An element of the personality structure is experience. Personality and its psychological structure. The dispositional direction of Gordon Allport

Personality structure is a set of unchanging and stable properties that are manifested by individuals in a wide variety of situations. In psychology, it is customary to divide properties into three classes: character traits, abilities, and motives. In each structure, shortcomings of temperament appear, which are compensated by the main advantages of the character of each personality. A person is a person who has acquired a certain set of social qualities. in number personal qualities psychological, which characterize the character of the individual, as well as his attitude towards people, cannot in any way fall.

Modern psychology characterizes personality as a socio-psychological entity formed as a result of life in society. Accordingly, before birth, each individual lacks personal qualities. Each person is individual, because he has a number of personal properties that are present only in him.

The formation of personality is a direct process of human socialization, aimed at mastering the social essence by him, manifested only in certain circumstances of the life of each person. Two stand out in particular various structures personality - social and psychological. Let's consider each of them in more detail.

Psychological personality structure.

Psychological personality structure includes temperament, volitional qualities, abilities, character, emotions, social attitudes, motivation. Psychology characterizes personality as follows:

Intelligence is limited.
Discretion, steadfastness, restraint - susceptibility to influence, vanity.
Softness - callousness, cynicism.
Friendliness, flexibility, complaisance - rigidity, vindictiveness, tyranny.
Realism is autism.
Integrity, decency - dishonesty, dishonesty.
Confidence is uncertainty.
Tact is tactlessness.
Happiness is sadness.
Sociability - unsociability.
Independence is conformity.
A variety of interests is a narrowness of interests.
Seriousness is windiness.
Aggressiveness is kindness.
Optimism is pessimism.
Generosity is stinginess.
Self-confidence is insecurity.
The maturity of the mind is inconsistency, illogicality.
Calmness (self-control) - neuroticism (nervousness).
Kindness, unobtrusiveness, tolerance - self-will, selfishness.
Kindness, gentleness - malice, callousness.
Willpower is willlessness.
Consistency, discipline of the mind - inconsistency, dispersion.
Adulthood is infantilism.
Openness (contact) - isolation (solitude).
Fascination is disappointment.
Activity - passivity.
Expressiveness - restraint.
Sensitivity - coldness.
Honesty is deceit.
Cheerfulness is cheerfulness.
Courage is cowardice.
Independence is dependence.

A self-actualizing personality is characterized by the ability to perfectly orient itself in reality and actively perceive it; immediacy and spontaneity in actions and expression of one's own feelings and thoughts; acceptance of oneself and others in their true face; development of abilities, etc.

Social personality structure.

Conducting research on social personality structure, had to face a number of theoretical obstacles that prevented the construction of the concept of personality. The main element here is the personality, considered as a social quality. sociological personality structure consists of subjective and objective
properties of the individual, which are manifested and function in the process of his life. It can be both interaction with others, and independent activity. In sociology, it is extremely important to determine the moment of transition and transformation taking place in the structure of personality.

Scientists have long sought to find in the content behind the concept of "personality" the main aspects of analysis, some components, "blocks", the orientation to which would help in the knowledge of a particular person. Of course, these aspects can only be abstractions that roughen reality, but without such roughenings of knowledge there is no cognition. This is the problem of personality structure. In fact, we have already touched on it when we talked about the personality structure proposed by Z. Freud. It can be assumed that a hint at the structure of personality is contained in the question we have just considered about the relationship between the concepts of "individual", "personality", "individuality".

AT domestic psychology there are some special solutions to this problem, which we will partially present here.

S. L. Rubinshtein determined the study of “ mental appearance» personality with three questions:

What does a person want, what is attractive to him, what does he aspire to? It is a question of his orientation, his attitudes and tendencies, needs, interests and ideals.
What can a person do? This is a question about his abilities, talents.
What is a person? This is the question of “what of his tendencies and attitudes entered his flesh and blood and was fixed as the core personality traits. It's a question about a person's character."

Can this scheme help in thinking about a particular person? Of course. Non-constructive ways of self-affirmation of a certain person, which significantly complicate his life, can arise from an internal conflict between his aspiration to great things. life goals(orientation) and the lack of habit to work on the development of their respective abilities. And the very absence of this habit can be legitimately attributed to character.

In the context of concretizing the correlation of social and biological factors in the development of a personality, one can turn to the solution to the problem of personality structure proposed by K. K. Platonov. There are four substructures of personality.

The substructure of the personality orientation, which includes the worldview, beliefs, interests, desires, drives. In the forms of orientation, both attitudes and moral qualities of the individual are manifested.
The substructure of experience, which manifests itself in knowledge, skills, abilities. It can also be called a substructure of readiness. It is through this substructure individual development personality accumulates the historical experience of mankind.
Individual features of individual mental processes or mental functions. Here we can point out the fact that some people think quickly, but perhaps somewhat superficially, others think slowly, but they are more striving to comprehend the essence of phenomena. Similar features are found in other mental processes.
Biologically determined substructure. It includes properties related to gender, age, type nervous system, organic changes.

