The main theories of personality briefly. Personality theory in psychology

Answer plan:

1) Psychodynamic theory of personality - Z. Freud

2) Analytical theory of personality - K.G. Jung

3) Humanistic theory of personality - K. Rogers, A. Maslow

4) Cognitive theory of personality - J. Kelly

5) Behavioral theory of personality - D. Watson, B. Skinner, A. Bandura, J. Rotter

6) Activity theory of personality - S. Rubinshtein, A. Leontiev,K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, A. V. Brushlinsky

7) Dispositional theory of personality - G. Eysenck, G. Allport, B. M. Teplov, V. D. Nebylitsyn

Personality theory is a set of hypotheses, or assumptions about the nature and mechanisms of personality development. Personality theory tries not only to explain, but also to predict human behavior (Kjell A., Ziegler D., 1997). The main questions that personality theory must answer are:

1. What is the nature of the main sources of personality development - congenital or acquired?

2. What age period is most important for personality formation?

3. What processes are dominant in the personality structure - conscious (rational) or unconscious (irrational)?

4. Does a person have free will, and to what extent does a person exercise control over his behavior?

5. Is the personal (inner) world of a person subjective, or is the inner world objective and can be revealed using objective methods?

Each psychologist adheres to certain answers to the above questions. In the science of personality, seven rather stable combinations of such answers, or theories of personality, have developed. There are psychodynamic, analytical, humanistic, cognitive, behavioral, activity and dispositional theories of personality.

1) Psychodynamic theory of personality. Z. Freud the main source of personality development are innate biological factors (instincts), or rather, the total biological energy -libido (from lat.libido attraction, desire). This energy is directed, firstly, to procreation (sexual attraction) and, secondly, to destruction (aggressive attraction). Personality is formed during the first six years of life. The unconscious dominates in the structure of personality. Sexual and aggressive drives, which make up the main part of the libido, are not realized by a person.

Freud argued that the individual does not have any free will. Human behavior is completely determined by his sexual and aggressive motives, which he called id (it). As for the inner world of the individual, within the framework of this approach, it is completely subjective. A person is a prisoner of his own inner world, the true content of the motive is hidden behind the "facade" of behavior. And only slips of the tongue, slips of the tongue, dreams, as well as special methods can give more or less accurate information about a person's personality. The main psychological properties of individual "elements" of personality are often called character traits. These properties are formed in a person in early childhood.

2) Analytical theory of personality. K.G. Jung The main source of personality development is innate psychological factors. A person inherits from his parents ready-made primary ideas - “archetypes”. Some archetypes are universal, such as the ideas of God, good and evil, and are inherent in all peoples. But there are culturally and individually specific archetypes. Archetypes are reflected in dreams, fantasies, and are often found as symbols used in art, literature, architecture, and religion. The meaning of every person's life is to fill innate archetypes with concrete content. Personality is formed throughout life. The structure of personality is dominated by the unconscious, the main part of which is the "collective unconscious" - the totality of all innate archetypes. The free will of the individual is limited. The main elements of personality are the psychological properties of individual realized archetypes of a given person - character traits

3) Humanistic theory of personality. K. Rogers There are two main directions in the humanistic theory of personality. First, clinicalC. Rogers . "Motivational"A. Maslow . The main source of personality development is innate tendencies towards self-actualization. According to K. Rogers, there are two innate tendencies in the human psyche: "self-actualizing tendency" - initially in a folded form, the future properties of a person's personality and "organismic tracking process" - a mechanism for controlling personality development. On the basis of these tendencies, a special personal structure of the “I” arises in a person in the process of development, which includes the “ideal I” and the “real I”. These substructures of the "I" structure are in complex relationships - from complete harmony (congruence) to complete disharmony.

The goal of life, according to K. Rogers, is to realize all your innate potential, i.e., to become a person who uses all his abilities and talents, realizes his potential and moves towards full knowledge of himself, his experiences, following his true nature.

A. Maslow singled out two types of needs that underlie the development of a personality: "deficient", which cease after their satisfaction, and "growth", which, on the contrary, only intensify after their implementation. In total, according to Maslow, there are five levels of motivation:

1. physiological (needs for food, sleep);

2. safety needs (need for an apartment, work);

3.requirements for belonging, reflecting the needs of one person in another person, for example, in creating a family;

4.level of self-esteem (need for self-respect, competence, dignity);

5. the need for self-actualization (meta-needs for creativity, beauty, integrity, etc.).

There is no decisive age period; personality is formed throughout life. But the early periods of life (childhood and adolescence) play a special role in the development of personality. The personality is dominated by rational processes, where the unconscious arises only temporarily, when for one reason or another the process of self-actualization is blocked.

4) Cognitive theory of personality. J. Kelly

The main source of personality development is the environment, the social environment. The cognitive theory of personality emphasizes the influence of intellectual processes on human behavior. The main concept in this direction is the "construct" (from the English construct - to build). This concept includes features of all known cognitive processes (perception, memory, thinking and speech). Thanks to constructs, a person not only learns the world, but also establishes interpersonal relationships.

5) Behavioral theory of personality. There are two directions in the behavioral theory of personality - reflex and social. The reflex direction is represented by the works of famous American behavioristsJ. Watson and B. Skinner. The founders of the social direction are American researchersA. Bandura and J. Rotter . The main source of personal development is environment in the broadest sense of the word. There is nothing in the personality of genetic or psychological inheritance. Personality is a product of learning, and its properties are generalized behavioral reflexes and social skills. Skinner, argued that personality is a set of social skills formed as a result of operant learning. Operant Skinner called any change in the environment as a result of any motor act. A person tends to perform those operants that are followed by reinforcement, and avoids those that are followed by punishment. Thus, as a result of a certain system of reinforcements and punishments, a person acquires new social skills and, accordingly, new personality traits - kindness or honesty, aggressiveness or altruism (Godfroy J., 1992; Skinner B.F., 1978). According to representatives of the second direction, an important role in the development of a personality is played not so much by external as by internal factors, such as expectation, purpose, significance, etc. Bandura called human behavior determined by internal factors self-regulation. The main task of self-regulation is to ensure self-efficacy, i.e., to perform only those forms of behavior that a person can implement, relying on internal factors at any given moment. Internal factors act according to their own internal laws, although they have arisen from past experience as a result of learning through imitation. Behaviorists believe that the personality is formed and develops throughout life as socialization, upbringing and learning. However, they regard the early years of a person's life as more important. The basis of any knowledge, abilities, including creative and spiritual, in their opinion, is laid in childhood. According to behavioral theory, a person is almost completely deprived of free will. Our behavior is determined by external circumstances. We often behave like puppets and are unaware of the consequences of our behavior, because the social skills we have learned and reflexes from long-term use have long been automated. Reflexes or social skills act as elements of personality in the behaviorist theory of personality. It is postulated that the list of social skills (i.e., properties, characteristics, personality traits) inherent in a particular person is determined by his social experience (learning).

6) Activity theory of personality. This theory has received the greatest distribution in domestic psychology. Among the researchers who have made the greatest contribution to its development, we should first of all nameS. L. Rubinstein, A. N. Leontiev, K. A. Abulkhanov-Slavskaya and A. V. Brushlinsky. Biological and even more so psychological inheritance of personal properties is denied. The main source of personality development, according to this theory, is activity. Activity is understood as a complex dynamic system of interactions of the subject (active person) with the world (with society), in the process of which personality properties are formed (Leontiev A.N.). The formed personality (internal) later becomes a mediating link through which the external influences a person (Rubinshtein S. L.).

The fundamental difference between the activity theory and the behavioral theory is that the means of learning here is not a reflex, but a special mechanism of internalization, due to which the assimilation of socio-historical experience takes place. The main characteristics of activity are objectivity and subjectivity. The specificity of objectivity lies in the fact that the objects of the external world do not affect the subject directly, but only being transformed in the process of the activity itself. Personality is formed and develops throughout life to the extent that a person continues to play a social role, to be included in social activities. A person is not a passive observer, he is an active participant in social transformations, an active subject of education and training. Childhood and adolescence, however, are considered in this theory as the most important for the formation of personality. In the personality, consciousness occupies the main place, and the structures of consciousness are not given to a person initially, but are formed in early childhood in the process of communication and activity. The unconscious takes place only in the case of automated operations. The consciousness of the individual is completely dependent on social existence, its activities, social relations and the specific conditions in which it is included. A person has free will only to the extent that the socially assimilated properties of consciousness allow it, for example, reflection, internal dialogism. Freedom is a recognized necessity. Individual properties, or personality traits, act as elements of personality; It is generally accepted that personality traits are formed as a result of activities that are always carried out in a specific socio-historical context. The number of personality blocks and their content largely depends on the theoretical views of the authors. Some authors, for example, L. I. Bozhovich (1997), single out only one central block in the personality - the motivational sphere of the personality. Others include in the structure of the personality those properties that are usually considered within the framework of other approaches, for example, behavioral or dispositional. K. K. Platonov (1986) includes in the personality structure such blocks as knowledge, skills acquired in experience, through training (this substructure is typical for the behavioral approach), as well as the “temperament” block, which is considered as one of the most important blocks personality within the dispositional approach. In the activity approach, the most popular is the four-component model of personality, which includes orientation, abilities, character and self-control as the main structural blocks.

7) Dispositional theory of personality. Dispositional (from the English disposition - predisposition) theory has three main directions: "hard", "soft" and intermediate - formally dynamic.

The main source of personality development is the factors of genetic-environmental interaction, with some areas emphasizing mainly influences from genetics, others from the environment.

"Hard" the direction tries to establish a strict correspondence between certain rigid biological structures of a person: the properties of the physique, nervous system or brain, on the one hand, and certain personal properties, on the other. At the same time, it is argued that both the rigid biological structures themselves and the personal formations associated with them depend on common genetic factors. English explorerG. Eysenck suggested that such a personality trait as "introversion-extraversion" (isolation-sociability) is due to the functioning of a special brain structure - the reticular formation. In introverts, the reticular formation provides a higher tone of the cortex, and therefore they avoid contact with the outside world - they do not need excessive sensory stimulation. Extroverts, on the contrary, are drawn to external sensory stimulation (to people, spicy food, etc.) because they have a reduced cortical tone, their reticular formation does not provide the cortical structures of the brain with the necessary level of cortical activation.

"Soft" the direction of the dispositional theory of personality asserts that personality traits, of course, depend on the biological properties of the human body, but which ones and to what extent is not included in the scope of their research tasks.

Among the researchers in this area, the most famous isG. Allport - the founder of the theory of traits. In addition to features, Allport singled out a special transpersonal structure in a person - proprium (from Latin proprium - actually, “I myself”). The concept of "proprium" is close to the concept of "I" of humanistic psychology. It includes the highest goals, meanings, moral attitudes of a person. In the development of the proprium, Allport assigned the main role to society, although he believed that traits can have an indirect effect on the formation of certain features of the proprium. A person with a developed proprium, Allport called a mature personality.

The formal-dynamic direction is represented mainly by the works of domestic psychologistsB. M. Teplov and V. D. Nebylitsyna . The main distinguishing feature of this trend is the assertion that there are two levels in a person's personality, two different aspects of personal properties - formal-dynamic and meaningful. Content properties of personality are close to the concept of proprium. They are the product of upbringing, learning, activity and cover not only knowledge, skills, but also all the richness of the inner world of a person: intellect, character, meanings, attitudes, goals, etc.

