TO characteristic features modern anthropological sciences include the following properties of human development: integrity, inconsistency, non-frontality, heterochromicity, disequilibrium, reversibility.

The integrity of anthropogenesis is manifested in the following.

Both the individual development of a person (ontogenesis) and the development of the species (phylogeny) are a complex change: appearance, physiological processes, lifestyle, type of occupation, psychological functions, behavior, spiritual world, etc. Any changes that accompany individual human development or phylogenesis do not exist separately from each other, are mutually represented, mutually determine each other.

Not only quantitative changes occurring in the human body cause certain qualitative changes in a particular person, the species as a whole, but also a qualitative leap in the development of an individual or group of people provokes a change in the “quantitative” indicators (height, weight, etc.) of the individual organism. In the process of individual development, numerous components of ontogenesis are interdependent and mutually regulate each other: growth stimulates certain forms of self-realization, socialization to a certain extent depends on maturation, etc.

All factors and conditions of human development do not act in parallel, but in a complex interconnection with each other. They correlate with each other, each of them has a greater/lesser impact on the whole person. The real and potential spheres of human life and activity in the process of phylo- and ontogenesis also interpenetrate and mutually determine each other.

The inconsistency of human development is revealed in the fact that man and humanity change all the time and at the same time remain identical to themselves. It is due to the super complex, holographic integrity of the person himself. Human development includes processes of two types: the simultaneous complex implementation of initial capabilities and abilities and the acquisition of fundamentally new properties. These processes are interconnected and manifest themselves in changes at different levels: physical, neurodynamic, physiological, psychological, social, etc.

For example, initially the ancestors Homo sapiens As living beings, they were characterized by upright walking, a certain structure of the brain, the instinct to procreate and satisfy their vital needs, the ability to respond to external and internal stimuli, to master their habitat, to perceive current biological time and space, and these features were improved. Over time, specific parts of the brain developed; the anatomical and physiological structure of the body has become more complex; new abilities appeared (to make tools, to communicate using words, to obey generally accepted rules, to create animal cults and burial rites, etc.); interest arose in “useless” creativity (decorating the body and clothing, creating toys and rock paintings); ways of satisfying vital needs increasingly began to be mediated by moral and spiritual attitudes; the instinct of procreation was harmonized with the hedonistic function of sexual love (it is significant for humans not only as a condition for the birth of offspring, but also as a spiritual interaction between people).

Human development includes opposing trends: differentiation - integration, waste - restoration, chaos - harmony, loss - acquisition, regressive and progressive transformations. For example, it is known: the development of the ability to distinguish more and more shades of color (differentiation) is associated with an increase in the ability to recreate the image of a whole object from one seen detail (integration). To master the ability to read, you must learn to simultaneously differentiate letters and integrate them into syllables, words, and then into sentences; differentiate between printed and handwritten text - and integrate the meaning of the text.

The interaction of contradictory tendencies of ontogenesis is in dynamic equilibrium. Thus, acquisitions, as a rule, turn out to be due to losses: new capabilities of the body, complication of mental functions, transition of abilities and skills to a new quality, changes in anthropometric indicators, streamlining of organic processes, that is, any “novelty”, as a rule, is accompanied by more or less visual collapsing, turning into a rudiment, going into the “buffer” of some previous capabilities, functions, skills and other features that have become no longer relevant in the new period of life.

There are a number of known illustrative examples relationships between gains and losses in the process of ontogenesis. Thus, the rise in linguistic abilities of preschoolers (from three to five years old) prepares the maturation of those parts of the brain that are responsible for the ability to read and assimilate written culture, but at the same time, mastery (of older preschoolers, younger schoolchildren) of reading extinguishes the linguistic talent of children: their need in word creation, special responsiveness to words and nr.

Bark maturation cerebral hemispheres in junior school age makes the child’s behavior more arbitrary, his statements more tactful, but due to the suppression of the subcortex, the spontaneity and sincerity of the younger schoolchild is lost. Due to the maturation of the cortex, involuntary, fast, universal, although “superficial” memorization also fades, but the ability to remember purposefully, selectively, deeply and for a longer period appears. “Easy” (as defined by K. D. Ushinsky), unrestricted children’s imagination is replaced by productive, meaningful creativity.

Extension life experience the child leads to his “sophism” - and reduces the ability to be surprised, admire, and extinguishes curiosity. The need for new impressions, which a child satisfies in any situation (he knows how to get them by watching a puddle, examining a rag, a pebble, etc.), is the potential for his development. The same need for an adult is a source of painful experiences, stress, etc.

Everything that is lost as development progresses was not useless or unworthy of man. (It’s not for nothing that artists and poets are looking for ways to develop a child’s spontaneity of perception of the world, the brightness of imagination. Scientists are developing ways to quickly and easily master information, as in childhood. Businessmen learn to play, etc.) Moreover, without such “destruction » a number of previous properties make it impossible for new characteristics to emerge, for new properties and capabilities to arise, or for the improvement of previously existing functions.