When moving from the fourth substructure to the first, the value of the biological conditionality of personality properties decreases and the value of their social certainty increases. It is important that biologically determined properties are included in the personality structure. This fact is not consistent with the above statement by A. N. Leontiev about personality as a “special quality” of purely social origin. In his opinion, a person "reckons" with innate properties and uses them in organizing his activity. As for the structure of the personality, it is “a relatively stable configuration of the main hierarchized motivational lines within itself,” which is produced from the hierarchy of the corresponding activities that make up the basis of the personality.

Against the background of these judgments, we present another solution to the question of the structure of personality. AT this case there are three hierarchical levels in the functioning of the personality: “Firstly, this is the core of the personality, which is a set of motivational structures that set the direction of the “movement” of the personality ... Secondly, this is the periphery of the personality, which determines the specific way of implementing the motivational core. The periphery of personality is personal meanings, traits, systems of constructs, social roles in which the subject is included, his personal history. At this level of discussion, it is possible to carry out a personality typology. Thirdly, this is the level of individual prerequisites for the existence of a person, which, in essence, are impersonal. Individual prerequisites (for example: gender, age, structure and properties of the nervous system, the nature of neurohumoral regulation, etc.) in themselves are not informative in relation to the individual, but determine the characteristics of the individual's interaction with the world and with himself. It turns out that the motivational sphere is the core of the personality, but the structure of the personality is not exhausted by it.

Consider another interesting solution to the problem of personality structure, which has practical significance. Three components of this structure are distinguished by A.V. Petrovsky.

First - intraindividual(or intra-individual) substructure. This is the organization of the personality of a person, represented by the structure of temperament, character, abilities.
At the same time, a person cannot be considered as something located only in the closed space of the individual's body. It reveals itself in the sphere of interindividual relations, in the space of interpersonal interactions. Hence the second substructure of personality - interindividual.
Third substructure - meta-individual(or superindividual). In this case, the focus is on the “contributions” that a person makes by his activity to other people. Thus, the personality is not only taken out of the organic body of the individual, not only moved beyond the limits of his cash, "here and now" existing links with other people, but also continues itself in other people. This ideal representation of the personality in other people due to the "contributions" made to them is called personalization. Apparently, such "contributions" to a large extent determine the scale of the individual.

Thus, we have considered a number of solutions to the question of the structure of personality. They differ significantly from each other due to the extreme complexity of the object of knowledge, as well as the versatility of approaches to it by researchers. However, together they help to comprehend the content that stands behind the concept of "personality".

In most of the most diverse psychological definitions, a person appears as a "set", "sum", "system", "organization", etc., i.e. as a certain unity of certain elements, as a certain structure. Both in foreign psychology of various directions, and in domestic psychology, we can meet many specific developments of personality structures (3. Freud, K.G. Jung, G. Allport, K.K. Platonov, B.C. Merlin, etc.). At the same time, understanding the problem of personality structure from general theoretical positions and the subsequent consideration of the most important points in the construction of one's own concept is not very common. Examples of such developments are personality structures created by K.K. Platonov, G. Eysenck.

Platonov, having analyzed the philosophical and psychological understanding of the structure, defines it as the interaction of a real-life mental phenomenon, taken as a whole (in particular, personality), and its substructures, elements and their comprehensive connections. To describe the structure of personality, according to Platonov, it is necessary to establish what is taken as a whole, to delimit and define it. Then it is necessary to find out what constitutes the elements of this integrity, understanding by them the parts that are indecomposable within the framework of the given system and relatively autonomous of it. Moreover, it is necessary to take into account the fullest possible number of these elements. At the next stage, the most significant and general connections between the elements, between each of them and integrity should be revealed. Further, the necessary and sufficient number of substructures is revealed, which will fit all the elements of the analyzed integrity. Substructures and elements are classified. Next, it is important to explore the genetic hierarchy of component levels.

The result of such a structural analysis was the dynamic, functional structure of the personality of K.K. Platonov. It consists of four adjacent substructures:

substructure of orientation and personality relations;
knowledge, skills, abilities, habits, i.e. an experience;
individual features of individual mental processes;
typological, age, gender personality traits, i.e. biopsychic.

Platonov also identifies substructures of character and abilities as superimposed on four main substructures.

The ideas of S.L. Rubinstein and V.N. Myasishchev, although specific structures were created by their followers.