According to dispositionalists, personality develops throughout life. However, the early years of life, including puberty, are seen as the most important. Dispositionalists believe that both the conscious and the unconscious are present in the personality. At the same time, rational processes are more typical for the higher structures of the personality - proprium, and irrational for the lower ones - temperament.

According to the dispositional theory, a person has limited free will. Human behavior is to a certain extent determined by evolutionary and genetic factors, as well as by temperament and traits.

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL to QUESTION 16. Placed in accordance with the paragraph of the plan

1) psychodynamic theory. Personality is formed during the first six years of life. The unconscious dominates in the structure of personality. Sexual and aggressive drives, which make up the main part of the libido, are not realized by a person.

Freud argued that the individual does not have any free will. Human behavior is completely determined by his sexual and aggressive motives, which he called id (it). As for the inner world of the individual, within the framework of this approach, it is completely subjective. A person is a prisoner of his own inner world, the true content of the motive is hidden behind the "facade" of behavior. And only slips of the tongue, slips of the tongue, dreams, as well as special methods can give more or less accurate information about a person's personality. The basic psychological properties of individual "elements" of personality are often called character traits (Freud 3., 1989). These properties are formed in a person in early childhood.

In the first, so-called "oral" phase of development (from birth to 1.5 years), a sharp and rude refusal of the mother to breastfeed the child forms in the child such psychological properties as distrust, over-independence and over-activity, and vice versa, prolonged feeding (more than 1 ,5 years) can lead to the formation of a trusting, passive and dependent personality. In the second (from 1.5 to 3 years), "anal" phase, the rough punishment of the child in the process of learning toilet skills gives rise to "anal" character traits - greed, cleanliness, punctuality. A permissive attitude of parents to teaching a child toilet skills can lead to the formation of an unpunctual, generous and even creative personality.

At the third, “phallic”, the most important stage of child development (from 3 to 6 years), the formation of the “Oedipus complex” in boys and the “Electra complex” in girls takes place. The Oedipus complex is expressed in the fact that the boy hates his father because he interrupts his first erotic attraction to the opposite sex (to his mother). Hence the aggressive character, unlawful behavior associated with the rejection of family and social standards, which the father symbolizes. The Electra complex (attraction to the father and rejection of the mother) forms alienation in girls in the relationship between daughter and mother.

Freud distinguishes three main conceptual blocks, or instances of personality:

1) id ("it") - the main structure of the personality, consisting of a set of unconscious (sexual and aggressive) urges; the id functions according to the pleasure principle;

2) ego ("I") - a set of cognitive and executive functions of the psyche, predominantly realized by a person, representing, in a broad sense, all our knowledge about the real world; the ego is a structure that is designed to serve the id, functions in accordance with the reality principle and regulates the process of interaction between the id and the superego and acts as an arena for the ongoing struggle between them;

3) superego ("super-I") - a structure containing social norms, attitudes, moral values of the society in which a person lives.

The id, ego and superego are in a constant struggle for psychic energy due to the limited amount of libido. Strong conflicts can lead a person to psychological problems, diseases. To relieve the tension of these conflicts, a person develops special "protective mechanisms" that function unconsciously and hide the true content of the motives of behavior. Defense mechanisms are integral properties of the personality. Here are some of them: repression (translation into the subconscious of thoughts and feelings that cause suffering); projection (the process by which a person attributes their own unacceptable thoughts and feelings to other people, thus placing the blame on them for their shortcomings or blunders); substitution (redirection of aggression from a more threatening object to a less threatening one); reactive formation (suppression of unacceptable urges and their replacement in behavior with opposite urges); sublimation (replacement of unacceptable sexual or aggressive impulses with socially acceptable forms of behavior in order to adapt). Each person has their own set of defense mechanisms formed in childhood.

Thus, within the framework of psychodynamic theory, personality is a system of sexual and aggressive motives, on the one hand, and defense mechanisms, on the other, and personality structure is an individually different ratio of individual properties, individual blocks (instances) and defense mechanisms.

To the control question “Why are some people more aggressive than others?” within the framework of the theory of classical psychoanalysis, one can answer as follows: because aggressive drives are contained in the very nature of man, and the structures of the ego and superego are not developed enough to resist them.

Libido is the total biological energy.

The id is a collection of unconscious impulses.

Ego is a set of cognitive and executive functions of the psyche that are predominantly realized by a person.

Superego is a mental structure containing social norms, attitudes, moral values of society.

2) Analytic theory Jung considered innate psychological factors to be the main source of personality development. A person inherits from his parents ready-made primary ideas - “archetypes”. Some archetypes are universal, such as the ideas of God, good and evil, and are inherent in all peoples. But there are culturally and individually specific archetypes. Jung suggested that archetypes are reflected in dreams, fantasies and are often found in the form of symbols used in art, literature, architecture and religion (Jung K., 1994). The meaning of every person's life is to fill innate archetypes with concrete content.

Archetypes are hereditarily transmitted primary ideas.

The collective unconscious is the totality of all innate archetypes.

According to Jung, personality is formed throughout life. The structure of personality is dominated by the unconscious, the main part of which is the "collective unconscious" - the totality of all innate archetypes. The free will of the individual is limited. Man's behavior is actually subordinated to his innate archetypes, or the collective unconscious. The inner world of a person, within the framework of this theory, is completely subjective. A person is capable of revealing his world only through his dreams and attitudes towards the symbols of culture and art. The true content of the personality is hidden from an outside observer.

The main elements of personality are the psychological properties of individual realized archetypes of a given person. These properties are also often referred to as character traits (Jung K., 1994). For example, the properties of the “persona” (mask) archetype are all our psychological characteristics, the roles that we put on display; the properties of the “shadow” archetype are our true psychological feelings that we hide from people; properties of the archetype "animus" (spirit) - to be courageous, firm, courageous; protect, guard, hunt, etc.; properties of the archetype "anima" (soul) - tenderness, softness, caring.

In the analytical model, there are three main conceptual blocks, or spheres, of personality:

1. The collective unconscious is the main structure of the personality, in which the entire cultural and historical experience of mankind is concentrated, represented in the human psyche in the form of inherited archetypes.

2. Individual unconscious - a set of "complexes", or emotionally charged thoughts and feelings, ousted from consciousness. An example of a complex is the “power complex”, when a person spends all his mental energy on activities directly or indirectly related to the desire for power, without realizing it.

3. Individual conscious - a structure that serves as the basis of self-consciousness and includes those thoughts, feelings, memories and sensations, thanks to which we are aware of ourselves, regulate our conscious activity.

The integrity of the personality is achieved through the action of the archetype "self". The main goal of this archetype is the "individuation" of a person, or an exit from the collective unconscious. This is achieved due to the fact that the "self" organizes, coordinates, integrates all the structures of the human psyche into a single whole and creates the uniqueness, originality of the life of each individual person. The self has two ways, two attitudes of such integration:

- extraversion - installation, which consists in filling innate archetypes with external information (object orientation);

- introversion - orientation to the inner world, to one's own experiences (to the subject).

Every person has both an extrovert and an introvert at the same time. However, their severity can be quite different.

In addition, Jung singled out four subtypes of information processing: mental, sensual, sensing and intuitive, the dominance of one of which gives originality to an extravertive or introverted attitude of a person. Thus, in Jung's typology, eight subtypes of personality can be distinguished.

As an example, here are the characteristics of two types of personality:

1. Extrovert-thinking - focused on studying the outside world, practical, interested in obtaining facts, logical, a good scientist.

2. Introvert-thinking - interested in understanding his own ideas, reasonable, struggling with philosophical problems, looking for the meaning of his own life, keeping his distance from people.

According to the analytical theory, a personality is a set of innate and realized archetypes, and the structure of a personality is defined as an individual peculiarity of the correlation of individual properties of archetypes, individual blocks of the unconscious and conscious, as well as extraverted or introverted attitudes of the personality.

The answer to the security question "Why are some people more aggressive than others?" can be theoretically formulated as follows: because they were born with the appropriate archetypes (warrior, criminal, etc.) and the social environment allowed them to "fill" these archetypes.

3) Humanistic theory Maslow formulated the law of the progressive development of motivation, according to which a person's motivation develops progressively: movement to a higher level occurs if the needs of the lower level are (mostly) satisfied. In other words, if a person is hungry and has no roof over his head, then it will be difficult for him to start a family, and even more so to respect himself or be creative.

The most important for a person are the needs for self-actualization. Self-actualization is not the final state of human perfection. No person becomes so self-actualized as to drop all motives. Each person always has talents for further development. A person who has reached the fifth level is called a "psychologically healthy person" (Maslow A., 1999).

According to humanists, there is no decisive age period, the personality is formed and develops throughout life. However, the early periods of life (childhood and adolescence) play a special role in the development of personality. The personality is dominated by rational processes, where the unconscious arises only temporarily, when for one reason or another the process of self-actualization is blocked. Humanists believe that a person has complete free will. A person is aware of himself, is aware of his actions, makes plans, seeks the meaning of life. Man is the creator of his own personality, the creator of his own happiness.

The inner world of a person, his thoughts, feelings and emotions for humanists is not a direct reflection of reality. Each person interprets reality in accordance with his subjective perception. The inner world of a person is fully accessible only to himself. Human actions are based on subjective perception and subjective experiences. Only subjective experience is the key to understanding the behavior of a particular person.

In the humanistic model of personality, the main conceptual "units" are:

1) "real I" - a set of thoughts, feelings and experiences "here and now" (Rogers K., 1994);

2) "Ideal Self" - a set of thoughts, feelings and experiences that a person would like to have in order to realize his personal potential.

3) needs for self-actualization - innate needs that determine the growth and development of the individual (Maslow A., 1997).

Although the "real self" and "ideal self" are rather vague concepts, nevertheless, there is a way to measure their congruence (coincidence). A high indicator of congruence indicates a relatively high harmony between the "real self" and the "ideal self" (high self-esteem). At low values of congruence (low self-esteem), there is a high level of anxiety, signs of depression.

At birth, both substructures of the "I" structure are completely congruent, and therefore a person is initially kind and happy. Subsequently, due to interaction with the environment, discrepancies between the "real self" and the "ideal self" can lead to a distorted perception of reality - subception, in the terminology of K. Rogers. With strong and prolonged discrepancies between the “real self” and the “ideal self”, psychological problems may arise.

Students with high self-esteem in case of failure (for example, failing an exam) try to establish contact with the teacher and retake the subject again. With repeated attempts, their performance only improves. Students with a low level of self-esteem refuse further attempts to retake the exam, exaggerate their difficulties, avoid situations where they could prove themselves, and often suffer from loneliness.

Five levels of human needs according to A. Maslow act as personality blocks in this theory.

The integrity of the personality is achieved when the congruence between the "real self" and the "ideal self" approaches one. Personal integrity is the basic quality of a "fully functioning person". The meaning of education and correction of personality is the development of a holistic personality.

A holistic personality, firstly, seeks to establish good psychological contact with his friends and relatives, to reveal to them his hidden emotions and secrets; secondly, she clearly knows who she really is (“real I”) and who she would like to be (“ideal I”); thirdly, it is maximally open to new experience and accepts life as it is "here and now"; fourthly, practices an unconditional positive attitude towards all people; fifthly, it trains in itself empathy for other people, that is, it tries to understand the inner world of another person and look at the other person through his eyes.