It is interesting that sometimes in the process of development what was curtailed and rejected, after some time is reborn in the form of a new quality. For example, the subcortex of the brain, which faded into the background at the age of 12, due to a hormonal explosion, begins to determine the child’s behavior again, making him again more spontaneous, overly emotional, less strong-willed, etc. And from the age of 16, the cortex again determines behavior, internal state, arbitrariness of self-expression, etc.

In that rare case when the curtailment of the characteristics of previous age stages does not occur, and they are preserved for more adult life, the phenomenon of giftedness 1 may arise. But the remaining “childish” capabilities (gullibility, spontaneity, non-criticism, a penchant for play, etc.) can not only decorate the life of an adult. They, not meeting many of the requirements of adult life, often complicate it. Therefore, we can say that “losses” are not only natural, but also necessary.

The inconsistency of development also reveals itself in phylogenesis: limiting one’s needs (for example, introducing taboos, formulating laws, rules, norms of general life) has become the basis of human greatness.

Modern science is increasingly inclined to believe that development is a dialectical, contradictory unity of regressive and progressive transformations.

Non-frontality of development (term by A. A. Bodalev) is manifested in the fact that the pace of biological, psychological, social development of humans (both in phylo- and ontogenesis) do not coincide with each other. So, it is known that different peoples and the tribes currently inhabiting the Earth, despite the information revolution, globalization, etc., are still at fundamentally different stages of development: some live in the Stone Age, others in the Middle Ages, others in the post-industrial world, etc. Another thing is also known: the rates of change in different structures of any person are not the same. Achievement by man high level physiological maturity does not occur simultaneously with the achievement of intellectual, volitional, and social maturity. In infants, sensory skills are ahead of motor skills; at a certain period, the child’s passive speech is ahead of active speech, etc. The non-frontality of development reveals itself especially clearly in adolescence, when children grow and change at different rates. different systems of the body: vascular and bone, nervous and muscular, etc., which makes this period of life quite difficult. It is interesting that even so acutely manifested in adolescence, nefrontality does not destroy the integrity of the process of ontogenesis, the integrity of the person.

Heterochrony - the uneven distribution over time of changes occurring during phylo- and ontogenesis - has long been comprehended by science. The fact of heterochrony is confirmed, in particular, by the fact that the periods of age-related development traditionally identified by science are periods of life that differ in the number of years. For example, the period of infancy (according to A.G. Asmolov) is almost a year, the first childhood is four years, and the newborn period is generally ten days.

The heterochronicity of human development is also evidenced by the following fact: the transition from childhood to adolescence, from youth to maturity occurs in every culture at the same calendar dates (in each culture - in its own), and the transition to old age of representatives of the same culture is very individualized. For example, one European may consider himself (and actually be) an old man already at 40, while another may perceive himself and be identified by others as a young man even at 75.

The imbalance of human development is revealed in the fact that phylo- and ontogenesis are non-monotonic processes. On the contrary, in each of them (according to the synergetic approach) both quiet periods and jumps, “explosions” (bifurcation zones) are found. And if in a quiet period development obeys certain laws and its results and features can be predicted, then in the bifurcation zone development depends, first of all, on chance and turns out to be unpredictable. An essential feature of human development is, therefore, the orderliness, equivalence of patterns and accidents, as well as discreteness and discontinuity of the process.

Human ontogenesis in modern science is not considered as a linear or spiral process with elements of repetition and cyclicity. It is interpreted as a wave-like and oscillatory process, with deviations either “minus” or “plus”. This is due to the fact that the nature of the activity of the Sun, which determines the development of all living things, has an oscillatory nature.

The transition from quieter periods to bifurcation occurs in the form of a qualitative leap and is due, according to L. II. Gumilyov, the uneven distribution of chemical energy in the Universe, the existence of so-called “waves of life”, causing surges and declines in the activity of not only natural forces, but also the passion of individuals, populations, nations.

Reversibility. Traditionally, both phylo- and ontogenesis were considered as processes directed in one direction - towards humanization. Modern science asserts: the opposite movement is also possible - towards dehumanization. The reversibility of ontogenesis is confirmed, in particular, by the fate of the Mowgli children discovered back in the 17th century. in Germany, then in India, etc. Their return to the human way of life occurred with great difficulty, they learned to speak poorly or not at all, tried to walk on all fours, lap from a plate, and often physically did not survive among people. Thus, the famous Amala lived only four years, and her sister Kamala died two months after returning from the jungle.

Recently, in Russia, the appearance of Mowgli children has been recorded and attempts are being made to humanize them. It has been noted that over the years of living among dogs, wolves, and cats, a child’s hair grows, his eyesight becomes sharper, and the ability to understand the language of animals appears. Physically, these children are more developed than their peers, they turn out to be very flexible, resilient, etc. Returning to a human way of life costs such a child and the adults around him a lot of work, but at first it still leads to good results. Children adapt so much that they are able to learn, some even well. But after a while, degradation begins: they again begin to bark, climb trees, eat grass, and lick their wounds. It becomes difficult and unpleasant for them to walk like a human, they lose memory, communication skills, stop smiling, etc. It is not yet known what their future fate will be.