A.G. Kovalev distinguishes the following components of the personality structure: orientation (a system of needs, interests, ideals), abilities (an ensemble of intellectual, volitional and emotional properties), character (synthesis of relationships and behaviors), temperament (a system of natural properties). B.C. Merlin created the theory of integral individuality, he describes two groups individual features. The first group - "properties of the individual" - includes two substructures: temperament and individual qualitative features of mental processes. The second group - "personality properties" - has three substructures:

motives and attitudes;
character;
capabilities.

All substructures of the personality are interconnected due to the mediating link - activity.

B.G. Ananiev used a broader category of "man", which includes the whole range of private categories, such as an individual, a person, an individuality, a subject of activity. They were offered general structure person. Each of the elements of this structure has its own substructure. So, in the structure of a person as an individual, there are two levels, and it includes age-sex properties, individual-typical (constitutional, neurodynamic features, etc.), psycho-physiological functions, organic needs, inclinations, temperament. Personality itself is organized no less complicated: status, roles, value orientations - this is the primary class of personal properties; behavior motivation, structure public behavior, consciousness, etc. - secondary personal properties.

AT foreign concepts Personality also pays a lot of attention to the problem of structure. One of the most famous is the personality structure of 3. Freud. In the concept of K.G. Jung, in which the personality, like Freud, appears as a system, the following important substructures are distinguished: Ego, personal unconscious and its complexes, collective unconscious and its archetypes, persona, anima, animus and shadow. As part of depth psychology G. Murray, W. Reich and others also addressed the problem of personality structure.

A large group of foreign researchers considers traits as structural units of personality. G. Allport was one of the first to work in this direction. His theory of personality is called "theory of traits". Allport distinguishes the following types of traits: personality traits (or general traits) and personal dispositions (individual traits). Both are neuropsychic structures that transform a multitude of stimuli and cause a multitude of equivalent responses. But personality traits include any characteristics inherent in a certain number of people within a given culture, and personal dispositions - such characteristics of an individual that do not allow comparison with other people, make a person unique. Special attention Allport focused on the study of personal dispositions. They, in turn, are divided into three types: cardinal, central and secondary. The cardinal disposition is the most general, it determines almost all human actions. According to Allport, this disposition is relatively uncommon, and not seen in many people. The central dispositions are the bright characteristics of the personality, its building blocks, and they can be easily detected by others. The number of central dispositions on the basis of which a person can be accurately recognized is small - from five to ten. The secondary disposition is more limited in manifestation, less stable, less generalized. All personality traits are in certain relationships, but relatively independent of each other. Personality traits exist in reality, and are not just a theoretical invention, they are a driving (motivating) element of behavior. According to Allport, personality traits are united into a single whole by a specific construct, the so-called proprium.

A trait is also a basic category in R. Cattell's theory of personality. In his opinion, in order to gain knowledge about a person, three main sources can be used: registration data of real life facts (L-data), self-assessment data when

filling out questionnaires (Q-data) and data from objective tests (OT-data). Cattell and his collaborators have been conducting large-scale surveys of several age groups in different countries. These data were subjected to factor analysis in order to identify underlying factors that determine or control variations in surface variables. The results of this survey was the consideration of personality as a complex and differentiated structure of traits. A trait is a hypothetical mental structure that is found in behavior and causes a predisposition to act in the same way in different circumstances and over time. Traits can be classified in several ways. Central is the distinction between surface features and baseline features. A superficial trait is a series of behavioral characteristics of a person accompanying each other (in medicine this is called a syndrome). They do not have a single basis and are inconsistent. More important are the original features. These are some combined values or factors. It is they that determine the constancy of human behavior and are the "blocks of the personality building." There are 16 baseline traits, according to the results of Cattell's factor analysis. To measure them, the questionnaire "16 Personality Factors" (16 PF) is used. These factors are: responsiveness - aloofness, intelligence, emotional stability- instability, dominance - subordination, prudence - carelessness, etc.

The initial traits can, in turn, be divided into two types depending on their origin: traits that reflect hereditary traits - constitutional traits; resulting from the social and physical conditions of the environment - traits shaped by the environment. The original features can be distinguished in terms of the modality through which they are expressed. Ability traits are related to the effectiveness of achieving the desired goal; temperament traits - with emotionality, speed, energy of reactions; dynamic features reflect motivational sphere personality. Dynamic traits are divided into three groups: attitudes, ergs and feelings. Cattell considers the complex interactions of these substructures, while he attaches special importance to the "dominant feeling" - the feeling of the I.

In the theory of G. Eysenck, personality is also represented as a hierarchically organized structure of traits. At the most general level, Eysenck distinguishes three types or super-features: extraversion - introversion, neuroticism - stability, psychotism - the power of the Super-Ego. At the next level, traits are surface reflections of the fundamental type. For example, extraversion is based on such traits as sociability, liveliness, perseverance, activity, striving for success. Below are the usual reactions; at the bottom of the hierarchy are specific responses or actually observable behavior. For each of the super traits, Eysenck establishes a neurophysiological basis. The severity of a particular super-feature can be assessed using specially designed questionnaires, the most famous in our country is the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire.