A holistic personality is characterized by:

1) effective perception of reality;

2) spontaneity, simplicity and naturalness of behavior;

3) focus on problem solving, on business;

4) constant "childishness" of perception;

5) frequent experiences of "peak" feelings, ecstasy;

6) sincere desire to help all mankind;

7) deep interpersonal relationships;

8) high moral standards.

Thus, within the framework of the humanistic approach, the personality is the inner world of the human "I" as a result of self-actualization, and the structure of the personality is the individual ratio of the "real I" and the "ideal I", as well as the individual level of development of needs for self-actualization.

To the control question "Why are some people more aggressive than others?" humanists answer as follows: because, due to certain circumstances, a temporary block arose on the path of their growth and development (a sharp divergence between the “real self” and the “ideal self”, getting stuck at the lower levels of needs), by removing which, they will be able to return to normal again (non-aggressive) behavior.

4) Cognitive theory Kelly discovered and described the main mechanisms of the functioning of personality constructs, and also formulated the fundamental postulate and 11 consequences. The postulate states that personal processes are psychologically channeled in such a way as to provide a person with the maximum prediction of events. All other corollaries refine this basic postulate.

From Kelly's point of view, each of us builds and tests hypotheses, in a word, solves the problem of whether a given person is athletic or unathletic, musical or non-musical, intelligent or non-intelligent, etc., using the appropriate constructs (classifiers). Each construct has a "dichotomy" (two poles): "sports - unsportsmanlike", "musical - non-musical", etc. A person arbitrarily chooses that pole of the dichotomous construct, the outcome that best describes the event, i.e. has the best predictive value. Some constructs are suitable for describing only a narrow range of events, while others have a wide range of applicability. For example, the “smart-stupid” construct is hardly suitable for describing the weather, but the “good-bad” construct is suitable for virtually all occasions.

People differ not only in the number of constructs, but also in their location. Those constructs that are actualized in consciousness faster are called superordinate, and those that are slower - subordinate. For example, if, upon meeting a person, you immediately evaluate him in terms of whether he is smart or stupid, and only then - good or evil, then your "smart-stupid" construct is superordinate, and the "kind- evil" - subordinate.

Friendship, love, and generally normal relationships between people are possible only when people have similar constructs. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine a situation where two people communicate successfully, one of whom is dominated by the “decent-dishonest” construct, while the other does not have such a construct at all.

The constructive system is not a static formation, but is in constant change under the influence of experience, that is, the personality is formed and develops throughout life. The personality is predominantly dominated by the “conscious”. The unconscious can only refer to distant (subordinate) constructs, which a person rarely uses when interpreting perceived events.

Kelly believed that the individual has limited free will. The constructive system that has developed in a person during his life contains certain limitations. However, he did not believe that human life is completely determined. In any situation, a person is able to construct alternative predictions. The outside world is neither evil nor good, but the way we construct it in our head. Ultimately, according to cognitivists, the fate of a person is in his hands. The inner world of a person is subjective and, according to cognitivists, is his own creation. Each person perceives and interprets external reality through their own inner world.

The main conceptual element is the personal "construct". Each person has his own system of personal constructs, which is divided into two levels (blocks):

1. The block of "nuclear" constructs is about 50 basic constructs that are at the top of the constructive system, i.e., in the constant focus of operational consciousness. People use these constructs most often when interacting with other people.

2. The block of peripheral constructs is all other constructs. The number of these constructs is purely individual and can vary from hundreds to several thousand.

The holistic properties of the personality act as a result of the joint functioning of both blocks, all constructs. There are two types of integral personality: a cognitively complex personality (a personality with a large number of constructs) and a cognitively simple personality (a personality with a small set of constructs).

A cognitively complex personality, in comparison with a cognitively simple one, has the following characteristics:

1) has better mental health;

2) cope better with stress;

3) has a higher level of self-esteem;

4) more adaptive to new situations.

There are special methods for evaluating personal constructs (their quality and quantity). The most famous of these is the "repertoire grid test" (Fransella F., Bannister D., 1987).

The subject compares triads simultaneously with each other (the list and sequence of triads are compiled in advance from people who play an important role in the past or present life of this subject) in order to identify such psychological characteristics that two of the compared three people have, but are absent from the third person.

For example, you have to compare the teacher you love with your wife (or husband) and yourself. Suppose you think that you and your teacher have a common psychological property - sociability, and your spouse (s) does not have such a quality. Therefore, in your constructive system there is such a construct - “sociability-non-sociability”. Thus, by comparing yourself and other people, you reveal the system of your own personal constructs.

According to cognitive theory, personality is a system of organized personal constructs in which a person's personal experience is processed (perceived and interpreted). The structure of personality within the framework of this approach is considered as an individually peculiar hierarchy of constructs.

To the control question "Why are some people more aggressive than others?" cognitivists answer this way: because aggressive people have a special construct system of personality. They perceive and interpret the world differently, in particular, they better remember events associated with aggressive behavior.

5) Behavioral theory It is important to emphasize that the problem of reinforcement for behaviorists is not limited to food. Representatives of this trend argue that a person has his own ecologically valid hierarchy of reinforcements. For a child, the most powerful, after food, reinforcement is an active reinforcement (watch TV, video), then - manipulative (play, draw), then - possessional (from the English.possession - own) reinforcement (sit on dad's chair, put on mom's skirt) and, finally, social reinforcement (praise, hug, encourage, etc.).

If within the framework of the reflex direction of behavioral theory the existence of certain personality blocks is actually denied, then the representatives of the social-scientific direction consider the allocation of such blocks to be quite possible.

In the behavioral model, there are three main conceptual blocks of personality. The main block is self-efficacy, which is a kind of cognitive construct "I can - I can't". A. Bandura defined this structure as belief, conviction or expectation of future reinforcement. This block determines the success of a certain behavior, or the success of acquiring new social skills. If a person makes a decision: “I can,” then he proceeds to perform a certain action, if a person makes a verdict: “I can’t,” then he refuses to perform this action or to master it. For example, if you decide that you cannot learn Chinese, then no force will make you do it. And if you decide that you can do it, then sooner or later you will learn it.

According to Bandura, there are four main conditions that determine the formation of a person's confidence in what he can and cannot do:

1) past experience (knowledge, skills); for example, if before I could, then now, apparently, I can;

2) self-instruction; for example, "I can do it!";

3) increased emotional mood (alcohol, music, love);

4) (the most important condition) observation, modeling, imitation of the behavior of other people (observation of real life, watching movies, reading books, etc.); for example, “If others can, then I can!”.

J. Rotter distinguishes two main internal personality blocks - subjective significance (a structure that evaluates the upcoming reinforcement) and availability (a structure associated with the expectation of receiving reinforcement based on past experience). These blocks do not function independently, but form a more general block called behavioral potential, or a block of cognitive motivation (Kjell A., Ziegler D., 1997).

The holistic properties of the personality are manifested in the unity of the action of blocks of subjective significance and accessibility. People who do not see a connection (or see a weak connection) between their behavior (their efforts, their actions) and their results (reinforcements), according to Rotter, have an external, or external "locus of control". "Externals" are people who do not control the situation and hope for a chance in their lives. People who see a clear connection between their behavior (their efforts, their actions) and the results of their behavior have an internal or internal "locus of control". "Internals" are people who manage the situation, control it, it is available to them.

Thus, within the framework of this approach, personality is a system of social skills and conditioned reflexes, on the one hand, and a system of internal factors: self-efficacy, subjective significance and accessibility, on the other. According to the behavioral theory of personality, personality structure is a complexly organized hierarchy of reflexes or social skills, in which the internal blocks of self-efficacy, subjective significance and accessibility play a leading role.

The answer to the security question "Why are some people more aggressive than others?" within the framework of this theory, it is formulated as follows: because in the process of upbringing these people were encouraged for aggressive behavior, their environment consisted of aggressive people, and aggressive behavior itself is subjectively significant and accessible to them.

6) Activity theory The fundamental difference between the activity theory and the behavioral theory is that the means of learning here is not a reflex, but a special mechanism of internalization, due to which the assimilation of socio-historical experience takes place. The main characteristics of activity are objectivity and subjectivity. The specificity of objectivity lies in the fact that the objects of the external world do not affect the subject directly, but only being transformed in the process of the activity itself.

Objectivity is a characteristic that is inherent only in human activity and manifests itself primarily in the concepts of language, social roles, and values. Unlike A. N. Leontiev, S. L. Rubinshtein and his followers emphasize that the activity of the individual (and the individual itself) is understood not as a special kind of mental activity, but as a real, objectively observable practical (and not symbolic), creative, independent activity of a particular person (Abulkhanova-Slavskaya K. A., 1980; Brushlinsky A. V., 1994).

Subjectivity means that a person himself is the bearer of his activity, his own source of transformation of the external world, reality. Subjectivity is expressed in intentions, needs, motives, attitudes, relationships, goals that determine the direction and selectivity of activity, in a personal sense, i.e., the significance of activity for the person himself.

In the activity approach, the most popular is the four-component model of personality, which includes orientation, abilities, character and self-control as the main structural blocks.

Orientation - this is a system of stable preferences and motives (interests, ideals, attitudes) of the individual, which sets the main trends in the behavior of the individual. A person with a pronounced focus has diligence, purposefulness.

Abilities are individual psychological properties that ensure the success of an activity. Allocate general and special (musical, mathematical, etc.) abilities. Abilities are interconnected. One of the abilities is leading, while others play a supporting role. People differ not only in the level of general abilities, but also in the combination of special abilities. For example, a good musician can be a bad mathematician, and vice versa.

Character - a set of moral and volitional properties of a person. Moral properties include sensitivity or callousness in relation to people, responsibility in relation to public duties, modesty. Moral properties reflect the individual's ideas about the basic normative actions of a person, enshrined in habits, customs and traditions. Volitional qualities include determination, perseverance, courage and self-control, which provide a certain style of behavior and a way of solving practical problems. Based on the severity of the moral and volitional properties of a person, the following types of character are distinguished: moral-volitional, immoral-volitional, moral-abulic (aboulia - lack of will), immoral-abulic.

A person with a moral-volitional character is socially active, constantly observes social norms and makes strong-willed efforts to comply with them. They say about such a person that he is decisive, persistent, courageous, honest. A person with an immoral-volitional character does not recognize social norms and directs all his volitional efforts to satisfy his own goals. People with a morally abulic character recognize the usefulness and importance of social norms, however, being weak-willed, often, unwillingly, due to circumstances, commit anti-social acts. People with an immoral-abulic type of character are indifferent to social norms and do not make any effort to comply with them.

self control - this is a set of properties of self-regulation associated with the awareness of the personality of itself. This block is built on top of all other blocks and exercises control over them: strengthening or weakening of activity, correction of actions and deeds, anticipation and planning of activity, etc. (Kovalev A. G., 1965).

All personality blocks act interconnectedly and form systemic, integral properties. Among them, the main place belongs to the existential-existential properties of the personality. These properties are associated with a holistic view of the individual about himself (self-attitude), about his "I", about the meaning of being, about responsibility, about destiny in this world. Holistic properties make a person reasonable, purposeful. A person with pronounced existential properties is spiritually rich, whole and wise.

Thus, within the framework of the activity approach, a person is a conscious subject who occupies a certain position in society and performs a socially useful public role. The structure of a personality is a complexly organized hierarchy of individual properties, blocks (orientation, abilities, character, self-control) and systemic existential integral properties of a personality.

