Often, when giving a personal characteristic to a person, we hear: he has a terrible character, or he is calm in character, or he is spineless. A certain impression about a person is immediately created. So what is character and what factors influence its formation, what place does it occupy in the overall structure of a person’s personality? Is it stable or does it change from situation to situation? How does character influence human behavior? Let's start to figure it out.
Let us turn to the psychological dictionary, edited by I. V. Dubrovina.
Character (Greek charakter - trait, feature) is an individual combination of personality traits that express a person’s attitude to reality and are manifested in his behavior and actions. Lack of character is also a manifestation of character.
It should be added that character is a set of stable personality traits. A person’s character is manifested in everything: in relationships, in activities, in communication. It is character (one cannot exclude temperament) that makes a person’s behavior specific, distinguishing him from others. For example, some prefer calm and consistent activities, others choose complex ones, sometimes associated with risks and problems.
In communication, character is manifested in the ways of reacting to the actions of other people, in the manner of behavior (polite and delicate or rude and unceremonious). Character does not change from situation to situation, it is more stable and less changeable. A person with a complex character usually has a lot of problems, and it is difficult for those around him. Character is closely related to temperament, if temperament is unchanged, because it is inherent in us by nature, then character is formed by the environment and can be corrected if a person wants it himself.
Factors influencing the formation of character
All paths lead to childhood. Psychological research shows that the sensitive period for character formation is the age from 2 to 10 years. During this period, children actively communicate with the people around them, they are open to influence from the outside, they accept everything and imitate in everything both their parents, loved ones, and their peers. At this time, it is important what parents will invest in their child regarding the culture of behavior, what they will teach and what conditions they will create to reinforce the necessary forms of behavior. Therefore, the model of family education is an integral factor in the formation of a child’s character.
The way a mother and father treat their children is how children in the future will treat theirs. Before anyone else, such traits as responsiveness, sociability, kindness and selfishness, indifference, and callousness are laid down in a child’s character. Business character traits develop a little later, when the baby is able to do feasible work: collect toys, help his mother, etc. They will clearly manifest themselves later in work activity (hard work, accuracy, conscientiousness, perseverance, responsibility or carelessness and irresponsibility).
If character traits established in early childhood in the family are then reinforced at school, in communication with teachers and peers, then they become stable and little changeable in adulthood. If reinforcements are not found, then a breakdown of character occurs, which is accompanied by both internal and external conflicts. For example, if parents have a permissive attitude towards their child in childhood, it will be difficult for the child to fulfill the demands of teachers at school and adapt to the new regime.
In adolescence, strong-willed character traits are formed and consolidated, and in early adolescence, moral and ideological traits are formed. By the age of 16–17, a person’s character can be considered formed. Often, when you meet your classmates after many years, you realize that their character has remained unchanged.
Features of character formation
A person's character traits are determined by his heredity. The main emotional background of mental functions is laid in the prenatal period of fetal development. At this time, the child receives exactly the same composition of blood that circulates in the mother’s body. Subsequently, when breastfeeding, the baby receives the same hormones through breast milk. In this period of life, the features of character formation largely depend on the emotional mood of the nursing woman.
The core of a person’s personality is his attitude to the world around him and external manifestations: actions, emotions, active or passive actions. The educational factor plays an important role in the formation of character, but is not decisive. The system of rewards and punishments contributes to the development and consolidation of conditioned reflexes, which are under the control of the cerebral cortex. The higher a person’s intelligence, the stronger the brake system is activated, canceling unseemly actions in society.
However, we should not forget that true character traits are visible only in extreme situations when innate reflexes appear.
Character and personality
In the overall structure of personality, character occupies a central place. It affects cognitive processes - attention, perception, imagination, memory and thinking. A person’s emotional life directly depends on his character. Character is related to the interests and needs of a person and is actively manifested in what is more important and significant for a person. It is in how a person behaves in life circumstances that are significant to him that one should judge his character.
It is character that determines the individuality and originality of a person. It should be noted that if personality traits can be formed throughout life and this depends on needs, inclinations, social attitudes, the emergence of new interests, changes in worldview, then character is formed earlier and more stable. Personality traits can develop in both positive and negative directions (it all depends on the circumstances and situation) and reach the extreme version of the norm. This will be an accentuation of character. I described character accentuations in detail in previous articles. There are a lot of accented personalities among us.
Features of development and personality formation
Socialization in Russian psychology is not considered as a mechanical reflection of directly experienced or observed social experience. The assimilation of this experience depends largely on the goals and values of the person; it is subjective. After all, the perception of the same social situations by different people can be completely different.
And therefore, different individuals draw different conclusions for themselves from the same situation. For example, seeing on the street how the strong offend the weak, one person will decide that it is important to be strong, and another that it is necessary to fight the bullies.
Socialization can be carried out with the active assistance of special social institutions, for example, school, institute. However, informal associations, such as close people or online communities, are also important in the socialization of the individual.
The nature of socialization is distinguished:
- Adjustable
- Spontaneous
With regulated socialization, its main means and goals are determined. Socialization is often regulated by the state, represented by the teacher. Usually this targeted influence is colossal; often the effects are negated by illiterate, ill-considered influence on the younger generation, and the lack of a system in one’s actions.
But in the second case, there is no specific, planned impact on the young man, who may be subject to a variety of influences.
