements are absent, since in his nervous system, excitement is balanced by inhibition.

The phlegmatic person has the ability to correctly calculate the strength, is persistent and brings the matter to the end. It is not easy for him to switch attention and switch to another type of activity. He has stable stereotypes, and his behavior is not flexible. A person with a phlegmatic temperament can be successful in those areas of activity in which it is necessary to evenly distribute forces, have perseverance, great patience, and the ability to concentrate.

Melancholic temperament

According to Pavlov, melancholic temperament is a type of nervous system that is inhibitory. The melancholic does not believe in anyone, does not harbor any hopes, sees in everything bad and dangerous. He is distinguished by vulnerability in increased degree, a tendency to strong feelings, sometimes from scratch. His feelings are quickly manifested, he cannot restrain them, so they are always noticeable to others. Melancholic activity often hindered by strong external influences.

He is a pronounced introvert, closed on his own experiences, avoids contact with strangers and a change of environment. He is prone to indecision, shyness, is timid, and sometimes cowardly. If the melancholic is in the usual, a favorable environment, he is able to achieve good results in activities that require high sensitivity, observation, reactivity, good learning ability.

In conclusion, it should be noted that there are no people who have this or that temperament in its purest form. But the general trend is usually visible. According to researchers, a person's character can change throughout life, but temperament never.

It's not a secret for anyone that everyone has their own type of temperament, which leaves an imprint on their occupation, communication, existence in society, on life in general. Today we will look at four main types of temperament, in each of which someone recognizes himself.

1. Choleric. People with such a temperament are distinguished by strength, mobility, imbalance. Such a person is easy to arouse, but difficult to calm down, and it is unlikely that it will work out right away. However, he departs as quickly as "lights up", but this leaves an imprint on other character traits. For example, he grasps at the case, but rarely brings it to the end, since he simply does not have enough diligence, endurance, patience. If he is forced to do what he does not like, the work will be done somehow. Long and painstaking work is generally not for choleric people, they are characterized by the qualities of a leader and manager, and not an obedient performer. His emotionality is so pronounced that it is noticeable to everyone around him, and his main passion is ambition, praise, pathos. He loves to be in the spotlight, strives for universal recognition, but he gladly stands up to the defense of the offended and helpless in order to again win the glory of a hero and truth-teller. It is quite difficult to conduct a conversation with such a person, since he does not like to listen to the interlocutor, tries to interrupt him or even insult him if the conversation begins to flow in the wrong direction. But after 10 minutes, he will forget all the grievances and make attempts to resume the discussion, which may again end in a scandal. Not everyone can get used to the change in the mood of the choleric, because it happens in the blink of an eye. The complexity of the situation lies in the fact that a person with this type of temperament categorically does not tolerate criticism, shows an extreme degree of dissatisfaction from any comments. He loves quarrels and, with the help of scandals, can satisfy his excessive emotionality, since he comes out victorious in most situations.

2. Melancholic. The exact opposite of the type described above. This is a person with a weak, unbalanced character who is unable to withstand prolonged physical and emotional stress. He considers any situation as a danger, threat, catch or deception. His tendency to constant fear makes him afraid even of his own shadow. Melancholic people are shy and very impressionable natures, they do not need communication with other people or general recognition. Most of all, they are comfortable in a situation where no one touches them, does not demand or control anything. If you offend such a beech, he will worry for a long time and remember the insults inflicted. The constant feeling of danger and threat that he sees in others makes him all the time suspect someone of wanting to harm him. But he himself will never get involved in a conflict situation and, moreover, will not take an active part in it. Any stressful situation acts on him magically, literally shackling him from head to toe. In such a state, a person loses the ability to think sensibly, and reasonably express his own thoughts. But fear or disappointment can provoke him to rash actions devoid of any logic. These people are very good workers, as they are afraid all the time to fall out of favor with their superiors or colleagues. It is easier for them to complete an assignment “excellently” than to listen to comments or reproaches. This aspiration fosters a sense of responsibility and a desire for work, so melancholic people make excellent performers who achieve good results in their work.
3. Sanguine. This type of temperament characterizes strong, agile and easily aroused people. However, they know how to be balanced and reasonable, even in spite of their emotionality and irascibility. The activity of nervous processes led to the ability to think quickly, react quickly and quickly make difficult decisions. Sanguine people are distinguished by their cheerfulness and lightness in relation to circumstances, life situations, problems. His excitement is easily replaced by calmness, calmness - by activity, activity - by the desire to run away from everyone. He does not dwell on any of the states characteristic of sanguine people, since he adores changes and cannot be in the same environment for a long time. However, there is a minus in this, after all, it is impossible to predict what can be expected from such a person tomorrow, whom he will hate, and for whom he will feel sympathy. He is not at all afraid of difficulties, since the warehouse of his character makes it easy to adapt to any situation. Moreover, he not only does not respond to stimuli and stress, he is ready to solve the problem by taking it apart "to the bone." You won't scare him with work, but on condition that he likes it. He performs an interesting and exciting task with great accuracy and efficiency. This is a born optimist who does not sit idle for a day and is always busy with something. He prefers not to notice failures or to do everything in the future to exclude their recurrence. His lightness in everything often makes colleagues, loved ones and loved ones nervous, but sanguine people care little about this fact, because they simply cannot constantly be under the burden of others.
4. Phlegmatic. This type has fortitude, it is balanced and inert. Despite the activity of nervous processes, excitement is not strong, since the process of inhibition smooths out the situation. Such a person never commits rash acts, he is devoid of excessive emotionality, and all his actions are verified to the smallest detail. His calmness may partly resemble slowness, which only has a positive effect on work, since any task is performed with precision and perseverance, albeit with a certain degree of pedantry. It is difficult to say what such a person has in his soul, since he is rather stingy with emotions and when expressing feelings. Even if he is overcome by the strongest feeling of anger, not everyone around him will understand what is boiling in the soul of such a person. The main drawback of a phlegmatic person can be considered a lack of experience of communication and desire, however, he is completely not prone to conflicts, and this is one of his advantages. He gets used to the prevailing foundations and conditions, prefers conservatism in everything. He is very liveable in the family, but a loved one can be annoyed by the lack of emotions, which sooner or later can lead to claims and quarrels. This, in fact, periodically occurs in his family, if the other half has a different type of temperament. He loves and does not feel any inner discomfort because of this. On the contrary, in such an environment it is convenient for him to think, reason, analyze.

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

History

Four temperaments in the form of visual emoticons (names from left to right and from top to bottom: phlegmatic, choleric, sanguine, melancholic)

The magic of numbers in the Mediterranean civilization led to the doctrine of the four temperaments, while in the East a five-component "system of the world" developed.

The word "temperament" (from Latin temperans, "moderate") in translation from Latin means "the proper ratio of parts", the Greek word "krasis" (Old Greek κράσις, "fusion, mixing"), which is equal in meaning to it, was introduced by the ancient Greek doctor Hippocrates. By temperament, he understood both anatomical, physiological, and individual psychological characteristics of a person. Hippocrates explained temperament as features of behavior, the predominance in the body of one of the "life juices" (four elements):

The predominance of yellow bile (ancient Greek. Χολή, chole, "bile, poison") makes a person impulsive, "hot" - choleric.

The predominance of lymph (ancient Greek φλέγμα, phlegm, "phlegm") makes a person calm and slow - phlegmatic.

The predominance of blood (Latin sanguis, sanguis, sangua, "blood") makes a person mobile and cheerful - a sanguine person.

The predominance of black bile (ancient Greek μέλαινα χολή, melena hole, "black bile") makes a person sad and fearful - a melancholic.

This concept still has a profound impact on literature, art and science.