To the control question "Why are some people more aggressive than others?" followers of this theory could answer as follows: because these people in the process of their activities (educational, labor, etc.) in a certain social environment formed purposefully conscious intentions to cause physical or mental harm to other people, and the self-control mechanisms turned out to be not developed.

7) Dispositional theory Among the "rigid" structural models, the most famous is the personality model built by G. Eysenck, who identified personal properties with the properties of temperament. His model presents three fundamental properties or dimensions of personality: introversion-extraversion, neuroticism (emotional instability) - emotional stability, psychotism.neuroticism - these are personality traits associated with high irritability and excitability. Neurotics (persons with high values of neuroticism) easily panic, excitable, restless, while emotionally stable people are balanced, calm.psychoticism combines personality traits that reflect indifference, indifference to other people, rejection of social standards.

Representatives of the "soft" direction, in particular G. Allport, distinguish three types of features:

1. The cardinal feature is inherent in only one person and does not allow comparisons of this person with other people. The cardinal trait permeates a person so much that almost all of his actions can be deduced from this trait. Few people have cardinal traits. For example, Mother Teresa had such a trait - she was merciful, compassionate towards other people.

2. Common features are common to most people within a given culture. Punctuality, sociability, conscientiousness, etc. are usually named among common features. According to Allport, a person has no more than ten such traits.

3. Secondary traits are less stable than general ones. These are preferences in food, clothing, etc.

Allport's followers, using various mathematical techniques, in particular factor analysis, tried to identify the number of common features in a person. The question of the correspondence of traits identified on the basis of clinical data and traits obtained on the norm using factor analysis is the subject of special scientific research (Melnikov V.M., Yampolsky L.T., 1985).

Representatives of the formal-dynamic direction as the main element of the personality distinguish four main formal-dynamic properties of the personality:

1) ergicity - the level of mental stress, endurance;

2) plasticity - ease of switching from one program of behavior to another;

3) speed - individual pace of behavior;

4) emotional threshold - sensitivity to feedback, to the discrepancy between real and planned behavior.

Each of these properties can be distinguished in three areas of human behavior: psychomotor, intellectual and communicative. Each person has a total of 12 formal dynamic properties.

To these four main properties, the so-called content properties of the personality are added (Rusalov V. M., 1979), which, within the framework of this direction, do not have their own specifics and coincide with the properties identified within the framework of the activity approach (knowledge, skills, skills, character , meanings, attitudes, goals, etc.)

The main block of personality within the framework of the dispositional approach is temperament. As mentioned above, some authors, such as G. Eysenck, even identify temperament with personality. Certain ratios of temperament properties make up the types of temperament.

Eysenck gives the following characteristics of temperament types:

Choleric is an emotionally unstable extrovert. Irritable, restless, aggressive, excitable, changeable, impulsive, optimistic, active.

Melancholic is an emotionally unstable introvert. Changeable in mood, rigid, sober, pessimistic, silent, non-contact, calm.

Sanguine is an emotionally stable extrovert. Carefree, lively, easy-going, talkative, sociable.

Phlegmatic is an emotionally stable introvert. Serene, balanced, reliable, self-governing, peaceful, thoughtful, caring, passive.

However, there are other points of view, according to which temperament is not a component of personality. For example, V. S. Merlin believed that temperament is a special independent psychodynamic level in the structure of integral individuality, which differs significantly from personality. Temperament covers only those characteristics of mental properties that represent a certain dynamic system (Merlin V.S., 1986). G. Allport also did not include temperament in the personality structure. He argued that temperament is not the primary material from which personality is built, but at the same time he pointed out the importance of temperament, which, being a genetically hereditary structure, affects the development of personality traits.

The formal dynamic properties of a personality are temperament in the narrow, true sense of the word, since they are generalized innate properties of the functional systems of human behavior (Rusalov V.M., 1999).

According to V.D. Nebylitsyn, from a formal dynamic point of view, temperament consists of two interrelated substructures: activity and emotionality (Nebylitsyn V.D., 1990). Certain ratios of activity and emotionality form formal-dynamic types of temperament. Activity is a measure of energy-dynamic tension in the process of human interaction with the environment, which includes ergicity, plasticity and speed of human behavior. Emotionality is a characteristic of a person in terms of sensitivity (reactivity, vulnerability) to failures.

It should be noted that within the framework of the dispositional approach, in fact, such an important personal formation as character is absent as an independent one. This concept is often identified with the general concept of personality, especially in the clinic, or with the concept of character, adopted in the activity approach, which reduces it to the moral-volitional sphere of a person. According to G. Allport, character is a social assessment of the personality, and not an independent structure within the personality.

The integrity of human behavior is characterized through proprium. A person with a developed proprium is called a mature personality. A mature personality has the following properties:

1) has wide boundaries of "I", can look at himself from the outside;

2) capable of warm, cordial, friendly relations;

3) has a positive self-image, is able to tolerate phenomena that irritate her, as well as her own shortcomings;

4) adequately perceives reality, has qualifications and knowledge in his field of activity, has a specific goal of activity;

5) is capable of self-knowledge, has a clear idea of his own strengths and weaknesses;

6) has an integral philosophy of life.

Thus, within the framework of the dispositional approach, a personality is a complex system of formal-dynamic properties (temperament), traits, and socially determined proprium properties. The personality structure is an organized hierarchy of individual biologically determined properties that are included in certain ratios and form certain types of temperament and traits, as well as a set of content properties that make up a person's proprium.

Personality theory in psychology

Mammadov Tariel Mammad oglu,

Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor, Head. Department of Pedagogy and Psychology, Sumgayit State University, Azerbaijan.

1. Personality theory

Personality is, first of all, a contemporary of a certain era, and this determines many of its socio-psychological properties. In one epoch or another, the individual occupies a certain position in the class structure of society. The belonging of a person to a certain class constitutes another basic definition of it, with which the position of the person in society is directly connected. From this also follows the economic state and type of activity, the political state and type of activity as a subject of socio-political activity (as a member of an organization); legal structure and structure of the rights and obligations of an individual as a citizen, moral behavior and consciousness (the structure of spiritual values). To this it should be added that a personality is always determined by the characteristics of its movement as a peer of a certain generation, by the family structure and its position in this structure (as father or mother, son and daughter, etc.). A very significant characteristic of a person as a person is his nationality, and in the conditions of racial discrimination in capitalist society - and belonging to a particular race (privileged or oppressed), although the race itself is not a social entity, but is a phenomenon of the historical nature of man.

Personality theory is a set of hypotheses, or proposals about the nature and mechanisms of personality development. Personality theory attempts not only to explain but also to predict human behavior. The main questions that personality theory must answer are as follows:

1. What is the nature of the main sources of personality development - congenital or acquired?

2. What age period is most important for the formation of personality?

3. What processes are dominant in the structure of personality - conscious (rational) or unconscious (irrational)?

4. Does a person have free will, and to what extent does a person exercise control over his behavior?

5. Is the personal (inner) world of a person subjective, or is the inner world objective and can be revealed using objective methods?

2. Psychodynamic theory of personality

Different opinions are expressed in the psychological literature regarding the level of integration that characterizes the structure of the personality. In his well-known concept of the psychology of relations, V.N. Myasishchev characterizes the unity of the individual orientation, level of development, personality structure and dynamics of neuropsychic reactivity(temperament). From this point of view, the structure of the personality is only one of the definitions of its unity and integrity, that is, a more particular characteristic of the personality, the integration features of which are associated with motivation, attitudes and tendencies of the personality.

According to V.N. Myasishchev, “issues of structure are ... correlations of meaningful trends, they, being realized in various types of activities related to the conditions of life of the corresponding historical moment, follow from the main relations, that is, aspirations, requirements, principles and needs ... the structure is more clearly detected in the relative determinant the role of individual needs. Even more characteristic is the integral correlation of the main tendencies of the personality, which allows us to talk about harmony, wholeness, unity or duality, splitting, lack of unity of the personality.

The founder of the psychodynamic theory of personality, also known as "classical psychoanalysis", is the Austrian scientist Z. Freud.

Freud argued that the individual does not have any free will. Human behavior is completely determined by his sexual and aggressive motives, which he called id (it). As for the inner world, it is subjective. A person is a prisoner of his own inner world, the true content of the motive is hidden behind the "facade" of behavior. And only slips of the tongue, slips of the tongue, dreams, as well as special methods can give more or less accurate information about a person's personality.

Z. Freud identifies three main conceptual blocks, or instances of personality:

1) id("it") - the main structure of the personality, consisting of a set of unconscious (sexual and aggressive) urges; the id functions according to the pleasure principle;

2) ego("I") - a set of cognitive and executive functions of the psyche, predominantly realized by a person, representing, in a broad sense, all our knowledge about the real world; the ego is a structure that is designed to serve the id, functions in accordance with the reality principle and regulates the process of interaction between the id and the superego and acts as an arena for the ongoing struggle between them;

3) superego("super-I") - a structure containing social norms, attitudes, moral values of the society in which a person lives. (Druzhinin)

3. Analytic theory of personality

Jung considered innate psychological factors to be the main source of personality development. A person inherits from his parents ready-made primary ideas - “archetypes”. Some archetypes are universal, such as the ideas of God, good and evil, and are inherent in all peoples. But there are archetypes culturally and individually specific. Jung suggested that archetypes are reflected in dreams, fantasies and are often found in the form of symbols used in art, literature, architecture and religion (Jung K., 1994). The meaning of each person's life is to fill innate archetypes with concrete content.

The main elements of personality are the psychological properties of individual realized archetypes of a given person. These properties are also often referred to as character traits. For example, the properties of the “persona” (mask) archetype are all our psychological characteristics, the roles that we put on display; the properties of the “shadow” archetype are our true psychological feelings that we hide from people; properties of the archetype "animus" (spirit) - to be courageous, firm, courageous; protect, guard, hunt, etc.; properties of the archetype "anima" (soul) - tenderness, softness, caring.

In the analytical model, there are three main conceptual blocks, or areas of personality:

2. Individual unconscious - a collection of "complexes", or emotionally charged thoughts and feelings, ousted from consciousness. An example of a complex is the “power complex”, when a person spends all his mental energy on activities directly or indirectly related to the desire for power, without realizing it.

The integrity of the personality is achieved through the action of the archetype "self". The main goal of this archetype is the “individuation” of a person, or an exit from the collective unconscious. This is achieved due to the fact that the "self" organizes, coordinates, integrates all the structures of the human psyche into a single whole and creates the uniqueness, originality of the life of each individual person. The self has two ways, two attitudes of such integration:

– extraversion - installation, which consists in filling innate archetypes with external information (object orientation);

– introversion – orientation to the inner world, to one's own experiences (to the subject).

Every person has both an extrovert and an introvert at the same time. However, their severity can be quite different.

In addition, Jung singled out four subtypes of information processing: mental, sensual, sensing and intuitive, the dominance of one of which gives a peculiarity to the extravertive or introvertive attitude of a person. Thus, in Jung's typology, eight subtypes of personality can be distinguished.

As an example, here are the characteristics of two types of personality:

1. Extrovert-thinking - focused on the study of the external world, practical, interested in obtaining facts, logical, good scientist.

2. Introvert-thinking - interested in understanding his own ideas, reasonable, struggling with philosophical problems, looking for the meaning of his own life, keeping his distance from people.