The question of the possibility of degradation of everything modern remains open. human species, however, it seems that a positive answer to it is incorrect and not convincing.

Both phylo- and ontogenesis are processes, both occurring at the present time and infinitely extending into the past and future; human development as a whole is always an incomplete process.

Until recently, it was believed that human evolution was completed, and evolutionary mechanisms no longer served to change the species, but only to preserve it. Indeed, numerous data confirm: the morphological evolution of man is completely completed, the organism modern man basically the same as 3.5 thousand years ago; his basic needs do not change, etc. However, modern genetics proves that human DNA contains the possibility of its continuous evolution as a species, i.e. phylogenesis is an ongoing process.

The direction of evolution today is the creation of a universal human brain, collective will, universal social memory, the establishment of a scale of common values, rules for its protection and preservation, etc. It must be admitted that this process is already taking place (in particular, thanks to the activities of the UN, UNESCO, the Club of Rome, World Olympiads, international space stations, committees, etc.), but is difficult, vacillating, and inconsistent.

The incompleteness of ontogenesis is manifested in the fact that each person changes externally and internally throughout his life. Some of these changes are obvious, others are hidden, in some acquisitions predominate, in others - destruction, losses, but they are characteristic of any period of a person’s life, the development of which is thus always incomplete. It is known that even in old age, when many brain cells die, new connections are formed between the remaining cells, compensating for the activity of the dead cells.

How does a person differ from an animal? First of all, the ability to think, reason and express your thoughts using articulate speech.

Concept of thinking

Thinking is the highest stage of human cognition, awareness of those aspects of the world that cannot be directly perceived by humans. Thanks to thinking, a person not only adapts to environmental conditions, like an animal, but also actively transforms it.

Human thinking consists of three interrelated factors: concept, judgment and inference. At the concept stage, a person tracks the natural processes that occur in the life of society or environment. Thanks to such observations, a person begins to realize their truth or falsity, and develop his own opinion about them - this is the stage of judgment.

An inference connects several judgments, thanks to which a person develops a model of further behavior or creates new options for judgments about surrounding things and ongoing events.

Speech concept

Speech is a form of human communication that occurs through the use of language. Speech allows a person not only to cognize the world around us, but also transmit information to other people. Speech is inextricably linked with the process of thinking. Its existence is impossible without a thought process.

After all, speech is, first of all, a materially tangible form of thought. Speech represents not only the human structure of linguistic structures, but also the ability to perceive them logically. The main function of speech is the communicative function, due to which individuals communicate with each other, including information exchange.

Based on the form of communication, speech is classified into oral and written speech. Oral speech implies the ability of a person to speak and listen, written - to read and write.

Human ability to be creative

Creativity is a process of human activity, during which he creates new spiritual or material assets. A person's ability to be creative comes from his ability to think.

The ability to be creative and its relationship with thinking can be considered in the following diagram:
I watch other people dance (the first phase of thinking is the concept). I think it's beautiful (the second phase of thinking is judgment). I know how to improve this dance (third phase of thinking - inference). I myself dance a dance that I have improved (creativity).

We see that a person’s ability to be creative is a combination of analysis and synthesis. The English psychologist G. Wallace deduced the main phases of creative thinking:

1. Preparation- a person formulates a problem and considers the main ways to solve it.

2. Incubation- a person forgets about previously assigned tasks creative realization and completely switches to other things. Very often, at this stage, attempts at creative realization stop completely.

3. Insight- on an intuitive level, a person returns to the idea of ​​creative realization.

"The Origin of Man on Earth" - Accessory nipples; Claws on individual fingers; Strongly developed fangs. 7. Is evolution finished now? 5. Similarities between humans and animals. Now poisonous clouds are floating here. The kinship of man with animals, according to Darwin, is confirmed by the existence of rudiments and atavisms. Therefore, not one of Darwin’s opponents could object to rudiments and atavisms.

“Biology of Human Origins” - Independent distribution of tasks within groups. “Looking into the past, bare your heads.” “As you look to the future, roll up your sleeves.” B.Shaw. Website. Ancient people are paleoanthropes. Municipal educational institution of secondary school in the village of Tersa. Learn to competently evaluate the reliability of the information received. What are driving forces anthropogenesis, biological and social factors?

"Man and Ape" - Fossil Apes. People modern type. As a result, modern women have difficulty giving birth. Contents: New data on the origin of man. The most important thing is again open view made tools. New data on the origin of man. Stages of human origin. E. Dubois called the discovered creature an ape-man - Pithecanthropus.

“Man and his development” - Many (both men and women) go into the informal sector. The word ECONOMY is implicit in both categories. Women's problems: from the sphere of human rights or from the sphere of economics? However... Human development is a breakthrough (storming the palace). Translated by: Alexey SKREBNEV [email protected]. Equality and justice.