The turning point in the history of the natural-scientific study of temperaments was the teaching of Ivan Petrovich Pavlov about the types of the nervous system (types of higher nervous activity) common to humans and higher mammals. He proved that the physiological basis of temperament is the type of higher nervous activity, determined by the ratio of the basic properties of the nervous system: strength, balance and mobility of the processes of excitation and inhibition in the nervous system. The type of the nervous system is determined by the genotype, that is, the hereditary type.

Pavlov identified 4 clearly defined types of the nervous system, that is, certain complexes of the basic properties of nervous processes.

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

A strong unbalanced type is characterized by a strong irritable process and a relatively strong inhibition process - it corresponds to a choleric person, an "unrestrained" type.

Strong balanced mobile type - corresponds to the sanguine, "live" type.

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

Types of temperament

A description of the features of various temperaments can help to understand the traits 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. But the predominance of traits of any type of temperament makes it possible to attribute a person's temperament to one type or another.

Phlegmatic - n hurried, unperturbed, has stable aspirations and mood, outwardly stingy with the expression of emotions and feelings. He shows tenacity and perseverance in his work, remaining calm and level-headed. In work, he is productive, compensating for his slowness with diligence.

Choleric - fast, impetuous, but completely unbalanced, with a dramatically changing mood with emotional outbursts, quickly exhausted. He does not have a balance of nervous processes, this sharply distinguishes him from a sanguine person. The choleric, being carried away, carelessly wastes his strength and is quickly depleted.

Sanguine - a lively, hot, mobile person, with frequent changes in mood, impressions, with a quick reaction to all the events happening around him, quite easily reconciled with his failures and troubles. Usually a sanguine person has expressive facial expressions. He is very productive at work, when he is interested, becoming very excited about this, if the work is not interesting, he is indifferent to it, he becomes bored.

Melancholic - easily vulnerable, prone to constant experience of various events, he reacts sharply to external factors. He often cannot restrain his asthenic experiences with an effort of will, he is highly impressionable, easily emotionally vulnerable.

Temperament properties

Each temperament has both positive and negative properties. Good upbringing, control and self-control makes it possible to manifest: melancholic, as an impressionable person with deep feelings and emotions; phlegmatic, as a seasoned person without hasty decisions; sanguine, as a highly responsive person for any job; a choleric person, as a passionate, frantic and active person in work.

Negative properties of temperament can be manifested: in a melancholic - isolation and shyness; in a phlegmatic person - excessive slowness; for a sanguine person - superficiality, scattering, inconstancy; for a choleric person - haste to make decisions.

A person with any type of temperament may or may not be capable; the type of temperament does not affect a person's abilities, just some life tasks are easier to solve by a person of one type of temperament, others - of another.

Influence of temperament

Depends on a person's temperament:

the speed of occurrence of mental processes (for example, the speed of perception, the speed of thinking, the duration of concentration of attention, 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, willpower);

focus of mental activity on certain objects (extraversion or introversion).

Psychology

From the point of view of psychologists, four temperaments are only one of the possible systems for assessing psychological characteristics (there are others, for example, "introversion - extraversion"). Descriptions of temperaments vary widely among different psychologists and seem to include a fairly large number of factors. Attempts were made to bring a scientific and experimental basis for the theory of temperaments (IP Pavlov, G. Yu. Aizenk, BM Teplov and others), but the results obtained by these researchers are only partially compatible with each other. Of interest is the study by T.A. Blumina (1996), in which she attempted to compare the theory of temperaments with all psychological typologies known at that time (more than 100), including from the point of view of methods for determining these types. In general, the classification by temperament does not meet modern requirements for factorial analysis of personality and at the moment it is more interesting from a historical point of view.

Modern approach

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.

Currently, 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 the picture above), you can interpret a smile as the ease of inhibition, and frowning eyebrows as a manifestation of ease of arousal.

Within the framework of socionics, the so-called. socionic temperament, where the concepts of excitement and inhibition are replaced by the associated vertigo (introversion - extraversion), which determines the general activity of a person, and rationality (rationality - irrationality), which determines the pace of this activity.

The development of the Human Genome program creates conditions for the disclosure of 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 by doctors of antiquity.

Types of temperament played an important role in the psychology of modern times, in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and Rudolf Hermann Lotze.

What is temperament?

History says that the concept of temperament was introduced into scientific circulation by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, who lived in the 4th - 5th centuries. BC. He also proposed the names of the types of constitution (physique) of a person, which later began to be used as modern names for types of temperament: sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic. Further, the Roman physician Claudius Galen continued the Hippocratic doctrine in the II century. AD He believed that a person's temperament is determined by the ratio or mixing of 4 "juices" in the body: blood, lymph, black bile or yellow bile. From the ancient names of these "juices" came the names of the types of temperament that have come down to our days. "Sangua" is blood, "hole" is common bile, "melan hole" is dark bile, and "phlegm" is lymph. It was believed that the type of human temperament is determined by the type of fluid that prevails in the body. Thanks to the scientific research of I.P. Pavlova associated the discovery of the following basic properties of the nervous system: strength - weakness, excitability - inertia, poise - imbalance. But later it turned out that 3 properties of the nervous system are not enough to characterize all the features of temperament. Psychophysiologists B.M. Teplov, V.D. Nebylitsyn, V.M. Rusalov proved that the nervous system has other properties. And they added another pair of properties: lability - rigidity. Lability is a quick response to stimuli, and rigidity is a slow response to stimuli. In the investigation, other facts of the same order were highlighted: it was pointed out that the width of the lumen and the thickness of the walls of the vessels in different people... But all these views had a common belief that the sources of the characteristics of temperament should be sought in the individual characteristics of the structure of the body.

Temperament is a set of stable, individual, psychophysiological properties of a person that determine the dynamic characteristics of his mental processes, mental states and behavior. In other words, we are talking about the individual characteristics of a person, which are rather congenital than acquired. This is actually so: temperament is the only purely natural personality trait of a person, and the reason to consider it a personal property is the fact that the actions and deeds that a person performs depend on temperament. It is also necessary to clarify what dynamic features are. The dynamic features of behavior are those characteristics that are described in purely physical terms and are not subject to moral and evaluative assessment (for example, the energy with which a person's working capacity is associated, the speed and pace of movements performed, etc.). It should be noted that in addition to the dynamic aspects of human behavior, there are also aspects that need and can be assessed in value terms such as "good-bad", "moral-immoral". Such assessments are not suitable for characterizing temperament, they relate to other aspects of a person's personality, for example, his abilities, values, needs and character. The only case when temperament can be assessed as good or bad is when it comes to the correspondence of a person's temperament type to the dynamic requirements of a particular activity.

According to IP Pavlov, temperaments are "the main features" of individual characteristics of a person. It is customary to distinguish them as follows: sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric and melancholic. The relationship between the type of higher nervous activity and temperament has been established.

Sanguine type of temperament... A 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 learns in a new environment, actively enters into contact with people. His speech is loud, fast, distinct and accompanied by expressive facial expressions and gestures. But this temperament is characterized by some ambivalence. If the stimuli change rapidly, the novelty and interest of the 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 impacts are long and monotonous, then they do not support the state of activity, excitement and the sanguine person loses interest in the matter, he has indifference, boredom, lethargy. A sanguine person quickly develops 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 appear quickly and can disappear just as quickly or even be replaced by the opposite. The mood of a sanguine person changes quickly, but, as a rule, a good mood prevails. A child of this type: he is thin, slender, graceful. In his movements, he is too fast and mobile, even fussy. He seizes with ardor for any new enterprise, but, not having the persistence to complete it, he quickly grows cold towards it. His mind is lively and sharp, but not deep enough and thoughtful. He is cheerful, loves pleasure and strives for them.