4. Humanistic theory of personality

Similar phenomena, which can be called deformation personality, usually arise only in connection with the termination of professional labor activity in a particular area of social life, production and culture. In other words, such a deformation is a consequence of a radical change in the way of life and activity, the status and roles of a person in society, the most important of which are production, creation material and spiritual values. The sudden blocking of all the potentials of a person's ability to work and certainty with the cessation of many years of work cannot but cause profound restructuring in the structure of a person as subject of activity, and therefore personality.

Representatives of humanistic psychology consider innate tendencies towards self-actualization to be the main source of personality development. Personal development is the unfolding of these innate tendencies. According to K. Rogers, there are two innate tendencies in the human psyche. The first one, which he called the “self-actualizing trend”, initially contains in a folded form the future properties of a person’s personality. The second - "organism tracking process" - is a mechanism for monitoring the development of personality. On the basis of these tendencies, a special personality structure arises in a person in the process of development. "I", which includes the "ideal me" and the "real me". these substructures of the "I" structure are in complex relationships - from complete harmony (congruence) to complete disharmony.

The goal of life, according to K. Rogers, is to realize all one's innate potential, to be a "fully functioning person", i.e. a person who uses all his abilities and talents, realizes his potential and moves towards the full knowledge of himself, his experiences, following his true nature.

A. Maslow singled out two types of needs that underlie the development of a personality: “deficient”, which cease after their satisfaction, and “growth”, which, on the contrary, only increase after their implementation. In total, according to Maslow, there are five levels of motivation:

1) physiological (needs for food, sleep);

2) security needs (need for an apartment, job);

3) needs for belonging, reflecting the needs of one person in another person, for example, in creating a family;

4) the level of self-esteem (the need for self-respect, competence, dignity);

5) the need for self-actualization (metaneeds for creativity, beauty, integrity, etc.).

In the humanistic model of personality, the main conceptual "units" are:

1) "real I" - a set of thoughts, feelings and experiences "here and now";

2) "Ideal Self" - a set of thoughts, feelings and experiences that a person would like to have in order to realize his personal potential;

3) needs for self-actualization - innate needs that determine the growth and development of the individual.

While the "real self" and "ideal self" (about high self-esteem). At low values of congruence (low self-esteem), there is a high level of anxiety, signs of depression.

A holistic personality is characterized by:

1) effective perception of reality;

2) spontaneity, prostate and natural behavior;

3) problem solving orientation;

4) constant "childishness" of perception;

5) frequent experiences of "peak" feelings, ecstasy;

6) sincere desire to help all mankind;

7) deep interpersonal relationships;

8) high moral standards.

Thus, within the framework of the humanistic approach, the personality is the inner world of the human "I" as a result of self-actualization, and the personality structure is the individual ratio of the "real I" and the "ideal I", as well as the individual level of development of needs for self-actualization.

5. Cognitive personality theory

The cognitive theory of personality is close to the humanistic one, but it has a number of significant differences. The founder of this approach is the American psychologist J. Kelly (1905-1967). In his opinion, the only thing a person wants to know in life is what happened to him and what will happen to him in the future.

The main source of personality development, according to Kelly, is the environment, the social environment. The cognitive theory of personality emphasizes the influence of intellectual processes on human behavior. In this theory, any person is compared with a scientist who tests hypotheses about the nature of things and makes a forecast of future events.

The main conceptual element is the personal "construct". Each person has his own system of personal constructs, which is divided into two levels (blocks):

1. The block of "nuclear" constructs is approximately 50 main constructs that are at the top of the constructive system, i.e. in the constant focus of operational consciousness. People use these constructs most often when interacting with other people.

2. The block of peripheral constructs is all other constructs. The number of these constructs is purely individual and can vary from hundreds to several thousand.

A cognitively complex personality, in comparison with a cognitively simple one, has the following characteristics:

1) has better mental health;

2) deal with stress better;

3) has a higher level of self-esteem:

4) more adaptable to new situations.

6. Behavioral personality theory

In the psychological process, personality changes are caused by functional disorganization of brain activity. Being a manifestation and consequence of brain disease, they themselves depend on the individual. The more severe the morbid composition and the morbid process, the more the person's personality changes.

Not dependent on the individual in external conditions, i.e. considered an endogenous disease cyclophrenia, or manic-depressive psychosis, which has long been referred to as functional psychosis. The connection of cyclophrenia with a special type of physique, with changes in metabolism, and, consequently, with altered diencephalic dynamics of brain activity, is undeniable. (Ananiev)

The behavioral theory of personality also has another name - "scientific", since the main thesis of this theory is that our personality is a product of learning.

There are two directions in the behavioral theory of personality - reflex and social. The reflex direction is represented by the works of well-known American behaviorists J. Watson and B. Skinner. The founders of the social trend are American researchers A. Banudra and J. Rotter.

The main source of personality development, according to both directions, is the environment in the broadest sense of the word. There is nothing in the personality of genetic or psychological inheritance. Personality is a product of learning, and its properties are generalized behavioral reflexes of social skills.

In the behavioral model, there are three main conceptual blocks of personality. The main block is self-efficacy, which is a kind of cognitive construct "I can - I can't." A. Bandura defined this structure as a belief, conviction or expectation of receiving future reinforcements. This block determines the success of a certain behavior, or the success of acquiring new social skills. If a person makes a decision: “I can,” then he proceeds to perform a certain action, if a person makes a verdict: “I can’t,” then he refuses to perform this action or to master it. For example, if you decide that you cannot learn Chinese, then no force will make you do it. And if you decide that you can do it, then sooner or later you will learn it.

According to Bandura, there are four main conditions that determine the formation of a person's confidence in what he can and cannot do:

1) past experience (knowledge, skills), for example, if I could before, then now, apparently, I can;

2) self-instruction; e.g. "I can do it";

3) increased emotional mood (alcohol, music, love);

7. Activity theory of personality

In the activity approach, the most popular is the four-component model of personality, which includes orientation, abilities, character and self-control as the main structural blocks.

Orientation - it is a system of stable preferences and motives (interests, ideals, attitudes) of the individual, which sets the main trends in the behavior of the individual. A person with a pronounced focus has diligence, purposefulness.

Character -a set of moral and volitional properties of a person. Moral properties include sensitivity or callousness in relation to people, responsibility in relation to public duties, modesty. Moral properties reflect the individual's ideas about the basic normative actions of a person, enshrined in habits, customs and traditions. Volitional qualities include determination, perseverance, courage and self-control, which provide a certain style of behavior and a way of solving practical problems. Based on the severity of the moral and volitional properties of a person, the following types of character are distinguished: moral-volitional, immoral-volitional, moral-abulic (aboulia - lack of will), immoral-abulic.

A person with a moral-volitional character is socially active, constantly observes social norms and makes strong-willed efforts to comply with them. They say about such a person that he is decisive, persistent, courageous, honest. A person with a moral-volitional character does not recognize social norms, and directs all his volitional efforts to satisfy his own goals. People with a morally abulic character recognize the usefulness and importance of social norms, however, being weak-willed, often, unwillingly, due to circumstances, commit anti-social acts. People with a moral-abulic type of character are indifferent to social norms and do not make any effort to comply with them.

Self-control -this is a set of properties of self-regulation associated with the awareness of the personality of itself. This block is built on top of all other blocks and exercises control over them: strengthening or weakening of activity, correction of actions and deeds, anticipation and planning of activity, etc.

Thus, within the framework of the activity approach, a person is a conscious subject, occupying a certain position in society and performing a socially useful public role. The structure of a personality is a complexly organized hierarchy of individual properties, blocks (orientation, abilities, character, self-control) and systemic existential integral properties of a personality.

8. Dispositional personality theory

Empirical data related to the studies of A. Maslow's "self-actualization of the personality" are interesting. the author selected among the people he knew well those who could be called "optimally functioning personalities", and singled out their common psychological properties. The main ones are the following:

1) an objective perception of reality, expressed in a clear separation of knowledge from ignorance, in the ability to distinguish specific facts from opinions about these facts, essential phenomena from appearances;

2) acceptance of oneself, others, the world as they are;

3) non-egocentricity, orientation to solving external problems, centering on the object;

4) the ability to endure loneliness and the need for isolation;

5) creative abilities;

6) the naturalness of behavior, but also the lack of desire to violate conventions simply from the spirit of contradiction;

7) a friendly attitude towards any person with a good character, regardless of his education, status and other formal characteristics;

8) the ability to deep attachment, often to a few people, in the absence of constant unconditional hostility to anyone;

9) moral certainty, a clear distinction between good and evil, consistency in moral consciousness and behavior;

10) relative independence from the physical and social environment;

11) awareness of the difference between the goal and the means, the ability not to lose sight of the goal, but at the same time emotionally perceive the means in itself;

12) large-scale mental content and activity (“These people are raised above trifles, have a wide horizon, a long-term perspective. They are guided by broad and universal values”).

The main source of personality development, according to this approach, is the factors of gene-environment interaction, with some areas emphasizing mainly influences from genetics, others from the environment.

Representatives of the "soft" direction, in particular G. Alloport, distinguish three types of features:

2. Common features are common to most people within a given culture. Punctuality, sociability, conscientiousness, etc. are usually named among the common features. According to Alloport, a person has no more than ten such traits.

3. Secondary traits are less stable than general ones. These are preferences in food, clothing, etc.

Alloport's followers, using various mathematical techniques, in particular factor analysis, tried to identify the number of common features in a person. The question of the correspondence between traits identified on the basis of clinical data and traits obtained in the norm using factor analysis is the subject of special scientific research.

Representatives of the formal-dynamic direction as the main element of the personality distinguish four main formal-dynamic properties of the personality:

1) ergicity - the level of mental stress, endurance;

2) plasticity - the ease of switching from one program of behavior to another;

3) speed - individual pace of behavior;

4) emotional threshold - sensitivity to feedback, to the discrepancy between real and planned behavior.

The integrity of human behavior is characterized through proprium. A person with a developed proprium is called a mature personality. A mature personality has the following properties:

1) has wide boundaries of "I", can look at himself from the outside;

2) capable of warm, cordial, friendly relations;

3) has a positive self-image, is able to tolerate phenomena that irritate her, as well as her own shortcomings;

4) adequately perceives reality, has qualifications and knowledge in his field of activity, has a specific goal of activity;

5) is capable of self-knowledge, has a clear idea of his own strengths and weaknesses;

6) has an integral philosophy of life.

Thus, within the framework of the dispositional approach, a personality is a complex system of formal-dynamic properties (temperament), traits, and socially determined proprium properties. Personality structure is an organized hierarchy of individual biologically determined properties that are included in certain relationships and form certain types of temperament and traits, as well as a set of content properties that make up a person's proprium.

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The variety of personality theories that emerged in Western psychological science during the 20th century also determines many views on the definition of the concept of "personality", its functioning and structure. L. Hjell and D. Ziegler, in their well-known monograph, distinguish at least nine directions in the theory of personality. This is a psychodynamic (3. Freud) and a version of this direction revised by A. Adler and C. Jung, dispositional (G. Allport, R. Cattell), behaviorist (B. Skinner), social-cognitive (A. Bandura), cognitive ( J. Kelly), humanistic (A. Maslow), phenomenological (K. Rogers) and ego psychology, represented by the names of E. Erickson, E. Fromm and K. Horney.

As noted by L. Kjell and D. Ziegler, the cornerstones of personality theory are rooted in the basic ideas of its author about human nature.