Just like G. Eysenck, J.P. Guilford viewed personality as a hierarchical structure of traits and was one of the first to study it using factor analysis. In personality, he singles out the sphere of abilities, the sphere of temperament, the hormic sphere, the class of parameters of pathology. In the field of temperament, for example, ten traits are factorially distinguished: general activity, dominance, sociability, emotional stability, objectivity, propensity to think, etc.

The described classical studies of the structure of personality traits were a model and stimulus for subsequent numerous works on the empirical reproduction of one or another factor model or for the development of new grounds for a factor description of personality without a serious analysis of their relationships in a holistic concept of personality.

To the question "Who am I?" each of us, most likely, will answer: "a person, a full member of society, a personality", therefore it is not surprising that many people are interested in learning more about what elements make up a personality, without which features and properties an individual cannot take place as a full-fledged personality in the socio-cultural society, how the process of personality formation takes place. Personality is a basic concept in psychology; without a detailed study of its structure and mechanisms of formation, further psychological and sociological research is impossible.

Psychologists define personality as a stable structure of socially significant features that characterize a person as a member of a particular society. Based on the definition, we can conclude that the process of becoming an individual as a person is impossible in isolation from society, and all personality traits and substructures are formed and developed under the influence of society. The structure of personality in psychology has been carefully studied and described by world-famous specialists, and despite the fact that some well-known sociologists, psychologists and psychiatrists disagree about the basic properties and characteristics of personality, there are several generally accepted divisions and classifications of structure elements.

Psychological structure of personality

All personality substructures are inherent in every person living in a socio-cultural society, but in different individuals they are at different levels of development. One of the main tasks that psychologists set themselves when studying the constituent structures is to determine the mechanisms of development, the correction of one or another substructure. One of the most complete and detailed descriptions of the personality structure in psychology includes 10 substructures, the main of which are worldview, experience, orientation, character. Let's consider all substructures in more detail.

worldview

Perception of the world is a subjective perception by an individual of the surrounding world, of all ongoing events, and a designation of one's place in the world. As a rule, perception of the world is the result of passing the information received through the prism of one's own experience and evaluating the outside world according to internal criteria. Psychologists consider the formation of the "I-concept" - the definition of oneself in the external world and in its individual manifestations - to be the most important component of this element of the structure. The worldview can be pessimistic, optimistic, realistic, mystical, atheistic, idealistic, male, female, childish, but it is impossible to unambiguously classify the worldview of people according to any criteria - each person sees and perceives the reality around him in his own way.

An experience

Experience is the most important component of the personality structure in psychology, which is a set of habits, skills, knowledge and skills accumulated in the process of life and development, as well as acquired during a stay in society. In the process of accumulating experience, a certain lifestyle is formed. As a rule, the worldview, horizons, breadth of a person’s thinking and the certainty of the personality’s orientation depend on the amount of accumulated experience.

Orientation

The orientation of the personality is the values, aspirations, guidelines of a person. Realization of oneself in professional activity, the search for a place in life, the embodiment of dreams and desires, the observance of certain moral and ethical rules and norms - all these are the orientations of the individual. According to such criteria as the ability of a person to set goals for himself independently and without outside assistance, according to the breadth, stability, effectiveness of the orientation of the individual and the degree of influence of society on the formation of his aspirations, it is determined general level personality development.

Character

Psychologists also call character a psychotype - a set of stable features of a person's behavior under certain circumstances and his reactions to any situations. As a rule, under the concept of "character" psychologists mean the most typical personality traits, manifested in the form of a subjective response to objective circumstances; very often the character is described with one keyword - explosive or calm, decisive or suspicious, impulsive or reasonable, etc.

Temperament

Temperament is a combination of stable personality traits associated with the dynamic aspects of activity and determining the type of higher nervous activity person. Psychologists distinguish four main types of temperament, which are based on the strength and balance of the processes of excitation and inhibition of the nervous system. The most common classification of temperament types is the allocation of four types: sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric and melancholic.

Capabilities

The main abilities of each person are strong-willed, mental, mental and bodily; also, all people, to one degree or another, have a number of other abilities - musical, mathematical, artistic, etc. Abilities as a component of the structure are one of the most important tools of the individual, because the more developed the abilities, the more the person is integrated into society and the more he can to do something useful for the society and for yourself.

cognitive sphere

The cognitive sphere includes all components of the psyche and mind, aimed at rational knowledge and perception of the world - logical thinking, memory, attention, critical and analytical perception, decision making, etc.

affective sphere

This sphere, in contrast to the cognitive one, consists of processes related to emotions, feelings, needs and motivation. This area includes psychological processes that cannot be explained from a rational point of view - impulsive reactions, emotions, feelings, desires, predispositions, experiences, worries, intuition, hidden motives, subjective impressions, etc.