“The Origin of Races” - Each large race is divided into small races, or anthropological types. The process of human origin is called anthropogenesis. Evidence for the evolutionary origins of man. Evolution of primates. In Indonesia, the South Asian race predominates. Races and ethnicity. Origin of man. Labor begins with the manufacture of tools.

“The Origin of Man” - 16. 4 – Australopithecus. 8 – Neanderthal; 10. 14. Evolutionary paths of development of primates. 5. 7. 9. 3 – Ramapithecus; 9 – Cro-Magnon; 17 – gibbons; 6. Ears.

There are 18 presentations in total

Which distinctive features does the person have? This question interests many. After all, people are not animals at all. They are somehow different. Humans have a variety of skills and abilities, as well as traits that primates do not and will not have. You need to know about them. What points should you pay attention to? What characteristics do people have? All this is not as difficult to understand as it seems. It is enough to simply compare humans with ordinary animals. You will be able to see the differences immediately.

Speech

The first trait is intelligible speech. That is, a person knows how to talk. And with words, and not just sounds. This is due to the structure of the larynx. In primates it is located higher in the throat. This makes it impossible to talk.

Yes, animals also communicate with each other. And they even try with people. For example, through meowing - this is what cats do. Nevertheless, this is still not speech, although such sounds have a communicative function. Only a person knows how to speak meaningfully, clearly, in separate words and sentences. What other distinctive features are there?

Upright walking

The next differentiating factor that occurs is upright posture. A person walks upright and straight. Primates and animals cannot do this. Usually they still rely on their forelimbs or do not hold their body quite straight.

Walking on two legs is typical primarily for humans. In the animal world, there are also some species that walk on two legs. But, as already mentioned, the torso is not completely straightened. Only man is capable of walking perpendicular to the earth.

Wool

A person has distinctive features in terms of hair. Even with the naked eye you can see that many representatives of the animal world are covered with fur or feathers/scales. This was designed by nature for protection from enemies, cold and for camouflage.

For people, things are a little different. A person does not need wool to protect himself from the cold, so hair has been preserved only in some places. For example, in armpits and on the head. In men, hair appears on the face and chest, but the entire body is not completely covered with a continuous layer of fur or fluff.

A person has distinctive characteristics. But which ones exactly? What else can distinguish it on Earth?

Brain

Brain - next moment, which is worth considering when considering the differences between humans and animals. And this is quite obvious. It's no secret that a typical representative of Homo sapiens has a fairly large, developed brain. But this is not the only trait that people have.

The point is that a person’s brain is designed and developed in such a way that it can be used to the maximum. This allows creativity and reasoning. Yes, in animals and primates the brain is also designed in such a way as to ensure the safety of life. Only his level of development is much lower. What other distinctive features of humans can be distinguished from the inhabitants of the animal world? There are quite a few items that have not yet been listed.

Things

Clothes and shoes are two more features that distinguish a person. It is with their help that people provide themselves with warmth and comfort. This is a replacement for wool. No one else in the living world wears clothes or shoes. They became distinctive features only for humans.

True, at the moment they even create special clothes for animals. Fortunately, such innovations take place only in relation to pets - mainly dogs and cats. But animals can do without clothes. But people don't. Therefore, you should not neglect this point. A person makes his own shoes and things, and then wears them.

Blush

A characteristic distinguishing feature of humans from animals was the presence of blush. It's hard to believe, but only in humans does it occur. Animals, birds and other living creatures cannot blush. This is a feature that only humans have.

However, the appearance of blush still remains a mystery to the world. It is not clear why people blush when they are embarrassed, for example. Scientists explain this phenomenon by a sharp rush of blood.

Childhood

Distinctive varied. It is worth paying attention to the fact that the childhood period in humans lasts longer than in primates or any other animals. Human babies for a long time depend on their parents and are unable to provide for themselves.

But with animals everything is somewhat different. Childhood for most of them lasts no more than a year. Moreover, during this period, parents usually manage to teach their cubs to survive and live. Learn the basics - childhood is over. A person is considered a child under 18 years of age. This is how long this period lasts. True, you can provide for yourself from about 13-14 years of age.

If we talk about babies, then human cubs, compared to baby animals, are dependent on their parents for a longer period of time. It takes approximately 2 years for a person to learn to walk and communicate with his own kind. For animals this takes no more than a few months. So it's worth paying attention to this.

Reproduction

The distinctive features of a person from an animal consist of a whole list of factors. What can you pay attention to after all of the above? People have a lot of things that can distinguish them from the inhabitants of the animal world.

For example, you can take into account reproduction. The period of gestation of human cubs has significant characteristics, as does puberty. But this is not the most important thing. It's no secret that animals reproduce until they lose reproductive function. This helps to continue the race. In nature, no one just stops reproducing; this desire to procreate is instinctive.