Phlegmatic person- a person of this temperament is slow, calm, unhurried, balanced. In activity, he shows thoroughness, thoughtfulness, perseverance. He, as a rule, brings what he started to the end. All mental processes in a phlegmatic person seem to proceed slowly. The feelings of the phlegmatic are outwardly expressed weakly, they are usually inexpressive. The reason for this is the balance and poor mobility of nervous processes. In relations with people, a phlegmatic person 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 life, it is not easy for a phlegmatic person to lose his temper and hurt emotionally. A child of this type is physically well-fed, he is slow in his movements, inert and lazy. His mind is consistent, thoughtful and observant, and shines with awareness. His feelings are not hot, but constant. In general - a good-natured, balanced child.

Choleric type of temperament... People of this temperament are fast, overly mobile, unbalanced, excitable, all mental processes in them proceed quickly, intensively. The predominance of excitement over inhibition, inherent in this type of nervous activity, is clearly manifested in the intemperance, impetuosity, irascibility, irritability of the choleric. Hence the expressive facial expressions, hasty speech, sharp gestures, unrestrained movements. Feelings of a person of choleric temperament are strong, usually vividly manifested, quickly arise. The imbalance inherent in a choleric person is clearly associated in his activities: he gets down to business with an increase and even passion, while showing impetuosity and speed of movements, he works with an uplift, overcoming difficulties. But in a person with a choleric temperament, the supply of nervous energy can quickly be depleted in the process of work and then a sharp decline in activity can occur: the rise and inspiration disappear, the mood drops sharply. In communicating with people, the choleric admits harshness, irritability, emotional incontinence, 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 be in a team of such people. A child of the choleric type is thin and slender, he is too decisive and fast. He is bold, persistent and harsh in the implementation of his plans. He has a sharp, shrewd and derisive mind. His feelings are passionate and harsh in the manifestation of his likes and dislikes. He is power-hungry, vindictive and prone to all kinds of struggle. The child is the most restless and least balanced.

Melancholic temperament similar to phlegmatic, but there is one significant difference from it. A melancholic is an unbalanced person with a weak nervous system and his inhibition processes clearly prevail over arousal processes. Mental processes are slow in melancholic people, they hardly react to strong stimuli; prolonged and strong tension causes slow activity in people of this temperament, and then its termination. Melancholic people are usually passive in work, often have little interest (after all, interest is always associated with a strong nervous tension). Feelings and emotional states in people of melancholic temperament arise slowly, but differ in depth, great strength and duration; melancholic people are easily vulnerable, they can hardly bear grievances, grievances, although outwardly all these experiences are poorly expressed in them. Representatives of a melancholic 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 and unusual causes a state of inhibition in melancholic people. But in a familiar and calm environment, people with such a temperament feel calm and work very productively. A child of a melancholic temperament: gloomy and serious beyond his years, he is slow and thorough in the manifestations of his will. With a strong, deep and thoughtful mind. Extremely impressionable, gloomy and withdrawn, he rarely shows his feelings.

Studies have shown that weakness in the nervous system is not a negative property. A strong nervous system copes more successfully with some life tasks, and a weak one - with others. A weak nervous system (among melancholic people) is a nervous system of high sensitivity, and this is its known advantage. It should be remembered that the division of people into four types of temperament is very arbitrary. There are transitional, mixed, intermediate types of temperament; often in a person's temperament traits of different temperaments are combined. "Pure" temperaments are relatively rare.

Temperament is the natural basis for the manifestation of the psychological qualities of a person. However, with any temperament, it is possible to form qualities in a person that are unusual for this temperament. Psychological research and pedagogical practice show that temperament changes somewhat under the influence of living conditions and upbringing. Temperament can also change as a result of self-education. Even an adult can change his temperament in a certain direction. It is known, for example, that A.P. Chekhov was a very balanced, modest and delicate person. But here interesting fact from his life. In one of the letters to Olga Knipper-Chekhova's wife, Anton Pavlovich makes such a valuable confession: “You write that you envy my character. , for it is not proper for a decent person to dissolve himself. In the old days I was doing the devil knows what. "

- This is an individual property of a person, which to the greatest extent depends on his innate, natural psychophysiological qualities. Temperament is an individual characteristic of a person in terms of the characteristics of his mental activity, such as the intensity, speed, pace of mental processes.

Usually, three spheres of manifestation of temperament are distinguished: the level of general activity, the characteristics of the motor sphere and the level of emotionality.

General activity determined by the degree of intensity of human interaction with the environment - natural and social. There are two extremes here. One type of people is distinguished by its pronounced lethargy, passivity, and the other - by high activity, quickness in action. Representatives of other temperaments are located between these two poles.

Motor or motor activity it is expressed in the speed and sharpness of movements, in the tempo of speech, as well as in external mobility, or, conversely, slowness, talkativeness or silence.

Emotionality - expressed in the rapidity of the change in emotional states, susceptibility to emotional influences, sensitivity.

Since antiquity, temperament has always been associated with the physiological characteristics of the human body. Hippocrates(V century BC) described four types of temperament, determined by the fluid that allegedly predominates in the body: sanguine(from lat. sanguis- blood), choleric(from the Greek. chole- bile), phlegmatic(from the Greek. phlegma- mucus) and melancholic(from the Greek. melainachole- black bile). Hippocrates' temperaments were understood in a purely physiological sense.

In the XVIII century. with Hippocratic types of temperament were compared four psychological type, which marked the beginning of the psychological line in the study of temperaments. Common ideas about temperaments now differ little from those of the 18th century: choleric temperament is associated with irritability, sanguine - with cheerfulness, phlegmatic - with calmness, and melancholic - with sadness and vulnerability.

In modern psychology, temperament is defined as constant and stable natural personality traits that determine the dynamics of mental activity, regardless of its content.

Extraversion and introversion, rate of reaction, plasticity and rigidity are distinguished as the properties of temperament.

Extraversion-introversion- temperament characteristics introduced K. Jung - determine the dependence of the reaction and activity of a person on external impressions arising in this moment(extrovert), or from internal mental processes and states of a person (introvert). Extroverts include sanguine and choleric, introverts - phlegmatic and melancholic.

Rate of reaction characterizes the speed of the course of mental processes and reactions (quickness of mind, rate of speech, dynamics of gestures). The rate of reaction is increased in choleric people, sanguine people and well-rested melancholic people, and decreased in phlegmatic people and tired melancholic people. People with a fast rate of reaction and low sensitivity (sanguine and choleric people) do not notice. that others (phlegmatic and melancholic) do not have time to follow the course of their thoughts, and on the basis of this they draw completely unfounded conclusions about their mental abilities, which can directly damage relationships between people, in particular business relationships.

Inactivity - the degree of involuntary reactions to external and internal influences and irritations (critical remarks, offensive words, harsh tone, external influences). These are automated reactions of defense and orientation. High reactivity in choleric and sanguine, low in phlegmatic.

Activity- characterizes the severity of the energy potential of a person, with which a person overcomes obstacles and achieves a goal. Activity is expressed in perseverance, purposefulness, concentration of attention and is the main quality of temperament that contributes to the achievement of the goal. The phlegmatic has the highest activity, although due to low reactivity, he is included in the work more slowly. A phlegmatic person is highly active, he is not in danger of overwork. In a choleric person, high activity is combined with reactivity. Sanguine people are quite active, but if the activity is monotonous, they may lose interest in drinking. Melancholic people are characterized by low activity.

The ratio of reactivity and activity determines from what to a greater extent human activity depends: random external or internal circumstances - mood, 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 his behavior (rigidity). The highest plasticity in sanguine people, rigidity characterizes phlegmatic people, choleric people and melancholic people.

Emotional irritability reflects the threshold of the minimum impact necessary for the occurrence of an emotional reaction and the speed of its development. Emotional excitability is increased in a sanguine person, a choleric person and a melancholic person, and in a phlegmatic person it is decreased.