Conscious and subconscious

The structure of personality in psychology also includes all manifestations of consciousness, subconscious and unconscious psychological processes. Consciousness includes all conscious and mind-controlled processes and mental activity, and the unconscious includes those mental phenomena and processes that occur without conscious control. In the subconscious, psychological processes occur that have a certain logic, but are not amenable to conscious control.

body drawing

Body drawing is a substructure of personality, which includes the structure of the body, facial expressions characteristic of a person, habitual gestures, manner of speaking, gait, etc. Body drawing is defined as a substructure of personality for the reason that many psychologists are of the opinion that there is a connection between the structure body and character. (For more information about the connection of gestures and facial expressions with psychological processes, see the article)

The structure of personality in psychology is a holistic system of personal qualities and properties that fully and comprehensively characterizes everything. psychological features individual. In addition to the elements described above, the personality structure includes many other components - self-esteem, values, willpower, etc. The level of development of a personality determines the strength of the influence of physiological, emotional and cognitive components. In highly developed individuals with a broad worldview, strong will and personality orientation, as well as developed abilities, as a rule, conscious and cognitive components based on own experience take precedence over unconscious manifestations, instincts, emotions and temperament.

The concept, the essence of personality.

Personality - the social unity of the individual, as a set of his features, formed in the process of interaction of this person with other people and making him the subject of labor, knowledge and communication.

Personality is the mechanism that allows you to integrate your "I" and your own life, to carry out a moral assessment of your actions, to find your place not only in a separate social group, but in life as a whole, to develop the meaning of your existence, to refuse one in favor of another. .

Correlation of the concepts "man", "individual", "personality", "individuality".

Human- a special being, a natural phenomenon, possessing, on the one hand, a biological principle. On the other hand, spiritual - the ability to deep abstract thinking, articulate speech, high learning ability, assimilation of cultural achievements, high level social (public) organization.

Individual. When using this concept, it should be remembered that this is simply the selection of a single member human society. At the same time, the qualities of a person are not taken into account, they fade into the background. Therefore, using the concept of “individual”, impersonality is emphasized, it is believed that it can be any person.

"Individuality when talking about a person's personality. However, it should be remembered that this concept does not reflect the integrity of the individual, but only emphasizes the specific features of a person that distinguish him from other people.

The concept of "personality” implies that an individual has special qualities that he can form only in the course of communication with other people. Personality is the integrity of the social properties of a person, a product of social development and the inclusion of an individual in the system of social relations.

The relationship of social and biological in personality.

Under it biological features understand what brings a person closer to an animal - hereditary traits; the presence of instincts; emotions; biological needs; physiological features similar to other mammals; the ability to use natural objects; adaptation to the environment, procreation.

Social features are characteristic exclusively for man - the ability to produce tools; articulate speech; language; social needs; spiritual needs; awareness of their needs; activity as the ability to transform the world; consciousness; the ability to think; creation; creation; goal setting.

The acquisition of social qualities by a person occurs in the process of socialization.

Three components of personality structure.

There are three main components in the structure of personality manifestations.

An individual is a psychosomatic organization of a person, making him a representative of the human race.
Persona - socially typical formations of a personality, due to the influence of the social environment similar to most people.
Individuality is a peculiar combination of features that distinguishes one person from another.

Components of personality:

Temperament - features of the neurodynamic organization of the individual.
The need-motivational sphere includes: needs, motives and orientation.
Emotional-volitional sphere
Cognitive-cognitive sphere
Character - a set of stable, mostly life-formed properties.
Abilities are a combination of mental properties that are a condition for the performance of one or more types of activity.

Needs as a source of personality activity.

Activity as a central component of human behavior does not arise spontaneously on its own, but is determined by certain states of a person as an organism, social individual and personality, expressing its dependence on environment: material, social, spiritual. In other words, a need is a need, a need for something. It is the needs that are the basis for the emergence of motives - the direct stimuli of behavior. Human needs are very diverse.

Types of needs.

Needs are the need or lack of something necessary for the maintenance of human life, social group and society as a whole. They serve as internal drivers of activity.

A. Maslow recognized that people have many different needs, but also believed that these needs can be divided into five main categories:

Physiological: hunger, thirst, sex drive, etc.
Security Needs: comfort, constancy of living conditions.
Social: social connections, communication, affection, care for the other and attention to oneself, joint activities.
Prestigious Key words: self-respect, respect from others, recognition, achievement of success and appreciation, promotion.
Spiritual: cognition, self-actualization, self-expression, self-identification.

Motive and motivation.

motives- internal stable psychological reason behavior or behavior of a person. This is something that belongs to the subject of behavior itself, is his stable personal property, from the inside prompting him to perform an action.