The purpose of this work is to consider the basic principles and provisions of some psychological theories of personality. This goal is achieved by solving the following tasks:

1. Describe the personality theories of the classics of Russian psychological science (A.F. Lazursky, S. L. Rubinshtein, A.N. Leontiev, A.V. Petrovsky);

2. To characterize the concept of "personality" according to the main foreign theoretical approaches (psychodynamic direction, humanistic direction, cognitive direction, and structural theory of personality traits).

Chapter 1 Domestic concepts of personality theory

Based on literature data, it can be stated that today in Russian psychology there is a widespread view of a person as an individual, personality and subject of activity, but there is no more or less generally accepted concept of personality. Let us consider successively the concepts of personality of some authors.

1.1 A. F. Lazursky’s concept of personality

The significance of this concept is that for the first time a position was put forward on the relationship of the personality, which is the core of the personality. Its special significance is also in the fact that the idea of personality relations has become the starting point for many domestic psychologists, primarily representatives of the Leningrad-Petersburg school of psychologists.

The views of A. F. Lazursky on the nature and structure of personality were formed under the direct influence of the ideas of V. M. Bekhterev at the time when he worked under his leadership at the Psychoneurological Institute.

According to A.F. Lazursky, the main task of the personality is adaptation (adaptation) to the environment, which is understood in the broadest sense (nature, things, people, human relationships, ideas, aesthetic, moral, religious values, etc.) . The measure (degree) of activity of a person's adaptation to the environment can be different, which is reflected in three mental levels - lower, middle and higher. In fact, these levels reflect the process of human mental development.

Personality in the view of A.F. Lazursky is the unity of two psychological mechanisms [ibid.]. On the one hand, this endopsychics- the internal mechanism of the human psyche. Endopsychic reveals itself in such basic mental functions as attention, memory, imagination and thinking, the ability to volitional effort, emotionality, impulsivity, i.e., in temperament, mental endowment, and finally, character. According to A.F. Lazurny, endofeatures are mostly congenital.

Another essential aspect of personality is exopsychic, the content of which is determined by the attitude of the individual to external objects, the environment. Exopsychic manifestations always reflect the external conditions surrounding a person. Both of these parts are interconnected and influence each other. For example, a developed imagination, which also determines the ability for creative activity, high sensitivity and excitability - all this suggests art. The same applies to the exocomplex of traits, when the external conditions of life, as it were, dictate the corresponding behavior.

The process of personality adaptation can be more or less successful. A.F. Lazursky, in connection with this principle, distinguishes three mental levels.

The lowest level characterizes the maximum influence of the external environment on the human psyche. The environment, as it were, subordinates such a person to itself, regardless of his endo-features. Hence the contradiction between human capabilities and acquired professional skills. The middle level implies a greater opportunity to adapt to the environment, to find one's place in it. More conscious, with greater efficiency and initiative, people choose activities that correspond to their inclinations and inclinations. At the highest level of mental development, the process of adaptation is complicated by the fact that significant tension, the intensity of mental life, forces not only to adapt to the environment, but also gives rise to a desire to remake, modify it, in accordance with one's own desires and needs. In other words, here we can rather meet with the creative process.

So, the lowest level gives people who are insufficiently or poorly adapted, the middle one - adapted, and the highest one - adaptable.

At the highest level of the mental level, due to spiritual wealth, consciousness, coordination of emotional experiences, the exopsyche reaches its highest development, and the endopsyche constitutes its natural basis. Therefore, the division goes according to exopsychic categories, more precisely, according to the most important universal ideals and their characterological varieties. The most important among them, according to A.F. Lazursky, are: altruism, knowledge, beauty, religion, society, external activity, system, power.

1.2 Views of S. L. Rubinshtein on the structure of personality

The first thing that S. L. Rubinshtein specifically draws attention to, starting to characterize the personality, is the dependence of mental processes on personality. According to the author, this principle is expressed, firstly, in individual differential differences between people. Different people, depending on their individual, i.e., personal characteristics, have different types of perception, memory, attention, styles of mental activity.

Secondly, the personal dependence of mental processes is expressed in the fact that the very course of development of mental processes depends on the overall development of the individual. The change of life epochs through which each person passes and his development takes place, leads not only to a change in life attitudes, interests, value orientations, but also leads to a change in feelings, strong-willed life. Personal changes in the course of its development lead to changes in mental processes (cognitive, affective, volitional).

Thirdly, the dependence of mental processes on the personality is expressed in the fact that these processes themselves do not remain independently developing processes, but turn into consciously regulated operations, i.e., mental processes become mental functions of the personality. Thus, attention in its specifically human form turns out to be arbitrary, and thinking is a set of operations consciously directed by a person to solve problems. Based on this context, the whole of human psychology is the psychology of personality.

The next important position for the psychological concept of personality is that any external influence acts on the individual through internal conditions that he has already formed earlier, also under the influence of external influences. Expanding this position, S. L. Rubinshtein notes: “the “higher” we rise, from inorganic nature to organic, from living organisms to man, the more complex the internal nature of phenomena becomes and the greater the proportion of internal conditions in relation to to the outside." It is this methodological position, derived by S. L. Rubinshtein, that makes the well-known formula understandable: “one is not born a person - one becomes one”. The mental properties of a person are not an initial given; they are formed and developed in the course of activity.

So, for understanding the psychology of personality, from the point of view of S. L. Rubinshtein, the following provisions become important:

1) the mental properties of a person in her behavior, in the actions and deeds that she performs, are simultaneously manifested and formed,

2) the mental make-up of a person in all the diversity of its properties is determined by real life, a way of life and is formed in a specific activity;

3) the process of studying the mental make-up of a person involves the solution of three questions:

What does a person want, what is attractive to him, what does he aspire to? It is a question of direction, attitudes and tendencies, needs, interests and ideals;

What can a person do? This is a question about the abilities, about the gifts of a person, about his giftedness,

· What a person is, what of his tendencies and attitudes has entered into her flesh and blood and has been fixed as the core features of the personality. This is a question of character.

Having singled out these aspects of the mental image of the personality, S. L. Rubinshtein emphasized that they are interconnected and interdependent, that in specific activity they are woven into a single whole. The orientation of the personality, its attitudes, giving rise to certain actions in homogeneous situations, then pass into character and are fixed in it in the form of properties. The presence of interests in a certain area of activity stimulates the development of abilities in this direction, and the presence of abilities, causing successful work, stimulates interest in it.

Ability and character are also closely related. The presence of abilities gives rise to a person's self-confidence, firmness and determination, or, on the contrary, conceit or carelessness. Equally, character traits determine the development of abilities, since abilities develop through their implementation, and this, in turn, depends on character traits - purposefulness, perseverance, etc. Thus, in real life, all aspects, aspects of the mental make-up of a person, turning into each other, form an inseparable unity.

1.3 A.N. Leontief

By the end of the 1970s, in addition to focusing on a structural approach to the problem of personality, the concept of a systematic approach began to develop. In this regard, the ideas of A. N. Leontiev are of particular interest.

According to A.V. Averin, Leontiev's concept of personality is characterized by a high level of abstractness. For all its difference from others, there is a common premise with them. Its essence is that, according to A. N. Leontiev, “the personality of a person is “produced” - created by social relations” [cit. by 5]. Thus, it is obvious that the basis of ideas about the personality of domestic psychologists is the Marxist postulate about it as a set of social relations.

Let us briefly characterize the features of Leontiev's understanding of personality. Personality, in his opinion, is a psychological formation of a special type, generated by a person's life in society. The subordination of various activities creates the basis of personality, the formation of which occurs in the process of social development (ontogenesis).

Leontiev did not refer to the concept of "personality" the genotypic conditioned features of a person - physical constitution, type of nervous system, temperament, biological needs, efficiency, natural inclinations, as well as acquired knowledge, skills and abilities, including professional ones. The categories listed above, in his opinion, constitute the individual properties of a person. The concept of "individual", according to Leontiev, reflects, firstly, the integrity and indivisibility of a particular person as a separate individual of a given biological species and, secondly, the features of a particular representative of the species that distinguish him from other representatives of this species. Why did Leontiev divide these characteristics into two groups: individual and personal? In his opinion, individual properties, including genotypically determined ones, can change in many ways in the course of a person's life. But from this they do not become personal, because a person is not an individual enriched by previous experience. The properties of the individual do not pass into the properties of the personality. Even transformed, they still remain individual properties, not defining the emerging personality, but only constituting the prerequisites and conditions for its formation.

The development of personality appears before us as a process of interactions of many activities that enter into hierarchical relations with each other. Personality acts as a set of hierarchical relations of activities. Their peculiarity consists, in the words of A. N. Leontiev, in “connectedness” from the states of the organism. “These hierarchies of activities are generated by their own development, they form the core of the personality,” the author notes. But the question arises about the psychological characterization of this hierarchy of activities.

For the psychological interpretation of the "hierarchies of activities" A. N. Leontiev uses the concepts of "need", "motive", "emotion", "meaning" and "meaning". Note that the very content of the activity approach changes the traditional relationship between these concepts and the meaning of some of them. The place of mere motive is occupied by the so-called motive-goal, a concept introduced by A. N. Leontiev as a structural element of the future framework of the personality.

So, there are incentive motives, i.e., motivating, sometimes highly emotional, but devoid of a sense-forming function, and sense-forming motives or motives-goals, which also stimulate activity, but at the same time give it a personal meaning. The hierarchy of these motives constitute the motivational sphere of the personality, which is central in the structure of the personality of A. N. Leontiev, since the hierarchy of activities is carried out through an adequate hierarchy of meaning-forming motives. In his opinion, “the structure of personality is a relatively stable configuration of “main, hierarchized within itself, motivational lines. The internal relations of the main motivational lines ... form, as it were, a general "psychological" profile of the personality.

All this allows A. N. Leontiev to single out three main parameters of personality:

o the breadth of a person's connections with the world (through his activities);

o the degree of hierarchization of these connections, transformed into a hierarchy of meaning-forming motives (motive-goals);

o the general structure of these connections, more precisely motives-goals.

According to A.N. Leontiev, the process of becoming a personality is the process of “becoming a coherent system of personal meanings”.

1.4 The concept of personality A.V. Petrovsky

The approach formulated by Leontiev to understanding the problem of personality found its further development in the works of domestic psychologists - representatives of the Moscow school, including A. V. Petrovsky. In the textbook "General Psychology", prepared under his editorship, the following definition of personality is given: " Personality in psychology, a systemic social quality is denoted, acquired by an individual in objective activity and communication and characterizing the level and quality of representation of social relations in an individual.

A.V. Petrovsky in his developments proceeds from the fact that the concepts of "individual" and "personality" are not identical. Personality is a special quality that is acquired by an individual in society in the process of entering into public relations by nature. To understand the foundations on which certain personality traits are formed, it is necessary to consider the life of a person in society. The inclusion of an individual in the system of social relations determines the content and nature of the activities performed by him, the range and methods of communication with other people, i.e., the features of his social life, lifestyle. But the way of life of individual individuals, certain communities of people, as well as society as a whole, is determined by the historically developing system of social relations. And this means that a person can be understood or studied only in the context of specific social conditions, a specific historical era. Moreover, it should be noted that for an individual, society is not just an external environment. The personality is constantly included in the system of social relations, which is mediated by many factors.

Petrovsky believes that the personality of a particular person can continue in other people, and with the death of an individual, it does not completely die. And in the words "he lives in us even after death" there is neither mysticism nor pure metaphor, it is a statement of the fact of the ideal representation of the individual after his material disappearance.