A peculiar combination of activity, determined by the intensity and volume of human interaction with the environment - physical and social, and the severity of emotional reactions, determine individual characteristics temperament, i.e. "Dynamic aspects" of behavior. Researchers remain confident that the dynamic properties of behavior have a certain physiological basis, i.e. are determined by certain features of the functioning of physiological structures, but what these structures and features are at the present time is unknown. One thing is clear that temperament, being innate, is the basis of most personality traits, including its character. Temperament is the sensual basis of character. Transformed in the process of character formation, the properties of temperament pass into character traits, the content of which is associated with the orientation of the individual's psyche.

Temperaments and their characteristics

Phlegmatic person unhurried, unperturbed, has stable aspirations and mood, outwardly stingy with the expression of emotions and feelings. He shows tenacity and perseverance in his work, remaining calm and level-headed. In work, he is productive, compensating for his slowness with diligence.

Choleric - fast, passionate, impetuous, but completely unbalanced, with a dramatically changing mood with emotional outbursts, quickly exhausted. He does not have a balance of nervous processes, this sharply distinguishes him from a sanguine person. The choleric, being carried away, carelessly wastes his strength and is quickly depleted.

Sanguine - a lively, hot, agile person, with frequent changes in mood, impressions, with a quick reaction to all events happening around him, quite easily reconciled with his failures and troubles. Usually sanguine people have expressive facial expressions. He is very productive at work, when he is interested, becoming very excited about this, if the work is not interesting, he is indifferent to it, he becomes bored.

Melancholic - a person is easily vulnerable, prone to constant experience of various events, he reacts little to external factors... He cannot restrain his asthenic experiences by an effort of will, he is too impressionable, easily emotionally vulnerable.

Every temperament can be found both positive and negative properties... Good upbringing, control and self-control makes it possible to manifest: a melancholic, as an impressionable person with deep feelings and emotions; a phlegmatic person, as a seasoned person without hasty decisions: a sanguine person, as a highly responsive person for any work: a choleric person, as a passionate, frantic and active person in work.

Negative properties of temperament can be manifested as follows: in a melancholic - isolation and shyness; in a phlegmatic person - indifference to people, dryness; for a sanguine person - superficiality, scattering. impermanence; the choleric person has a haste of decisions.

As already noted, there are four main types of temperament: sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic (Fig. 1, Table 1).

Sanguine temperament

IP Pavlov gives the following characterization of the features of the sanguine temperament: “A sanguine person is an ardent, very productive figure, but only when he has a lot of interesting things to do, that is, constant excitement. When there is no such thing, he becomes dull, lethargic. "

A sanguine person is distinguished by easy adaptability to changing living conditions, increased contact with people around him, and sociability. Feelings of a sanguine person easily arise and quickly change, his stereotypes are quite mobile, conditioned reflexes are quickly fixed. In a new environment, he does not feel constraint, is capable of quickly switching attention and changing types of activity, and is emotionally stable. People with a sanguine temperament are most suitable for activities that require quick reactions, significant effort, and a distribution of attention.

Choleric temperament

“The choleric type,” notes Pavlov, “is clearly a militant type, perky, easily and quickly irritated”. "Carried away by some business, he overloads on his means and strength and in the end he is torn, depleted more than he should, he is being worked on to the point that he is unbearable."

The choleric person is characterized by increased emotional reactivity, fast pace and sharpness in movements. The increased excitability of choleric under unfavorable conditions can become the basis of irascibility and even aggressiveness.

Rice. 1. Reactions of people with different temperaments in the same situation (figure X. Bidstrup)

Table 1. Types of temperament and the corresponding mental properties of a person

With appropriate motivation, the choleric person is able to overcome significant difficulties, giving himself up to the cause with great passion. It is characterized by a sharp change in mood. A person with a choleric temperament achieves the greatest efficiency in activities that require increased reactivity and significant one-time exertion of forces.

Phlegmatic temperament

"A phlegmatic person is a calm, always even, persistent and stubborn worker of life."

The phlegmatic's reactions are somewhat slowed down, the mood is stable. The emotional sphere is outwardly little expressed. In difficult life situations, the phlegmatic person remains quite calm and self-possessed, he does not allow impulsive, impulsive movements, since his inhibition processes always balance the processes of arousal. Correctly calculating his strength, the phlegmatic shows great perseverance in bringing the matter to the end. His switching of attention and activity is somewhat slow. His stereotypes are inactive, and in some cases his behavior is not flexible enough. A phlegmatic person achieves the greatest success in those activities that require an even exertion of strength, perseverance, stability of attention and great patience.

Melancholic temperament

“Melancholic temperament is clearly an inhibitory type of the nervous system. For a melancholic, obviously, every phenomenon of life becomes an agent that inhibits him, since he does not believe in anything, does not hope for anything, sees and expects only the bad and the dangerous in everything. "

The melancholic is characterized by increased vulnerability, a tendency to deep feelings (sometimes even for minor reasons). His feelings arise easily, poorly restrained, outwardly distinctly expressed. Strong external influences impede its activities. He is introverted - busy with his experiences, withdrawn, refrains from contact with strangers, avoids new surroundings. Under certain conditions of life, shyness, timidity, indecision and even cowardice are easily formed in him. In a favorable stable environment, the melancholic can achieve significant success in activities that require increased sensitivity, reactivity, quick learning, observation.

Hippocrates singled out 4 types of temperament - sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric and melancholic. However, in their pure form, they are rare, each person only gravitates towards one of them. Throughout life, under the influence of social impact, education, lifestyle, health, manifestations of temperament can be smoothed out. In children, the signs of temperament are more distinct, they are easy to see if you observe the child's behavior for a while.

Let's talk in detail about each type of temperament. Let's talk about activities that are comfortable for children, taking into account their temperament.

Sanguine

Correct upbringing will form in the child an active attitude to learning, purposefulness.

Mobile, active activities are suitable for such a child. You can choose sports, dancing. Classes can be both individual and in a group, in a team. Perhaps, due to his activity, the child will be interested in many types of activities, he will want to study in several circles, studios at once. Let him do it, let him go from one section to another. The more skills he masters, the more inclinations they will receive incentives for development. A deeper immersion in the chosen activity can occur in subsequent years - in adolescence, adolescence.

Phlegmatic person

This is a calm and unhurried baby. He thoroughly thinks over his actions, shows persistence in achieving the goal. It is difficult for him to quickly navigate the situation, he does not like changes, prefers stability, remembers the acquired knowledge and skills for a long time. His mood is stable, he rarely loses his temper, enjoys communicating with the adults and peers around him.

Upbringing can form such qualities as perseverance and perseverance in a phlegmatic child. Occupations that require painstaking and patience are suitable for him. If your child has a good ear for music, you can offer him music lessons. If he has an interest in drawing, sculpting, applique work - take up art with him.

Such a child may not like activities that require speed, instant reaction, quick adaptation. Therefore, from all types of sports activities, choose calm ones. These are swimming, ballroom and sports dances. There, the skill is formed by repeated repetition and individual work with a trainer.

Team games - football, handball, basketball, contact sports - boxing, fencing will not bring phlegmatic satisfaction, since they require quick reaction, the ability to understand a partner and an opponent and make a decision instantly.

Choleric

A choleric child is distinguished by imbalance, excitability, speed of actions, movements. It lights up quickly and also cools down quickly. Particularly uncomfortable for him will be laborious, monotonous, long-term activities. In communication with peers, he strives to be a leader, is often a source of conflict.

With proper upbringing, a choleric child develops very important qualities: activity, initiative, enthusiasm, organizational and communication skills.

For a child with a choleric temperament, intensive, but not very long sessions are suitable, where there is an opportunity to communicate with peers or compete with a rival. A passionate, risk-taking nature will feel at ease on a soccer field, volleyball or basketball court, or on a bike path. A choleric child will “light up” on the dance floor, in a musical group - where a powerful and short-term release of energy is required.

Activities that require painstaking, thoroughness, such as drawing, modeling, embroidery, beading, can quickly get bored with such a child. A difficult test for a choleric child will be loneliness, lack of communication with peers.