Motivation – dynamic process internal, psychological control of behavior, including its initiation, direction, organization, support, i.e. set of causes psychological nature explaining human behavior, its beginning, direction and activity. It explains the purposefulness of action, organization.

Motivation of human behavior can be conscious and unconscious, i.e. some needs and goals are controlled by human behavior and are recognized by it.

Personal orientation.

Personal orientation- this is a set of stable motives that guide the activity of the individual and are relatively independent of the current situations;

Some conclusions can be drawn from these formulations.

Firstly, orientation is an integral, backbone, generalizing characteristic of a person's personality.
Secondly, the orientation of the personality expresses the aspiration of a person to life goals and is manifested in activity, understood as a person's ability to transform the world around him through activity for the socially useful.
Thirdly, orientation is a broader concept than motive. It is based on motives, goals, interests, inclinations, abilities, beliefs, attitudes, ideals, worldview. Orientation expresses striving for life goals, and motives ensure their setting.
Fourthly, the orientation is determined by one strong dominant, which becomes a stable "guide" of a person, a leading need in the ocean of life storms. Of course, only a need can acquire the status of such a need. social type but not physiological.

There are several types of orientation, manifested in a person's stable attitude towards himself, people and society as a whole:

collectivist, characterizing a person's stable orientation towards interaction with other people;
business, which defines as a stable system of motives those that determine the success of professional activity;
humanistic, reflecting the stable attitude of a person to the world around him;
egoistic - with a stable predominance of an interested attitude towards oneself in comparison with other people and society;
depressive, manifested in a low self-worth of a person relative to other people;
suicidal, indicating a lack of value attitude towards oneself, people and society.

Self-awareness.

In self-consciousness, a person distinguishes himself from the entire surrounding world, determines his place in the cycle of natural and social events. Self-awareness is closely related to reflection, where it rises to the level of theoretical thinking. It is formed at a certain stage of personality development under the influence of a lifestyle that requires a person to control his own actions and actions, to take full responsibility for them.

The epicenter of consciousness is the consciousness of one's own "I", or self-consciousness. Consciousness of the external world and self-consciousness arise and develop simultaneously and interdependently.

The main function of self-consciousness is to make available to a person the motives and results of his actions and make it possible to understand what he really is.

"I-concept" of personality.

"I am a concept" - a set of attitudes inherent in each individual, aimed at himself. Most installation definitions emphasize three main elements:

A belief that can be either justified or unfounded (the cognitive component of the attitude).
Emotional attitude to this belief (emotional-evaluative component).
An appropriate response, which, in particular, can be expressed in behavior (behavioral component).

In relation to the self-concept, these three elements of attitude can be specified as follows:

“I-image” is an individual's idea of himself.
Self-assessment is an affective assessment of this representation, which can have a different intensity.
Potential behavioral response, that is, those specific actions that can be caused by "self-image" and self-esteem.

Self-esteem and the level of claims.

Personal self-esteem is part of the processes that form a person's self-consciousness. With self-esteem, a person tries to evaluate his qualities, properties and capabilities. This is done through self-observation, self-examination, self-reporting, and also through continuous comparison of oneself with other people with whom a person has to be in direct contact.

Personal self-esteem is not a simple satisfaction of genetically determined curiosity. The driving motive here is the motive of self-improvement, a healthy sense of pride and the desire for success. Self-esteem not only makes it possible to see the real "I", but also to link it with your past and future. After all, on the one hand, the formation of self-esteem is carried out in early years. On the other hand, self-esteem belongs to the most stable personality characteristics. Therefore, it allows a person to consider the roots of his weak and strengths, make sure of their objectivity and find more adequate models of their behavior in various everyday situations.

Personal self-esteem can be adequate, overestimated and underestimated. With strong deviations from adequate self-esteem, a person may experience psychological discomfort and internal conflicts. The person himself is often not aware of the true causes of these phenomena and is looking for causes outside himself.

The term "personality" has several different meanings. The word "personality" in English language comes from the Latin "persona". Initially, this word denoted the ritual masks of the Etruscans. In Rome, this word began to denote first the role depicted by the mask, then the role itself (“father person”). In fact, the term originally indicated a comic or tragic figure in a theatrical act. Thus, from the very beginning, the concept of “personality” included an external, superficial social image that an individual takes on when he plays certain life roles. Personality was also considered as a combination of the most striking and noticeable characteristics of individuality. In the understanding of most psychologists, the term "personality" does not imply an assessment of a person's character or his social skills. Most definitions emphasize individuality or individual differences. The personality has such special qualities, thanks to which this person different from all other people. Understanding what specific qualities or combinations of them differentiate one person from another can only be done by studying individual differences.