Considering further the point of view of representatives of the Moscow psychological school on the problem of personality, it should be noted that in most cases, the concept of personality includes certain properties that belong to the individual, and they also mean those properties that determine the originality of the individual, his individuality. However, the concepts of "individual", "personality" and "individuality" are not identical in content - each of them reveals a specific aspect of the individual being of a person. Personality can only be understood in a system of stable interpersonal relationships mediated by the content, values, and meaning of the joint activity of each of the participants. These interpersonal connections are real, but supersensible in nature. They are manifested in specific individual properties and actions of people who are part of the team, but are not reduced to them.

Just as the concepts of "individual" and "personality" are not identical, personality and individuality, in turn, form a unity, but not an identity.

If personality traits are not represented in the system of interpersonal relations, they turn out to be insignificant for assessing the personality and do not receive conditions for development, just as only individual traits that are most "drawn" into the leading activity for a given social community act as personal traits. Therefore, according to representatives of the Moscow psychological school, individuality is only one of the aspects of a person's personality.

Thus, two main points can be traced in the position of representatives of the Moscow psychological school. First, the personality and its characteristics are compared with the level of social manifestation of the qualities and properties of a person. Secondly, the personality is considered as a social product, not connected in any way with biological determinants, and, therefore, it can be concluded that the social influences the mental development of the individual to a greater extent.

Chapter 2 Foreign psychological theories of personality

The views of foreign psychologists on personality are characterized by even greater diversity than those of domestic ones. L. Hjell and D. Ziegler, in their well-known monograph, distinguish at least nine directions in personality theory. The fundamental dissimilarity of these concepts is also noted [ibid]. In this paper, we will consider four of them.

2.1 Psychoanalytic theory of S. Freud

Freud's psychoanalytic theory is an example of a psychodynamic approach to the study of human behavior. With this approach, it is believed that unconscious psychological conflicts control human behavior.

Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, based his psychoanalytic concepts almost entirely on his extensive clinical observations of neurotic patients and also on psychoanalysis.

Freud singled out three levels of consciousness - consciousness, preconscious and unconscious - in order to describe the degree of accessibility of mental processes of awareness. The most significant psychic events take place in the unconscious (which is instinctive in nature and separated from reality).

In Freud's theory human personality includes three structural components: id, ego and superego. The id, which is the instinctive core of the personality, is primitive, impulsive and subject to the pleasure principle. The id uses reflex reactions and primary representations in order to obtain immediate satisfaction of instinctive urges. The ego is the rational part of the personality and is governed by the reality principle. Its task is to develop for the individual an appropriate plan of action in order to meet the requirements of the id within the limits of the social world and the consciousness of the individual. The ego solves this problem with the help of secondary processes of representation. The superego, which is formed last in the process of personality development, represents its moral side. The superego consists of two structures - conscience and the ego-ideal.

Theory of motivation Freud is based on the concept of instinct, defined as an innate state of arousal that seeks release. In the theory of psychoanalysis, two categories of instinct are distinguished: the instinct of life (Eros) and the instinct of death (Thanatos). The instinct has four main parameters: source, target, object and stimulus.

Freud's explanation of the stages psychosexual development is based on the premise that sexuality is given from birth and develops further, covering a number of biologically defined erogenous zones, until reaching maturity. In Freud's view, personality development passes through the following four stages: oral, anal, phallic and genital. The latent period is not a stage of psychosexual development. Freud assumed that in the process of psychosexual development, unresolved conflicts lead to the fixation and formation of certain types of character. Thus, adults with fixation in the anal-retention stage become inflexible, dull, and irresistibly tidy.

Freud identified three types of anxiety: realistic, neurotic, and moral. He believed that anxiety plays the role of a signal warning the ego of imminent danger emanating from instinctive impulses. In response, the ego uses a number of defense mechanisms, including repression, projection, substitution, rationalization, reaction formation, regression, sublimation, and denial.

Attempts have been made to establish the validity of some of the concepts of psychoanalysis. The most characteristic studies have focused on the experimental evaluation of repression and subthreshold psychodynamic activation of unconscious conflict, as well as their influence on pathological behavior. These studies have provided empirical support for certain key psychoanalytic hypotheses. However, the results of each study should be treated with caution and criticality.

2.2 Personality in humanistic theory

Under the influence of existential philosophy, humanistic psychology puts forward the interpretation of the individual as a whole, the inconsistency of animal studies, the perception of man as a being of a positive and creative nature as its main principles, and focuses on the study of mental health.

As a mainstream in humanistic psychology, Abraham Maslow's theory describes human motivation in terms of a hierarchy of needs.

The lower (more basic) needs in the hierarchy must be intelligently satisfied before the high-level needs become the dominant force in human behavior. Here is Maslow's hierarchy of needs in order of their dominance or necessity: 1) physiological; 2) security and protection; 3) belonging and love; 4) self-respect; 5) self-actualization.

The humanistic nature of Maslow's theory of personality is especially clearly manifested in the concept of self-actualization, the desire for the highest realization of one's potential.

Maslow also distinguished two broad categories of human motives: deficit motives and growth motives. Scarcity motives aim to reduce stress, while growth motivation (also called metamotivation) aims to increase stress by seeking out new and exciting experiences. Maslow listed several meta-needs (eg, truth, beauty, and justice) with which he described self-actualizing people, and theorized that these needs are biologically built into people in the same way as scarce needs. The dissatisfaction of metaneeds causes metapathologies. Apathy, cynicism, and alienation are some of the many metapathological symptoms seen in people who have failed to meet their metaneeds.

K. Rogers, being a representative of humanistic psychology, argues that a person in the process of development has a special personal structure of the “I”, which includes the “ideal I” and the “real I”. These substructures of the "I" structure are in complex relationships - from complete harmony (congruence) to complete disharmony.

"Real Self" - a set of thoughts, feelings and experiences "here and now"; "Ideal Self" - a set of thoughts, feelings and experiences that a person would like to have in order to realize his personal potential.

Thus, within the humanistic approach, personality- this is the inner world of the human "I" as a result of self-actualization, and the structure of the personality is the individual ratio of the "real I" and the "ideal I", as well as the individual level of development of needs for self-actualization.

2.3 Cognitive personality theory

The founder of this approach is the American psychologist J. Kelly. The main conceptual element is the personal "construct". Each person has his own system of personal constructs, which is divided into two levels (blocks):

2. The block of peripheral constructs is all other constructs. The number of these constructs is purely individual and can vary from hundreds to several thousand.

A cognitively complex personality, in comparison with a cognitively simple one, has the following characteristics:

1) has better mental health;

2) cope better with stress;

3) has a higher level of self-esteem;

4 is adaptive to new situations.

2.4 Dispositional direction in personality theory

The dispositional direction suggests that people have certain stable internal qualities that persist over time and in different situations. In addition, it is emphasized that individuals differ from each other in their characterological features. Gordon Allport, who was the first to put forward the theory of personality traits, considered the main task of psychology to explain the uniqueness of the individual. He considered personality as a dynamic organization of those internal mental processes that determine its characteristic behavior and thinking.

Allport considered the trait to be the most significant unit of analysis for understanding and

the study of personality. In his system, a personality trait is defined as a predisposition to respond in similar ways to different kinds of stimuli.

According to R. Cattell, personality is what allows us to predict a person's behavior in a given situation.

His main organizing concept of personality lies in the descriptions of the various types of traits he has identified. According to R. Cattell's theory, personality traits are relatively constant tendencies to react in a certain way in different situations and at different times.

The spectrum of action of these tendencies is extremely wide. In other words, traits are hypothetical mental structures found in behavior that cause a predisposition to act in the same way in different circumstances and over time. Personality traits reflect stable and predictable psychological characteristics and are by far the most important in Cattell's concept.

Consider the principles proposed by Cattell for classifying traits (Kettel also uses the term factors) [ibid.].

Surface features are base features. A surface feature is a set of behavioral characteristics that, when observed, appear in an inseparable unity. Source traits, in contrast, are the foundational structures that Cattell believes form the building blocks of the very building of personality. These are some combined values or factors that ultimately determine the constancy that is observed in human behavior.

Constitutional features-features shaped by the environment. According to Cattell, the original traits can be divided into two subtypes - depending on their source. Constitutional traits develop from the biological and physiological data of the individual. Cattell could argue that such behavior is a consequence of changes in human physiology and thus reflects constitutional original traits.

Traits shaped by the environment, on the other hand, are conditioned by influences in the social and physical environment. These traits reflect the characteristics and behaviors learned through the learning process and form the pattern imprinted on the individual by their environment.

Ability, temperament and dynamic traits. The original features, in turn, can be classified in terms of the modality through which they are expressed. Abilities determine a person's skill and effectiveness in achieving a desired goal. Temperament traits refer to other emotional and stylistic qualities of behavior. Cattell considers temperament traits as constitutional initial traits that determine a person's emotionality. Finally, dynamic traits reflect the motivational elements of human behavior.

Cattell is convinced that it makes sense to classify traits into common and unique. A common trait is one that is present to varying degrees in all members of the same culture. Conversely, unique traits are traits that only a few, or even one person, have. Almost all of Cattell's research is devoted to common features, but his recognition of unique features makes it possible to emphasize the importance of the unique individuality of people. He also believes that the organization of common features in a person is always unique in itself. However, we should not exaggerate the significance of Cattell's recognition of the uniqueness of the combination of traits in each individual person. In fact, he was much more interested in general principles of behavior than in the personality of a particular individual.

Conclusion

Summarizing the above, we note the following main points.

Each of the definitions of personality available in the scientific literature is supported by experimental studies and theoretical justifications. In domestic psychology, the structural approach to the problem of personality is replaced by the concept of a systematic approach; this happened towards the end of the 1970s.

Investigating the formation and development of personality, domestic psychology proceeds from the fact that personality is a social quality of an individual, in which a person appears as a member of human society. Outside of society, this quality of the individual does not exist, and therefore outside the analysis of the relationship "individual-society" it cannot be understood. The objective basis of the personality properties of an individual is the system of social relations in which he lives and develops.

The ideas about the personality of the authors we have considered indicate the dissimilarity of these concepts. At the same time, it should be recognized that the generalized idea of personality from the standpoint of different authors is much more convex and multifaceted than in the original concept of the "external social image". Nevertheless, the analysis of these concepts allows us to identify common points of contact. These include the following provisions.

In most definitions, a person appears as a kind of hypothetical structure or organization. Human behavior is organized and integrated at the level of the individual. Most definitions emphasize the importance of individual differences between people. In most definitions, it is the personality that is “responsible” for the stability of behavior. It is she who provides a person with a sense of continuity in time and the environment.

A comparison of the generalized views of domestic and foreign psychologists reveals a certain similarity between them in relation to personality.

Thus, the purpose of this work is achieved, and the tasks are completed.