Melancholic

In children with a melancholic type of temperament, activity proceeds slowly, while they quickly get tired. If the child is urged on, actions are further slowed down. Slowly, but for a long time, the child is immersed in this or that emotional experience. A bad mood will not be fleeting, the sadness that has arisen surprises adults with its depth, strength, and duration. The child is anxious in unfamiliar surroundings, shy of strangers, avoids numerous contacts with peers.

In the process of upbringing, melancholic children develop softness, responsiveness, and sincerity.

For such a child, calm activities in comfortable conditions... Melancholic children enjoy reading books, watching educational programs, films, love to observe the nature around them, to explore it.

Their deep feelings and experiences can be revealed in artistic and literary creativity.

To determine the temperament of the child, use the questions that are presented in the "Diagnostics of abilities and interests" section. They will help you see signs of a type of temperament in the child's behavior.

Let's sum up

• Temperament is an innate quality, don't try to fight it. Try to understand it and take it into account when choosing activities for your child.
• There are no "bad" temperaments. Rudeness, aggressiveness, selfishness, a low level of culture are the result of poor upbringing.
• Choose activities according to the child's inclinations, his behavior. Consider the strength and speed of the child's reactions, the stability and change of emotions, activity and fatigue, the need for communication.
• Parents should not only broaden the baby's horizons, but also develop his abilities, expanding the understanding of different types activities. It is important to offer the child those activities that suit him in temperament, according to his capabilities. Such activities will form his interests, inclinations, help overcome insecurity and fear.

Basis of temperament

Each person is unique, differs in the ways of expressing emotions, feelings and reacts differently to what is happening in the surrounding reality. If one individual remains calm in any situation, then even the slightest trouble can lead another to despair. These features of human behavior largely depend on differences in the activity of the nervous system.

Temperament as a psychobiological basis of personality

A person's mental activity, which is characterized by its dynamic characteristics (pace, speed and intensity), is a temperament. It characterizes not a person's beliefs, views or interests, but its dynamism, therefore it is not an indicator of value.

The following components can be distinguished that determine the basis of temperament:

• The general activity of a person's mental activity, which is expressed in the degree of the desire to act, to express oneself in various activities, to transform the surrounding reality. There are two extremes of general activity: on the one hand, passivity, inertia, lethargy, and on the other, impetuosity. Between these two extremes are representatives of different temperaments;
• Motor or motor activity is expressed in the speed, intensity, sharpness, strength of muscle movements and speech of the individual, his mobility, talkativeness;
• Emotional activity expresses the sensitive basis of temperament, that is, the susceptibility and sensitivity of the individual to emotional influences, her impulsivity.

Also, a person's temperament has an external expression and is manifested in activities, behavior and actions. On these grounds, one can judge about some of its properties. When they talk about temperament, they basically mean the mental differences in people associated with the intensity, depth and stability of emotions, impressionability, and vigor of actions.

There are several theories that define the foundations of temperament. But with all the variety of approaches to this issue, most scientists recognize that this is a kind of biological foundation on which a person is formed as a social being.

Physiological bases of temperament

The first to introduce this term was the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, who laid the foundation for the humoral theory. He explained the peculiarities of people's temperaments by various ratios of liquid substances in the body: blood, bile and lymph. If yellow bile predominates, this makes a person hot, impulsive or choleric. In mobile, cheerful people (sanguine people), blood predominates, and in calm and slow people (phlegmatic people), lymph prevails. Melancholic people are characterized by a sad and fearful character, and, as Hippocrates argued, black bile predominates in them.

According to the constitutional theory, which was derived by Kretschmer and Zigo, the natural basis of temperament is determined by the characteristics of the general structure of the human body, as well as its individual organs. In turn, the physique of an individual depends on the course of endocrine processes in his body.

But the most reasonable was the neurological theory proposed by Ivan Petrovich Pavlov. In his opinion, the physiological basis of temperament is a set of acquired characteristics and innate properties of the nervous system.

In this case, individual differences in nervous activity are manifested by the ratio of two main processes - excitation and inhibition, which have three important properties:

• The strength of processes, which is expressed in the ability of nerve cells to withstand prolonged or concentrated exposure to stimuli. This determines the endurance of the cell. The weakness of the nervous processes is evidenced by the high sensitivity or the transition of cells to a state of inhibition instead of excitation, when exposed to strong stimuli. This feature often forms the basis of temperament;
• The balance of nervous processes is characterized by an equal ratio of excitation and inhibition. In some people, these two processes manifest themselves equally, in others, one of them predominates;
• The mobility of nervous processes is a quick or slow change of excitation to inhibition and vice versa, when it is required by the conditions of life. Thus, in the event of sudden and sudden changes, mobility ensures the adaptation of the individual to the new environment.

Combinations of these properties, according to Pavlov, determine the type of the nervous system and are the natural basis of temperament:

• Weak type, in which a person is not able to withstand strong, prolonged and concentrated arousal and inhibition. In a weak nervous system, cells have low efficiency. Although, when exposed to strong stimuli, there is a high sensitivity;
• The strong balanced type is characterized by the imbalance of the basic nervous processes, the predominance of excitation over inhibition is distinguished;
• Strong balanced mobile type - nervous processes are strong and balanced, however, their speed and mobility often lead to instability of connections;
• Strong balanced inert type, in which the processes of excitation and inhibition are strong and balanced, but are characterized by low mobility. Representatives of this type are always calm, it is difficult to piss them off.

Thus, the basis of temperament is the individual properties of the psyche, which reflect the dynamics of human mental activity. They manifest themselves regardless of his goals, motives, desires and remain practically unchanged throughout his life.

Teaching about temperament

Speaking of temperament, they usually mean the dynamic side of the personality, expressed in impulsivity and the pace of mental activity. It is in this sense that we usually say that such and such a person has a large or small temperament, given his impulsiveness, the impetuosity with which his drives manifest, etc. Temperament is a dynamic characteristic of the individual's mental activity.

For temperament, first, the strength of mental processes is indicative. In this case, not only their absolute strength at a given moment is essential, but also how much it remains constant, that is, the degree of dynamic stability. With significant stability, the strength of the reactions in each individual case depends on the changing conditions in which the person finds himself, and is adequate to them: a stronger external irritation causes a stronger reaction, a weaker irritation - a weaker reaction. In individuals with greater non-stability, on the contrary, strong irritation can - depending on the very changeable state of the personality - cause a very strong, then a very weak reaction; in the same way, the slightest irritation can sometimes cause a very strong reaction; a very significant event, fraught with the most serious consequences, can leave a person indifferent, and in another case, an insignificant reason will give a violent outburst: "reaction" in this sense is not at all adequate to the "stimulus".

Mental activity of the same force can differ in varying degrees of tension, depending on the relationship between the strength of a given process and the dynamic capabilities of a given personality. Mental processes of a certain intensity can be performed easily, without any stress in one person at one moment and with great stress in another person or in the same person at another moment. These differences in tension will affect the nature of the even and smooth, then jerky course of activity.

An essential expression of temperament is, further, the speed of the course of mental processes. From the speed or speed of the course of mental processes, it is also necessary to distinguish between their tempo (the number of acts in a certain period of time, depending not only on the speed of each act, but also on the size of the intervals between them) and the rhythm (which can be not only temporary, but also power ). When characterizing temperament, one must again bear in mind not only average speed the course of mental processes. For temperament, the characteristic amplitude of fluctuations from the slowest to the most accelerated rates is also indicative of a given personality. Along with this, it is also essential how the transition is made from slower to faster rates and vice versa - from faster to slower ones: in some it occurs, more or less evenly and smoothly increasing or decreasing, in others - as if in jerks , uneven and jerky. These differences can overlap: significant transitions in speed can be made by a smooth and uniform increase, and on the other hand, relatively less significant changes in absolute speed can be made by gusty jerks. These features of temperament are reflected in the entire activity of the individual, in the course of all mental processes.