The human personality is extremely complex and unique. According to B.G. Ananyev, the unity of the biological and social in a person is ensured by the unity of such macrocharacteristics as individual, personality, subject and individuality.

Individual- man as a single representative species homo sapiens and a separate type allocated within its framework. The system of individual characteristics of a person: temperament, inclinations, constitution, sexual characteristics, biogenic needs, sensorimotor coordination, metabolism, neurodynamics.

Personality- a person as a representative of any type of social community. The system of personal traits of a person: orientation, inclinations, sociogenic needs, communication structure, social status, claims, social roles, ethnic characteristics.

Subject- a person as a subject of a certain type of activity; characterization of a person through the structure of various types of human activity (labor, communication, knowledge, play, sports). The system of subjective signs of a person: character, abilities, structure of activity, psychogenic needs, conative, creative, cognitive, emotive processes.

Individuality- a person as a single variant of the realization of those opportunities that met on his life path; a unique, unique combination of traits as an individual, personality and subject. The system of individual characteristics of a person: conscience, self-consciousness, self-realization, self-determination, self-regulation, self-identification, well-being, self-esteem.

Man as an integrity - as an individual, personality and subject, due to the unity of the biological and social in him.

There are different approaches to the structure of personality.

S.L. Rubinstein proposed the following personality structure:

1) orientation); 2) knowledge, skills and abilities; 3) individual characteristics of a person, manifested in temperament, character, abilities.

The concept of the dynamic functional structure of the personality, developed by K.K. Platonov, explains the variety of properties and characteristics of the personality by six substructures, four of them are basic, two are imposed. The fourth biologically determined substructure includes temperament, properties of higher nervous activity, age and gender characteristics, and pathologies. The third substructure is responsible for mental processes: gnostic - sensation, perception, attention, memory, ideas, imagination, thinking, speech; emotional and volitional processes. The second substructure combines knowledge, skills, abilities, habits of behavior, i.e., the social experience of the individual. The first substructure - orientation - is the most socially conditioned, it covers the needs, drives, motives, desires, interests, inclinations, ideals, beliefs, worldview that determine social behavior person, his main value orientations. The substructures "Abilities" and "Character" integrate the content of the four substructures listed above, which characterize character traits to a different extent, as a set of the most stable individual personality traits that manifest themselves in activity and communication, and determine ways of behavior. As well as abilities, as individual psychological characteristics of a person that determine the success of training or activity. The allocation of substructures is relatively conditional, because all elements of the personality structure are interconnected and interdependent. The fourth substructure is formed by training (multiple repetition), the third - by exercise (training with feedback), the second - by training, the first - by education.

In the process of personality formation, its self-consciousness develops, its three stages are distinguished:

Stage I (from birth to three years) - awareness of the boundaries of your body. Up to a certain point, the baby can play with his leg, hurt himself and not understand that he himself is a source of discomfort. Later, the child develops the ability to act independently with objects, and he perceives himself as an active subject. By the age of three, he uses the pronoun "I", which finally consolidates self-awareness.

Stage II (up to school age) - a long period of development of self-esteem, based initially on the opinion of significant adults (parents and caregivers). The preschooler's self-image is situational, unstable and emotionally colored.

Stage III (school age) - logical thinking develops, the role of friends and their opinions increases, the circle of contacts expands. A teenager compares different opinions about himself and, on their basis, develops his own opinion. Estimates become more and more generalized, stable, along with affective components of behavior, rational ones appear, on this basis moral self-esteem is formed.

As a result of the development of self-consciousness, a person develops " I"-concept.

"I" concept a system of a person's attitudes about himself, a generalized idea of himself. "I"-concept is formed, develops, changes in the process of socialization of the individual, in the process of self-knowledge. Ways of self-knowledge leading to the formation of the "I"-concept , diverse: self-perception and introspection, comparison of oneself with others (identification), perception and interpretation of reactions to oneself by others (reflection), etc. It should be noted that a person's ideas about himself seem convincing to him, regardless of whether they are based on objective knowledge or subjective opinion, whether they are true or false. Under the influence of various external or internal factors, the “I”-concept changes, i.e. "I"-concept is a dynamic formation.

Traditionally, there are three modalities of the "I"-concept: “I” is real, “I” is ideal, “I” is mirror.

"I" is real – representations related to how a person perceives himself: appearance, constitution, abilities, social roles, status, etc .; that is, his ideas of what he really is.

"I" is perfect – ideas about what a person would like to be. I-ideal reflects the goals that a person associates with his future.

"I" is a mirror associated with ideas about how he is seen and what others think of him.

The "I"-concept, understood as a system of attitudes (attitudes) regarding one's personality, has a complex structure in which three components are distinguished, as in the attitude: cognitive, emotional-evaluative and behavioral.

cognitive component - these are the main characteristics of self-perception and self-description of a person, which make up a person's ideas about himself. This component, the components of which are: “I” is physical, “I” is mental, “I” is social , often call The image of "I".