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"Basic Psychological Theories of Personality"

1. Psychodynamic theories of personality

The historical roots of psychodynamic theories of personality go back to Freud's psychoanalysis. Describing the topography of the psyche, Freud singled out three levels - consciousness, preconsciousness and the unconscious, and the unconscious occupied the largest place both in his theory and in scientific research. Perception, thinking, memory, intention, imagination, etc. belong to the conscious side of the psyche. The contents of the preconscious can be easily translated into a conscious form, just as a person is immediately aware of his name, as soon as he is asked about it. The unconscious is made up of instinctual urges, ulterior motives, and conflicts that can become the source of neurotic thoughts and actions. Freud singled out two main innate drives: "eros", i.e. life-oriented instinct, and "thanatos" - the destructive instinct of the desire for death and physical aggression. Any attraction has a motive force; "goal", i.e. desire for immediate gratification; "object" through which satisfaction is achieved; and "source", i.e. the organ with which it is associated, such as the genitals in the case of the sexual instinct. If the instincts are not naturally satisfied, they are suppressed, sublimated or directed against the self. For example, if the aggressive instinct is not discharged, its pressure can turn on the "I" and cause suicide.

Freud singled out three parts in the personality structure: "Id", "Ego" and "Super-Ego". Instincts act directly on the level of "Id" ("It"). The impulses of "It" are entirely unconscious in nature and are influenced by the "pleasure principle". “Ego” (“I”), as the forming principle of personality, belongs to the sphere of action of the “reality principle”. "I" has the ability to distinguish between fantasy and objective reality, while "It" is able to satisfy its urges (for example, sexual) in dreams or fantasies, one of the functions of which is the "imaginary fulfillment of desires." The ideals and moral principles of the individual are rooted in the "Super-Ego" ("Super-I"). "Libido", the basic life force, serves as an energetic factor for all three components in the structure of the personality, however, in accordance with the principle of "psychic economy", the strengthening of one of the parts of the personality depletes the other two. The conflict between the three components can lead to mental disorders if the strong "I", the core of the personality, is not able to keep its components in a state of harmonic balance.

2. Humanistic theories of personality

The efforts of E. Fromm, a psychoanalyst and social philosopher, were aimed at humanizing psychoanalysis. From his point of view, even if all the physiological needs of a person are satisfied, mental health depends on the satisfaction of certain specifically human needs. For a man to remain a man, the Freudian instincts must be sublimated. From the animal nature of man proper human nature must develop. In this process of humanization, the civilizing elements of culture and social interaction, also carried out thanks to culture, are of decisive importance.

Two other representatives of the so-called. The cultural school of psychoanalysis, Horney and Sullivan, emphasized the socio-cultural determinants of personality. Sullivan, for example, called his approach the "interpersonal" theory of psychiatry, thereby turning psychiatry into a branch of social psychology. Defining personality as "a relatively stable pattern of repetitive interpersonal relationships," Sullivan sought cultural causes of mental disorders.

The trend of a social approach to the explanation of personality can be traced in a movement that has been called the "third force in psychology". Psychologists such as R. May, K. Rogers, E. Maslow, V. Frankl and G. Allport emphasized the need to consider a person as an integral being, constituting a healthy, harmonious, normal personality. Using a "holistic dynamic approach", Maslow proposed a theory of personality self-actualization, according to which the maturity of the human individual comes in the process of realizing his personal potential. Neurosis arises as a consequence of failed personal growth. Maslow identified two levels of motivation based on two classes of needs: lower (deficit) and higher (associated with personal growth). He distinguished four types of deficit needs (in ascending order): 1) physiological needs, or survival needs (food, sex, sleep, etc.), 2) the need for security, 3) the need for love and belonging (the need for friends and acquaintances), 4) the need for recognition (self-respect). Among the needs associated with personal growth, the following are identified: 1) the need for self-actualization (disclosure of personal potential), 2) the desire to know and understand (cognitive impulse), 3) aesthetic need (the desire for beauty and harmony). The needs associated with personal growth, being the main motivating factor of proper human behavior, cannot, however, be realized before scarce needs. Satisfying the latter, we relieve psychological stress and restore our balance (homeostasis), but the stress that arises from the need for personal growth most likely enhances the feeling of fullness of life. Thus, personal growth, or self-actualization, is a criterion of mental health. This is in line with Rogers' concept of the "fully functioning person" and Frankl's concept of "realization of the meaning of life".

3. Personality traits

The personality theories of G. Allport and R. Cattell attached great importance to the concept of "personality trait". (Allport's concept of "trait" corresponds to Cattell's concept of "factor".) Each person has some set of "common traits." Specific individuals can be characterized by one fundamental feature. In addition, each person has a set of more diffuse and less conspicuous secondary features. Not only every personality is unique, but also its motivational factors are unique. The development of the "I" is carried out through the passage of eight stages: 1) bodily "I", 2) self-identification, 3) self-esteem, 4) expansion of the "I", 5) image of the "I", 6) "I", intelligently coping with internal contradictions , 7) "I", asserting and developing itself, 8) "I" knowing. On the basis of such initial material as temperament, physical properties and intelligence, the personality is in a never-ending process of development and in this respect is "one in diversity." Allport formally defined personality as "the dynamic organization inherent in the individual of those psychophysical systems of the body that determine the specifics of his behavior and thinking."

4. Constitutional typologies of personality

Jung divided people into introverts and extroverts, in other words, into closed (prone to introspection) and sociable (non-reflexive). The concepts introduced by Jung stimulated interest in personality typology. Some researchers have compared body features with certain personality types. E. Kretschmer, a specialist in pathopsychology, correlated “aesthetic” corporality (a long, thin body) with a “schizoid” personality (prone to schizophrenia), and “picnic” corporality (full body) with a “cyclothymic” personality (prone to manic-depressive psychosis). Kretschmer's classification formed the basis of W. Sheldon's constitutional psychology (see above in the Motivation section).

5. Behavioral theories of personality

According to Skinner, human behavior is driven by the environment, not internal forces. Each individual is under the control of random circumstances that reinforce his behavioral responses. At the same time, Skinner is an optimist, because he is sure that a person is able to properly organize the environment that controls him; consequently, a person can create and remake his own nature and does it constantly, although not directly, but indirectly - through the environment - by way.

A. Bandura proposed a different theory of social learning. The main provisions of this theory are as follows. People directly control their own destiny. The effect of reinforcement on them depends on internal regulation. Such internal factors as self-awareness, purposefulness and self-reinforcement allow a person to regulate, anticipate and direct external influences. As in the norm, in cases of mental pathology, behavior is formed as a result of learning, and therefore “abnormal behavior” and “bad habits” are essentially the same thing. By using behavior modification techniques combined with self-awareness and self-regulation exercises, it is possible to replace “bad” habits with “good” ones and abnormal behavior with normal ones.

6. Erickson's epigenetic theory

From the standpoint of Erickson, the Ego is the basis of human behavior and functioning and is an autonomous personality structure, the main direction of development of which can be called social adaptation. The ego interacts with reality through perception, thinking, attention and memory, contributing to the growth of human competence. Ego development is inevitably linked to the socio-cultural context and covers the entire life space from birth to death.

A person in the process of life goes through eight stages, universal for all mankind, eight ages. epigenetic the concept of development (Greek “after birth”) is based on the idea that each stage of the life cycle occurs at a specific time for it (“critical period”), as well as that a fully functioning personality is formed only by passing in its development successively all stages.

Personality theories are a series of psychological definitions, hypotheses aimed at its structuring. Adhering to a number of answers to basic psychological questions about a person, behavioral models are developed and studied in order to predetermine his further actions.

Theories of personality in psychology

These theories are concerned with the study of the general elements of an individual's behavior. They are based on questions with the help of which domestic and foreign representatives of psychology and sociology compose new theories or improve old ones. The questions themselves are as follows:

The mechanism of personal development is congenital or acquired;
The most important age period of its formation;
The dominant processes of the personality structure are conscious or unconscious;
The presence of free will, a person's control over his behavior;
The inner world of a person is an objective or subjective concept.

Basic Concepts

Personality is a social individual, a set of relationships, activities and behavior that characterizes a person.

Note! Personality theories in psychology are a set of hypotheses, definitions, with the help of which the mechanisms of personal development are studied. Their main task is to explain human behavior, as well as to learn how to predetermine it.

Structural elements of personality theory in psychology

Id (It). An innate element that occurs when a child is born. At the same time, the baby seeks to get something from which he will feel good here and now, no matter what. For example, loud crying until the need (to eat, communicate) is filled;
Ego (I). Formed during the first 3 years of life. The child is aware that his behavior has a response. For example, before doing something forbidden, the Ego begins to remind about possible negative consequences;
Super-ego (Super-I). Has a form by the age of 5. This personality element is based on the principles and ideals received from parents and the environment. It is considered the equivalent of conscience due to the ability to evaluate "good" and "bad".

Classification of theories

Psychologists formulate personality theories based on the questions described above. To date, there is a fairly stable classification of theories that reveals different aspects of the personality, its behavior in society.

Man as an individual

A brief description of the concept of individuality says that this is a kind of personal form of a person that has unique features that distinguish him from other representatives of society. These include such personal elements as temperament, interests, intelligence, needs and skills of a person. In addition to individuality, these personality traits determine the place and role of a person in social society, as well as his desire for social mobility.

Theories that study classes of people

Sociology is the study of classes of people. Its separate branch is noted - social stratification, which divides people into "layers", uniting social statuses according to some isolated criteria. People were divided into classes for a very long time, everything began with estates based on the origin of a person, family status, etc. After the industrial period, the concept of social mobility arose, that is, the ability to “move” between classes, from now on it began to depend only on individual.

Basic theories of personality

Personal hypotheses must be studied and developed in order to know the person himself, the sequence of his reactions to stimuli.

Psychodynamic theory

The beginning of the psychodynamic hypothesis was laid by Z. Freud, stating that a person is deprived of will and is guided by aggressive, sexual and protective motives. Domestic psychologist V. N. Myasishchev characterized the organizational personal growth of an individual through a combination of such qualities as temperament, orientation, level of development, integrity, motivation, etc.

Analytic theory

K. Jung made a great contribution to the analytical personality hypothesis, so it is in many ways similar to the psychodynamic one. Personality he called the totality of archetypes - congenital and acquired. Jung gave a definition of personality structure to the individual originality of various elements of conscious and unconscious behavior, reinforced by a tendency to introversion or extraversion.

Humanistic personality theory

The humanistic hypothesis, where K. Rogers showed himself, is based on the fact that a person tends to have innate tendencies towards self-actualization, which are initially hidden. Rogers also identified a second (tracking) personality mechanism. Together they form an integral personal structure of the “I”, “ideal I” and “real I” in an individual. These elements can be in complete harmony or, on the contrary, the strongest disharmony.

cognitive theory

The founder of cognitive theory, J. Kelly, suggested that a person lives with one desire - to know about everything that happened to him, and what will happen in the future. Kelly also determined that the social environment is important to a person, since cognitive theory enhances the intellectual influence on other people, which is comparable to scientists involved in hypotheses and forecasting.

behavioral theory

Behavioral, it is also a "scientific" theory, says that a person's personality is a product of learning, a structure consisting of conditioned reflexes, social skills that play a leading role here.

Concepts of personality are a widely discussed subject, despite the fact that there are many definitions of them. Psychology attaches importance to differences in human behavior, they are expressed through temperament, behavior, specific interests.

The main theories of personality briefly. Personality theory in psychology

Literature

1.2 Views of S. L. Rubinshtein on the structure of personality

Chapter 2 Foreign psychological theories of personality

2.4 Dispositional direction in personality theory

Theories of personality in psychology

Basic Concepts

Structural elements of personality theory in psychology

Classification of theories

Man as an individual

Theories that study classes of people

Basic theories of personality

Psychodynamic theory

Analytic theory

Humanistic personality theory

cognitive theory

behavioral theory

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