The main manifestation of temperament is very often sought in the dynamic features of a person's "reactions" - in the strength and speed with which he effectively reacts to stimuli. Indeed, the central links in the diverse manifestations of temperament are those that express the dynamic characteristics not of individual mental processes, but of concrete activity in the diverse relationships of various aspects of its mental content. However, the sensorimotor reaction can in no way serve as an exhaustive or adequate expression of a person's temperament. For temperament, a person's impressionability and impulsiveness are especially important.

A person's temperament is manifested primarily in his impressionability, characterized by the strength and stability of the impact that the impression has on a person. Depending on the characteristics of temperament, the impressionability in some people is more, in others less significant; in some, as if someone, in the words of A. M. Gorky, “ripped off all the skin from the heart”, they are so sensitive to every impression; others - "insensitive", "thick-skinned" - very weakly react to the environment. For some, the effect - strong or weak - that makes an impression on them, spreads with a large, for others at a very low speed into the deeper layers of the psyche. Finally, for different people, depending on the characteristics of their temperament, the stability of the impression is also different: for some, the impression - even a strong one - turns out to be very unstable, while others cannot get rid of it for a long time. Impression is always individually different affective sensitivity in people of different temperaments. It is essentially connected with the emotional sphere and is expressed in the strength, speed and stability of the emotional reaction to impressions.

Temperament is reflected in emotional excitability - in the strength of emotional excitement, the speed with which it engulfs the personality - and the stability with which it persists. It depends on a person's temperament how quickly and strongly he lights up and how quickly he then fades away. Emotional excitability is manifested, in particular, in mood, increased up to exaltation or decreased up to depression, and especially in more or less rapid changes in moods directly related to impressionability.

Another central expression of temperament is impulsivity, which is characterized by the strength of motives, the speed with which they master the motor sphere and turn into action, the stability with which they maintain their effective strength. Impulsivity includes the impressionability and emotional excitability that determines it in relation to the dynamic characteristics of those intellectual processes that mediate and control them. Impulsiveness is the side of temperament, which it is associated with striving, with the sources of will, with the dynamic force of needs as motives for activity, with the speed of transition of motives into action.

Temperament is manifested especially clearly in the strength, as well as the speed, rhythm and tempo of a person's psychomotor skills - in his practical actions, speech, expressive movements. The gait of a person, his facial expressions and pantomime, his movements, fast or slow, smooth or impetuous, sometimes an unexpected turn or movement of the head, the manner of looking up or downcast, viscous lethargy or slow fluency, nervous haste or powerful impetuosity of speech reveal to us some kind of aspect of personality, that dynamic aspect of it, which is its temperament. At the very first meeting, with a short, sometimes even fleeting contact with a person, we often immediately from these external manifestations get a more or less vivid impression of his temperament.

Since ancient times, it has been customary to distinguish four main types of temperaments: choleric, sanguine, melancholic and phlegmatic. Each of these temperaments can be determined by the ratio of impressionability and impulsiveness as the main psychological properties of temperament. Choleric temperament is characterized by strong impressionability and great impulsivity; sanguine - weak impressionability and great impulsivity; melancholic - strong impressionability and little impulsivity; phlegmatic - weak impressionability and low impulsivity. Thus, this classical traditional scheme naturally follows from the ratio of the main features with which we endow the temperament, while acquiring the corresponding psychological content. The differentiation of both impressionability and impulsivity in strength, speed and stability, which we have outlined above, opens up opportunities for further differentiation of temperaments.

The physiological basis of temperament is the neurodynamics of the brain, that is, the neurodynamic ratio of the cortex and subcortex. The neurodynamics of the brain is in internal interaction with the system of humoral, endocrine factors. A number of researchers (Pende, Belov, partly E. Kretschmer, and others) were inclined to make both temperament and even character dependent primarily on these latter. There is no doubt that the endocrine gland system is included in the number of conditions affecting temperament.

It would be wrong, however, to isolate the endocrine system from the nervous system and turn it into an independent basis of temperament, since the very humoral activity of the endocrine glands is subject to central innervation. There is an internal interaction between the endocrine system and the nervous system, in which the leading role belongs to the nervous system.

For temperament, in this case, undoubtedly, the excitability of the subcortical centers, with which the features of motor activity, statics and vegetation are associated, are of significant importance. The tone of the subcortical centers, their dynamics have an impact on the tone of the cortex and its readiness for action. Because of the role they play in the neurodynamics of the brain, subcortical centers undoubtedly influence temperament. But again, it would be completely wrong, by emancipating the subcortex from the cortex, to turn the former into a self-sufficient factor, into the decisive basis of temperament, as the currents strive to do in modern foreign neurology, which recognize the decisive importance for the temperament of the gray matter of the ventricle and localize the “core” of the personality in the subcortex, in the stem apparatus, in the subcortical ganglia. The subcortex and cortex are inextricably linked with each other. Therefore, it is impossible to separate the first from the second. Ultimately, it is not the dynamics of the subcortex itself that is of decisive importance, but the dynamic relationship between the subcortex and the cortex, as I.P. Pavlov emphasizes in his doctrine of the types of the nervous system.

Pavlov based his classification of types of the nervous system on three main criteria, namely strength, balance and lability of the cortex.

Proceeding from these main features, as a result of his studies by the method of conditioned reflexes, he came to the definition of four main types of the nervous system:

1. A strong, balanced and agile type is a lively type.
2. Strong, balanced and inert - calm, slow type.
3. Strong, unbalanced with a predominance of excitement over inhibition - excitable, unrestrained type.
4. Weak type.

The division of the types of the nervous system into strong and weak does not lead to a further symmetric subdivision of the weak type, as well as the strong one, according to the other two signs of balance and mobility (lability), because these differences, which give significant differentiation in the case of a strong type, turn out to be practically insignificant and do not give really significant differentiation.

I.P. Pavlov connects the types of nervous systems outlined by him with temperaments, comparing the four groups of nervous systems, to which he came by the laboratory, with the ancient classification of temperaments from Hippocrates. He is inclined to identify his excitable type with choleric, melancholic with inhibitory, two forms of the central type - calm and lively - with phlegmatic and sanguine.

The main evidence in favor of the differentiation of the types of the nervous system that he establishes, Pavlov considers different reactions with strong counteractions of irritable and inhibitory processes.

Pavlov's doctrine of the types of nervous activity is essential for understanding the physiological basis of temperament. Its correct use presupposes taking into account the fact that the type of the nervous system is a strictly physiological concept, and temperament is a psychophysiological concept and is expressed not only in motor skills, in the nature of reactions, their strength, speed, etc., but also in impressionability. in emotional excitability, etc.

The mental properties of temperament are undoubtedly closely related to the bodily properties of the body - both innate features of the structure of the nervous system (neuroconstitution) and functional features (muscle, vascular) tone of organic life. However, the dynamic properties of human activity are not reducible to the dynamic characteristics of organic life; with all the significance of the innate characteristics of the organism, in particular its nervous system, for temperament they are only the initial moment of its development, not separated from the development of the personality as a whole.

Temperament is not a property of the nervous system or neuroconstitution as such; he is a dynamic aspect of the personality that characterizes the dynamics of her mental activity. This dynamic side of temperament is interconnected with the rest of the life of the individual and is mediated by the specific content of her life and activities; therefore, the dynamics of a person's activity is not reducible to the dynamic features of his life activity, since that itself is determined by the relationship of the individual with the environment. This is evident when analyzing any side, any manifestation of temperament.