"I" - physical includes ideas about one’s gender, height, body structure, and one’s appearance in general (“bespectacled”, “beauty”, “fat man”, “dead man”, etc.). Moreover, the most important source of the formation of the physical Image of the “I”, along with gender identification (and, as psychologists note, it retains its significance throughout life and is the primary element of the “I”-concept) are the size of the body and its shape. Positive rating their external appearance can significantly affect the positivity of the "I"-concept as a whole. The importance of appearance is determined by the fact that the body is the most open, obvious part of the personality and often becomes the subject of discussion.

"I"-psychic – a person's perception of his own cognitive activity: memory, thinking, imagination, attention, etc.), about their mental properties (temperament, character, abilities, etc.); about their capabilities in general (“I can do everything”, “I can do a lot”, “I can’t do anything”).

"I" - social – representation of their social roles (daughter, sister, girlfriend, student, athlete, etc.), social status (leader, performer, outcast, etc.), social expectations.

Emotional-evaluative component – self-assessment of the Image of "I", which may have a different intensity, since individual traits, features, personality traits can cause various emotions associated with satisfaction or dissatisfaction with them. Even such objective characteristics as height, age, physique, can have different meaning not only for various people, but also for one person in different situations. For example, a forty-year-old person may feel like he is in his prime or an old man. It is known that excessive fullness is undesirable, and fat people they often feel inferior, since a person has a tendency to extrapolate even slight external shortcomings of his Self to the personality as a whole. Self-esteem reflects the degree of development of a person's sense of self-esteem, a sense of his own value and a person's attitude to everything that is included in the Image of "I".

Claim level personality - the desire to achieve goals of the degree of complexity for which a person considers himself capable. In the classical concept of W. James, self-esteem is defined as the mathematical ratio of the real achievements of the individual to the level of claims.

Self-esteem = success / level of aspirations.

Self-esteem may be low (underestimated ) or high (inflated) , adequate and inadequate.

Low self-esteem involves rejection of oneself, self-denial, negative attitude towards oneself as a person, blocking the realization of the need for self-esteem and respect, leads to intrapersonal conflicts, discomfort. Ways to compensate for low self-esteem, a negative attitude towards oneself can be different (lower the level of claims to one's capabilities and thus increase self-esteem and change one's attitude towards oneself, change one's attitude to the situation and behavior).

A high self-evaluation demonstrates a person's confidence in himself, his abilities, strengths. It is important that high self-esteem correspond to the capabilities of a person, that is, be real.

Adequate self-esteem testifies to the correspondence of self-assessment to the real possibilities of the subject and its assessment by other subjects.

Inadequate self-esteem - unrealistically high / low self-esteem leads to negative consequences, often accompanied by social maladjustment of the individual, creates the basis for both intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts.

Behavioral the component of the "I"-concept is the actual or potential behavior of a person, which can be caused by the image of the I and the self-esteem of the individual. As K.Rogers notes, the “I”-concept, having relative stability, determines rather stable patterns of human behavior.

A person uses defense mechanisms to protect his "I" from shame, guilt, anger, anxiety, conflict, i.e. any danger. The purpose of protective mechanisms is an urgent easing of tension, anxiety. The theory of defense mechanisms was first developed by 3. Freud. The main mechanisms of protection are distinguished:

Crowding out - involuntary removal of unpleasant or unlawful desires, thoughts, feelings from consciousness into the unconscious sphere, forgetting them.

Negative - avoiding reality, denying an event as untrue or reducing the severity of the threat (non-acceptance, denial of criticism, assertion that this does not exist, etc.).

Rationalization - a way to rationally justify any actions and actions that are contrary to norms and cause concern. This is the justification of one's inability to do something by unwillingness, the justification of undesirable actions by objective circumstances. An example unconstructive behavior may be rationalization, pseudo-rethinking of the situation. If it is not possible to achieve goals, a person calms himself, “seeing” in unattainable goals a lot of shortcomings that were previously ignored, or refuses them as unworthy of such large expenses (“green grapes”). Rationalization of the “sweet lemon” type is aimed not so much at discrediting an inaccessible object as at exaggerating the value of an existing one.

Projection - attribution to other people of their own negative qualities, states, desires, and, as a rule, in an exaggerated form.

substitution expressed in the partial, indirect satisfaction of an unacceptable motive in some other way, motive.

Sublimation – transformation of the energy of suppressed, forbidden desires into other types of activity, i.e., the transformation of inclinations. The main forms of sublimation are usually described intellectual activity, artistic creativity.

Intellectualization - the process by which the subject seeks to express in a discursive way his conflicts, emotions, in order to master them.

Reaction formation - suppression of unwanted motives of behavior and conscious maintenance of motives of the opposite type.