But for people everything is a little different. The point is that a person is able to continue leading his usual lifestyle, even if he does not feel the desire to reproduce. That is, this process is selective in nature. There is no instinct that calls for obligatory reproduction. People are generally able to completely refuse to have children, and this is done consciously, or to postpone childbearing “until better times.” In animals, as has already been said, this feature determined by instincts, so there can be no “delays”.

Work

Labor appears. Only people are capable of creating consciously. Society develops a culture that includes material values ​​created with its own hands. Not a single animal in the world is capable of working and inventing. A person has everything for this: a brain, special thinking, and hands that are ideal for using a variety of tools. A completely understandable phenomenon. Animals simply have a body structure unsuitable for work.

People also have abstract thinking. In other words, you can imagine without any problems what this or that object looks like, which does not exist in nature. Animals are not capable of this. Plus, a person strives for cultural development. He is able to create, create a variety of cultural values. As they say, work distinguishes man from animal. And this is true.

Character

Each person has distinctive character traits. But this point applies even to animals. Everyone has character. It just manifests itself differently in people and animals.

People are more perfect in this regard. They demonstrate their emotions and experiences more richly, and know how to hide certain qualities. Their characters can be called more detailed than those of animals and primates.

Each living creature somehow reacts to certain stimuli. This is precisely the manifestation of character. It is established at birth and cannot be corrected in any way. Only people know how to restrain themselves in some cases. But animals are not used to this. A person knows how to control himself and understands where he can show character and where he should hold back. As you can see, people and animals are somewhat similar. But they have a lot of differences.

Character(Greek - sign, distinctive property, distinctive feature, feature, sign or seal) - a structure of persistent, relatively permanent mental properties that determine the characteristics of relationships and behavior of an individual.

When they talk about character, they usually mean just such a set of properties and qualities of a person that leave a certain stamp on all its manifestations and actions. Character traits constitute those essential properties of a person that determine a particular way of behavior or way of life. The statics of character are determined by the type of nervous activity, and its dynamics are determined by the environment.

Character is also understood as:

• a system of stable motives and modes of behavior that form a behavioral type of personality;
• a measure of balance between the internal and external worlds, the characteristics of an individual’s adaptation to the reality around him;
• a clear definition of the typical behavior of each person.

In the system of personality relationships, there are four groups of character traits that form symptom complexes:

• a person’s attitude towards other people, the team, society (sociability, sensitivity and responsiveness, respect for others - people, collectivism and the opposite traits - isolation, callousness, callousness, rudeness, contempt for people, individualism);
• traits that show a person’s attitude to work, his business (hard work, a penchant for creativity, conscientiousness in work, a responsible attitude to work, initiative, perseverance and the opposite traits - laziness, a tendency to routine work, dishonesty, irresponsible attitude to work, passivity) ;
• traits that show how a person relates to himself (self-esteem, correctly understood pride and the self-criticism associated with it, modesty and its opposite traits - conceit, sometimes turning into arrogance, vanity, arrogance, resentment, shyness, egocentrism as a tendency to consider center of events
• yourself and your experiences, egoism - the tendency to care primarily about your personal good);
• traits that characterize a person’s attitude towards things (neatness or sloppiness, careful or careless handling of things).

One of the most famous theories of character is the theory proposed by the German psychologist E. Kretschmer. According to this theory, character depends on physique.

Kretschmer described three body types and three corresponding character types:

Asthenics(from Greek - weak) - people are thin, with long faces. long arms and legs, flat (ore cell and weak muscles. The corresponding type of character is schizothymics- people are closed, serious, stubborn, difficult to adapt to new conditions. In case of mental disorders, they are prone to schizophrenia;

Athletics(from Greek - characteristic of wrestlers) - people are tall, broad-shouldered, with a powerful chest, strong skeleton and well-developed muscles. The corresponding character type is ixothymics- people are calm, unimpressive, practical, domineering, restrained in gestures and facial expressions; They do not like change and do not adapt well to it. In case of mental disorders, they are prone to epilepsy;

Picnics(from Greek - dense. thick) - people of average height, overweight or prone to obesity, with a short neck, large head and a wide face with small features. The corresponding type of character is cyclothymics - people are sociable, sociable, emotional, easily adapting to new conditions. With mental disorders, they are prone to manic-depressive psychosis.

General concept of character and its manifestations

In concept character(from the Greek character - “seal”, “minting”), means a set of stable individual characteristics, developing and manifesting itself in activity and communication, determining its typical modes of behavior.

When determining the character of a person, they do not say that such and such a person showed courage, truthfulness, frankness, that this person is courageous, truthful, frank, i.e. named qualities - properties this person, traits of his character that may appear under appropriate circumstances. Knowing a Person's Character allows you to predict with a significant degree of probability and thereby correct expected actions and actions. It is often said about a person with character: “He had to do exactly this, he could not have done otherwise - that’s his character.”