So, no matter how significant the organic bases of sensitivity, the properties of the peripheral receptor and central apparatus play in a person's impressionability, yet impressionability is irreducible to them. Impressions that are perceived by a person are usually caused not by isolated acting sensory stimuli, but by phenomena, objects, persons that have a certain objective meaning and cause from a person one or another attitude towards himself, due to his tastes, attachments, beliefs, character, worldview. Because of this, the very sensitivity or impressionability is mediated and selective.

Impressiveness is mediated and transformed by needs, interests, tastes, inclinations, etc. - by the whole relationship of a person to the environment and depends on the life path of the individual.

In the same way, the change in emotions and moods, states of emotional upsurge or decline in a person depends not only on the tone of the body's vital activity. Changes in tone, undoubtedly, also affect the emotional state, but the tone of life is mediated and conditioned by the relationship of the individual with the environment and, therefore, by the entire content of his conscious life. Everything that has been said about the mediation of impressionability and emotionality by the conscious life of a person is even more related to impulsivity, since impulsivity includes both impressionability and emotional excitability and is determined by their relationship with the power and complexity of the intellectual processes that mediate and control them.

Human actions are not reducible to organic life activity, since they are not just motor reactions of the body, but acts that are aimed at certain objects and pursue certain goals. Therefore, they are mediated and conditioned in all their mental properties, including dynamic ones, characterizing temperament, by a person's attitude to the environment, goals that he sets for himself, needs, tastes, inclinations, beliefs that determine these goals. Therefore, it is in no way possible to reduce the dynamic features of a person's actions to the dynamic features of his organic life activity, taken in itself; the very tone of his organic life activity can be determined by the course of his activity and the turnover that it receives for him. The dynamic features of activity inevitably depend on the specific relationship of the individual with his environment; they will be alone in adequate conditions for him and others in inadequate ones. Therefore, attempts to give a doctrine of temperaments, proceeding only from a physiological analysis of nervous mechanisms, out of correlation in animals with the biological conditions of their existence, in humans, with the historically developing conditions of his social life and practical activity, are fundamentally wrong.

The dynamic characteristics of mental activity is not self-sufficient, formal; it depends on the content and specific conditions of activity, on the attitude of the individual to what he does, and to the conditions in which he finds himself. The pace of my activity will obviously be different in the case when its direction is forced to run counter to my inclinations, interests, skills and abilities, with the peculiarities of my character, when I feel in an alien environment, and in the case when I am captured and is fascinated by the content of my work and am in an environment that is in tune with me.

Liveliness, turning into playful agility or swagger, and regularity, even slowness of movements, taking on the character of gravity or majesty in facial expressions, in pantomime, in posture, gait, human habits, are due to a variety of reasons, up to the mores of the social environment in which a person lives , and the social position that he occupies. The style of the epoch, the way of life of certain social strata determines, to a certain extent, the pace, in general, the dynamic characteristics of the behavior of representatives of this epoch and the corresponding social strata.

The dynamic features of behavior that go from the era, from social conditions, do not, of course, remove the individual differences in the temperaments of different people and do not abolish the meaning of their organic features. But, reflected in the psyche, in the consciousness of people, social moments themselves are included in their internal individual characteristics and enter into an internal relationship with all their other individual characteristics, including organic and functional ones. In the real way of life of a particular person, in the dynamic features of his individual behavior, the tone of his life activity and the regulation of these features, which proceeds from social conditions (the pace of social and industrial life, morals, everyday life, decency, etc.), form an indecomposable unity of sometimes opposite but always interconnected moments. The regulation of the dynamics of behavior, proceeding from the social conditions of life and human activity, can, of course, sometimes affect only external behavior, without affecting the personality itself, its temperament; at the same time, the internal features of a person's temperament may also be in conflict with the dynamic features of behavior, which he externally adheres to. But, ultimately, the features of the behavior that a person adheres to for a long time cannot but leave their imprint sooner or later - although not mechanical, not mirror, and sometimes even compensatory-antagonistic - on the internal structure of the personality, on its temperament.

Thus, in all its manifestations, temperament is mediated and conditioned by real conditions and the specific content of a person's life. Speaking about the conditions under which the temperament in an actor's play can be convincing, Ye. B. Vakhtangov wrote: “For this, an actor during rehearsals needs mainly to work to ensure that everything that surrounds him in the play becomes his atmosphere, so that the tasks roles became his tasks - then the temperament will speak "from the essence." This temperament from the essence is the most valuable, because it is the only convincing and deceitful. " The temperament "from the essence" is the only convincing on the stage because this is the temperament in reality: the dynamics of mental processes is not something self-sufficient; it depends on the specific content of the personality, on the tasks that a person sets for himself, on his needs, interests, inclinations, character, on his “essence”, which is revealed in the variety of the most important relationships for him with the environment. Temperament is an empty abstraction outside the personality, which is formed by completing its life path.

Being a dynamic characteristic of all manifestations of personality, temperament in its qualitative properties of impressionability, emotional excitability and impulsivity is at the same time the sensual basis of character.

While forming the basis of character traits, temperamental traits, however, do not predetermine them. Being involved in the development of character, the properties of temperament undergo changes, due to which the same initial properties can lead to different properties of character, depending on what they are subordinated to - from behavior, beliefs, volitional and intellectual qualities of a person. So, on the basis of impulsiveness as a property of temperament, depending on the conditions of upbringing and the entire path of life, various volitional qualities can be developed in a person who has not learned to control his actions by thinking about their consequences, thoughtlessness, unrestrainedness, the habit of chopping off the shoulder can easily develop. act under the influence of affect; in other cases, on the basis of the same impulsiveness, determination will develop, the ability to go to the set goal without unnecessary hesitation and hesitation. Depending on a person's life path, on the entire course of his social, moral, intellectual and aesthetic development, impressionability as a property of temperament can in one case lead to significant vulnerability, painful vulnerability, hence to shyness and shyness; in the other, on the basis of the same impressionability, greater emotional sensitivity, responsiveness and aesthetic sensitivity can develop; in the third, sensitivity in the sense of sentimentality. The formation of character based on the properties of temperament is significantly associated with the orientation of the personality.

So, temperament is a dynamic characteristic of a personality in all its effective manifestations and a sensual basis of character. Transformed in the process of character formation, the properties of temperament pass into character traits, the content of which is inextricably linked with the orientation of the personality.

Influence of temperament

The dynamic characteristics of a person's character - the style of his behavior - depend on temperament. Temperament is the "natural soil" on which the process of the formation of individual character traits, the development of individual human abilities takes place.

People achieve the same success different ways, replacing their "weak" sides with a system of mental compensation.

Under the influence of living conditions, a choleric person can develop inertia, slowness, lack of initiative, and in a melancholic person - energy and decisiveness. Life experience and upbringing of a person mask the manifestations of his temperament. But with unusual superstrong influences, in dangerous situations previously formed inhibitory reactions can be disinhibited. Choleric and melancholic people are more prone to neuropsychic breakdown. Along with the scientific approach understanding the behavior of a person is incompatible with the rigid binding of people's actions to their natural characteristics.

Depending on the living conditions and activities of a person, certain properties of his temperament may increase or decrease. Temperament, despite its natural conditioning, can be attributed to personality traits, since it combines the natural and socially acquired qualities of a person.

Foreign psychologists divide temperamental characteristics mainly into two groups - extraversion and introversion. These concepts, introduced by the Swiss psychologist C.G. Jung, mean the predominant orientation of individuals towards the external (extrovert) or internal (introvert) world. Extroverts are distinguished by their predominant appeal to the outside world, increased social adaptation, they are more conformable and suggestive (susceptible to suggestion). Introverts, on the other hand, attach the greatest importance to the phenomena of the inner world, they are uncommunicative, prone to increased introspection, have difficulty entering a new social environment, are non-conforming and asuggestative.