But regulated socialization is always accompanied by spontaneous elements. After all, the child perceives exactly how the teacher speaks, and not just what he says. The effect of words can be the opposite if the teacher does not control the intonation of his speech. It may happen that the teacher takes a long time to teach his students not to use obscene expressions in their speech. However, he cursed himself when he found himself in an unexpected or awkward position. And then the educational effect will be instantly lost, and worse, it will receive a completely negative sign.
The relationship between socialization and individualization is the main theoretical problem in socialization. Some psychologists believe that individualization of a person is a negative trait that must be compensated for by the process of socialization. But other psychologists, on the contrary, believe that socialization interferes with the disclosure of a person’s creative potential and his individual qualities.
Socialization should not be viewed as a process that leads to the leveling of personality and the blurring and blurring of a person’s individuality. On the contrary, a person acquires his individuality in a complex and contradictory way, often in the process of social adaptation and socialization itself. These two processes mutually enrich each other with new experience, in fact, this is how it should be. Individuality enriches society, and society, in turn, enriches individuality.
Even into adulthood, socialization continues to occur. The process of socialization is a never-ending, continuous process.
Conclusion
So, we have found out that character is a lifetime formation and occupies a central place in the structure of personality. Its origins are in childhood, and therefore, responsibility for its formation and formation lies with parents and loved ones, and subsequently with educators and teachers (no matter how trite it may sound). Temperament and the environment also do not remain aside. One cannot assume that character is fatally predetermined. No, a person himself is the designer of his own character already in adulthood. He is able to change the traits in himself that create a lot of problems for him or develop new ones, but at the same time he needs to try very hard and approach it consciously, i.e. engage in self-education.
Abstract: “Character: concept, typology, stages of personality character formation”
Introduction
In psychology, the concept of character (from the Greek charakter - “seal”, “minting”) means a set of stable individual characteristics of a person that develop and manifest themselves in activity and communication, determining the typical modes of behavior for it.
Character is a personality quality that summarizes the most pronounced, closely interconnected and therefore clearly manifested personality properties in various types of activities.
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 “person’s way of life” is formed, the I, the person himself, is formed. An important role is played by social conditions and specific life circumstances in which a person’s life path takes place, based on his natural properties as a result of his actions and actions. However, the actual formation of character occurs in groups of different levels of development (family, friendly company, class, sports team, work 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 are created for the development of the best character traits. This process is mutual, and thanks to the development of the individual, the team itself develops.
The content of character, reflecting social influences, influences, constitutes the life orientation of the individual, i.e., his material and spiritual needs, interests, beliefs, ideals, etc. The orientation of the individual determines the goals, life plan of a person, the degree of his life activity.
The concept of “character” refers largely to the relationship between these objectively existing tasks. Therefore, character is not just any manifestation of firmness, perseverance, etc., 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 orientation 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.
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 vice versa, the depth and content of interests indicate the purposefulness and perseverance of the individual.
Indicative for understanding character can also be a person’s attachments and interests associated with his leisure time. They reveal new features, facets of character: for example, L.N. Tolstoy was fond of playing chess, I.P. Pavlov - 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 activity. 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 only be understood as a certain unity of direction and course of action.
I. Character and its features
1.1 General concepts of character
Character is an individual combination of essential personality traits that express a person’s attitude to reality and are manifested in his behavior and actions.
Character, like temperament, is quite stable and little changeable. Temperament, in the form of manifestation of character, uniquely colors certain of its traits. Thus, persistence in a choleric person is expressed in vigorous activity, in a phlegmatic person - in concentrated thinking.
The choleric person works energetically and passionately, while the phlegmatic person works methodically, slowly. On the other hand, temperament itself is restructured under the influence of character: a person with a strong character can suppress some of the negative aspects of his temperament and control its manifestations. Abilities are inextricably linked with character. A high level of abilities is associated with such character traits as collectivism - a feeling of an inextricable connection with the team, a desire to work for its benefit, faith in one’s strengths and capabilities, combined with constant dissatisfaction with one’s achievements, high demands on oneself, and the ability to be critical of one’s work. The flourishing of abilities is associated with the ability to persistently overcome difficulties, not to lose heart under the influence of failures, to work in an organized manner, and to show initiative. The connection between character and abilities is also expressed in the fact that the formation of such character traits as hard work, initiative, determination, organization, and perseverance occurs in the same activity of the child in which his abilities are formed. For example, in the process of labor as one of the main types of activity, on the one hand, the ability to work develops, and on the other, hard work as a character trait.
Character, unlike temperament, is determined not so much by the properties of the nervous system as by a person’s culture and upbringing.
There is a division of human personality traits into motivational and instrumental. Motivational ones encourage, direct activity, support it, and instrumental ones give it a certain style. Character can be considered one of the instrumental personal properties. It is not the content that depends on it, but the manner in which the activity is performed. True, as was said, character can also be manifested in the choice of the goal of action. However, when the goal is defined, the character acts more in its instrumental role, i.e. as a means to achieve a goal.
Let us list the main personality traits that make up a person’s character.
Firstly, these are those personality properties that determine a person’s actions in choosing goals (more or less difficult). Here, rationality, prudence, or the qualities opposite to them can appear as certain characterological traits.
Secondly, character structures include traits that relate to actions aimed at achieving goals: perseverance, determination, consistency and others, as well as alternatives to them (as evidence of a lack of character). In this regard, character comes closer not only to temperament, but also to the will of a person.
Thirdly, the character composition includes purely instrumental traits directly related to temperament: extroversion - introversion, calmness - anxiety, restraint - impulsiveness, switchability - rigidity, etc. A peculiar combination of all these character traits in one person allows us to classify him as a certain type .