However, not all human features can be considered characteristic, but only significant and stable ones. If a person, for example, is not polite enough in stressful situation, this does not mean that rudeness and intemperance are a property of his character. Sometimes, even very funny people They may feel sad, but this will not make them whiners and pessimists.

Speaking as a lifetime person, character is determined and formed throughout a person’s life. The way of life includes the way of thoughts, feelings, motives, actions in their unity. Therefore, as a certain way of life of a person is formed, the person himself is formed. Big role social conditions and specific life circumstances in which the life path person, based on his natural properties and as a result of his actions and actions. However, the direct formation of character occurs in groups of different levels of development (, friendly company, class, sports team, etc.). Depending on which group is the reference group for the individual and what values ​​it supports and cultivates in its environment, the corresponding character traits will develop in its members. Character traits will also depend on the individual’s position in the group, on how he integrates into it. In a team as a group of a high level of development, the most favorable opportunities for becoming best features character This process is mutual, and thanks to the development of the individual, the team itself develops.

Character content, reflecting social influences, influences, constitutes the life orientation of the individual, i.e. her material and spiritual needs, interests, beliefs, ideals, etc. The orientation of the individual determines the goals, life plan of a person, and the degree of his life activity. The character of a person presupposes the presence of something significant for him in the world, in life, something on which the motives of his actions, the goals of his actions, the tasks that he sets for himself depend.

Crucial for understanding character is the relationship between what is socially and personally significant for a person. Every society has its own most important and essential tasks. It is on them that the character of people is formed and tested. Therefore, the concept of “character” refers to a greater extent to the relationship of these objectively existing tasks. Therefore, character is not just any manifestation of firmness, perseverance, etc. (formal persistence may simply be stubbornness), but a focus on socially significant activities. It is the orientation of the individual that underlies unity, integrity, and strength of character. Possessing goals in life is the main condition for the formation of character. A spineless person is characterized by the absence or scattering of goals. However, the character and direction of a person are not the same thing. Both a decent, highly moral person and a person with low, unscrupulous thoughts can be good-natured and cheerful. The orientation of the individual leaves an imprint on all human behavior. And although behavior is determined not by one impulse, but whole system relationships, in this system something always comes to the fore, dominating it, giving a person’s character a unique flavor.

In a formed character, the leading component is a belief system. Conviction determines the long-term direction of a person’s behavior, his inflexibility in achieving his goals, confidence in the justice and importance of the work he is doing. Character traits are closely related to a person’s interests, provided that these interests are stable and deep. Superficiality and instability of interests are often associated with great imitation, with a lack of independence and integrity of a person’s personality. And, conversely, the depth and content of interests indicate the purposefulness and perseverance of the individual. Similarity of interests does not imply similar character traits. Thus, among rationalizers one can find cheerful and sad people, modest and obsessive people, egoists and altruists.

A person’s attachments and interests related to his leisure time can also be indicative of understanding character. They reveal new features, facets of character: for example, L. N. Tolstoy was fond of playing chess, I. P. Pavlov - small towns, D. I. Mendeleev - reading adventure novels. Whether a person’s spiritual and material needs and interests dominate is determined not only by the thoughts and feelings of the individual, but also by the direction of his activities. No less important is the correspondence of a person’s actions to the goals set, since a person is characterized not only by what he does, but also by how he does it. Character can perhaps be understood only as a certain unity of direction and course of action.

People with similar orientations can take completely different paths to achieving goals, using their own special techniques and methods to achieve this. This dissimilarity also determines the specific character of the individual. Character traits, having a certain motivating force, are clearly manifested in the situation of choosing actions or methods of behavior. From this point of view, the degree of expression of an individual’s achievement motivation—his need to achieve success—can be considered as a character trait. Depending on this, some people are characterized by a choice of actions that ensure success (showing initiative, competitive activity, risk-taking, etc.), while others are more likely to simply avoid failures (deviation from risk and responsibility, avoidance manifestations of activity, initiative, etc.).

Teaching about character - characterology has a long history of development. The most important problems of characterology over the centuries have been the establishment of character types and their definition by their manifestations in order to predict human behavior in various situations. Since character is the lifetime formation of a personality, most of its existing classifications are based on grounds that are external, indirect factors in personality development.

One of the most ancient attempts to predict human behavior is to explain his character by his date of birth. Various ways of predicting the fate and character of a person are called horoscopes.

No less popular are attempts to connect a person’s character with his name.

A significant influence on the development of characterology was exerted by physiognomy(from the Greek Physis - “nature”, gnomon - “knowing”) - the doctrine of the connection between the external appearance of a person and his belonging to a certain type of personality, thanks to which external signs can be established psychological characteristics this type.

Palmistry has no less famous and rich history than the physiognomic direction in characterology. Palmistry(from the Greek Cheir - “hand” and manteia - “fortune-telling”, “prophecy”) - a system for predicting a person’s character traits and his fate based on the skin texture of the palms.