Among the qualities of temperament, rigidity and plasticity also stand out. Rigidity - inertia, conservatism, difficulty in switching mental activity. There are several types of rigidity: sensory - prolongation of sensation after the termination of the stimulus; motor - the difficulty of restructuring habitual movements; emotional - continuation emotional state after the termination of the emotional impact; memory - reserving, obsession with memory images; thinking - the inertia of judgments, attitudes, ways of solving problems. The quality opposite to rigidity is plasticity, flexibility, mobility, adequacy.

The peculiarities of temperament also include such a mental phenomenon as anxiety - tension, increased emotional excitability in situations interpreted by the individual as threatening. Individuals with an increased level of anxiety tend to behave inappropriately to the degree of threat. An increased level of anxiety causes the desire to escape from the perception of threatening events, involuntarily narrowing the field of perception in a stressful situation.

So, a person's temperament determines the dynamics of his behavior, the originality of the course of his mental processes. Temperament determines the way a person sees, experiences events and their speech retransmission. Analyzing human behavior, one cannot but reckon with the "biological background" of human behavior, which affects the degree of intensity of individual personality traits.

The temperamental characteristics of a person act as psychophysiological possibilities of his behavior. For example, the mobility of nervous processes determines the dynamic qualities of the intellect, the flexibility of associative processes; excitability - the ease of occurrence and intensity of sensations, the stability of attention, the power of capturing images of memory.

However, temperament is not a value criterion of the personality, it does not determine the needs, interests, and views of the individual. In the same kind of activity, people with different temperaments can achieve outstanding success due to their compensatory capabilities.

Not temperament, but the orientation of the personality, the predominance of higher motives over lower ones, self-control and self-control, suppression of motives lower level to achieve socially significant goals, determine the quality of human behavior.

Temperament structure

Temperament is a term derived from the Latin temperamentum (proper ratio of features) and tempero (mix in the proper ratio). To date, the problem of temperament has been studied in sufficient detail, and therefore in science there is a wide variety of definitions of this personality trait.

B.M. Teplov gave the following definition: “Temperament is a characteristic this person a set of mental characteristics associated with emotional excitability, that is, the rapidity of the onset of feelings, on the one hand, and their strength, on the other. "

Thus, it can be argued that temperament is the totality of the psychodynamic properties of the nervous system, the biological foundation on which the personality is formed.

Since the psyche is a property of the nervous system, the individual properties of the psyche, including the properties of temperament, are determined by the individual properties of the nervous system. Therefore, the first main feature of the properties of temperament is their conditioning by the properties of the nervous system, which constitute the physiological basis of temperament. Moreover, only one type of temperament depends on each type of the nervous system (with its specific properties).

The same dynamic features of mental activity depend on the ratio of emotional and volitional characteristics. This ratio is the one characteristic feature, which since the time of Hippocrates has been at the heart of the concept of temperament. Consequently, there are objective reasons to believe that the individual characteristics of the emotional-volitional sphere are the properties of temperament. This, however, does not mean that all the individual characteristics of the emotional-volitional sphere are associated with temperament, and only they.

As a result of attempts at such an analysis, three main, leading, components of temperament were identified, related to the spheres of the general activity of the individual, his motor skills and his emotionality. Each of these components, in turn, has a very complex multidimensional structure and different forms psychological manifestations.

The general mental activity of the individual is of the greatest importance in the structure of temperament. The essence of this component lies in the personality's tendency towards self-expression, effective development and transformation of external reality.

In terms of content, the second component is especially closely related to the first component of temperament - the motor, or motor, in which the qualities associated with the function of the motor (and especially the speech motor) apparatus play a leading role. Among the dynamic qualities of the motor component, such as speed, strength, sharpness, rhythm, amplitude and a number of other signs of muscle movement should be distinguished (some of them characterize speech motor skills).

The third main component of temperament is emotionality, which is an extensive complex of properties that characterize the characteristics of the emergence, flow and cessation of various feelings, affects and moods. Compared to others constituent parts temperament, this component is the most complex and has a branched structure of its own. The main characteristics of emotionality are considered impressionability, impulsivity and emotional stability.

Impressiveness expresses the subject's sensitivity to emotionally significant influences.

Impulsiveness refers to the speed at which an emotion prompts action without prior thought or conscious planning. Emotional lability is usually understood as the rate at which one experience replaces another.

The main components of temperament form a single structure in human behavior, which makes it possible to limit temperament from other mental formations of the personality - its orientation, character, abilities, etc.

Manifestation of temperament

The difference in temperament between people is manifested in their activities. To achieve success in it, it is important that a person has control of his temperament, is able to adapt it to the conditions and requirements of activity, relying on his strong properties and compensating for the weak ones. This adaptation is expressed in an individual style of activity.

An individual style of activity is an expedient system of methods and methods of performing an activity that corresponds to the characteristics of temperament, ensuring the best results.

The formation of an individual style of activity is carried out in the process of training and education. In this case, the subject's own interest is required.

Conditions for the formation of an individual style of activity:

1. determination of temperament with an assessment of the severity of its psychological properties;
2. finding a set of strengths and weaknesses;
3. creating a positive attitude towards mastering your temperament;
4. exercise in improving the strong properties and the possible compensation of the weak.

Temperament is also important for the choice of the type of activity. Choleric people prefer its emotional types ( sport games, discussions, public speaking) and are reluctant to engage in repetitive work. Melancholic people willingly engage in individual activities.

It is known that in the process of study sessions, sanguine people, when studying new material, quickly grasp the basis, perform new actions, although with mistakes, they do not like long and careful work when mastering and improving skills. Phlegmatic people will not begin to perform new actions, exercises, if something is unclear in the content or technique, they are prone to painstaking, long-term work when mastering it.

For example, for athletes, there are temperamental differences in pre-start conditions. Sanguine and phlegmatic people before the start are mainly in a state of alertness, choleric people are in a state of starting fever, and melancholic people are in a state of starting apathy. At competitions, sanguine and phlegmatic people show stable results and even higher than in training, in choleric and melancholic people they are not stable enough.

Equally differentiated, in particular taking into account the strength and balance of the nervous system of students, it is necessary to approach the application different forms pedagogical influences - praise, censure. Praise has a positive effect on the process of skill formation in all students, but the greatest impact on the "weak" and "unbalanced". Censure is most effective on the “strong” and “balanced”, the least effective on the “weak” and “unbalanced”. Waiting for a grade for completing tasks has a positive effect on the “weak” and “balanced”, but less significant for the “strong” and “unbalanced”.

Thus, temperament, being dependent on the innate properties of the nervous system, manifests itself in the individual style of a person's activity, therefore it is important to take into account its characteristics when teaching and upbringing.

Taking into account the peculiarities of temperament is necessary when solving basically two important pedagogical problems: when choosing a methodological tactics of teaching and a style of communication with students. In the first case, you need to help the sanguine person see the sources of diversity and creative elements in monotonous work, the choleric person - to instill the skills of special careful self-control, the phlegmatic person - to purposefully develop skills for quickly switching attention, the melancholic person - to overcome fear and self-doubt. Consideration of temperament is necessary when choosing a style of communication with students. So, with choleric and melancholic people, such methods of influence as individual conversation and indirect types of demands (advice, hint, etc.) are preferable. Censure in front of the class will cause a conflict explosion in the choleric person, in the melancholic person - a reaction of resentment, depression, and self-doubt. When dealing with a phlegmatic person, it is inappropriate to insist on the immediate fulfillment of the requirement, it is necessary to give time to ripen for the student's own decision. A sanguine person will easily and with pleasure accept a remark in the form of a joke.

Temperament is the natural basis for the manifestation of the psychological qualities of a person. However, with any temperament, it is possible to form qualities in a person that are not characteristic of this temperament. Self-education is of particular importance here. In a letter to Olga Knipper-Chekhova, AP Chekhov wrote: “You ... envy my character. I must say that by nature I have a harsh character, I am hot-tempered, etc., etc., but I am used to holding myself, because it is not appropriate for a decent person to dissolve himself. "