Until recently, scientific psychology invariably rejected palmistry, but the study of the embryonic development of finger patterns in connection with heredity gave impetus to the emergence of a new branch of knowledge - dermatoglyphics.

More valuable, in diagnostic terms, compared to, say, physiognomy, can be considered graphology - a science that considers handwriting as a type of expressive movements that reflect psychological properties writer.

At the same time, unity and versatility of character do not exclude the fact that in different situations the same person exhibits different and even opposite properties. A person can be at the same time very gentle and very demanding, soft and compliant and at the same time firm to the point of inflexibility. And the unity of his character can not only be preserved, despite this, but it is precisely in this that it manifests itself.

The relationship between character and temperament

Character often compared with, and in some cases, these concepts are replaced with each other.

In science, among the dominant views on the relationship between character and temperament, four main ones can be distinguished:

• identification of character and temperament (E. Kretschmer, A. Ruzhitsky);
• contrasting character and temperament, emphasizing the antagonism between them (P. Viktorv, V. Virenius);
• recognition of temperament as an element of character, its core, an unchangeable part (S. L. Rubinstein, S. Gorodetsky);
• temperament recognition natural basis character (L. S. Vygotsky, B. G. Ananyev).

Based on the materialistic understanding of human phenomena, it should be noted that what character and temperament have in common is dependence on the physiological characteristics of a person, and above all on the type nervous system. The formation of character significantly depends on the properties of temperament, which is more closely related to the properties of the nervous system. In addition, character traits arise when temperament is already sufficiently developed. Character develops on the basis of temperament. Temperament determines character traits such as balanced or unbalanced behavior, ease or difficulty of entering a new situation, mobility or inertness of reaction, etc. However, temperament does not determine character. People with the same temperamental properties can have completely different character. Features of temperament can promote or counteract the formation of certain character traits. Thus, it is more difficult for a melancholic person to develop courage and determination than for a choleric person. It is more difficult for a choleric person to develop restraint and phlegmatic behavior; a phlegmatic person needs to spend more effort to become sociable than a sanguine person, etc.

However, as B. G. Ananyev believed, if education consisted only of improving and strengthening natural properties, this would lead to a monstrous uniformity of development. The properties of temperament may, to some extent, even come into conflict with character. In P. I. Tchaikovsky, the tendency to melancholic experiences was overcome by one of the main features of his character - his ability to work. “You always need to work,” he said, “and every honest artist cannot sit with his hands folded, under the pretext that he is not in the mood... If you wait for favor and do not try to meet him, then you can easily fall into laziness and apathy . Dislikes very rarely happen to me. I attribute this to the fact that I am gifted with patience, and I train myself never to give in to reluctance. I learned to conquer myself.”

In a person with a formed character, temperament ceases to be an independent form of personality manifestation, but becomes its dynamic side, consisting in a certain speed of development mental processes and manifestations of personality, a certain characteristic of expressive movements and actions of the individual. Here it should be noted the influence exerted on the formation of character by a dynamic stereotype, i.e. system conditioned reflexes, forming in response to a steadily repeating system of stimuli. For formation dynamic stereotypes in a person, in various repeating situations, his attitude to the situation is influenced, as a result of which excitation, inhibition, mobility of nervous processes, and, consequently, the general functional state of the nervous system can change. It is also necessary to note the decisive role in the formation of dynamic stereotypes of the second signaling system, through which social influences are carried out.

Ultimately, the traits of temperament and character are organically connected and interact with each other in a single, holistic appearance of a person, forming an inseparable alloy - an integral characteristic of his individuality.

Character has long been identified with the will of a person, the expression “a person of character” was considered as a synonym for the expression “ strong-willed person" Will is associated primarily with strength of character, its firmness, determination, and perseverance. When they say that a person has strong character, then they seem to want to emphasize his sense of purpose, his strong-willed qualities. In this sense, a person’s character is best demonstrated in overcoming difficulties, in struggle, i.e. in those conditions where human will is most manifested. But character is not limited to strength; it has content, determining how the will will function under various conditions. On the one hand, character is formed in volitional actions and is manifested in them: volitional actions in situations that are significant for the individual pass into a person’s character, becoming fixed in him as his relatively stable properties; these properties, in turn, determine human behavior and his volitional actions. Strong-willed character is distinguished by certainty, constancy and independence, firmness in achieving the intended goal. On the other hand, there are often cases when a weak-willed person was called “spineless.” From a psychological point of view, this is not entirely true - and a weak-willed person has certain character traits, such as, for example, timidity, indecisiveness, etc. The use of the concept “characterless” means the unpredictability of a person’s behavior, indicates that he lacks his own direction, an internal core that would determine his behavior. His actions are caused by external influences and do not depend on himself.

The originality of character is also reflected in the peculiarities of the flow of a person’s feelings. K. D. Ushinsky pointed out this: “nothing, neither words, nor thoughts, nor even our actions express ourselves and our attitude to the world as clearly and truly as our feelings: in them one can hear the character of not a separate thought, not a separate decision, but the entire content of our soul and its structure.” The connection between feelings and character traits of a person is also reciprocal. On the one hand, the level of development of moral, aesthetic, and intellectual feelings depends on the nature of a person’s activity and communication and on the character traits formed on this basis. On the other hand, these feelings themselves become characteristic, stable features personality, thus constituting the character of a person. The level of development of a sense of duty, a sense of humor and other complex feelings is a rather indicative characteristic of a person.

Especially great value for characterological manifestations there is a relationship between intellectual personality traits. The depth and sharpness of thought, the unusual way of posing a question and its solution, intellectual initiative, confidence and independence of thinking - all this constitutes the originality of the mind as one of the aspects of character. However, how a person uses his mental abilities, will depend significantly on the character. It is not uncommon to encounter people who have high intellectual abilities, but who do not provide anything valuable precisely because of their characterological characteristics. An example of this is the numerous literary images of superfluous people (Pechorin, Rudin, Beltov, etc.). As I. S. Turgenev said well through the mouth of one of the characters in the novel about Rudin: “Perhaps there is genius in him, but there is no nature.” Thus, a person’s real achievements depend not on abstract mental capabilities alone, but on a specific combination of his characteristics and characterological properties.

Character Structure

In general All character traits can be divided into basic, leading, setting the general direction for the development of the entire complex of its manifestations, and secondary, determined by the main. So, if we consider such traits as indecisiveness, fearfulness and altruism, then with the predominance of the first, a person, first of all, is constantly afraid that “something might not work out” and all attempts to help his neighbor usually end in internal experiences and searches for justification. If the leading trait is the second one - altruism, then the person does not outwardly show any hesitation, immediately goes to help, controlling his behavior with his intellect, but at the same time he may sometimes have doubts about the correctness of the actions taken.

Knowledge of leading features allows you to reflect the main essence of character, show its main manifestations. Writers and artists, wanting an idea of ​​the character of the hero, first of all describe his leading, core features. Thus, A.S. Pushkin put into the mouth of Vorotynsky (in the tragedy “Boris Godunov”) an exhaustive description of Shuisky - “a crafty courtier.” Some heroes literary works They reflect certain typical character traits so deeply and correctly that their names become household names (Khlestakov, Oblomov, Manilov, etc.).

Although every character trait reflects one of the manifestations of a person’s attitude to reality, this does not mean that every attitude will be a character trait. Only some relationships become traits depending on the conditions. From the totality of a person’s relationships to the surrounding reality, it is necessary to single out character-forming forms of relationships. The most important distinctive feature Such relationships are decisive, primary and general vital significance of those objects to which a person belongs. These relationships simultaneously serve as the basis for the classification of the most important character traits.

A person’s character is manifested in a system of relationships:

• In relation to other people (in this case, one can distinguish such character traits as sociability - isolation, truthfulness - deceit, tactfulness - rudeness, etc.).
• In relation to business (responsibility - dishonesty, hard work - laziness, etc.).
• In relation to oneself (modesty - narcissism, self-criticism - self-confidence, pride - humiliation, etc.).
• In relation to property (generosity - greed, frugality - wastefulness, neatness - sloppiness, etc.). It should be noted that this classification is somewhat conventional and there is a close relationship and interpenetration of these aspects of the relationship. So, for example, if a person is rude, then this concerns his relationship with people; but if at the same time he works as a teacher, then here it is already necessary to talk about his attitude to the matter (dishonesty), about his attitude towards himself (narcissism).

Despite the fact that these relationships are the most important from the point of view of character formation, they do not simultaneously and immediately become character traits. There is a certain sequence in the transition of these relationships into character properties, and in this sense it is impossible to put, for example, the attitude towards other people and the attitude towards property, since their very content plays a different role in the real existence of a person. A person’s attitude towards society and people plays a decisive role in the formation of character. The character of a person cannot be revealed and understood outside the team, without taking into account his attachments in the form of camaraderie, friendship, love.

In the character structure, one can identify traits common to a certain group of people. Even the most original person you can find some trait (for example, unusualness, unpredictability of behavior), the possession of which allows you to classify him into a group of people with similar behavior. In this case, we should talk about typical character traits. N.D. Levitov believes that a character type is a specific expression in the individual character of traits common to a certain group of people. Indeed, as noted, character is not innate - it is formed in the life and activity of a person as a representative of a certain group, a certain society. Therefore, a person’s character is always a product of society, which explains the similarities and differences in the characters of people belonging to different groups.

Individual character reflects a variety of typical traits: national, professional, age. Thus, people of the same nationality are in living conditions that have developed over many generations and experience the specific features of national life; develop under the influence of the current national structure, language. Therefore, people of one nationality differ in lifestyle, habits, rights, and character from people of another. These typical features are often recorded by everyday consciousness in various installations and stereotypes. Most people have a formed image of a representative of one country or another: an American, a Scot, an Italian, a Chinese, etc.